Navodaya students need it more than anybody else

Unveiling of $35 prototype tablet computer by HRD Minister Mr Kapil Sibal,raised lots of hopes across the world. To see a sample of reaction you can click here. It is a well known fact that Navodaya Children are growing up away from the world outside and everybody agrees that they need to be connected. A couple of years back during the US recession, I wrote a post on this blog why especially our children need an ultra cheap laptop (You can read it here ) .

I wish HRD Ministry would select NVS as the first beneficiary as and when the tablet is ready!

Collection of PTC fund violates RTE Act

NVS has been blamed for violation of RTE for JNVST(Please refer to the previous posts). But anothor aspect of our system may also be projected as violation of the RTE Act. Parent Teacher Council Fund may also become controversial and result in headache for NVS.It has been a practice in some vidyalays to collect a nominal amount of money in the name of PTC fund and use that amount for Vidyalaya development under the supervision of Parent Teacher Council. Collection of fee in the name of PTC fund may be considered as violation of Section 3(2)of RTE Act which says “no child shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him/her from pursuing and completing the elementary education”.

Let's hope NVS Administration would take stepts to educate the principals on the need for not resorting to collection of funds from parents in the name of PTC fund. Hope it would happen before the media or some out side agency finds fault with us.

NCPCR OBJECTS TO JNVST TIME SCHEDULE FOR 2011

As expected in my last post, JNVST 2011 is getting into controversy even before its prospectus is prepared. NVS has come out with a shedule for JNVST 2011 and the same was kept on its website. It also declared the result of JNVST 2010 and going ahead with the admission process. As JNVST 2010 had been conducted before the RTE came into force,this year's admission process may be a smooth affair.

But JNVST 2011 will not be the same.Dr Shantha Sinha, Chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights(NCPCR)has written a letter to NVS seeking clarifications. She frowned upon NVS, while speaking to a telugu news agency,for declaring time schedule for JNVST 2011.Even if NVS goes ahead with its admission process for 2011, it may result in legal disputes.

The best way ahead is seeking an amendment for RTE.

No JNVST 2011?!

All of us are aware of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act which came into effect from April 2010.As per the provisions of the Act, conducting admission test is illegal. The new law questions the Navodaya's sysytem of 'talent identification and naruture method'. Section 13 of the act bars all schools from subjecting “the child or his or her parents or guardian to any screening procedure”. The section punishes those who infringe with a fine of Rs 25,000 for the first violation and Rs 50,000 per infringement subsequently. In the absence of a proper admission test, what would be the new criteria for admiting the students? Governament of Andhra Pradesh has recently cancelled a scheduled admission test for State Residential Schools. AP govt has decided to follow wait and watch policy until Minisrry of HRD will come out with a solution for admission into Navodayas. Lets hope Ministry of HRD will get exemption from the clause and the things will go smoothly without geopardizing the next year's admission procedure.

Family Pension and Invalid Pension under New Pension System.

Govt of India has extended the benefit of family pension to the family's of employees covered under NPS, in case of their untimely death before the retirement. In case of invalidation of employees, employees will become eligible for invalid pension. The calculation of pension in both cases would be according to the 1972 pension provisions. But this benefit is provisional as the new rules are being framed. Even after the new rule, some kind of regular pension is expected in case of above circumstances.

As NPS is notified by cabinet to NVS employees, all the alllied rules also come into effect automatically. Suppose a senior employee unfortunatley looses his life, what his family gets under CPF is less than 10 lakh rupees. What will happen to his family? Had he opted for NPS, his family would be secure. We need to think about this a lot in Samiti. We have around 25 per cent employees who are going to retire within a decade. What will happen to them, if we all madly reject NPS. Are we capable of getting 1972 regular pension? Do we have it in us to go for strike?

We need to keep in mind another fact too. Already 10 per cent of us are covered under NPS.Ten per cent of vacancies are there in samiti. Another 15 per cent will retire in five years. We have been mute witnesses to the inner fights across the regions and unions! We know the fear factor that has been injected into our cadres! Inspite of all these things, is it ok to be positive? We all need to seriously ponder over these things.

Special Allowance is not exempted from Tax

There is an email under circulation among the Navodayas claiming that the Special Allowance is exempted from Income Tax. As it is from one of the leaders of the Union, many think it as authentic info. Whereas the attached response from Income Tax Officer,Bhopal is not clear about the exemption.

Special allowances are exempted from income tax,according to clause (14) of section 10, if they fulfill the following criteria:
(i) Any special allowance or benefit granted to an employee to meet the expenses incurred in the performance of his duties as prescribed under Rule 2BB subject to the extent to which such expenses are actually incurred for that purpose.

(ii) Any allowance granted to an employee either to meet his personal expenses at the place of his posting or at the place he ordinarily resides or to compensate him for the increased cost of living, which may be prescribed and to the extent as may be prescribed.

However, the allowance referred to in (ii) above should not be in the nature of a personal allowance granted to the assessee to remunerate or compensate him for performing duties of a special nature relating to his office or employment.

Para 7.21.3 of VI PRC report,based on which NVS Teachers are granted special allowance, says that "the Government should consider grant of a special allowance in these(read navodayas) schools on par with that being recommended by the Commission for Military Schools in Ministry of Defence and the Oak Grove School in Ministry of Railways"

Now look at Para 7.36.93, pay commission clearly says the reason for granting such allowance which reads like this:the Commission has recommended a special allowance of 10% for Military Schools on account of special functions that need to be performed by Teachers/other residential staff working in the residential schools.

Any one can clearly understand that the special allowance which we get is due to 'the special nature of work' but not either 'to compensate for the increased cost of living' or "to meet the expenses incurred in the performance of our duties". So our allowance will not fall under exempted allowances.

What worries everybody is the vulnerability of our staff to be misled. We need to educate ourselves.

All Eyes on Reveiw Meeting

when strike was called off,majority of the employees felt assured that their genuine demand would be accepted and they would become eligible for Pension under 1972 pension act. Many silently wished for a negotiated settlement. We are aware of our special responsibility in our Vidyalayas. The moment we go on strike, we stand as a bad example for our children. Ministry of HRD should be able to impress the finance ministry of the unique situation of Samiti where the strike has many adverse and negative fall outs unlike the strikes in other organizations under other ministries.
Hope ministry of HRD and Finance would understand the importance of negotiated settlement in view of the consequences which may manifest in negative behavioural attitudes of our students.

Lets hope, the review meeting which is told to be held on 8th March, would play an accelerating role in expediting the process towards our ultimate goal of attainment of social security.

STRIKE IS CALLED OFF ON ASSURANCE OF TIMEBOUND ACTION

"In view of the assurance given by the Secretary on behalf of the Govt of India the JAC had decided to call of the indefinite strike. The Secretary, Ministry of HRD has patiently heard the demands and expressed that Ministry fully supports for the demands of Employees of NVS and ensured JAC that Govt is taking up the issue with Ministry of Finance and a favourable decision will be evolved as early as possible. Also Commissioner has suggested an action plan on a time bound basis to achieve our objective of materializing both our demands of 1972 pension and 10% Special Allowance to non-teaching staff."

Lets hope something positive would transpire within a reasonable time frame. Else as JAC expressed in its call off letter,"let us also remember that we have not spared our last resort of indefinite strike and our purpose is to get the demands achieved on negotiations".

Pension was assured for Navodaya Employees.

There are rumours under circulation across the navodayas during the last an hour that an agreement was reached in principle between JAC and Govt of India regarding pension. It is said that JAC was assured by Education Secratary regarding Pension. Strike might be called off.

Unprecedented Rally of Navodaya Employees

The rally at Jantar Mantar turned out to be a grand success. Even JAC leadership might have not expected the huge turn out that was witnessed at Jantar Mantar. Around ten tousand employees were present there to show their solidarity and strength. It is a glorias moment in view of the past rallies which turned out to be not so successful.
This success also shows that the fear factor has its end in Samiti. Let us throw the the Era of Navodaya I to the history's dust bin. ITS NAVODAYA II. A new era where there is no fear of opression. It's a new confindent NAVODAYA which won't shirk away from calling a spade a spade. Let us keep this momentum and fight for our rights until we get them.

TEACHERS DAY BEING OBSERVED AS HUNGER WORK DAY IN NAVODAYAS

In response to the call given by Navodaya Employees Joint Action Committee, employees of Navodaya Vidyalaya observed Teachers Day as Hunger Work Day to protest against the govt's apathy in providing GPF Cum Pension benefit to the employees who joined prior to 01/01/2004. Employees assembled in front of the school campuses at 7am and formal inaugurations of Hunger Word Day were done. They reaffirmed their decades old commitment for the Rural Poor Children and pledged to go on fast and work with more dedication on Teachers Day.
Employees expressed their sorrow for the deaf year meted out to them so far for their Genuine Demand of GPF Cum Pension Scheme for the employees who joined prior to 1-1-2004. In spite of the two parliamentary standing committees’ recommendations to accord the same benefit to the Navodaya Employees as it was accorded to Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan Employees, nothing was done so far. Even recently Employees of Accreditation and Assessment Council of India were allowed the benefit of GPF Cum Pension scheme.

KVs are residential schools whereas Navodaya Vidyalayas, who are administered by NVS which falls in the same Ministry of HRD, are residential school. KV employees work for eight hours a day whereas Navodaya employees work all through the day and night 24x7.Teachers are the House Masters and they have to take care of their students in a residential set up. KV teacher’s work ends at 2pm but a Navodaya Teacher’s work ends at 10 pm with night roll call in dormitories. In spite of this extraordinary commitment shown by the teachers, they could not get the equal benefits.

Employees of Navodaya Vidyalayas hope to get the attention of the govt by going on fast on Teachers Day. Teachers’ working with hunger on teachers’ day is not good omen for any nation.

United Struggle for GOI Pension for Navodaya Employees

It's a good news for all the employees of the samiti irrespective of the cadre. Two factions of ainvsa came together along with principal's forum and other unions with single point agenda of getting GOI Pension. Now we can hope for some movement in that direction.
JAC decided to observe the Teachers Day as HUNGER WORK DAY to draw the attention of the authorities to the dire need of GOI Pension to Navodaya Employees. All the employees will work on that day with at most dedication but FASTING THE WHOLE DAY. All the units should publicize this at their level best.

The following are the members of the JAC:
1. Sri V L Balasubramanian, JNB Kasaragod
2. Sri R.S. Naik, JNV Kanacona
3. Sri T.P. Mani, JNV Kollam
4. Sri L.B. Reddy, JNV Warangal
5. Sri J.K. Singh, JNV Katihar
6. Sri Jagadeesh Rai,
7. Sri Shiv Narayan Sharma, RO Chandigarh
8. Sri Vijaya Kumar,JNV
9. Smt Sunitha Bhatt, RO Chandigarh
10. Sri P Rajesh, JNV Kasaragod
11. Sri P K Guptha, JNV Ratibad
12. Sri S S Dora, JNV Angul
14. Sri Yogendra Kumar Sharma, JNV Kotiya
15. Sri Gajendra Kumar, JNV Mahendragarh
16. Ms Mary k P, JNV Hoshangabad

A delegation consisting of 11 members of JAC called on the Hon Minister Sri Kapil Sibalji, MHRD on 10th evening at 7.30pm and submitted the memorandum. He promised that he would look into the matter. You can read my previous posts how much pension you would get under nps and Navodaya employees got pension.

New Pension System notified by Samiti

New Pension System was notified by samiti last week and employees who were appointed prior to 1/4/2004 should exercise their option with in three months. Many employees are confused about the system as NPS is a noval product. All the senior employees got disappointed as they could not get GOI pension. Majority lack a clear understanding of the NPS and its architecture. In order to decide the pros and cons one must understand the product first. I think you can get all your doubts cleared at pension fund regulators site
There is one important positive of NPS. In old system 10 per cent of basic pay was the contribution from the employee and the employer. Under NPS, both contribute 10 per cent of Basic Pay+Grade Pay+Dearness Allowance. For an employee who is two or three decades away from retirement, the contribution from Samiti will be far higher than that of Samiti's contribution under CPF as it is restricted to 10 per cent of Basic Pay and Grade Pay and Dearness Allowance is not considered.. Please read my post:"how much pension you would get: for further information and links for calculations.

What happened to Transfers?

Many teachers, who took lot of trouble to go down to Bhopal so that they would be near to their homes and families, are anxiously waiting for the details of the transfers. But nothing was posted until now on the web site. Hardly it would require a couple of days to finish the formalities. Abnormal delay in finalization of the transfer orders affects the working of the Vidyalayas as many teachers are not able to concentrate in their present Vidyalayas. There are some rumours under circulation about the orders being cancelled! When Samiti wants effeciancy and excellance at RO level and Vidyalaya level, HQ should stand as an ideal. They should have not taken this much of time!! The damage is already done!!

Injustice to senior teachers in pay fixation

We had been waiting for the revision of pay for a long time and we felt glad when pay revision report was made. We were a bit happier than other employees, as scales of teachers were upgraded and at Navodaya we got the additional ten per cent residential allowance.

But when we look at the notification and its implementation, the teacher community was meted out step motherly treatment due to the interpretation of rules only in letter but not in spirit.

As per Rule 8 of revised pay rules, a PRT will get basic pay of 13,500 whereas a TGT and PGT will get 17,140 and 18,150 respectively at the time of their appointment directly. In Navodayas, the pays of the newly recruited teachers is not fixed accordingly. But newly recruited teachers will certainly get the benefit as Director UT-2 MHRD vide letter NO.F3-43/2008/UT-2 dated 20h March 2009 has issued clarifications in consultation with Min. of Finance to KVS.

According to Note 7 under Rule 7 of revised pay rules seniors’ pay will be stepped up to that of junior. But the letter mentioned above clearly stipulated the following conditions:

(a) Stepping up the basic pay of seniors under the above provision can be claimed only in the case of those cadres which have an element of direct recruitment and in cases where a directly recruited junior is actually drawing more basic pay than the seniors. In such cases, the basis pay of the seniors will be stepped up with reference to the basic pay of the junior.

(b) Using the above provision, Government servants cannot claim stepping up their revised basic pay with reference to entry pay in the revised pay structure for direct recruits appointed on or after 1.1.12006 as laid down in Section 11 of Part A of First Schedule to the CCS (RP) Rules, 2008, if their cadre does not have an element of direct recruitment, or in cases ,where no junior is drawing basic pay higherthan them.

(c) Stepping up of pay of the seniors in accordance with the above provision shall not be applicable in cases where direct recruits have been granted advance increments at the time of recruitment.

When you apply the above conditions, the stepping up of pay will not apply to many

cases. I have given a few examples.

1) A PGT who joined in 2002 gets revised at 18010 on 1/01/2006. He may not get the benefit of stepping up on notional basis. As there is no direct recruitment in year 2006, and the first junior is recruited in Feb. 2007 and by that time after taking his annual increment, his pay will stand at 18560 which is higher than 18,150.

2) A TGT who is recruited on 12/02/1997 gets his pay fixed at 17,440 whereas a TGT who is appointed on 1/1/2006 gets his pay fixed at 17140. The value of service for nine years is 300 (less than one increment)!! There is no case of stepping up as it is technically more than that of his junior.

3) A PGT who is recruited on 01.12.1999 gets his pay fixed at 19,500 whereas a PGT who is appointed on 1/1/2006 gets his pay fixed at 18150. The value of service for six years is worth 1350!!

4) A PET who is appointed on 10.26.1988 gets his pay fixed(after getting ACP in 2003) at 19130 which is only 730 more than that of newly recruited PGT!!

All these anomalies are the result of ambiguity in revised pay rules. All the above fixations were done as per the Note 2A under Rule 7 of Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008. In explanatory memo to the above said rules certain illustrations were made and illustration 4A (which shows the bunching process of stepping up) applies to teachers as our scales were upgraded. The bunching benefit was denied by ministry of finance as no two stages are getting bunched into the same stage due to new system of running pay bands. (Ministry of Finance issued clarifications to that effect). Though all these anomalies may not violate the rules of notification technically, but they violate the spirit of up gradation of scales of teachers.

The same is the case of all the teachers across the departments and ministries. So it’s the right time for the teaching community to come together and work against the injustice meted out to our community. We should represent at all levels for the bunching benefit through which all the anomalies can be removed in pay revision.