STATE BANK OF INDIA OFFICERS' ASSOCIATION

MINUTES OF THE 28TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON 22.11.2015

VENUE : GUWAHATI MEDICAL COLLEGE AUDITORIUM, GUWAHATI

INAUGURAL SESSION

On a sunny autumn morning the 28th Annual General Meeting of State Bank of India Officer's Association

(N.E. Circle) got off to a splendid start with hoisting of the Association flag by the Federation General

Secretary in presence of the invited dignitaries and a huge number of members from the nook and

corner of the North Eastern Region.

The open session in the auditorium was graced by two choral numbers of the doyen of Assam, Shri

Jyoti Prasad Agarwala and Dr.Bhupen Hazarika. The harmonised choral was performed by the students

of SBOA public School, Guwahati. The Chief Guest of the meeting Dr. Ravi Shankar Srivastava,

Professor of JNU, New Delhi and an eminent economist was invited to the dais and felicitated by the

President and the General Secretary. Other lumineries invited to the dais were Shri P.V.S.L.N Murthy,

the Circle Chief General Manager, Com. D.T. Franco, President, AISBOF & General Secretary, SBIOA

Chennai Circle, Com. Y Sudarsan, General Secretary, AISBOF, Com. Sanjib Misra, SBIOA Bhopal

Circle, Com. Sambit Misra, General Secretary, SBIOA Bhubaneswar Circle, Com. Atul Swarup,

General Secretary, SBIOA Lucknow Circle, Com. Nand Kishore, General Secretary, SBIOA Karnataka

Circle,Com.B.Muralidharan, General Secretary, SBIOA Kerala Circle, Com. G. Subhramanium, General

Secretary, SBIOA Hyderabad Circle, Com. G.P. Srivastava, General Secretary, SBIOA Patna Circle,

Com. L.C.Mohanta, Jt. Secretary, SBIPA(NEC), Com. P.K. Baishya, General Secretary, SBISA (N.E.

Circle), Com. Nepal Ch. Das, Secretary, AIBOC Assam state. All the dignitaries were felicitated by

the President and the General Secretary.

The dignitaries who could not be accommodated in the dais were also felicitated by the President

and the General Secretary in the auditorium. After the felicitation programme was over and guests

had taken their chairs, the General Secretary delivered his welcome address. He welcomed the

guests, dignitaries, the CMC members, the DGMs, the pensioners and all the members of SBIOA

N.E. Circle to the meeting. In his address he narrated the character and charms of the seven states

popularly known as 'seven sisters of North Eastern Region' and described the disadvantages too. He

recalled the sacrifices of the predecessors in the journey through the turbulent lane in reaching of the

association at this stage. He gave a brief outline on the journey of SBIOA N.E. Circle since 1981. He

asserted that the Annual General Meeting is one such occasion where we meet and can share our

ideas and views in regard to functioning of the organization. He expressed his concern that Neo-

liberal economic policies are posing a major challenge before the working class. Disinvestment is

being pursued and systematically the resources of the public sector are being shifted to private

hands and it has been observed that the same policies are also being practiced in our organization

and threatening our existence and jeopardizing public faith. He expressed his anxiety over

unprecedented rate of inflation on food items bringing misery to the common people of the country.

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The trend of sharply rising food prices has been dominant feature of the decade. Unemployment is

on the rise and the share of wages is decreasing as against share of profit increasing by leaps and

bounds. Contractualisation, casualisation, outsoucing are replacing permanent jobs. To suit the

corporate, every day attempts are being made to ammend the labour laws. Heating on to the Neo-

liberalisation policies he stated that such policies are creating social and economic inequalities of

the worst order. Talking about the problems of our circle he said that acute law and order problems in

various parts of the circle, acute shortage of officers and staff, opening of new branches, withdrawal

of officers from existing branches are the burning issues. Despite the contraints the Boston Consultancy

Group has recommended curtailment of officers which is aimed at destabilizing the operation of the

organization. He raised his voice to initiate fresh struggle against such move against the employees.

He concluded his speech by once again welcoming all the dignitaries and participants.

The meeting proceeded with the formal inauguration of lighting of the 'lamp' by the Circle Chief General

Manager along with other dignitaries present. Continuing the meeting the Circle Chief General Manager

was invited to the podium to deliver his speech. At the outset of his speech he expressed to have

been privileged to be invited to this meeting. He shared his experience of serving six Circles and

working with six association functionaries to ascertain the welfare measures in those circles. He

recalled a famous slogan of yesteryears "Workers of the World' and urged to go for a new slogan

"unite the nation" against terrorism. He stated that terrorism comes from injustice. On "naxalism," he

said that it was a fight against injustice/indiscrimination. If injustice/indiscrimination is eradicated

then terrorism shall end for ever. On the functioning of the association he stated that it has always

been constructive, motivating. The association never objected to initiative but came out with the lacunas

in such initiatives. Going further on the topic he commented that association is always necessary to

put forth the voice of the membership on the other hand it is the prime responsibility to see that

everybody is treated alike and there is no room for favouratism. "Sajjana Shakti", the term he referred

to augment individual strength and he appealed to adopt the same. Stating State Bank of India as a

tech savvy and young bank he stated that bringing good initiatives is one area but making it success

is another. He concluded his speech by greeting the functionaries.

Com. Y. Sudarshan, General Secretary, AISBIOF was then requested to the podium to deliver his

speech and enlighten our members. Expressing his gratitude for inviting him to this meeting, he

described the city of Guwahati and its comrades as 'fantastic'. He termed the city of Guwahati as a

historic one which finds its place even in the Mahabharata. He talked about the mighty Brahmaputra

and compared it's waves with the trade union movement that is present within us. He recalled the

struggle of the members of this region in formation of North East as a Circle on 29.04.1981 and also

the formation of the circle association on 1st May 1981. Discussing on the socio-political atmosphere

of the circle in general and kidnappings in particular, he upheld the role of the association. Going

further, he stated that association played a major role in the economic development of the region. He

further said that association is a partner in progress. He expressed his heartfelt thanks to Com. Samir

Kumar Mukherjee and Com David Kire over the brilliant conduct of the meeting. He congratulated

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Com. Samir Kumar Mukherjee, the General Secretary on the successful conduct of the recent election

of SBIOA NE Circle. He stated that our organization is in a period of transition and the public sector

banks have played a major role in consolidation of the economy. It is the trust of the people for which

the Public Sector Banks are successful. We cannot mortgage this trust to any private individual. On

the issue of outsourcing, he stated that such a policy is detrimental to the welfare of labour. Talking on

human resources, he highlighted the success of the starters who have flourished with their

entrepreneurship. However, he expressed his grief over the reality that in the name of training, child

labour above the age of 14 years is being practiced. He stated that our human resources working

abroad are doing exceedingly well. Talking about labour reforms, he narrated how the government is

trying to attack the area by either amending or repealing various acts and paving the way for a friendly

environment for the private players. The govt is leaving no stone unturned to kill the Public Sector

Banks and demolish the trade unions. He came on heavily on the P.J. Nayak Committee and stated

that the strategies, suggestions are guided to privatize the Public Sector Banks. Constitution of the

Bank's Board is one such recommendation. Briefing the members on the climate of our bank, he

raised the issue of pay parity between the govt officials and that of our members. He recalled a time

when our pay was much higher than that of govt officials. He elaborated in detail the current problems

faced by our members including the recommendation of Boston Consultancy Group, long pending

Inter Circle Transfers, etc. To conclude, he once again greeted the dignitaries and thanked the

volunteers.

Dr. Ravi Shankar Srivastava, Professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi who is also an

eminent economist was requested to deliver his speech for which evidently the entire house was

eagerly waiting for. At the outset, he stated that he is overwhelmed over the invitation and thanked for

the wonderful hospitality. He further stated that it is gratifying to notice that several hundreds of members

have come to attend the meeting; not only from various parts of North East but from all over the

country. Continuing his speech, he stated that we are living in an age where collective organization,

collective campaign, collective bargaining processes have contributed not only to the working class

but to the nation for an orderly progress and orderly development. However, it is a major concern that

during the last few years we have seen a concerted attack on the basic principles of collective

association of trade union on bargaining process. He narrated that as part of the WTO negotiations,

educational institutions are privatized and it is becoming an international commodity and being traded.

We have all kind of dubious intervention in the field of higher education which is taking place. Talking

on banking sector he stated that banking is far more challenging sector because whatever has

happened globally in the past 30 years has centered on the financialisation of the global economy

and the public sector and its employees have to bear the sufferings. On the phases of financial sector,

he stated that rapid changes started taking place in the global economy some time in 1970s,

accelerating in the 1980s and then became dominant in the early 1990s. Such changes got the acre

name Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization. With liberalization/globalization, growth in trade

exceeded growth in commodity. Thereby GNP growth became much slower than growth in trade. The

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excessive financial growth resulted in the sub-prime crisis during 2008. Further, he stated that

financialisation has a direct connection to the Banking Sector with global norms etc. The Basel norms

were aimed at changing the commercial principles in Banking which are totally in contradiction to

development banking. Public sector banks were subjected to truly commercial banking and the ground

rules were changed. Pressure was dominant to remove capital control. In this regard, he referred to

Tarapore Committee recommendations which were thwarted by public opinion, Unions and Association.

He referred to the huge liberal lending during 2007-08 resulting in huge NPA. The lending was mainly

recorded in the Real Estate - and still there is a huge unsold stock which is now affecting the performance

of banks. On global growth he stated that it had two specific aspects, (I) rise in inequality/global

inequality and (ii) increasing vulnerability of the global poor. On inequality he commented that it has

increased to an unprecedented level. It has increased to a level where it has become a common

concern of global citizens. Centers of capitalism conceded that there are 1% of the country's rich is

holding 53% of assets of the country and this was affecting those who were poor and vulnerable.

Referring to the famous book "Inequality" by Thomas Piketty, he termed inequality as the major problem

of 21st century. However, India is among the countries with highest level of inequality and it has the

dubious distinction of highest rate of growth in number of billionaires. He recalled the regime of colonial

rule of 1850s and 1970s where hundreds of farmers committed suicide and stated that a similar

condition prevailed in India due to unclassified finance. On employment he commented that in the

world of work today jobs globally are far more unsecured than they were 20-30 years back. We have

now moved into a global work regime where non standard form of employment is growing with a great

deal of rapidity. As per the figure of NSS, 86% jobs are created in unorganised sector and only 14%

are informal jobs. In regard to unionisation he stated that due to contractualisation there is a rapid

decline in union/association density. On collective bargaining he referred that banking sector or the

public sector banks have the provisions of the principle of collective bargaining in settlement of wages.

But even prominent public sector industries viz. Steel sector where there were collective bargaining

some years ago have been abolished.

Talking on foreign participation he cited the example that they are not inclined to enter into insurance

sector but eying at the pension fund that has been floated by the present government. On labour

reforms he stated that in the name of simplification of labour laws the present government has tried to

put locks in the hands of the working class of the country thereby reducing their representational

power, bargaining capacity and has completely given up with the principle of tripartism. While

concluding his speech he urged upon the gathering to follow the rule, "that NATION first, then

ORGANISATION and lastly INDIVIDUAL."

The next speaker was Com. D.T. Franco who is the President of our Federation, Vice President of

AIBOC and General Secretary SBIOA Chennai Circle. He started his speech by greeting the leaders

on the dais and his beloved Comrades. He focussed on the social structure of North East in general

and Nagaland in particular where he had served 35 years back. He highlighted that there was a time

when mobility of the people of north eastern region was low but nowadays they are taking up

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employment in places like Chennai or Bangalore. Referring once again on north east he stated that it

has its own peculiarity with seven states, five international boundaries, so many tribes, castes, religions,

etc. Talking on the natural resources of Assam he stated that during pre independence days Assam

had a refinery and Tea estates. Before independence it used to export tea. Assam has a wide variety

of medicinal plants, bamboo, cane, rice, etc but in spite of all these, the region as a whole has been

ignored by successive governments. He shared his experiences on a visit to Agartala and recalled

the performance of a branch of Tripura Gramin Bank. He stated that the branch had a total turnover of

Rs.300 Crore which was astonishing. Going further he stated that the Tripura Autonomous Council

was doing miracles in the state of Tripura. Referring to the steps towards rural development he stated

that a sum of Rs.2.5 crs has been sanctioned to 19 SHGs. He shared his experience of meeting the

Chief Minister of Tripura and termed that to be very cordial. Quoting the Chief Minister he said that

"development in North East is not possible without public sector". On association he stated that the

duty of the association is to look after the public at large along with its members. Condemning the

existing differentiation in the society based on caste, creed and religion he referred to the famous

speech by Swami Vivekananda in the year 1893 where he addressed a gathering and announced

that he belonged to the nation of tolerance. On financial inclusion he stated that public sector banks

have opened 19 crs account whereas the private sector could open only 60 lacs accounts. He

expressed concern over the remarks of Smt. Kidwai of Standard Chartered Bank that the private

sector banks should be exempted from financial inclusion. On the constitution of Bank's Board he

stated that it is a design to appoint chairman from the private sector in the public sector banks. He

stated that in the wake of formation of Banks Board, now who will be the successor of Smt. Arundhuti

Bhattacharyya is a million dollar question. He expressed his concern over the HR policy practiced by

the management and questioned the effectiveness of 'gyan sangam' or the 'indradhanush'.

He talked about the sacrifices of Com. Samir Kr Mukherjee in nurturing the organisation and termed

him to be the captain of the organisation. He said that Com. Mukherjee protected his fellow comrades

during the regime of Shri Pratip Choudhury. Bestowing his faith on Com. Rupam Roy and Com. Dilip

Roychoudhury, he put his belief that they would lead the association in the right way. Concluding his

speech he said that division in organisation is not a healthy practice and it is the need of the hour to be

united and differences, if any should be sorted out.

Com. Sambit Misra, Vice President of Federation was then requested to deliver his speech. At the

outset he told a story of pre-independence days when a British officer asked an Indian as to why they

were against the British when they were transforming their nation. The Indian had replied that they

were exploiting the country. On this background he urged to adopt to the principle that nation first, then

organisation and individual last. He appealed that we have to see that the Bank survives and so do

our people and union. Referring to 121 suicides being committed by the farmers in Odissa he asserted

that those farmers were in debt traps on account of the money lenders and not the banks as they did

not have land in their own name. He felt that it is a pity that we could not reach them. On the same

ground he expressed his concern that poor people are being cheated by chit funds as the banking

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sector is far away to reach them. Concluding his speech he expressed his happiness that young

people are coming up to take up the leadership of the organisation.

Com. P.K. Baishya, General Secretary, SBISA (N.E. Circle) in his speech came on heavily on the

present government and stated that the primary target was the Banking Sector. He recalled the

contribution of the public sector banks. He appealed for undertaking joint struggle irrespective of our

affiliation.

Com. David Kire, Vice President of SBIOA, N.E.Cirlce and president of this meeting was invited to

deliver his presidential speech. At the outset, he summarised the deliberation of the past speakers

and upheld their views. He talked about the enormous natural resource of north east and appealed for

the adequate utilisation. At the conclusion he thanked the members and the dignitaries present in the dais.

The inaugural session came to the end after a vote of thanks from Com. Sanjib Sen.

BUSINESS SESSION

After lunch, the business session got started with the felicitation the election committee of the recently

held election. Thereafter Com. Samir Kr. Mukherjee, General Secretary read out the Secretarial

Report before the house. On his presentation of the report, the President requested the members to

submit their names who intended to speak during the session. In response to the call of the President,

the following members expressed their views during the session.

Com. Debashish Banik coming up to the dais requested the house to offer a standing ovation to

Com. Samir Kumar Mukherjee, the General Secretary who after serving the organisation (SBIOA NE

Circle) for nearly three decades is going to retire in the month end. Accordingly the house offered him

a thunderous standing ovation as a mark of respect towards him. Com. Banik also requested the

house for acceptance of the report.

Com. Sanjay Datta offered a rebounding slogan supporting the organisation and the trade union. He

also urged for payment of North East Allowance to all irrespective of any condition.

Com. Tonmoy Bhattacharjee requested the members to accept the Secretarial Report unanimously.

Com. Tamal Kishore Deb Barma while deliberating expressed his full support and satisfaction with

regard to the Secretarial Report and requested the house for its acceptance. Com. Deb Barma

congratulated the newly elected members and expressed his expectation that the newly elected

committee would carry forward the legacy.

Com. Amol Lakhra congratulated the newly elected members and extended his best wishes to them.

He appealed the members for a larger attendance in such meetings of the association.

Com. Mrinal Laskar commented on the Secretarial Report and termed it to be an all inclusive report

and congratulated for such a brilliant Secretarial Report and statement of accounts.

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Com. Sanjit Kr. Nath congratulated the newly elected body. Asserting on elections he stated that

elections are temporary but organisation is permanent. Referring to our speakers he expressed his

concern that attendance in such meeting is decreasing day by day and it was the need of the hour to

ensure participation of all the members. On the issue of incentive he expressed his views and highlighted

that such scheme is discriminatory. He also stressed upon the issue of staff management and utilisation.

Com. Saibal Kanti Roy congratulated the newly elected body and expressed his confidence that in

future, they would perform just like their predecessors.

Com. Amit Kumar supported the Secretarial Report and appealed for its acceptance. He congratulated

the newly elected body of 19 members. He also raised the issue of the pending Inter Circle Transfer

cases and requested for an early intervention. He stated that the General Secretary is retiring from the

post of the organisation but not from our hearts.

Com. Manabendra Bhowmik referred to the essence of the association and termed it as an associate

of all members. He gave a brief account of the prevailing situation in Garo Hills where 51 underground

organisations were operating. He demanded that the entire Garo Hills be declared as Difficult Centre.

In conclusion he demanded that North East Allowance be paid to all unconditionally.

Com. Satyabrata Chanda recalled his association with the organisation for the last 25 years. He

congratulated the General Secretary for submitting a nice and elaborated Secretarial Report.

Com. Abhijit Bhattacharjee appreciated the report and termed it to wonderful. He also congratulated

the newly elected members into Circle Committee.

Com. Choppy Roy thanked the house for allowing her to participate in the deliberation. She

congratulated the newly elected body. She also placed a suggestion before the house regarding

participation of a woman in such body since there were many issues which were preferred to be

discussed with a woman only.

Com. Pradip Paul congratulated for inclusion of the matters pertaining to the SBOA School in the

Secretarial Report.

The General Secretary clarified all the issues and queries raised by the members to their satisfaction.

The President in his speech acknowledged the members for their presence and participation.

Before the curtain dropped, the elected members who were present on the occasion were introduced

individually before the house.

At the end of the Business Session, Com. T.A.P. Paul offered the vote of thanks. He thanked every

member present in the house for attending and participating in the meeting.

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CIRCULAR NO. 2 OF 2017 APRIL 21, 2017TO ALL UNITS / MEMBERS

29TH ANNUAL GENERAL BODY MEETING OF SBI OFFICERS ASSOCIATION(N E CIRCLE) AT GUWAHATI MEDICAL COLLEGE AUDITORIUM,

BHANGAGARH GUWAHATI

We have the pleasure to bring in to your notice, that in terms of clause No.10(III) of the Bye-Laws

and rules of the Association, the 29th Annual General Body Meeting of the Association will be held

at Guwahati Medical College Auditorium, Bhangagarh on 11th June 2017 (Sunday). In this august

occasion we propose to transact the following agenda :-

a. To receive and adopt the Annual Report and the audited statement of accounts of the

Association for the last completed accounting year;

b. To consider amendments to the Bye-Laws and other propositions given notice of by members

or recommended by the Central Committee;

c. Any other matter with the permission of the chair;

The open session will start at 10.00 a.m. which will be followed by the Business Session.

Meanwhile, members are requested to forward their valuable suggestion, proposal relating to

amendment of Bye-Laws and rules of the Association latest by 27th May 2017. Any proposal

received after 27th May 2017, in this regard may not be entertained.

Fifty percent (50%) of the total cost of the journey by the cheapest mode of conveyance for attending

the meeting shall be borne by the Association.

We solicit your whole hearted participation in the meeting so as to make it a remarkable success,

with a landmark demonstration of our strength and solidarity manifested through the gathering

and support by the membership.

With warm greetings,

(Rupam Roy)General Secretary

UNION IS STRENGTH

STATE BANK OF INDIA OFFICERS' ASSOCIATION

(NORTH EASTERN CIRCLE)

(REGISTERED UNDER TR(REGISTERED UNDER TR(REGISTERED UNDER TR(REGISTERED UNDER TR(REGISTERED UNDER TRADE UNIONS AADE UNIONS AADE UNIONS AADE UNIONS AADE UNIONS ACTCTCTCTCT, 1926), 1926), 1926), 1926), 1926)(R(R(R(R(Regd. Noegd. Noegd. Noegd. Noegd. No..... 2735) 2735) 2735) 2735) 2735)

Sethi Trust Building, 2nd Floor, Unit-IIIG. S. Road, Bhangagarh, Guwahati - 781 005

Telephone : 2527116, Fax : 0361 - 2529114E-mail : gs@sbioanec.com, Website : www.sbioanec.com

All Letters to be addressedto the General Secretary

8

REPORT OF THE GENERAL SECRETARY

PLACED BEFORE THE 29TH GENERAL BODY MEETING OF STATE BANK OF INDIA

OFFICERS' ASSOCIATION (N.E.CIRCLE) HELD ON SUNDAY, THE 11TH JUNE, 2017

AT GUWAHATI MEDICAL COLLEGE AUDITORIUM

BHANGAGARH, GUWAHATI

Comrade President, Leaders on the dais and Comrades,

I deem it a proud privilege to welcome you all in this momentous occasion of 29th Annual General

Meeting of our Circle Association and to place my report on the functioning of the Circle Association

for the interim period, i.e. from the period we last met on 22/11/2015. We would also like to place the

Audited Balance Sheet of our Association and statement of accounts for an evocative discussion,

consideration and adoption of the secretarial report. The Audited Statement of Accounts would, however,

be placed before you separately by our Secretary Finance Com. Devadeep Dasgupta. Comrades,

this is the first Secretarial report being placed by me in an Annual General Meeting and I invite your

whole hearted participation in your topic of interest and enable us to improve further on our endeavour.

During the last election, you had reposed enormous faith and confidence on us and brought us to the

helm of affairs in a grand fashion. Now, it is the time for stock taking, the undersigned urges all the

members to speak out your mind, come out with ideas and participate intimately through rich

discussions and constructive criticism to fulfill the purpose of this august assembly organized by

spending your money, your energy and your most valuable time to enable us for a course correction,

if needed, to steer ourselves in the right direction to attain our organizational goal.

This report covers all the issues and developments for the period till date. We also submit the Audited

Statement of Accounts for the period from 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2016, 1st April 2016 to 31st

March 2017. However, if any issue you feel important and should have found place in the report, we

shall be glad to discuss on those topics as well. During this entire period, we have sincerely endeavoured

to place us on right course to discharge our organizational task befittingly to uphold the rights and

dignity of the membership thus ensuring the progress of the Association. Meanwhile, I declare the

house open to all for feedbacks, be it positive or otherwise and language is just a mode of expression

and not a barrier.

GRATITUDE

We and all sections of working class owe our existence and growth in the trade union movement to

our predecessors who with their toil and sacrifices provided the present edifice of trade union

movement. Many of them sacrificed their lives while pursuing the objectives. Many of them could not

enjoy the fruit of the tree they planted. We dip our banner in memory of all those valiant predecessors

who championed the cause and laid the foundation of the present day trade union movement.

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BEREAVEMENTS :

Before we proceed to narrate the developments all around during the last nineteen months and the

functioning of the Association in specific terms, since we last met on 22/11/2015, we feel it as our

sacred duty to commemorate the sad demise of important personalities both around the world as well

as in our country who with their special contribution in their chosen field of activities could draw an

indelible impression of credibility and contributed towards social up rise and growth of human

civilization in a very special way. Let us all pay homage and cherish the memories of the remarkable

souls who left their footprints in the hearts of millions and have made a permanent place in the history

before passing away for the heavenly abode. We could not list out all the personalities who died

during the period but a few of the prominent names are mentioned here.

Fidel Castro : Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who governed

the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008.

Castro was also responsible for fomenting communist revolutions in countries around the world. Fidel

Castro established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere of the world. He ruled over

Cuba for nearly five decades. Despite sanction by USA for several decades, Castro's regime was

successful in reducing illiteracy, stamping out racism and improving public health care in a manner

which is envy to the advanced capitalist world. AB Bardhan : Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan was a

freedom fighter, a trade union leader and the former general secretary of the Communist Party of

India. P A Sangma :: Erstwhile Speaker of Lok Sabha and Chief Minister of Meghalaya. Sharad

Joshi : Well-known economist, agriculturist, journalist and a farmer leader. Mufti Mohammed Sayeed

: Mufti Mohammed Sayeed Chief Minister twice, from 2002 to 2005 and from 2015 to 2016 and he

was the Founder of the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party. Nancy Reagan: The former

first lady of US, during Ronald Regan's term, Nancy was known for her "Just Say No" drug awareness

campaign. Muhammad Ali : The Olympic and World Champion boxer was born as Cassius Marcellus

Clay, Jr. The heavyweight champion won 56 times in his 21 year old career. Sharad Rao : Trade

Union leader with his demise, an era of struggle by the unorganised sector came to an end. Leonard

Cohen : Poet and singer-songwriter. Jayalalithaa : JayaramJayalalithaa was the Chief Minister of

Tamil Nadu. Amma to millions. John Glenn : Astronaut and US Senator. Om Puri : Veteran Bollywood

actor Om Puri died at the age of 66, after having a fatal heart attack. The Allman Brothers Band co-

founder Butch Trucks. Ahmed Kathrada : Ahmed Kathrada was one of South Africa's best-loved and

revered anti-apartheid activists. Gurdev Singh Badal : Former Punjab minister and senior

ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD) leader. Rabi Ray : Erstwhile Janata Party Leader. Arvind Padmanabhan

: Veteran journalist. Kalika Prasad Bhattacharya : Popular Bengali folk singer Kalika Prasad

Bhattacharya died in a road accident. Vinod Khanna : The veteran actor and producer of Bollywood

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films. He was also an active politician and was the MP from the Gurdaspur constituency. Reema

Lagoo : Reema Lagoo was an Indian theatre and screen actress known for her work in Hindi and

Marathi cinema. Arun Goswami: Spiritual Guru. Ratan Lahakar : The pioneer of Assamese mobile

theatre. Mahim Bora : Literary figure. Anjan Dutta : He was a veteran politician of Assam. Arun

Sarma : Assam's contemporary playwright. Padma Shri H Kanhailal :: veteran art theatre personality.

Dilip Barua : Renowned Economist and litterateur from Assam.

We also pay our respectful homage in memory of the following comrades who passed away during

the period under report.

1 LT. ANUP KR. DEVSARMAH. HAIO 26/01/2016

2 LT. PROMIT ROYCHOUDHURY CPCP - GUWAHATI 17/01/2016

3 LT. SON KUMAR RABHA LHO - GUWAHATI 04/02/2016

4 LT. DEBASISH BANIK LHO - GUWAHATI 01/04/2016

5 LT. NALINI KR. SARMAH NEW GUWAHATI 01/02/2016

6 LT. SUBRATA BHATTACHARJEE SANTIBAZAR 30/11/2016

7 LT. MEGHALI DEVI ROWRAIAH 15/12/2016

8 LT. PARTHA SARATHI DEB LHO - GUWAHATI 16/01/2017

9 LT. SHYAMA PRASAD ROYCHOUDHURY SBLC - SILCHAR 12/12/2016

10 LT. PRANAY ROYCHOUDHURY LHO - GUWAHATI 14/02/2017

11 LT. KHOKAN MAZUMDER LHO - KOLKATA 19/02/2017

12 LT. DEEPJYOTI DAS TINALI BAZAR 17/04/2017

13 LT. DIPAL KANTI DEY DIBRUGARH A.U. 11/05/2017

We will fall short in our duty if we do not mention the sacrifices of our brave soldiers who have laid

down their lives to ensure the safety and security of our motherland and our compatriots. The

undersigned expresses utter grief for all the ill-fated innocent victims in various natural calamities,

extremist attacks, accidents, etc. across the states and the countries. We also convey our profound

condolences to all the aggrieved who lost their close ones during the interim period and hope that the

Almighty be with them in overcoming their grief. Now, I would like to request all of you to stand and

observe "a minute of silence" to pay homage to all the departed souls.

RETIREMENT :

The under noted members retired from Bank's service during the period :

Annual Report

11

1 SAMIR KUMAR MUKHERJEE ADM. UNIT GHY. Nov-15

2 MAHIM CHANDRA LAHKAR ADM. UNIT GHY. Nov-15

3 PINAKI PANCHANAN BONGAIGAON Nov-15

4 RANENDRA DEV GOSWAMI CPPC - GUWAHATI Nov-15

5 HEMANTA KUMAR SAHA FENCY BAZAR TRADE CENTRE Nov-15

6 DIPAK KUMAR BAGCHI L H O - GUWAHAI Nov-15

7 SRIBAS CHANDRA SEN L H O - GUWAHAI Nov-15

8 PRAMOD CHANDRA SAHARIAH LCPC - GUWAHATI Nov-15

9 DAVID KIRE R/O - DIMAPUR Nov-15

10 PARESH CHANDRA DAS RASMECCC - AGARTALA Nov-15

11 KANAILAL BHATTACHARJEE RASMECCC - SILCHAR Nov-15

12 MOHESH CHANDRA BORAH RBO - TEZPUR Nov-15

13 BHUMI RANJAN DOLEY NORTH LAKHIMPUR Dec-15

14 RANJIT SEAL MALIGAON Dec-15

15 KRISHNA KANTA BORAH RAHA Dec-15

16 BABUL CHANDRA SARMA DISPUR Dec-15

17 BADRUDOZA GAZI AU - SHILLONG Dec-15

18 W.FRANCES MERILDA SOHKHIA AU - SHILLONG Dec-15

19 DULU BARUAH RACPC - GHY Dec-15

20 CHAOBA SHARMA ARIBAM IMPHAL SECTT Dec-15

21 KOKIL DAS BAISHNAB DIGBOI Dec-15

22 JATINDRA KUMAR DAS RBO - SILCHAR Dec-15

23 JYOTIRMAY SEN LHO Dec-15

24 SATHI SENGUPTA RBO - AGARTALA Dec-15

25 NAREN HAZARIKA RBO - DIBRUGARH Dec-15

26 MADHAB CH BORDOLOI RASMECC - JORHAT Dec-15

27 SUNIL KARMAKAR RBO - BONGAIGAON Dec-15

28 DIMBESWAR GOGOI RBO - NAGOAN Dec-15

29 BHARAT CHANDRA DEKA RBO - SHILLONG -I Dec-15

30 TANKESWAR GOGOI RBO - JORHAT -I Dec-15

31 PRASANTA SAHA LCPC Dec-15

32 NIRAN KUMAR BHATTACHARJE LCPC Dec-15

33 PADMINI GOSWAMI LCPC Dec-15

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34 GOBINDA DAS A U - JORHAT Jan-16

35 GANESH CHANDRA SARMA ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT GHY. Jan-16

36 JOHN ANDREW SAILO AIZWAL Jan-16

37 SANKAR PRAMANIK BILASIPARA Jan-16

38 MINA KALITA CPPC - GUWAHATI Jan-16

39 SATADAL DASGUPTA D A C - GUWAHATI Jan-16

40 ALEXI ALI AHMED GUWAHATI Jan-16

41 MURULIDHAR SARMAH JORHAT Jan-16

42 PRADIP KUMAR BHOWMICK KIPHIRE Jan-16

43 DULAL CHANDRA MANDAL KISHMATHASDAH Jan-16

44 SADA NANDA DAS LCPC - GUWAHATI Jan-16

45 LAKHIMI DEVI LCPC - GUWAHATI Jan-16

46 RAJANI KANTA BHARALI LHO - GUWAHATI Jan-16

47 AJIT KUMAR KAR LHO - GUWAHATI Jan-16

48 SANKAR NARAYAN BARUA LHO - GUWAHATI Jan-16

49 ANKUSH CHOUDHURY LHO - GUWAHATI Jan-16

50 BIJIT BARAN DAS LHO - GUWAHATI Jan-16

51 PARESH CHANDRA PAUL LHO - GUWAHATI Jan-16

52 PADMA KANTA BARUAH NAGAON Jan-16

53 DIBAKAR ROY NAHARLAGUN Jan-16

54 THULESWAR SARMAH RBO - GUWAHATI -I Jan-16

55 NAGENDRA KONWAR RBO - NAGAON Jan-16

56 RATAN CHAKRABORTY SALBAGAN Jan-16

57 RAMENDRA BHUSHAN SAHA TEZPUR BAZAR EVENING BRAN Jan-16

58 MALAY KANTI DEY LHO - GUWAHATI Jan-16

59 PURNANANDA BURAGOHAIN RBO - JORHAT Jan-16

60 NIL RATAN MAZUMDER TINSUKIA Feb-16

61 ASHOKE KUMAR ROY MALIGAON Feb-16

62 SANJOY KUMAR TANTI BOMDILA Feb-16

63 NGURREMMAWIA SAILO AIZAWAL Feb-16

64 NRIPEN PAUL BARPETA ROAD Feb-16

65 JAGDISH DUTTA DHEKIAJULI Feb-16

66 ASHOK KUMAR ROY GUWAHATI UNIVERSITY Feb-16

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67 DILIP KUMAR LOPHONG RAHA Feb-16

68 SUSHANTA BHOWMIK NONGPOH Feb-16

69 LALTHUAMLIANA A U SHILLONG Feb-16

70 PROBIR CHANDRA DEY PBB GANESHGURI Feb-16

71 BIJOY KUMAR DUTTA CPPC Feb-16

72 ANIL KUMAR BHUYAN ONGC SIBSAGAR Feb-16

73 SEKHAR LAL SAHA DIGBOI Feb-16

74 BHABENDRA KUMAR BAISHYA A U GUWAHATI Feb-16

75 SANKAR SUKLABAIDYA LHO Feb-16

76 DIPENDU DEV LHO Feb-16

77 BHADRESWAR BORA LHO Feb-16

78 PRABODH CHANDRA BHAGABATI LHO Feb-16

79 MANIK LAL DAS LHO Feb-16

80 DULAL CHANDRA MANDAL PAONA BAZAR Feb-16

81 IBOTOMBI SINGH YUMNAM PAONA BAZAR Feb-16

82 SUBRATA KUMAR CHAKRABORTY R/O AGARTALA Feb-16

83 SAILEN CHANDRA DAS R/O TURA Feb-16

84 PARIMAL KUMAR HAJONG AMPATI Feb-16

85 NARAYAN BISWAS AU JORHAT Feb-16

86 HARIDAS SAHA CHAPAR Feb-16

87 JAGAT SUBEDI RBO - I SHILLONG Feb-16

88 SIBA PRASAD MAHANTA RBO - JORHAT Feb-16

89 SURAJIT BEZBARUAH RBO - JORHAT Feb-16

90 HIREN CHANDRA SALOI RBO - TEZPUR Feb-16

91 LISTIMON KHARSHIING RSETI RIBOI Feb-16

92 JATIN CHANDRA BORAH LAITUMKHRAH Mar-16

93 JIBAN CHANDRA SAIKIA RBO GUWAHATI Mar-16

94 KAISO DAILI MAO PAONA BAZAR IMPHAL Mar-16

95 MANOBENDRA PURKAYASTHA NEW SILCHAR Mar-16

96 MRINAL KANTI LASKAR R/O AGARTALA Mar-16

97 RAJENDRA PROSAD CHETIA RBO NAGAON Mar-16

98 SIBENDRA BHATTACHARJEE Z/O JORHAT (S) Mar-16

99 SWAPAN KUMAR SEN R/O AGARTALA Mar-16

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100 BHUBAN MOHAN GOSWAMI A U - GUWAHATI Apl-16

101 MRINAL DAS GUPTA C P P C Guwahati Apl-16

102 RAJANI HAINARY RBO - Jorhat Apl-16

103 JANARDAN BISWAS NAGAON Apl-16

104 ASHOK LYNGDOH SBLC - JORHAT Apl-16

105 MD. ANAM KHAIRUL CORPORATE CENTRE Apl-16

106 THANCHUNUNGA H CORPORATE CENTRE Apl-16

107 RAMANANDA BHATTACHARJYA G M C BRANCH May-16

108 SUDIP KUMAR CHAKRABORTY L H O - GUWAHATI May-16

109 DILIP KUMAR DAS ONGC - AGARTALA May-16

110 SWAPAN KUMAR LAHIRI L H O - GUWAHATI May-16

111 KESHAB MAHANDEO MONGALDOI May-16

112 PRADIP KUMAR GOGOI PASIGHAT May-16

113 ABHIJIT NAG KAILASHAHAR May-16

114 KAMAL NARZAREE RBO - SHILLONG RURAL Jun-16

115 TARAMOHAN DEBBARMA OAD CORPORATE CENTRE MUMBAI Jun-16

116 SAGAR KUMAR DEB RASMECCC - SHILLONG Jun-16

117 MRIDUL KANTI SHYAM RASMECCC - SILCHAR Jun-16

118 PADMA CHARAN SARANIA LHO Jun-16

119 SUDHIR CHANDRA DAS R/O - AGARTALA Jun-16

120 NIRANJAN SARKAR KISHMATHASDAH Jun-16

121 DEBO PRASAD BISWAS RBO - GUWAHATI Jun-16

122 HEM CHANDRA ROY CHOUDHUR IMPHAL SECTT Jun-16

123 SANKAR DEY CPPC - GUWAHATI Jun-16

124 ANUJ KUMAR MISRA RBO - SHILLONG - I Jun-16

125 BRATA KRISHNA DAS HAFLONG Jun-16

126 TAPAN KUMAR SARKAR RBO - TEZPUR Jun-16

127 JAGADISH SARMA SMECC - GUWAHATI Jun-16

128 SHAHNUR ALI DHUPDHARA Jun-16

129 SAHIDUR RAHMAN BRPL COPLEX Jun-16

130 PRODIP KUMAR TAI RASMECCC - JORHAT Jul-16

131 PUSPENDRA BORAH RBO - NAGAON Jul-16

132 JOGESWAR NEOG NORTH LAKHIMPUR Jul-16

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133 ASHOK KUMAR CHOUDHURY LAITUMKHRAH Jul-16

134 UJJAL HAZRA LHO - GUWAHATI Jul-16

135 PRASANTA KISHORE DAS BADARPUR I E Jul-16

136 PRADIP KUMAR DEB RBO - GUWAHATI - IV Jul-16

137 JITENDRA NATH BORAH GUWAHATI Aug-16

138 KALPA MOHAN BORA DHEMAJI Aug-16

139 SUMANTA ROY L H O - GUWAHAI Aug-16

140 RENU BHATTACHARJEE BALIJAN Aug-16

141 PABITRA DATTA RBO AIZWAL Aug-16

142 AJOY KUMAR CHAKRAVARTY CCPC GUWAHATI Aug-16

143 KALHAN CHAKRABARTY RBO BONGAIGAON Aug-16

144 KAMEI KOMOL KABUI RBO IMPHAL Aug-16

145 BIMALENDU BISHNU RACPC - GUWAHATI Sep-16

146 SITESH CHANDRA DAS RASMECC - SILCHAR Sep-16

147 DEBA KUMAR BHUYAN R B O - BONGAIGAON Sep-16

148 BRISSTERWELL MARWEIN TEZPUR Sep-16

149 JAYANTA BASAK DISPUR Sep-16

150 MISHIR ALI AHMED L H O - GUWAHAI Sep-16

151 DIGANTA DUTTA NALBARI Sep-16

152 ARUN KUMAR GHOSH NEW SILCHAR Sep-16

153 PRAFULLA CHANDRA BORO NONGSTON Sep-16

154 RANJU SAIKIA BARUAH LCPC - GUWAHATI Oct-16

155 DEBANANDA KUTUM LCPC - GUWAHATI Oct-16

156 CHITTA RANJAN KALITA LHO - GUWAHATI Oct-16

157 ASHES KUMAR ROY LHO - GUWAHATI Oct-16

158 MEDA PRASAD UPADHYAY LHO - GUWAHATI Oct-16

159 PRASANTA SONOWAL MIOA Oct-16

160 RUPESWAR BHUYAN MONGALDOI Oct-16

161 SWAPAN KUMAR BHATTACHARY RASMECCC- AGARTALA Oct-16

162 SAMIR KUMAR KAR RBO - GUWAHATI Oct-16

163 BANTI RAM BORO SARB - GUWAHATI Oct-16

164 BISHNU DEB SBLC - SHILLONG Oct-16

165 NILKANTA CHOUDHURY SOUTH GHY Oct-16

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166 RANJAN KONWAR TINSUKIA Oct-16

167 AMALENDU KAR AU - GUWAHATI Nov-16

168 ANANGA BIJOY BHATTACHARY RASMECC - AGARTALA Nov-16

169 ANIL KUMAR BORUAH ALONG Nov-16

170 ANUP KUMAR DAS RBO - AGARTALA Nov-16

171 ASIT KUMAR DAS TLA HOUSE Nov-16

172 BAPPA BHATTACHARJEE SILCHAR Nov-16

173 BIBHUTI RANJAN MANDAL AU - SHILLONG Nov-16

174 BIR KACHARI AU - GUWAHATI Nov-16

175 KALYAN KUMAR DEY TEZU Nov-16

176 LOHIT CHANDRA NATH CPPC GUWAHATI Nov-16

177 MINATI MAHANTA NAGAON Nov-16

178 NIRESH KALITA L H O - GUWAHATI Nov-16

179 PIPIN CHANDRA BORDOLOI ZOO ROAD BR. Nov-16

180 RAMKRISHNA DEV RBO - SILCHAR Nov-16

181 SANTI BRATA ROY L H O - GUWAHATI Nov-16

182 RATAN CH. DEY CENTRAL OFFICE, MUMBAI Dec-16

183 DIPANKAR CHAKRABORTY Dharmanagar Dec-16

184 NABIN CH. PEGU GUWAHATI Dec-16

185 BIBEKANANDA BHUYAN Kokrajhar Dec-16

186 BHABI RAM RABHA CPPC - Guwahati Dec-16

187 SITARAM SARMAH CPPC - Guwahati Dec-16

188 BALEN DAS (II) LCPC Guwahati Dec-16

189 TUSHAR KT. BHATTACHARJEE Williamnagar Dec-16

190 PRADIP MAZUMDER Margheta Dec-16

191 SANJIBAN DEY CHOUDHURY Santir Bazar Dec-16

192 DULAL SARKAR RBO - Silcha Dec-16

193 AMLAN SAHA Sonamura Dec-16

194 KISHORE KR. DEY LHO Guwahati Dec-16

195 ROBIN GOGOI LHO Guwahati Dec-16

196 SEBA MITRA LHO Guwahati Dec-16

197 TUHIN KANTI GHOSH LHO Guwahati Dec-16

198 AMRIT KR. HAZARIKA Soneswar Dec-16

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199 PARIMAL SEAL Chandmari Tura Dec-16

200 PRADEEP KR. ROY New Bongaigaon Dec-16

201 KABIR CHAKRABORTY RBO - Agartala (U) Dec-16

202 SAMIR CH. DEY RBO - Tura Dec-16

203 SANKAR CHAKRABORTY RASMCC - Agartala Dec-16

204 BHAKTI DEY TARAFDAR RASMECC - Silchar Dec-16

205 RUDRA KANTA GOGOI RASMECC - Jorhat Dec-16

206 SANTI RN. SAHA Zoo Road Dec-16

207 JATINDRA DEV GOSWAMI RBO - Guwahati I Dec-16

208 KISHORE KR. CHAKRABORTY RBO - Bongaigaon Dec-16

209 RIGALDO DIENGDOH RBO - Shillong (u) Dec-16

210 RAMANI DUTTA SARMAH Spl. Curency Cell Dec-16

211 PRABHAKAR GOSWAMI RBO Dibrugarh II Dec-16

212 PALTU CH. LASKAR RBO - Agartala Dec-16

213 PURABI DAS GUWAHATI Jan-17

214 CHANDAN ROY UDAIPUR Jan-17

215 MANABENDRA NATH SARMA NALBARI Jan-17

216 GUNA KANTA DAS DIPHU Jan-17

217 JANMIJOY KALITA AT ROAD - GUWAHATI Jan-17

218 RAHUL AMIN BILASIPARA Jan-17

219 DEBAPRIYA ADITYA DISPUR Jan-17

220 BIMAN BORAH Z/O SHILLONG Jan-17

221 ARUN KUMAR KAIRI KUNJAVAN Jan-17

222 BRAJA GOPAL SARKAR SMECCC-GUWAHATI Jan-17

223 BIKARNA RANJAN KALITA HAIBORGAON Jan-17

224 NIRANJAN HAZARIKA LHO - GUWAHATI Jan-17

225 SUDHANGSHU RANJAN BANERJ LHO - GUWAHATI Jan-17

226 PRAVEEN KUMAR BRAHMA LHO - GUWAHATI Jan-17

227 BIPUL BORTHAKUR GITANAGAR Jan-17

228 ANINDA BIJOY DE R/O - AGARTALA (u) Jan-17

229 JADU GOPAL SARKAR R/O - AGARTALA (u) Jan-17

230 BIKASH DAS RBO - DIMAPUR Jan-17

231 HARIPADA DAS RBO - DIMAPUR Jan-17

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232 GOPAL CHANDRA GHOSE SALANIBARI TE Jan-17

233 NANDASREE DUTTA KANUNGOE RASMECC SILCHAR Jan-17

234 DHARMESWAR OJAH ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT GHY. Jan-17

235 JYOTI PRAKASH SARMAH RBO - IMPHAL Jan-17

236 MADHURYYA SHARMA RBO - JORHAT Jan-17

237 KULA NATH BHARALI RBO - MOKOCHUNG Jan-17

238 SHEKHAR BISWAS DHARMANAGAR BAZAR Jan-17

239 R ZADENGA AIZWAL Feb-17

240 ANJAN GOSWAMI RBO - I SHILLONG Feb-17

241 PRADIP PATHAK CCPC - GUWAHATI Feb-17

242 TARUN CHANDRA KALITA GOALPARA Feb-17

243 GANGADHAR BORAH KALIABAR Feb-17

244 AJIT KUMAR DHAR RASMECCC- AGARTALA Feb-17

245 BISWADIP PAUL A /U - JORHAT Feb-17

246 NIRANJAN CHANDRA DATTA RBO - I SHILLONG Feb-17

247 AMIYA KUMAR PAUL RBO - I GUWAHATI Feb-17

248 NALINAKSHYA CHOUDHURY NARSINGPUR ADB Feb-17

249 SIDDHARTHA SANKAR DEB LHO - GUWAHATI Feb-17

250 RANJIT KUMAR DEY WILLIAMNAGAR Feb-17

251 RIYAJUDDIN SYED AHMED LHO - GUWAHATI Feb-17

252 BIDYUT BARUA RBO - III SHILLONG Feb-17

253 PRATAP CHANDRA BARUAH ROING Feb-17

254 SIBA PRASAD SARMAH RBO - NAGAON Feb-17

255 PRAMATTA SHING BORO LHO - GUWAHATI Feb-17

256 PHANINDRA MOHAN DAS SMECC - GUWAHATI Feb-17

257 BHAGEE PRASAD DEKA DAC - GUWAHATI Feb-17

258 UPEN CHANDRA SARMA LCPC - GUWAHATI Feb-17

259 BODHAN BHUYAN RBO - TEZPUR Feb-17

260 ABINASH NARZARY KOKRAJHAR Feb-17

261 MUNIN HAZARIKA A /U - JORHAT (S) Feb-17

262 HEMENDRA DEKA SPL. CURR. GHY Feb-17

263 MEDINI PATHAK RBO - I GUWAHATI Feb-17

264 MANAJIT CHAKRABORTY LHO - GUWAHATI Feb-17

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265 WANGKHEIMAYUM MANGLEM SING PAONA BAZAR Feb-17

266 LAKHINDRA KUMAR DAS MOTHURAPUR Feb-17

267 GAJENDRA RAJKUMAR FENCY BAZAT Feb-17

268 MOHESH KR. DAS LHO - GUWAHATI Feb-17

269 UTTAM KR. KAR ZO- DIBRUGARH Mar-17

270 BALO RAM KALITA RACPC - GUWAHATI Mar-17

271 BIREN CHANDRA DAS MALIGAON Mar-17

272 MADHUMITA ARJUN MALIGAON Mar-17

273 MUKUL CH. SARMA JORHAT Mar-17

274 PRABIN KR. CHOUDHURY LHO - GUWAHATI Mar-17

275 BINOD KR. NATH LHO - GUWAHATI Mar-17

276 SWAPAN KR. DEY LHO - GUWAHATI Mar-17

277 MOHENDRA SINGH TAHELLAMB SBLC - SHILLONG Mar-17

278 RANJIT KR. NATH RBO - AIZWAL Mar-17

279 BIRENDRA DUTTA BARUAH JALUKE APL-17

280 RUPALI KHARGHARIA JORHAT APL-17

281 CHANDAN KARMAKAR LHO - GUWAHATI APL-17

282 AMITAVA DHAR RASMECC SHILLONG APL-17

283 ANITA CHOEDHURY NEW SICHAR APL-17

284 PARIMAL KANTI ROY MANGALDOI May-17

285 BEDIPRASAD JAISHI RBO - TEZPUR May-17

286 NRENDRA SARMA WEST GUWAHATI May-17

287 NAYAN BORDOLOI RANGIYA May-17

288 ARJUN NARZARY RBO - Bongaigaon May-17

289 DHANESWAR DEKA BAMUNPUKHURI May-17

290 SUJIT KR. DAS LCPC- GUWAHATI May-17

291 SUKLA BHOWMICK AGARTAL BAZAR SME May-17

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC SCENARIO

Taking a closer look at individual countries, the year 2017 so far has showed an upward revision to

growth prospects for major economies such as Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom. The GDP

growth forecasts were held stable for major players in the Euro area and the U.S.

Among the major emerging economies, an upgrade to China's economic outlook helped to stabilize

economic dynamics in Asia. In Latin America, despite stable growth prospects for regional behemoth

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20

Brazil, mounting external headwinds and domestic challenges led the region's economic outlook to

deteriorate. This year's growth estimates for Eastern Europe are benefiting from robust dynamics in

the European Union and a brighter outlook for Russia. Although the increase in commodity prices

bodes well for growth in the Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa regions, geopolitical

threats, tight fiscal positions and perennial structural imbalances have resulted in a downward slide

for both the regions.

Related concerns about the potential for a slowdown in global trade and an increase in protectionism

are likely related to uncertainty about the US Government's trade policy, coupled with ongoing uncertainty

about United Kingdom (UK) Brexit negotiations with the European Union (EU). Potential large-scale

policy shifts have been forecasted.

Market volatility also remains on C-suites' radar. Any return to the high levels of volatility that perpetually

shocked markets over the past three years would be a major concern for companies. In relation to

historical norms, equity markets are currently high, commodities stable and volatility across asset

classes low. But companies always remain wary of a return of high volatility and its impact - slowing

decision-making and curtailing investment strategies.

It is evident that the ill effect of globalisation and the influence of International Finance Capital in world

economy are continuing to spread its arm to the global economic meltdown against the over ambitious

hype created since the inception of globalisation and the perceivable benefit it yield till date is

completely opposite to what was envisaged and the expected benefit still remains a far cry. The world

economy is still running with subdued investment opportunities, and in turn has heightened policy

uncertainty and is showing the symptoms of another difficult year ahead. A moderate recovery is

expected for 2017, with receding obstacles to activity in commodity-exporting emerging markets and

developing economies. Weak investment is weighing on medium-term prospects across many

emerging markets and developing economies. Although fiscal stimulus in major economies, if

implemented, may boost global growth, risks to growth forecasts remain tilted to the downside.

Important downside risks stem from heightened policy uncertainty in major economies.

The world has entered in to a period of greater political uncertainty and the politics around the world is

primarily focused with extraneous issues more than anything else and the economic aspects are

taking a back seat. As per the projection, the U.S. economy is likely to see a modest upside from

stronger business confidence and possibly some tax relief later in 2017. Europe and Japan are also

experiencing, somewhat surprisingly, stronger internal growth dynamics but the ultimate result is to be

seen to augur any meaningful prospect. In contrast, uncertainties of different kinds are weighing down

on emerging markets' growth prospects especially in India, Mexico, Turkey and Saudi Arabia and the

situation is promising to be more grave if the checkpoints are not met with required integrity.

Stagnant global trade, subdued investment and heightened policy uncertainty marked a difficult year

for the world economy. Global growth in 2016 is estimated at a post-crisis low of 2.3 percent and is

projected to rise to 2.7 percent in 2017. Growth in emerging market and developing economies

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21

(EMDEs) is expected to pick up in 2017, reflecting receding obstacles to activity in commodity

exporters and continued solid domestic demand in commodity importers. Weak investment and

productivity growth are, however, weighing on medium-term prospects across many EMDEs.

Downside risks to global growth include increasing policy uncertainty in major advanced economies

and some EMDEs, financial market disruptions, and weakening potential growth. However, fiscal

stimulus in key major economies in particular, the United States could lead to stronger than expected

activity in the near term and thus represent a substantial upside risk to the outlook. In view of the

limited room for macroeconomic policy to absorb further adverse shocks, as well as subdued growth

prospects, structural reforms that boost potential growth remain a priority. In EMDEs, investment in

human and physical capital would help narrow unmet needs in skills and infrastructure and support

growth for the long term. Rebuilding policy space, addressing vulnerabilities, and enhancing

international integration would be helpful in bailing out the global economy from the deadlock.

When the world economy has been dwindling in sheer uncertainty, the two major events, Brexit and

the election of Donald Trump as president of America surely would have a telling effect and it will drag

it into even more deep world economy.

The UK has entered a period of uncertainty and significant economic adjustment. The efforts of the

Bank of England will not be able to fully and immediately offset the market and economic volatility that

can be expected while this adjustment proceeds. When it is apparent that brexit is going to hurt the

British economy in a big way, its effect would also very prominently fall back upon all over the world. A

big concern is the extent to which a retreat from financial risk will disturb the existing fault lines in the

world economy, notably in China and Southern Europe. The European Central Bank can intervene to

swamp the symptoms of anxiety by buying bonds, but it can't do much more to cure the underlying

problem of weak growth.

A weaker European economy will certainly hurt Chinese exports. Perhaps a bigger risk is a renewed

bout of dollar strength, as Europe's currencies weaken, it would in turn put renewed downward pressure

on China.

Even if some investors have short horizons, tumbling stock markets reflect some long-term worries

for them as well. If Britain, so long a champion of free trade, can vote to revoke a regional trade deal,

how much faith can businesses worldwide put in other international economic agreements is a matter

to ponder over. An EU shorn of Britain's deregulating influence is a troubling portent for the liberal

world order. Nationalist, populist and protectionist forces in other countries will be greatly encouraged

by Brexit. The WTO recently gave warning that protectionist trade measures in the G20 are multiplying

at their fastest rate since 2008. In such circumstances, it would be surprising if the Brexit vote did not

have some chilling effect on investment worldwide. It makes curbs on migration of workers a little

more likely, which will be costly for businesses. And if Europe exports some of its misery to Asia and

America through weaker currencies, it may increase pressure for restrictions on capital flows, too.

Another development that shook the world economy is the Donald Trump's election as president of

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22

America. Trump's victory is going to be the catalyst for the next financial crisis. The crisis that has

been in the making for many decades and it will represent the third chapter in the trilogy that has the

banking crash and the great recession as its first two episodes: the great dollar crisis of 2017 will be

the final reckoning of the long boom and the era of financial irresponsibility.

Trump is now in charge of nuclear weapons and the biggest armed forces in the world. Incidentally he

is also in charge of economic weapons of mass destruction: the dollar, the world's only reserve

currency; the world's largest economy which accounts for about one third of total global GDP, and its

largest blocs of debt. The world's investors - one third Americans, two thirds foreign - have lent the US

government a colossal, unimaginable, sum of $20 trillion;. Individuals, companies, pension funds and

nations lend the US government such absurd sums because they trust the US Treasury and expect to

get paid back. As against the huge trust worldwide that the American Treasury enjoys, the most

dangerous idea he has put forward as a way to deal with America's debt is to buy it back at a discount

will be surely having a direct consequence, a spiraling devaluation of the world's sole reserve currency.

When the world is aggressively pursuing the cause of globalization, the protectionist approach adopted

by the American President and his win in the American election purely on the Nationalist sentiments

surely exposes the futility of globalization.

Just when China's economy seemed to be stabilizing, Donald Trump's election as U.S. president

poses significant new risks. Not just for Chinese growth, but the entire Asia region.

That's because the president-elect campaigned on a policy platform with protectionism at its center.

Trump wants to slap punitive tariffs on Chinese goods and label the world's No. 2 economy a currency

manipulator.

Such a move would hurt Chinese exports. But it could also trigger a trade war if Beijing retaliates,

catching other Asian economies in the crossfire.

Indian outsourcing giants Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro are heavy users of the H-1B

visas. The IT industry has genuine concerns as Trump has shifted his position several times on the H-

1B program. Further, a planned major regional trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, likely won't

get off the ground. Slower trade flows and rising uncertainty means less investment and weaker growth.

Then there are controls on movement of people, the risk of capital repatriation back to the U.S. and

major security concerns. Asia is the world's manufacturing hub and many nations are export-dependent,

putting them at risk if trade barriers start rising. China was the U.S.'s biggest trading partner last year,

and if trade restrictions are imposed on the nation, the knock-on effects on the rest of Asia would be

substantial.

NATIONAL ECONOMY

While the world grapples with a sudden spurt in uncertain tendencies, welfare economics seems to

be the biggest scapegoat. A look around the continents confirms this rather dubious trend. With a

staggering unemployment scenario and stagnating economies all over, people are fed up of empty

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governmental promises and the absence of concrete results. The concept of equitable distribution

has virtually become redundant. Consequently, the gap between the rich and the poor is widening

globally with each passing day.

Our own motherland India isn't poised any better. While words by themselves are powerful, they seldom

make a difference unless hard facts are presented in the form of numbers. As they rightfully say,

numbers never lie. So, let us look at some unflattering numbers. To start with, we often measure

economic development in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GDP is nothing but the cumulative

monetary measure of all the goods and services produced by a country in a given year. Usually, the

economic growth rate is calculated in terms of the year-over-year change in the GDP figures. However,

this parameter hardly says anything about the economy of a country. What is more important is the

growth in per capita GDP or the economic value created per person. Unfortunately though, the World

Bank has pegged the GDP and per capita GDP of the country at $2.2 trillion and $1,800 respectively

for the year 2016. The same organization forecasts India's GDP and population to grow at 7 and 1.4

percent respectively for the next five years. If these forecasts are anything to go by, India's per capita

GDP won't be any higher than what it is today even in 2022.

The burgeoning bad debt problem of the Bank continues to constrain growth. Thus the firms and

lenders have become over-cautious thereby leading to a shortage in capital expenditure. Stalled

projects add to the woes. The government at the centre signaled its intention to get tough on economic

offenders who have burdened India's banking system with bad loans, but there has been no concrete

action to tackle the non-performing asset problem of the Indian banks. The public sector banks have

had a tough run in the last few years with the surge in bad loans. While the Finance Minister presenting

the Union budget this year, underlined the need to strengthen the public sector banks, there was no

concrete announcement on the measures that the government is planning to take to ensure that the

level of NPAs comes down. To add to the woes, there is no law which will allow the banks to confiscate

the domestic assets of the defaulters, who flee the country. High profile willful defaulter like Vijay

Mallya could not be brought back from the UK till date despite several cases against him. The

government has even failed to publish the list of the willful defaulters, just to leave aside the question

of bringing in any stringent law to initiate criminal proceedings against them. This is really disappointing

for the banking sector which is struggling with the aftermath of demonetization due to the mismatch of

asset and liability. The deposits have gone up in the books of the banks and hence they need to

quickly get back to the business of lending. Unfortunately, due to failure of the government to bring in

force any concrete mechanism to deal with the willful defaulters, the banks and the financial institutions

are hesitant in lending. The present government at the centre or the banking regulator Reserve Bank

of India is not at all bothered about helping the public sector banks to overcome the menace of rising

NPAs and regaining the health of the PSBs. To the contrary, they are busy with their ill-motivated steps

of merging the banks and selling the stakes to the private players which is sure to have devastating

impact on the economy of our country.

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Unemployment is an area about which the government at the centre now talks less. Estimates suggest

that about 10 lakhs young citizens are entering the country's job market every month. That's 1.2 crore

every year. It's a huge number. The government doesn't seem to have a plan to how to face this young

crowd. India's unemployment rate has shot up manifold in 2015-16. About 77 percent of Indian

households do not have regular wage/salaried person.

Here, one needs to look at the previous years' numbers to understand how serious is the 2015-16

figure. India's unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in 2013-14, 4.7 percent in 2012-13), 3.8 percent in

2011-12. The increasing unemployment rate thus raises questions on the quality of GDP growth in

India. Why such high rate of joblessness? Lack of investments to set up new factories and small-

scale industries could be one reason. Increasing mechanization and companies focusing more on

higher profit at the cost of the existing employees and without hiring new staff, could be second.

When domestic demand is shrinking and global economy is also experiencing recessionary trend,

export also is gradually reducing thereby slashing down the existing jobs and narrowing down of the

prospects of new jobs. Till the time higher growth doesn't translate into higher number of jobs and

better income for the needy, China-beating economic growth or India being the centre-stage of the

world are merely feel-good ideas on the paper for majority of India's aam aadmi. This can eventually

lead to unrest and negative sentiments among the masses.

If the statistics are to be believed, India is the second-most unequal country in the world. The richest

1% of Indians own 58.4% of wealth. The richest 10 % of the Indians own 80.7 % of the wealth. This

trend is going in the upward direction every year, which means the rich are getting richer and the poor

are getting poorer. The widening income disparity can be accounted for by India's badly shaped

agricultural and rural safety nets. Unfortunately, agriculture is in a state of collapse. Per capita food

production is going down. Rural infrastructure such as power, road transport facilities are in a poor

state. The rural job scheme and public distribution system are performing far below their potential.

This has added to the suffering of rural India while market forces are acting in favour of urban India,

which is why it is progressing at a faster rate. The growing income inequality in India has negatively

impacted poor citizens' access to education and healthcare. People working in unorganized sectors

are the worst sufferers of economic inequality. They are characterized by low wages; long working

hours; lack of basic services such as first aid, drinking water and sanitation. The present government

in India, through their pro-corporate and anti-poor policies is allowing the stark income inequality to

increase more than ever. While the government reduces allocation for Education, Health and other

services, it gives enormous relief in various forms to the private corporates.

Another massive source of concern for the Indian economy remains oil prices. A hike in the oil prices

by a modest $70 per barrel is potent enough to raise the country's fiscal deficit by 0.4 percent of the

GDP and the current account deficit by 0.6 percent of the GDP during the next fiscal year. It might

deteriorate the already worsening inflationary trends.

We all know that India is an agrarian country with around 70% of its people depending directly or

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indirectly upon agriculture. Farmer suicides account for 11.2% of all suicides in India. Farmer suicides

have been steadily increasing over the years. On an average, substantial number of farmers ended

their lives each year between 1990's to 2013. Even during the NDA rule, since 2014, average 12,000

farmers are committing suicide annually. It is important to note that these suicides are happening on

a decreasing base of farmers. Farmer count has fallen by 9 million since 2001, which makes the

increased suicide rates that much more alarming. The falling count of farmers is also a very dangerous

trend; it indicates that the number of farmers in our country are declining which might jeopardize our

self sufficiency and pave the way for more and more import of food grains for our own consumption.

There is no doubt that our agrarian community is facing a crisis. But questions arise on the exact

nature and reasons behind the deepening problem. Farmer suicides have largely been attributed to

debt, drought, crop failure or poor returns. But with such low incomes and high costs of cultivation,

their main source of capital for farming remains loan and their main sources of loan are moneylenders.

As they try to break-even and somehow pay off their debts with exorbitant rates of interest, a weather

shock or price fluctuation will push them into yet another cycle of borrowing. Unable to cope with

mounting debt and the inability to take care of their families, many choose to end their lives. Post

liberalisation, cutbacks in agricultural subsidies combined with the necessity to meet the international

standards of quality increased the costs of input. There was also a demand for cash crops like cotton

in the global market. Hence, a considerable part of the sector saw a government encouraged shift

from foodgrain to cash crop cultivation. However, due to an excess of such products in the market,

prices fell making cash crops uneconomical. This was the late 1990's -the time from when farmer

suicides began to be recorded on a large scale. Production costs have steadily risen in the years

since but market prices have not seen a corresponding increase. Furthermore, public investment in

agriculture gradually reduced - a move that has resulted in the lack of uniform modernisation, irrigation

facilities, communications and information systems, and storage facilities. Credit supply to farmers

diminished at the same time, forcing them to rely on moneylenders. Private companies and state-run

Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) reject many applicants due to the lack of collateral or land titles. The

coverage of crop insurance schemes is low. Successive governments have focused more on control

rather than prevention. It will take more than short-term measures and disproportionately implemented

programmes to wade through the crisis. The wave of farmer suicides may be avoided if there are

proper irrigation system, weather forecast information, competent crop insurance, buffer stocks in

cold storage facilities, etc.

On a different note, it is quite unfortunate to see that there is a growing politics over the Farmers Debt

Waiver Scheme. The government at the centre is in a quandary in the wake of the Uttar Pradesh

elections success over the promise made by PM to waive off farmers loans there. The expected

move by Centre to waive off loans of farmers in Uttar Pradesh has led to similar demands emerging

from farmers in other states too. The Union Agricultural Minister made no such commitment to farmers

in other states even after several protests by the farmers and the demands of members of Parliament

(MPs), in the Parliament. There is a growing demand for debt waiver across the country and not the

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poll bound states alone. Let us take a recent instance; What sort of desperation pushes someone to

play dead for an entire day? Lying still, mouth tied with a cloth, surrounded by skulls and bones, the

farmers from Tamil Nadu recently went to New Delhi to raise their protest and demand for government's

aid. Not that the country's capital does either, but Jantar Mantar is considered the hub for all protests.

The farmers have attracted some media attention, albeit because of the macabre sight of the skulls

and bones of other farmers from Tamil Nadu who killed themselves. Over 270 farmers in Tamil Nadu

have reportedly committed suicide since October last year. Wearing loincloth, they even climbed the

trees at Jantar Mantar in order to attract attention. But beyond the novelty of their protests, it did little

to get them any relief. Farmer deaths continue to be reduced to statistics, an apathetic way of dealing

with a very real human crisis.

However, it is also true that loan waiver cannot be the permanent solution and it can bring only short-

term benefits and temporary relief. A concrete reorientation of policy is crucial to stopping this

depressing trend. Farmers in the country are desperate for help. But taking their lives isn't the answer,

a nationwide farmer movement to demand for reform is. A revolution saved agriculture once, it can

again.

To further complicate the scenario, the sudden move of demonetization served a body blow to any

optimism that might have crept in. This particular step by the centre substantially weakened the market

sentiments thereby lowering the aggregate demand. To top it all, this year's budget was a huge

dampener. Oversimplified projections and unrealistic optimisms were rife rather than realistic and

pragmatic considerations. What we are sitting on now is a huge mess! With labour rights further

constricted and the value of labour reduced, there is a strong possibility that things would get awry

unless some decisive economic steps are undertaken. To ameliorate the plight of the agrarian economy,

it requires a series of measures instead of one time debt relief. During the last parliamentary election

campaign, BJP clearly committed to the country to give minimum support price of 150% of the input

cost of agriculture. But after coming to power, this aspect has been conveniently forgotten. Even after

so much of advancement in science & technology, Indian Agriculture still depends on the vagaries of

monsoon. Cost of seeds, fertilizers and other inputs are rising everyday beyond the reach of the

farmers. Unless these issues are taken care of by the government, days are not very far when we as

a nation will lose our self sufficiency in food and will have to start depending on imports.

When the economy has been facing so many of problems, govt all of a sudden demonetized 86% of

the total currency in circulation within a span of just 4 hours. The objectives as stated were curbing

black money, corruption, terror funding and fake currency. When none of the stated objectives appear

to have succeeded, the economy was very adversely hit and the worst hit was the unorganized sector

and rural economy. Several lakhs of workers were rendered jobless. Meanwhile, the World Bank

decelerated India's growth for 2016-17 fiscal to 7 per cent from its previous estimate of 7.6 due to

demonetization and in the quarter 4 results of the last fiscal 2016-17, our actual GDP growth was only

6.1%.

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CHANGE TO GRATUITY ACT :

The government is likely to bring a change to The Payment of Gratuity Act to make gratuity up to Rs.

20 lakh tax-free very soon. The change to the Payment of Gratuity Act will not only raise the tax-free

portion of the gratuity but also allow the government to increase it through the executive order in the

future. Ceiling on gratuity will be linked to inflation and that way it would be raised through an executive

order in the future, if the Bill is passed by Parliament. Earlier, the labour ministry and trade unions

reached an understanding in this regard.

However, trade unions have also demanded other changes, including a change in the current formula

of calculation of gratuity to increase the number of days for which gratuity is calculated from 15 days in

a year to 26 days. Currently, gratuity received is tax-free to the extent that it does not exceed 15 days'

salary for every completed year of service. The unions have also demanded removal of the five-year

ceiling. Currently, one gets gratuity only if he has completed five years of service. The Act applies to

those establishments where the number of employees is not fewer than 10.

PF PROPOSAL FOR UNORGANISED SECTOR WORKERS :

With the government proposing to include workers in the unorganized sector in the pension fund

scheme, the central workers unions have welcomed the move.

ADHAR AND MONEY BILL

The Aadhar Bill allows for unprecedented surveillance of every citizen and a massive invasion of

privacy. By introducing the Adhar Bill as Money Bill, the govt deliberately evaded any discussions on

the Bill in Rajya Sabha and the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha with the majority of the ruling party which

by any standard cannot be said to be democratic. Further, the government's current plans of linking

Adhar with the Bank Accounts, PAN Card, all social sector schemes, linkage with booking of railway

and air tickets and so on and so forth will lead to surveillance on citizens and any compromise of the

data base of the citizens will surely end in a disaster. From the bankers' perspective, the linkage of

Adhar with the bank accounts along with many disruptive technological initiatives of the Govt without

adequate man-power and infrastructure will pose a major challenge.

UNION CABINET APPROVES FOUR GST BILLS

The Parliament and almost all the state governments by now have passed the much hyped GST Bill

and it is going to be in force from 01.07.2017. From 1st of July, throughout the country, we are going

to have uniform tax rates for all goods and services and as claimed by the Finance Ministry, it is going

to have significant positive impact in our economy. But, this is another way of centralization of authority

and utter disregard for democracy in the sense that in a country like that of ours, where the state

governments are managed by various political parties/groups having different economic philosophies,

they are completely denied their right to decide the rate of taxation/the relief they want to extend to

their citizens.

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RBI BI-MONTHLY MONETARY POLICY

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its first bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2017-18 kept its key

lending rate unchanged at 6.25 per cent. The central bank said that it was awaiting further

macroeconomic data before making changes. However, the bank narrowed the policy corridor and

hiked the reverse repo rate to six percent. Consequent upon the narrowing of the LAF (liquidity

adjustment facility) corridor, the reverse repo rate under the LAF is at 6.0 per cent, and the marginal

standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate are at 6.50 per cent.

RESTRICTION ON CASH TRANSACTION :: The income tax department has notified that the ban

on cash transaction in excess of Rs 2 lakh will not be applicable to withdrawals from banks and post

office savings accounts.. Through the Finance Act 2017, the government has banned cash transactions

of over Rs 2 lakh and said a penalty of an equal amount would be levied on the receiver. In a clarification

on the newly inserted Section -- 269ST -- in the I-T Act, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)

clarified that the restriction shall not apply to withdrawal from banks and post offices.

SBI REDUCES MCLR :: In a development that will bring some cheer to borrowers who raised loans

prior to April 1, 2016, the country's largest public lender State Bank of India (SBI) announced a cut in

its base rate by 15 basis points (bps) to 9.10 per cent. The new rates were effective from April 1,

2017. Earlier, the base rate stood at 9.25 per cent. The marginal cost-based lending rate (MCLR),

however, remains unchanged. The six-month MCLR rate is at 7.95 per cent while the three-year rate

stands at 8.15 per cent. According to an estimate, only 30 to 40 per cent of total floating rate loans are

linked to MCLR while the rest are still linked to the base rate. Banks' fixed deposit rates are trending

down which badly impact the average depositors.

SBI MERGER :: The merger of five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank with country's largest

lender State Bank of India (SBI) added 70,000 more employees to the current strength of 2,07,000,

taking total number of staff to 270,000. However, a huge chunk of employees of five associate entities

of SBI have also applied for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS).

As the merger of State Bank of India's (SBI) associate banks with SBI has been effected, a report has

emerged that the government-owned corporation may look for cost-cutting efforts. According to a top

official, the total workforce may see a reduction over the next two years, after the merger with six

entities, owing to attrition, reduced hiring and digitization. It is also expected that manpower will go

down with the period of time. Around 10 per cent reduction in two years is a possibility.

SBI IMPOSES MINIMUM BALANCE CHARGE AND REVISED CHARGES :: State Bank of India

(SBI) has imposed a penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance in accounts besides effecting

a revision in charges on other services, including ATMs. As per the list of revised charges of the SBI,

effective from April 1, 2017, failure to maintain Monthly Average Balance (MAB) in accounts will attract

penalty of up to Rs 100 plus service tax. In metropolitan areas, there will be a charge of Rs 100 plus

service tax, if the balance falls below 75 per cent of the MAB of Rs 5,000. If the shortfall is 50 per cent

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or less of the MAB, then the bank will charge Rs 50 plus service tax. For branches falling in urban and

semi-urban areas, customers are required to maintain an average of Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 2,000,

respectively while the minimum balance in rural branches is Rs. 1,000.

State Bank of India has decided to increase the minimum balance required for maintaining savings

account from April 1, hitting 31 crore depositors including pensioners and students. The monthly

average balance (MAB) requirement has been increased to as high as Rs 5,000 for branches in six

metros. Savings bank account holders of SBI and its five associates (merged with it on April 1) will

have to maintain the monthly balance or else they will invite a penalty ranging from Rs 20 (rural branches)

to Rs 100 in (metro cities). SBI has 31 crore savings bank accounts. As of now, monthly average

balance (MAB) for a savings bank account is Rs 500 without facility of cheque book and Rs 1,000

with cheque book across the country. India's largest bank has now decided to fix separate MABs for

'metro', 'urban', 'semi-urban' and 'rural' areas from the beginning of this financial year.

EXTRADITION OF VIJAY MALLYA :: The UK has conveyed to India that its request for extradition of

industrialist Vijay Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender, has been certified by the

secretary of state. The UK Home department on February 21, 2017 conveyed that the request of India

for extradition of Mallya has been certified by the secretary of state and sent to the Westminster

Magistrates' Court for a district judge to consider the issue of releasing of warrant, External Affairs

Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said. The development is a step forward towards securing the

extradition of the fugitive businessman wanted in India for loan default of over Rs 9,000 crore.

PLASTIC CURRENCY :: The Reserve Bank (RBI) has been authorized to conduct field trials of

plastic notes of Rs 10 that have a longer life span.

EXTENSION TO CEA :: The tenure of Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanian has been

extended by two more years. With this extension, Subramanian will now remain in office till October

2019. Subramanian, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington,

was appointed to the post in October in 2014 for a three-year term, months after the new BJP-led

NDA government was voted to power.

FINANCE BILL 2017 ::The Lok Sabha has approved the Finance Bill 2017, clearing the decks for an

earlier-than-usual implementation of the Union budget. The lower house cleared the Bill rejecting five

amendments recommended by the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling coalition is in a minority.

BANKING SECTOR

The Indian Banking System consists of 27 Public Sector Banks, 20 Private Sector Banks, 43 Foreign

Banks, 82 RRBs, 1589 Urban Co-operative Banks and 93550 Rural co-operative Banks in addition

to co-operative credit institutions. The Indian Banking Sector's assets reached US $ 1.8 trillion in

F.Y.2014 from US $ 1.3 trillion in F.Y.2010, with more than 75 percent of it being accounted for by the

public sector. Total lending and deposits increased at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of

20.70 percent and 19.70 percent respectively during the F.Y. 2007-2014.

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On the one hand, there will be tremendous pressure on the part of the policy makers to implement

cashless economy and moreover Banks will fight its resources out to meet the much hyped Basel III

norms, apart from finding it difficult to reconcile with the economic policies of President Mr. Donald

Trump which promises to be something unusual.

It seems the economy in the country is in a fragile state of affairs and the Banks are confronting with as

to how the growth rate is achieved and sustained. In the field of advances there has been very tepid

growth as the corporates are refusing to take investment calls and the growth in deposit has been just

9.1% during the year 2016 recording a 53 years low. However, there has been a steady increase in

NPA growth and it is eating away the profits of the banks. On the one hand, when it is becoming

increasingly difficult for the Banks to find suitable investment opportunities, the non availability of

strong and stringent enforceable laws towards recovery of defaulted money is landing the Bank in a

very bad spot on the other and is posing threat to its overall health.

Against the above mentioned backdrop, in coming years the entire demography of Banking as well

as the financial institutions in the country will experience a paradigm shift. In 2015 we had seen

establishment of two new universal banks, there are another 10 small finance banks and eight payment

banks coming into being. Such new entrants are definitely going to further intensify competition among

the banks/ financial institutions particularly in the suburban places of India with new products and

higher rates to attract depositors and lower loan rate to attract advances.

Indian Banks are increasingly focusing on adopting integrated approach to risk management. Banks

have already embraced the international banking supervision accord of Basel II. As per RBI all the

banks are today meeting the capital requirement as per the international standards. Most of the Banks

have put in place the framework for Asset Liability match, Credit and Derivatives risk management.

Meanwhile, the present Government has been planning to cut its share in the public sector banks

below 50 percent. That is the reason why on the one hand Government has already agreed to comply

with the Basel III norms which is otherwise more stringent than the Basel II and on the other hand

propagating a message that it cannot support the public sector banks for recapitalization as they do

not have sufficient fund for recapitalization of the Banks. Since 1990s, one after another committees

were set up, the latest being P.J. Nayak Committee who made recommendation to dilute the shares

of the Government in banks to below 50 percent. During the last few years although the Government

has provided some fund for capitalization of the banks, it is too meager to meet the requirements of

capital as per the Basel III norms which is a direct indication that the Indian Banks would be forced to

go for public issue to manage the capital crunch pertaining to obligatory/voluntary compliance of

Basel III Norms and thereby put steps forward to privatization. However, it remains a matter to ponder

whether the Nationalized Banks really need to revamp its capital base to instill more confidence

amongst the depositors and shareholders when Govt. itself stands as guarantor or it is a covert attempt

to change the fabric of Banking System in the country to suit the interest of the IMF and World Bank.

The idea of Basel -III was primarily mooted after the crisis of 2007-2008, when the Basel Committee

on Banking Supervision (BCBS) tightened its norms in the form of Basel III to ensure maintenance of

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safety buffer. There is still lack of clarity as to whether banks in advanced countries are going to follow

the same or not. It is also not a part of the agreed treaty. Indian Public Sector banks being Government

owned there is no reason why such stringent capital norms have to be followed by the PSBs. Even if

they have to comply with, they could have bought some more time. But the Govt. has chosen not to do

so. This raises the question as to how much additional capital would the PSBs need and at which

points in time. There are widely varying answers to the question ranging from 1.5 lac crores to 4.5 lac

crores between financial year 2015 and financial year 2019 keeping the non-performing assets growth

and credit growth respectable.

Another menace that the Banking Sector is confronting day in and day out is the menace of day by

day rising of NPAs. This menace is pervading the entire industry. Its soaring trend has largely been

contributed to by genuine business factors like the fall of demand due to sluggish worldwide industrial

growth, tottering economy, inflation, higher interest cost. But importantly, no less significant were the

factors like diversion of funds, willful default, purchase of capital assets out of working capital funds,

rampant unauthorized diversification and a host of other unethical and unlawful actions by the borrowers

in swelling non-performing assets (NPAs). Mostly, they are big borrowers/ big corporate houses and

are patronized by the powerful lobby and political parties. A colossal amount of profit is being eaten

up by this menace and no sincere effort has ever been made to book these offenders for obvious

reasons and an attempt is in evidence to make the lower level officials of the Bank a scapegoat.

Junior level officers are harassed, booked and tainted in a bid to safeguard high-profile offenders.

Defined regulations and its public sector character could save our Banking system from the global

crisis. However, in the name of Banking Sector Reforms, the Government is taking various steps and

measures to liberalize and de-regulate the banking sector. Unfortunately, the Government is serious

on these retrograde reform measures. But the real bane in the banking industry is being deliberately

ignored. Bad loans in the Banks are hitting the roof. Deliberate and willful defaulters are being

ridiculously spared in case of high value advances. India needs a very strong and well-regulated

banking system and any attempt to de-regulate banks in the name of reforms is wrong and fraught

with grave consequences.

When NPA is ruining the workforce the most the govt. policies and its implementation has never been

a less troublesome for the Bankers as well it seems bankers are being forced to do everything other

than pure banking. Govt. wants to implement financial inclusion- ask bankers to do the same within 2

months, demonetization, withdrawal of 500 and 1000 denomination notes-call bankers work on

Saturday, Sunday, leave days, Income Tax collection- push bankers, sell gold- call bankers, collect

school/college fees- engage bankers, Prime Minister all free yojanas - rely on bankers, Adhar linkage-

Tell Bankers, Gas subsidy- Ask Bankers, Election time- call bankers on election duty,, People do not

pay loans - Fix bankers. Demonetization scheme fails- Blame the Bankers.

Indian banking system seems gradually losing its autonomy and the control mechanism seems to be

handled more by the Govt. than by RBI. The time tested Banking system that had since contributed

immensely in Nation building is gradually shifting its objective towards profit making rather than

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contributing in social upliftment, the motive, with which the Banks were nationalized way back in 1969.

However, the Govt. is hell bent in its agenda of merging of Nationalized Banks. To start with the Govt

has to push for the creation of a giant by merging the State Bank of India with its associate banks. The

quest to create an Indian bank that will be in the league of global giant is however influencing govt's

blindness towards some vital issues :

l The merger move comes at a time when the most important issue facing by Indian banks and the

economy as a whole is day by day rising of bad loans with the banking system.

l The argument that size is going to determine the future of the bank in a globalised scenario is

facile. It bears more danger at the time of crisis and what happened to the global banks which

collapsed during the global financial crisis might be still fresh in our mind and if we rightly remember

the small banks did survive the crisis due to their nimbleness and niche areas they operate in.

l Mergers will result in shifting/closure of many branches, ATMs, as won't be prudent economically to

keep many banks concentrating in several pockets. This will definitely affect the govt's much hyped

plan of financial inclusion and the spirit with which the banks were once nationalized would face a

setback.

l The weakness of small banks may get transferred to the bigger bank.

l Mergers will result in immediate job losses on account of VRS on one side and slow down or

stoppage of further recruitment on the other. This will worsen the unemployment situation further

and may create law and order problems and social disturbances.

l New power center will emerge in the changed environment. Mergers will result in clash of different

organizational cultures. Conflict will arise in the area of systems and processes too.

l When big bank books huge loss or crumbles, there will be a big jolt in the entire banking industry. Its

repercussions will be felt everywhere.

l Also India right now needs more banking expansion rather than more banking consolidation; in

other words, it needs more banks rather than fewer banks and need to understand that large banks

are not necessarily better bank.

It is important that the govt exercises total transparency while going to decide on such a sensitive

issue having the potential to bring in collapse to nation's economy it should thus ensure :

l All stake holders are taken into confidence before the merger exercise is carried out.

l The Govt. shall not be guided by the agenda of IMF and World Bank in bank merger.

Of late, Banks Board Bureau chairman Vinod Rai said that the government is keen on bank

consolidation, but not before building strong balance sheet by addressing the bad debt problem. We

are aware that five associate banks of the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank

became part of SBI on 1st April in a merger which is seen as the likely first step in the consolidation of

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India's banking system. So, there is a major challenge for the public sector banks to thwart the steps

of the government and the RBI to merge the public sector banks.

It is very ironical to note that at one hand, the RBI is vouching for merger of Banks and on the other, it

is granting approval to several entities, mostly corporate, to set up payment banks. Govt argument in

this regard appear to be very silly in a sense that on the one hand, they are talking about competition

while initiating the process of opening of small banks and payment banks and in the same breath they

are also talking in the terms of merger/consolidation and reduce the number of banks/branches. Even

after seventy years of Independence, we miserably failed to extend banking facilities for a large

percentage of our countrymen. At this juncture, reduction in the number of banks/branches will further

deprive the weaker/marginalized class of people from the public sector banking and private banks

will occupy the vacant space. But, obviously private sector banks will not prefer to go to remote centres

to serve this set of people instead they will target the potential areas of urban and metro centres.

The two-day Gyan Sangam summit for the second time after 2015 ended without any policy

announcement but with the government reiterating its commitment to taking more steps to boost the

sector.

The Finance Minister said that the government would consider all suggestions that banks had made

and added that while no decision on any proposals has been taken, the government was actively

looking into forming a bank consolidation committee and tweak laws such as the SARFAESI and with

respect to the debt recovery tribunal.

However, analysts were not impressed saying that in the absence of any concrete announcement, any

qualitative commentary will unlikely to offer cues into what definite steps the government will take to

fight the ongoing NPA crisis in the banking system.

Besides, at the Gyan Sangam, a lot of discussion took place between the bankers that focused on

using digital technologies to revolutionize the way banking is done in the country.

In short, there was nothing in the Finance Minister's conference that indicated any material decision

was taken that will change the plight of the industry.

TURNAROUND PLAN

CENTRE SEEKS BANKS' TURNAROUND PLANS :

The Finance Ministry has written to 10 public sector banks, including IDBI Bank, Bank of Maharashtra,

United Bank of India, Andhra Bank and Indian Overseas Bank, making it clear that the lenders would

only get further capital infusion once they submit a time-bound turnaround plan.

The Centre, which has mandated State Bank of India's merchant banking arm SBI Caps to vet each

bank's plan, wrote to the state-owned lenders stipulating that they would each have to sign a

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government, agreeing to stick to the turnaround plan.

It is said that the government's move to crack the whip on banks comes after some banks reported

losses in the financial year 2015-16. Bad loans zoomed following the Reserve Bank of India's asset

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quality review, which required banks to classify many accounts identified by the banking regulator as

'bad'. The RBI said it wanted to clean up banks' balance sheets by March 2017.

In its financial stability report, RBI had said banks may remain risk averse in the near future as they

clean up their balance sheets and their capital position may remain insufficient to support higher

credit growth.

In 2015, under the Indradhanush plan, the government had announced capital infusion of Rs.70,000

crore in public sector banks for four years, starting from 2015-16. In the first two financial years, Rs.

25,000 crore had been earmarked per year with Rs. 10,000 crore to be disbursed in each of the

remaining two years. Credit rating agencies had pointed out that the sum was insufficient as banks

needed to meet Basel-III norms as well as make provisions for rising bad loans.

Recently, United Bank of India, Andhra Bank, IOB and Dena Bank informed the stock exchanges that

they had received capital "as part of turnaround-linked infusion plan". Interestingly, for the first time,

the employees' unions have been made a party to the proposed agreement. The employees' unions

of these 10 banks also met to decide the future course of action. The other lenders included in the list

are Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Dena Bank and UCO Bank.

GOVT. PROPOSAL TO CUT STAFF BENEFITS FOR CAPITAL

The government has also asked the 10 public sector banks (PSBs) to curtail employee benefits,

including industry-standard pay hikes, if these want to receive any capital. If the unions agree, benefits

such as leave travel concessions and perks could go for a few years till the banks returned to health.

All three Kolkata-based banks - United Bank of India, UCO Bank and Allahabad Bank - have got this

diktat. The letter has also gone to Indian Overseas Bank, Vijaya Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of

India, Andhra Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Dena Bank.

UNITED FORUM OF BANK UNIONS-UFBU :

The Umbrella Organisation, United Forum of Bank Unions constituted in the year 1996 is a broader

forum comprising of 9 unions representing nearly 100% of bank employees and officers working in

the Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks. Foreign Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Co-

operative Banks. The forum came into being with the emergent issue to counter the move of the

Board of UCO Bank in wage freeze and subsequently expanded its horizon to bring within its framework

the common issues confronting the Bank employees and Officers. The forum since then has been

taking up the issues concerning Officer, Employees of the Banking sector with Govt./ IBA for resolution.

It was the UFBU who advocated submission of a joint charter of demands by the workman and officers

organization to IBA jointly and has since long been negotiating body of wage settlements and other

trade union related issues including trying and formulating better service conditions, work environments

for the Banking professionals.

Under the Banner of UFBU not only agitation and strikes were observed for clinching issues before

the IBA/Government but also opposing the financial and labour law reforms and any such matter that

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is affecting the life and dignity of the employees in the Banking sector. The UFBU also gave fraternal

support to the joint Strike calls given by the Central Trade Unions against economic policy of the

Government of India from time to time and also actively participated on many occasions. As a matter

of fact joint struggles under the banner of UFBU gave us a tremendous strength and also recognition

among the trade union fraternity particularly with the central trade unions. The unions are organizing

various agitation programs jointly under the banner of UFBU since its inception, and it has been very

conspicuous under the prevailing circumstances when the trade unions are under tremendous attack

from all quarter and a greater unity of various constituents is the key for the survival. Comrades, it is

time that the Banking fraternity should understand and realize that SBI being the largest individual

constituent of UFBU, without the employees and officers of SBI, no worthwhile agitation is possible in

the industry and at the same time the employees and officers of SBI alone cannot do much without the

support of other Bank employees. As such broader unity is the call of the day to survive and flourish

the struggle and achieve a fruitful end.

The United forum of Bank Unions, however, is in constant agitation against the various economic and

industrial policies affecting the banking industry. During the period under review, the employees and

officers in the banking industry under the banner of UFBU launched a number of struggles.

11TH BIPARTITE NEGOTIATION TALKS

The first round of meeting was held between the IBA and the constituents of the United Forum of Bank

Unions on 2nd May, 2017 but without any concrete progress. A few of the banks have given a conditional

mandate creating a chaotic and confusing situation in the negotiations, by insisting that they are

allowing mandate for discussions only upto officers of scale III and that the remaining scales will have

to be left to the discretion of the Bank and the same is contradictory to recommendations of the Pillai

Committee for the purpose of standardisation of the salary scales and compensation system in the

Banking industry. This decision will create a huge disparity among the officers community.

UFBU STRIKE ON 29.07.2016

The one day All India Bank Strike on 29th July 2016 by more than 10 lakh bank workmen and officers

has been a stupendous success. The grand success of the united struggle of bank employees all over

the country displays clearly the anguish and concern of the bank employees towards the general

public as well as the entire labour force in the country. At the call of United Forum of Bank Unions, the

entire workmen and officers in the banking industry observed a day's All India Bank Strike opposing

the adamant attitude of the Government in pursuing the reform measures in the banking sector ultimately

paving the way for the private players to wipe out the public sector character prevalent across the

country, proposals for consolidation of banks while granting licenses to private players for opening

small banks, neglecting in full the ways and means to recover the soaring bad loans in the Public

Sector Banks, the ill-fated, anti-labour amendments to labour laws of the country. Despite persistent

opposition from all trade unions not only in the banking sector but also from all the trade unions in the

country, the Government has been adamantly pursuing the anti-public banking, financial and labour

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reform measures, which are detrimental to the general public and the entire work force in the country.

Reports pouring in from different parts of the country confirm that the strike is total with massive rallies

and demonstrations conducted by the entire membership all over the country. The stupendous success

of the strike should be an eye-opener to the Government and we hope and believe the emotional

protest of the bank employees are duly noticed by the Government and given due cognizance. 29th

July strike was the need of the hour for the country. A message needed to be sent - Save Public Sector

for the good of our Country & its citizens. And we rightly have. We do & did our duty to our countrymen,

selflessly. Our objective is to save them from the evil clutches of a few rich & greedy business houses.

Indeed, this, for AIBOC, was a Save India Campaign. Nothing more & Nothing less. Comrades - The

battle is not yet over - We may have to continue our agitations to a greater extent till we achieve our

goal. While we thank wholeheartedly our entire membership for its excellent display of unity in sending

strong signal to the Government to halt in entirety the path of reforms, we appeal to the entire

membership in readiness to implement further agitation programmes, if any, decided by the UFBU in

the days to come. We once again place on record our sincere thanks to all of our militant members

who have lent their total support to our agitation launched in the interests of general public and the

entire workforce in the country.

ALL INDIA BANK STRIKE ON 28 FEBRUARY 2017 :

The all India Bank Strike, called under the banner of UFBU on 28/02/ 2017 has been a grand success

in the circle with all the bank branches across the banking sector remained closed and the offices non

functional. During the day picketing, demonstration, media briefs were organized to raise public

awareness about issues of greater economic concern that was not monopolized with banking

professionals but also had significant public interest at large.

ALL INDIA BANK OFFICERS CONFEDERATION (AIBOC) :

The confederation came into being in the year 1985 and by the way has crossed 32 glorious years.

The AIBOC commenced its journey under the leadership of some of the dynamic and vibrant leaders

of the officers' fraternity.

AIBOC, as a guiding principle of its constitution is committed to function as an independent

organization. It absorbs all streams of opinions but in decision making, is guided by collective leadership

and democratic trade unions functioning. AIBOC took the lead in forging unity in trade union movement

and actively associated itself with formation of United Forum of Bank Unions, the rallying point of

industry level unions commanding 100% membership of employees and Officers in the industry.

The policy declaration when it was adopted in the foundation conference held at Chennai on 6th October

1985 had set certain core values for the administration of the organization. It is today well settled in all

the affiliate of the Confederation. One of the greatest contribution of the confederation has been the

strong opposition that it could register against the ill advised moves of the Government towards reforms

in the financial sector and attempted efforts to hand over the same to the private sector.

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The confederation is also responsible for strengthening the structured forum at the industry level through

regular interaction and rising of several issues affecting the industry with the IBA, the Reserve Bank of

India and the government, at periodical intervals. The IBA was compelled to discuss all those issues

which affect the interest of the employees and officers in the Banking industry and the interest of the

common man as well. Thus it provided an excellent platform for all those who are interested in defending

the public ownership of banking industry.

AIBOC in its vigorous persuasion of the mission of saving the public sector as well as to come to the

rescue of the farmers came out with the slogan of Save Public Sector, Save farmers and Save India

which also was the theme for this year May Day celebration.

AIBOC is guided by India's constitutional aim of establishing a socialist secular democracy. It stands

for self-reliant and sovereign Indian nation. It has perceived the government economic policy enunciated

in 1991 as a weapon to destroy our Public Sector and path of self-reliance. AIBOC has consistently

opposed this new policy direction of the Government and had participated in united trade union actions

within and outside the industry against such policies.

Apart from its pivoted role and its contribution towards the improvement of the Bank Officers' service

condition and also in establishing bilateral rights to the supervisory cadre, the Confederation is fully

aware of its commitment to the society as well. Various social services are also undertaken through

the affiliates at different parts of our country from time to time. For effective communication and

dissemination of information, AIBOC is bringing out a monthly journal 'common Bond' which has become

quite popular among Officers not only in the Banking Industry but the financial sector as a whole.

11TH TRIENNIAL CONFERANCE OF AIBOC :

The 11th Triennial General body Meeting of the AIBOC was held on 16th of March at Jaipur amidst a

huge participation of nearly 2000 delegates including observers. The three day program started with

a huge procession by the officers across the Banks and hit the street with skyrocketing slogans and

salutes renting the air with reverberating resonance. The evening function was marked with the flavour

of Rajasthani Culture and tradition to mark a wonderful beginning of the three days extravaganza.

During the three days conference the General Secretary Comrade Harvinder Singh placed a detail

secretarial report before the jam packed house at Rabindranath Tagore HS School Auditorium. As

much as 180 speakers representing different Banks/ Circles/ Affiliates placed their views on Secretarial

Report, amidst which 4 of the speakers Namely, Comrade Basudeb Chatterjee, Comrade Suraj Nath,

Comrade Sanjib Sen and Comrade Bhupen Bora were from our Circle. The speakers from our Circle

Highlighted different issues concerning the circle in particular and the Banking Industry in general,

such as, North East Allowance, Formation of a research wing within AIBOC to study how more and

more youths can be attracted towards the arena, Rationalisation of Expenditures and concentrate on

cadre development activities along with the issues pertaining to the RMROs and other technical officers.

During the conference the new committee was formed where the President of AISBOF Comrade D.T.

Franco Rajendra Dev has been unanimously elected as the General Secretary of the Confederation

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with selection of the Dilip Saha of PNBOA as the President. Comrade Rupam Roy the General

Secretary of SBIOA N.E. Circle was coveted with the post of DGS in the confederation. Later on he

was also entrusted with the responsibility of Secretary to the General Secretary AIBOC.

TURNAROUND PLAN FOR THE SO CALLED WEAK BANKS AS SUGGESTED BY AIBOC IN

THE CONTEXT OF GOVT. PROPOSAL

1. We will assure to recover smaller NPAs, where possible, through follow up.

2. The larger NPA's should be recovered through stringent measures and supported by a political

will and owning of responsibility at all levels.

3. Increase credit deposit ratio by giving more loans to smaller borrowers.

4. Demand for credit is huge for rural and semi urban areas which should be part of turnaround plan.

5. Recruit more staff to cater to more borrowers and to meet the expectations of customer service

and for implementing the plans and policies and various poverty alleviation schemes of the

Government.

6. Reduction in extravagant expenditure is possible without touching staff expenses.

7. Avoid meetings in star hotels, reduce electricity expenditure and reduce expenses on unnecessary

travel.

8. Stop cross selling and concentrate on NPA recovery, for few years.

9. Rationalization of accounting procedures of the balance sheet.

10. Foregoing statutory dues from banks like IT.

11. Dividends paid by the Banks to be converted as reserve fund for capital infusion.

12. Tax holidays to banks.

13. Modification of Prudential and provisioning norms to match Indian socioeconomic environmental

etc.

AIBOC also demanded :

I. Immediate meeting with Unions/ Associations by Dept. of Finance, GOI.

II. Immediate appointment of officer/ employee Directors in the board of the Banks.

III. Immediate implementation of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee

on NPA.

IV. Immediate publication of names of willful defaulters and treating willful default as a criminal offence.

V. Immediate release of compensation to Banks for the expenditure incurred in opening 27 crore

Jandhan Accounts, Implementation of pension yojanas and cost incurred and opportunity cost

due to demonetization.

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RECOMMENDATION OF PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON BANK NPA

The Standing Committee on Finance (Chair : Dr. M Veerappa Moily) submitted its report on Non

Performing Assets of Financial Institutions on February 24, 2016. The report makes recommendations

to improve the management, and facilitate recovery of Non-Performing Assets.

The Committee observed that despite the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) taking

several steps, NPAs continue to increase. It observed that banks do not have adequate capability to

undertake credit appraisal. Credit appraisal involves evaluating capacity of the borrower, to ensure

he is capable of repaying the loan. In this context, it recommended that specially empowered

committees should be set up at three levels, namely (i) RBI, (ii) banks, and (iii) borrower, to continuously

monitor large loan portfolios. Further, these committees may be mandated to submit periodical reports

on their findings, to the central government and Parliament.

The Committee observed that currently banks restructure loans on the basis of classification of their

assets, and other benefits related to provisioning. It suggested that banks should carry out such

restructuring by taking into account the temporary inability of the borrower to repay the loan and to

preserve the economic value of the assets. It further suggested that indicators should be developed

for projects when a loan is sanctioned. The indicators would facilitate monitoring of loans, and pre-

empt the possibility of an NPA. The wilful defaulters constitute 21% of the total NPAs of banks. In this

context, it suggested that banks should make names of the top 30 wilful defaulters public. The

Committee recommended that names of companies that have undergone restructuring of their loans,

should also be made public and a change in management of the company should be made mandatory,

in cases involving wilful default, or where funds have been diverted and no recovery is possible.

AIBOC CONDEMNS URJIT PATEL'S COMMENT ON PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS

All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) condemned Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor

Urjit Patel's comments on merger of Public Sector Banks (PSBs).

The RBI Governor made statement that the Indian banking system could be better off if some public

sector banks are consolidated to have fewer and healthier entities and that it would help in dealing

with the problem of stressed assets of these banks. However, the officers' body felt the statement is

an "irresponsible statement".

History is replete with examples of failed mergers. "In fact, most mergers do not yield the desired

synergy and end up in fiasco. The Indian economy will be significantly affected by the mergers as it will

shrink the number of branches. The economically weaker sections of the society will be deprived of

basic banking services and would be gullible to the money lenders. The RBI has been steadfastly

refusing to divulge the names of top corporate willful defaulters. His statement that the private sector

banks are doing better is also not factual, Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd, Catholic Syrian Bank Ltd and even

Axis Bank are not doing well and we demand nationalisation of these banks,

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WEEKLY DEMONSTRATION :

A weekly demonstration has been organized country wise where the participation of all the states of

North East circle has been very prominent. The demonstration marked a huge protest against the

provocative statements made by Governor/ Dy. Governor of RBI on privatization and merger of banks,

opposed vehemently the covert attempt on the part of Govt. to clandestinely hand over banks to private

sector and placed demand for stern action on loan defaulters and recovery of bad loans to strengthen

public sector banks. All the Regional Committee centres across the states participated in huge numbers

from all across the banking sector and rented the air with sky rocketing slogans. This weekly programme

is a befitting demonstration of our strength and solidarity. In between, the other constituents of UFBU

also participated in one or two such demonstrations.

AIBOC, ASSAM STATE UNIT

The 5th Triennial conference of Assam State Committee of AIBOC was held at the SBIOA office at

Bhangagarh on 21st of February 2016. It was a colourful event witnessed by more than 300 Participants

from all the constituents of AIBOC. The house in an emotional note bade farewell to two of the office

bearers namely, Comrade Samir Kumar Mukherjee, the President and Comrade Nepal Das the State

Secretary on account of their superannuation from the Banking Service.

As an agenda item the new committee of the AIBOC Assam State Committee also came into operation

with unanimous selection of Comrade Taher Ahmed as President and Comrade Dilip Roychoudhury

as the State Secretary. The house also selected Comrade Rupam Ray as the Vice President and

Comrade Sanjib Sen as the Treasurer of the State Committee.

A set of different activities marked the interim period in the calendar of AIBOC in red letters, some of

the events unveiled with the new regime taking guard in the affairs under the leadership of the state

Secretary Comrade Dilip Kumar Roychoudhury and President Com. Taher Ahmed are as under :

n In the last concluded triennial general council of AIBOC the following members were elected as the

principal officer bearers unanimously.

President : Comrade Taher Ahmed

Secretary : Comrade Dilip Roychoudhury

Comrade Samir Kumar Mukherjee, erstwhile President of the State Committee, presided over the

meeting amidst a gathering of around 350 members from across the Banks. Comrade G.V. Manimaran,

the senior Vice President of AIBOC Central Committee graced the occasion through his presence in

the meeting as the chief guest. In the meeting, the delegates urged the central leadership to make

regular visits to the different parts of the state so as to take a stock of the situation prevailing here. The

meeting adopted the following resolutions :

(I) To fight against any attack on the PSU Banks.

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(II) To continue our fight for North East allowance to be paid to all

(III) Revisit to the 10th bipartite settlement

(IV) Appointment of officers ' representative in the bank's boards.

Two of the executive members of our state committee, the Secretary Comrade Dilip Kumar

Roychoudhury and Comrade Rupam Roy participated in the Alternate GyanSangam organised by

AIBOC in collaboration with JNU.

n Name of Comrade Biswajit Khound , Vice President of State Unit was proposed as representative

of North East in the save Public Sector campaign committee in the Executive Committee meeting

held at Bhopal.

n The new committee organized a demonstration programme on 22/02/2016 in support of proposed

strike on 29/02/2017 called by UFBU. The strike was a total success with all the branches remaining

closed and the offices remained non functional.

n A delegate of 10 members participated in the March to Parliament programme organized by AIBOC

at Jantar Mantar New Delhi.

n Actively participated in the protest programmes chalked out by the AIBOC from 15th June 2016 by

organizing Demonstrations at all centers

(I) 27th June- Badge Wearing

(ii) 19th July 2016 observed as save Public Sector Day

(iii) 29th July, 2016, One day strike marked a grand success by participation of all constituents of

AIBOC.

n Total preparation was made for the 2nd September strike and participated in all the demonstration

programmes at the call of AIBOC.

n Commemorated the MAY DAY 2016 as Save Public Sector, Save Nation Day. A huge number of

members from all across the banks assembled in the day long programme.

n A massive demonstration organised by AIBOC to register protest against whimsical instructions of

RBI, detrimental to the interest of the bank and bank employees as a whole. Comrade G.V. Manimaran

the senior vice president was also present on the august occasion.

n Observed MAY DAY 2017 in a befitting manner by organizing demonstration under the banner of

AIBOC with the theme of Save Public, Save farmers, Save India. A general meeting of AIBOC

State Committee was also organized to mark the occasion in its true spirit.

n UCO Bank, UBI, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, Allahabad Bank, Bank of India , Assam Gramin Vikash

Bank are the active participants in all the programmes of AIBOC and the MAY DAY.

n Our efforts are on to make other constituents, viz. Central Bank, Vijaya Bank, Dena Bank, Corporation

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Bank, Syndicate Bank, PNB, Andhra Bank, Karnataka Bank, IOB active as they hardly participate

in any of the programmes chalked out by the state committee.

n The State Committee proposes to visit all the Bank/ Branches of the state to intensify our activities

in the state of Assam.

n AIBOC Assam State unit participated in big numbers in the weekly demonstration call given by the

AIBOC as well as UFBU on 09/05/2017 in front of UBI Panbazar Regional Office. The demonstration

was attended by more than 200 participants from across the banking sector to mark it as a huge

success.

OTHER STATE COMMITTEES OF NORTH-EAST

The state committee Tripura has all along been a front runner in terms of implementing any of the

agitation call given by AIBOC. The State marked a huge turn over in all the agitation program of

AIBOC and demonstrated its militancy in 100% implementation of strike program, weekly

demonstrations, etc.

State Committee, Shillong under the able leadership of our comrades organized all the programs as

and when chalked out by the AIBOC. The state committee ensured 100% success during the strike

actions under the call of AIBOC and commemorated all other agitation programs in a befitting manner

to showcase the camaraderie and militancy that the Banking fraternity enjoys. Our comrades in Garo

Hills also deserve a special mention in terms of their spirit and militancy showcased each time there

has been a call to make any of the programs chalked out by AIBOC success.

The State Committee of Manipur has all along been exemplary in its participation in the programs of

AIBOC and has always marked striking significances in terms of the way of participating and

commemorating of any event, be it organizing any demonstration or in its effort in making a strike

action successful.

The state committee of Mizoram, within its limited scope has always came up to the expectation of its

members and has all along put up a decent show while responding the call of AIBOC, be it

demonstration, representation or for that matter implementation of strike actions in the state. The

state under some able leaders has always marked a special significance and has showcased

tremendous credibility in terms of its organizing skills.

The state of Nagaland demonstrated a huge strength while organizing agitation programs and

participation in strike has all along been cent percent.

Arunachal Pradesh the land of 'Rising Sun' amidst all its limitation and scope has along participated,

organized and demonstrated huge art of solidarity while giving shape to any of the call given by

AIBOC and implemented with unmatched credibility.

MARCH TO PARLIAMENT ON 9TH AUGUST AS PART OF SAVE PUBLIC SECTOR MOVEMENT

On 9th August in the year 1942, Mahatma Gandhiji launched Quit India Movement to save the Nation

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from the British. 74 years later, AIBOC launched the "Sansad Chalo" to save the Public Sector in

general and Public Sector Banks in particular from the possible clutches of Foreigners and Capitalists.

The huge & mammoth congregation of Bank Officers did ring the bell loud and clear to the law-

makers that they cannot play with the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) of India. The march to the Parliament

was a successful attempt at bringing to the knowledge of the public, the sinister designs of the Central

Government's intentions to hand over the control of the Nation's asset - the PSBs - to private & foreign

players. In the "Sansad Chalo/ March to Parliament", the long, unending array of participants reminded

of soldiers marching towards a battle field in a war. The March started from Barakhamba Road unto

Parliament, but was stopped by the Police at Jantar Mantar. More than 10,000 disciplined Members

from all the AIBOC Affiliates queued up and marched in unison, inspired by unrelenting and incessant

sloganeering. 50 bikers, both male and female, wearing AIBOC/SAVE PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS

aprons led the procession followed by an open jeep with top leaders on it provided a unique look. The

hair raising slogans, enthused not only the participants but caught the attention of the general public.

The message was sufficiently loud and characteristically clear. At the Jantar Mantar, a huge podium

was erected to accommodate Members of the Parliament, the top leaders of AIBOC, Representatives

from Telecom, Sanchar Nigam Executive Association, All India Power Engineers Federation and

National Confederation of Officers Associations of Central Public Sector Undertakings. Braving the

scorching sun and humidity of Delhi, the large gathering listened to powerful & emotional speeches

delivered. The thundering slogans reached the Parliament!! AIBOC President and our Federation

General Secretary Com. Y. Sudarshan, while delivering his presidential address, congratulated and

saluted the spirit of the Members in their exuberant & unprecedented participation in the successful

March. Public Sector Banks have taken care of the people, developed the country, its infrastructure

and helped credit dispensation. AIBOC has resolved and is determined to fight the anti-nation moves

till the Government retrieves its dangerous steps and provides the requisite strength and support to

Public Sector / Banks.

All India State Bank Officers' Federation (AISBOF) :

It emerged at a juncture when the supervisory staffs were subjected to suppression and oppression

by the Management taking the advantage of non-availability of any collective platform of officers and

it was the duty of some of the proactive people amongst the officers' community of those days who

had to take the lead and knit the community in a common thread. The journey that started more than

50 years back had never been a smooth one and it passed through different thorny roads, crossed

impossible hurdles to come to today's stature. However dawn is far from promising amidst

unceremonious gloom surrounding the Banking Industry at present. On the one hand the political

vendetta of the government is to pass on more and more benefits to the corporate even at the cost of

health of the Bank as well as the country's economy and on the other hand the AISBOF bearing the

responsibility to shield it at any cost.

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The AISBOF came in to existence in the year 1965, and has emerged as one of the strongest platform

of our collective struggle. The Federation is a live organization and has since written many glorious

history of its own and is reckoned as a household name amongst the trade union fraternity in particular

the supervisory cadre movement in the country. The toughest period was during 1969 when the

federation called for an indefinite strike of 17 days and knocked the heart of the management out to

recognize the unity of the offices' community and made the management understand that the officers'

community is not slave and they have their self esteem, honour and dignity. The indefinite strike

demonstrated that their agony and sufferings has to be responded and appropriate relief needs to be

provided. The Bank management had to concede to the demand and accordingly bilateralism was

duly recognized. The AISBOF is a non-political organization with strength of around 90000 officers;

the Federation has 15 affiliates representing the entire state bank group comprising of 14 circles and

the erstwhile Associate Banks Officers' Association comprising of the officers in 5 Subsidiary Banks

of State Bank of India. It believes in democracy and the executive committee of all the affiliates is

elected democratically.

The Federation is considered to be one of the strongest trade unions in the industry and a committed

support system for the trade union movement of not only the State Bank officers but also for the

Banking community as a whole and is continuously providing leadership in the collective forums of

trade unions.

SPECIAL PACKAGE FOR SBI : The AISBOF has on several occasion written to the Management

about the disparity in terms of wage hike gained by the SBI officers and employees vis a vis their

counterparts in other Banks. The federation has also given detail calculations showing that all other

banks have enjoyed a hike of 15 per cent in the Xth Bi-partite wage settlement except where SBI

employees have not. In the past such anomalies had been taken care of by means of some special

packages, popularly known as SBI Package which is still awaited by the employees of State Bank.

SBI SMART COMPENSATION PACKAGE :

The Central Human Resources Committee (CHRC) of SBI, in its meeting dated 31st December, 2016

and the Executive Committee of the Central Board (ECCB), in its meeting dated 25th January, 2017

have approved to extend one additional option to officers up to MMGS-III (including specialist officers)

in the Bank in the form of "Smart Compensation Package" by re-structuring our salary/ perquisites in

tune with market demand by monetizing and clubbing Perquisites.

The Salient features of the Smart Compensation Package (SCP) are as under :

Officers up to MMGS-III (including specialist officers) in the Bank would be given an option to choose

either existing practice of Salary plus Perquisites OR "Smart Compensation Package".

"Smart Compensation Package" would be as under :

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Table No.1 : At all Centers, Amt. in Rs. POs / TOs / MMGS-II MMGS-III

JMGS-I : Rs. 1,54,467/-

MMGS II : Rs.2,28,903/-

MMGS III : Rs.2,50,054/-

Officers opting for Smart Compensation Package (SCP) will not have any separate entitlement under

Perquisites. Amount of the Smart Compensation Package will be credited along with the Salary on

monthly basis in the form of SCP allowance. Smart Compensation Package will be same for all

centers & assignment positions. However, as we understand that it would not be a profitable move to

opt for it as the benefits under SCP would be liable for tax as well.

SBI LAUNCHES WORK FROM HOME The State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a new "Work

from Home" facility to enable its employees to work while at home using mobile devices. This facility

aims to address any urgent requirement employees may have, that prevents their travelling to work.

For this purpose, SBI will use mobile computing technologies and shall have continuous control over

all the enabled devices. It will centrally manage and secure the data and applications on the mobile

devices.

SOME BENEFITS CLINCHED DURING THE INTERIM PERIOD :

The Bank has played commendable role in recognizing the issues, in relation to monetary and other

benefits, raised by Officers' Federation for their members and extended a number of benefits to the

officers during the period under consideration as under :

l Enhancement in Brief Case Allowance (e-Circular No.CO/P&HRD-PM/61/2016-17 dated 6th

September, 2016)

l Out of Pocket expenses for working late/coming early in clearing CPC's, switch centers etc., (e-

Circular No.CDO/P&HRD-PM/62/2016-17 dated 6th September, 2016)

l Enhancement in Silver Jubilee Memento on Completion of 25 years of service (e-Circular No.CDO/

P&HRD-PM/65/2016-17 dated 6th September, 2016)

l Enhancement in memento amount on retirement (e-Circular No. CDO/P&HRD-PM/64/2016-17

dated 6th September, 2016)

l Retention of mobile on retirement phone purchased prior to one year of retirement (e-Circular

No.CDO/P&HRD-PM/63/2016-17 dated 6th September, 2016)

l Enhancement in Entertainment Allowance.

l Reduction of interest rates for staff advances viz. HBL, Education Loan, vehicle Loan and Personal

OD.

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l The bank has issued circular on the "work from home concept" and sought options from the officers

and employees. (Our Cir. 103/2016 dated 07.12.2016).The Bank is in the process to formulate the

"Work from Home/anywhere policy that will allow certain roles, based on technology and other

dependencies, to work from off-site locations.

l The management in State Bank of India decided to provided financial relief of Rs.6,000/-for

working on holidays and Rs. 3000/-for late hours to our members who were compelled to put in

extra hours of work during the initial period of 'demonestisation'.

l Two Special Casual Leaves have also been declared for those who were intensely engaged in

serving people for nearly 50 days after declaration of 'demonetization'.

l With a view to reduce the burden on pensioners in renewing their policy (under Family Floater

Group Mediclaim Policy for SBI Retirees- Policy-B), the Bank has now allowed an one-time subsidy

of Rs. 6000/- to each member enrolled in the policy in the current year (from 16/01/2017 to 15/01/

2018), including the new members. (CDO/P&HRD-PPFG/2/2017-18).

ALTERNATE GYANSANGAN & WORKSHOP AT IIM, AHMEDABAD

In a bid to counter the "GyanSangam" where the govt. took certain attempt to privatise the Nationalised

Banks and to bring in large scale reforms in the banking sector, the AISBOF organised one alternate

"GyanSangam" for all the General Secretaries and the Presidents of the circles. The programme was

a grand success where renowned economist of the country deliberated on current economic issues

and appraised the upcoming danger before the Indian economy on account of wrong policies being

adopted by the Government. All the General Secretaries across the circles attended a two days

programme at IIM Ahmadabad, arranged by AIBOC to groom the future Directors, with primary focus

on the roles and responsibilities of the Bank Directors in the Central Board. The eminent scholar

having vast experience in the topic shared their lifelong experiences with the participants to make the

event a grand success and the participants got enough of input and could enlighten themselves through

the flawless deliberation from the experts/stalwarts.

COMPASSIONATE APPOINTMENT SCHEME :

One of the issues that were being constantly raised by UFBU at the industry level was the issue of

compassionate appointment.

The scheme was introduce in 1978. Subsequently, in 1982 Govt. of India modified the scheme and

permitted to include those who resigned on medical ground. Later on, Supreme Court passed a

judgment in August, 1996 in this regard and Govt. of India asked the Banks to offer appointment to

those who had penury in the family on account of the premature death of the deceased. A large

number of such cases were being denied despite requirement in the family just on account of non-

fulfillment of penury norms. In the year 2005 as advised by the Govt. of India, IBA circulated a model

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scheme for financial Assistance in lieu of compassionate appointment. The same was introduced in

our Bank also and the cash compensation was being paid. However in case of death where officer

with 5 years of service his/her eligible dependents were offered appointment. The issue of relaxation

of penury norms, enhancement of ex-gratia etc. was being pursued continuously and on 1.4.2012 the

revised scheme of ex-gratia was introduced in lieu of compassionate appointment. Meanwhile Govt.

of India in August 2014 gave approval for introduction of the scheme in Banking Industry in line with

Central Government. Our Bank once again wrote to the Government for allowing the option of ex-

gratia also and the Govt. gave the approval. But when the Bank implemented the same instead of

providing the choice of the either of the two, Bank is not allowing the appointment in a majority of the

cases or the earlier provision of appointment is only being allowed. The Federation is seized with the

issue and has been following up. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has recently ruled that Compassionate

Appointment in Banks should be on the basis of the scheme prevailing during 1993. This issue is also

being examined at the Federation level.

ACUTE MANPOWER SHORTAGE :

For quite a long period of time there was no recruitment in the Banking Industry. There was also a

VRS which led to acute shortage. In 2008, the Management agreed to resume recruitment and increase

the vacancies for promotion. But the recruitment and promotion have not been adequate to meet the

acute shortage. This period has also seen an increase in retirements. In the coming years there would

be more number of retirements, adding to the problem. When we compare the figures between March

2011 and March 2015 the following picture emerges.

March 2011 March 2015

Number of customers 258 million 273 million

Number of branches 13698 16524

Number of Business Correspondents 20700 55575

Number of ATMs 25005 54560

Number of Officers 79728 78540

Number of Assistants 102701 94455

Number of Sub-staff 40504 40243

Total staff strength 222933 213238

Increase in Deposits 69%

Increase in Advance 72%

Gross Profit 53%

Net Profit 58%

Profit Per Employee 56%

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Through number of transaction in alternate channels have been increasing due to the strenuous efforts

of our officers, number of customers has also increased tremendously. All banking activities cannot

be done through alternate channels. In every branch the crowd is increasing due to various new

schemes, including the Jandhan Accounts and Mudra Loans etc. Experience shows that in spite of

shifting to alternate channel, the customers want to come to the branches and have face to face

interaction. The vast diversification, technology, higher volumes, cross selling of products, increasing

customers' expectations have added to the volume of work. There is no letup in the expansion of

branch network and the new branches will have to be managed by the existing staff without adequate

support in terms of manpower.

In all our recruitments in the recent past the number of people who ultimately joined that Bank is almost

50% in case of clerical staff and 90% in case of Probationary Officers. This is mainly due to the time

taken by IBPS to complete the process. This has led to further shortage.

The problem in the recent past has been aggravated because of the attrition rate amongst new

probationary officers and clerical staff. The attrition rate is also simultaneously increasing, and for two

major reasons. One is the salary and another is placements outside the State in case of Probationary

Officers. Though it is argued that our Officers salary at the lower level is matching with the Industry, our

analysis shows a different picture. The fact is that in the Private Sector Banks, employees are called

as Assistant Managers, and they do the work of our clerical staff. When we make a comparison, we

should compare our Assistant Managers' Salary with the Scale II Officers of Private Banks. Then only

we get the real picture.

Officers from the North who are posted in south India leave the Bank even if they get a clerical job in

their home state. There is a need to have a relook into the transfer and placement policy itself, that too

with growing number of women employees joining the Bank.

Hence there is an urgent need to ensure recruitment from the home states itself for PO's so as to

ensure that the attrition rate is arrested. We may also consider doing away with transfer outside the

centre for Scale I and II officers and make it need based so as to save enormous expenses to the

Bank on account of transfers and avoid inconveniences to the officers also. This will also bring down

attrition to a great extent especially amongst women officers.

In the Promotion exercise, the Circles recommendation in respect of vacancies has been reduced

due to Project Saksham, because of which the number of Officers promoted, have not been adequate.

While calculating the man power requirement BCG has taken 480 minutes as number of minutes an

Officer has to work every day, which is incorrect. It is only 390 minutes as applicable to the Award

Staff. This has led to erroneous calculation and is showing excess officers whereas there is an acute

shortage.

The BCG study has also not taken into account the branch expansion, vast diversification of business

and the increased responsibility of the SBI towards Government sponsored schemes while assessing

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49

the actual requirement of staff by the Bank as a whole. There is a need to step up the process of

recruitment to meet the business requirements of the Bank.

Under circumstances, AISBOF urged upon to immediately take steps to :-

l Increase the vacancy position of promotions from clerical to JMG-I, TO's, MMG's-II, MMG's-III etc.,

l In the event of not finding adequate number of people who have qualified, the cut off marks may be

lowered and a 'one-time' opportunity be provided as a special case , through a supplementary

exam.

l The vacancy position for trainee officers' exams to be increased.

l Vacancies for recruitment of probationary officers to be increased.

l Vacancy for clerical recruitment may be increased and more importantly the time lag between their

exam and results / final selection should be reduced.

VVR CHECHIKNG

Cross examination of the day's vouchers is one of the important tools of operation risk management.

Checking the voucher on the same working day also provides us an opportunity to rectify the errors on

the same day. But off -late the issue of VVR checking is blown out of proportion by management

through a large number of explanation calls.

We would like to reiterate the fact once again that the objective of VVR checking is to safeguard

banks interest and therefore, VVR checking should be meaningful irrespective of the pressure exerted

on you. All vouchers should be examined as per checker's satisfaction without bounded by any time

norm. Remember superficial checking of VVR may lead you to encounter grave situations in future.

For example, a member who is allotted with checking of vouchers related to Govt. transactions (usually

vouchers > 500) will be in no position to check the vouchers on the same day, but the same should not

deter him from meaningful checking of VVRs.

STATE BANK OF INDIA OFFICERS' ASSOCIATION (NORTH EAST CIRCLE)

The Circle Association came in to being in the year 1981 when our predecessors in their wisdom

thought it imperative to have a circle of its own comprising of seven states of North Eastern Region. It

was an incessant persuasion by the then Regional Committee of Shillong Region under SBIOA (Bengal

Circle), the North Eastern Circle of the Bank was established and subsequently our Association was

also formed on the historic day of 1st May 1981. We have now completed 37 years of our glorious

journey of trade union activities in the circle. During all these years the Circle Association remained

totally committed to protect, preserve and further cement the bond of unity and brotherhood amongst

our members. It always remained uncompromising in its resolve to fight the divisive and disruptive

forces to maintain the oneness amongst our membership irrespective of caste, creed, language and

religion despite the fact that the circle is spread over seven states having membership with varied

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50

ethnic and cultural identity which is unique in the country. The Association is always firm in its conviction

towards trade union activities and in propagation of its philosophies at the circle level and meticulous

in implementation of the various programmes launched by the Federation, AIBOC and UFBU. It is a

matter of pride that SBIOA (N.E. Circle) is today considered to be one of the strongest pillars of our

Federation as well as the Confederation. It is a part of History that stalwarts like Shri K.N. Hazarika,

Shri Syamal Chakraborty, Shri K.P. Choudhury, Late K. P. Deb and Comrade Samir Kumar Mukherjee

headed this great organisation. These stalwarts not only led the movement in a valiant manner but

also enhanced the image of the organisation as a trade union throughout the country and the effect

once set is still vibrant and resonating.

Members are aware that the industrial relation in our Bank was at its lowest ebb since the last part of

2011 to 2013 when Shri Pratip Choudhury was there as the Chairman of our Bank. It might not be

relevant to go back to that period even though it has left a permanent scar on the officers' movement

in the country and effect seems still continuing. However, the situation in our circle seems completely

different and the Industrial Relation in the circle is so far congenial with further scope of improvement.

It has been our constant endeavor to maintain good relationship with the management and bargain

effectively, our legitimates. When we thrust on improved relationship, we are also aware that the

same cannot be a one way traffic but has to be a mutual one with due respect o each other.

Security of our members is exposed to constant threat. Threats are coming from anti social elements,

insurgents, security guards safeguarding the Bank's properties and at times by police also. However

bank is yet to evolve a full proof protective measure. Our members working in the operating units are

the victims. Ironically, whenever some incident takes place management also helplessly run from

pillar to post seeking police protection and support and immediately after the problem is somewhat

subdued, the focus gets lost and the threat at the workplace remains persistent. We are committed to

fight back every attack on our officers. However, irony is that, nowadays even closure of the branch is

not fetching the desired response from the administration and it is our experience that once the law

and order situation is improved a little, local political pressure starts building up on the management

and under pressure the same set of officers and workmen staff are forced to go to the place and work.

In today's environment when there is so much of demand from the operating staff for improving

performance, it is extremely difficult to perform under such mental agony. The entire Garo Hills is

infested with insurgency problem. Problems of law and order is also prevailing in many areas of

Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and even at times in some of the places of Assam. On a

piece meal basis we have been tackling the menace but we also do not have any permanent solution

to this problem. In a recent event at Bhandari Branch of Nagaland under Mokokchung Region, we

compelled through our organizational action the district authority to arrest the culprit but ironically it

seems the police authorities are also hand in glove with the miscreants and the culprit was subsequently

released with a symbolic reprimand.

During the period under review, besides informal meetings with the management representatives,

the circle negotiating council meeting, administrative unit structured meetings etc. were held almost

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51

regularly. During the period under report, the General Secretary and other office bearers visited a

number of places in almost all the states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur,

Meghalaya etc. During those visits, meetings were also held with the members. The office-bearers

listened to the view points of the member, their problems and in turn office bearers also explained at

length the organisational developments. Such visits should be more frequent so that interaction with

the operating level members and the office bearers can take place more. Unless that happens, it will

be extremely difficult for the Association to face the challenges in the days ahead.

CIRCLE BUSINESS AT A GLANCE : LAST 3 FY

Mar-15 Mar-16 Mar-17

Average Business per Employee (in lakh) 788.34 915.99 1100.00

Net Profit per Employee (in lacs) 17.32 19.68 24.58

GRR % 2.19 2.14 2.23

Expenses Ratio % 40.27 42.35 39.68

Average Yield on Advance % 11.67 11.42 11.12

Average Cost of Deposit % 5.42 5.40 5.12

No. of Employee 9918 9479 9241

Total Deposit (in Crore) 65255.16 70151.92 87500.44

Total Advance (in Crore) 21482.28 24582.28 28051.62

Net Result (in Crore) 1709.24 1865.47 2271.44

Agri Advance (In Crs.) 2468.93 2761.75 3038.65

Agri Deposit (In Crs.) 2248.41 2750.27 2965.22

REGISTRATION OF SBIOA NE CIRCLE WITH THE REGISTRAR OF TRADE UNIONS : It is a

matter of pride for all of us our Circle Association is now a registered Trade Union under the Trade

Union Act with effect from 07th march 2017.

BENEFITS ACCRUED TO OUR MEMBERS DURING THE PERIOD UNDER REVIEW

Due to our continuous persuasion, the Circle Management acceded to our legitimate demand of the

following issues;

1. Upward revision of Medical Benefits : The standardization of medical charges went for an

upward revision for the larger benefits of the members. At the request of the Circle Association,

the Circle Management is on the job to improve upon the tie up arrangements with the hospitals,

pathological centres for members' benefits.

2. Upward revision of Compensation For Working On Holiday And Sundays : The

compensation for working on holidays/Sundays was last revised way back in 2001. Even there

was no circular or any written record and many a times even when the compensation was paid,

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52

the compensatory off was denied to our members. The issue was raised many a times but without

yielding any positive result. The present central committee in it's first CNC meeting raised this

issue and the management was magnanimous enough to accede to our request and accordingly

the quantum was revised along with the benefit of compensatory off. The revised amount stands

like following :

Ø For full day's work- Rs. 1600/- along with compensatory off.

Ø For duty less than four hours- Rs. 1000/- along with compensatory off.

3. Upward revision of Water Scarcity Allowance, where ever applicable: The amount has been revised

to Rs. 100/- per day from Rs. 50/- per day and many new centres have been included.

4. Upward revision of Utility Items : The quantum has been increased to Rs. 2500/- per year

(biennially Rs. 5000/-) from Rs. 3500/- biennially (@Rs. 1750 per year).

5. Circle Transfer Policy : Based on Corporate Centre's guidelines and their Model Transfer

Policy, our Circle Transfer Policy was framed and approved by the management. Though the

Corporate Policy contained some stringent norms, the Circle Management was magnanimous

in acceding to our suggestions and many changes were brought based on feedback received

from members and peculiarity of the region, mixed demography, etc. From none of the four Modules,

local officers were transferred out of their respective Modules by virtue of being the deficit Module.

Newly promoted officers from clerical cadre are also excluded from the existing policies of being

transferred out of the module, provided the module is deficit. A new category of centre viz. "Most

difficult centre" has been incorporated whre the tenure of the officer will be one year. The concept

of repatriation has been incorporated which will benefit the members immensely. The eligibility

for repatriation of male members from normal centres has been reduced to 4 years from 6 years

and for lady members, it is 3 years although the Corporate Policy speaks about uniformity for

male and female officers.

6. Classification of centres : The classification of centre in our circle was last done in 2008. The

tri-partite meeting of the management, staff association and officers association was held and

the centres were re-classified. As per our demand, many centres were classified as most difficult

along with difficult centres.

Disciplinary Sub Committee :

The number of Charge-sheets issued to our members has been on the rise. Apart from charge-

sheets, letters of explanation are being served to officers quite frequently. Under the compelling situation

the members of the Sub-Committee along with support team members are stretched to their limits.

In the prevailing situation, the defence representatives have taken up the true organisational duty by

serving the colleagues in their distress and achieving commendable success. We also must have to

add that due to the initiative of our defence representatives, disproportionate punishment in our circle

is very rare. But it goes without saying that we need more number of cadres to come forward to

defend such cases without which it is burdensome on the part of the very few individuals who are

taking this responsibility.

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Sub-Committee on Fitment :

Although some of the members of the sub-committee left Guwahati on transfer, Com. Suraj Nath and

Partha Pratim Baruah have taken over the responsibility of looking after the fitment of the members.

Members are requested to contact them in case of any requirement.

Medical Sub-Committee :

Our erstwhile office-bearer Com. Arun Das, after his retirement, has been rendering a great service

by extending his helping hand to our members who are in need of medical help. As per the decision

arrived at the EC, Com. Das is being paid a small token money as remuneration for his selfless

services. The Central Committee Members have been extending tremendous support to not only our

members but also all categories of bank employees including the award staff and executives of the

Bank whenever they require.

Special Incentive for officers serving in N.E.C (N.E. Region Allowance) :

Members are aware that 1990s, Govt. of India introduced a special allowance for officers in Central

Govt. and CPSUs for those who would opt for working in North Eastern Region from outside the

region. Accordingly, in our Bank also a special allowance for these set of officers @ 12.5% subject to

a maximum of Rs.1500/- was introduced in line with the Govt. of India notification. The local officers

also demanded the same allowance and being denied. A case was filed in the court for payment of

the allowance to the locals. We lost the case in the court. For several years, we did not raise it any

further. But the Central 6th Pay Commission revised the allowance and also decided to pay the same

to local officers although at a lower rate. Meanwhile, RBI, NABARD and many other CPSUs also

started getting the same allowance. The rate of the allowance is 20% of B.P. subject to a maximum of

Rs.7500/- for outside officers and 12.5% subject to a maximum of Rs.3000/- for the local officers. But

the outside officers of the PSBs were neither being paid the enhanced amount nor the local officers

were paid this allowance. In June 2011. When Mr. Pratip Choudhury, Chairman of SBI came here in

North East, we submitted a memorandum where we also highlighted the injustice done to us.

Accordingly, a committee was set up comprising of one Dy. Managing Director, one Chief General

Manager and two officials from Corporate Centre HR deptt. along with the CDO of the circle. They

came here and had discussions with both the Associations. Afterwards, they submitted a report and

based on that, Bank submitted a recommendation to Govt. of India. It was lying in cold storage for a

long time. Meanwhile, as you know, the IR in the Bank was completely broken. The undersigned tried

his best to find out exactly the fate of that recommendation but nothing could be known. At last, the

undersigned filed one RTI application to both the Bank as also the Govt. of India. Finding no other

way, Govt. of India released the allowance as per the recommendation of the Bank immediately. We

also could discover that Bank had recommended the allowance for outside officers and those local

officers who would be posted inter-state. Now these set of officers are getting the allowance @20%

subject to a maximum of Rs. 7500/-. This is definitely a significant improvement but the local officers

who are posted in their state of domicile are still being deprived of the facility. The undersigned once

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54

again started pursuing the same at the Corporate Centre level on a regular basis. The matter came

up for discussion at the CNC meetings held at Kochi on 8th August 2015. In that discussion also

enough of heated exchanges took place. We have been given to understand that Bank has sent a

fresh recommendation to Govt. of India for payment of this allowance to even the locals posted in the

state of domicile. The present Central Committee after assuming office raised the issue with the

Hon'ble Finance Minister, Union HRD Minister, all the BJP MPs from North East; unfortunately, only

one MP acknowledged the receipt of our letter. We were contemplating to file a suit for remedy but

unfortunately since our Circle Association was not a registered body, we needed concurrence of the

federation for filing suit. However now the Circle Association being a registered body effective 7th

march 2017, we are contemplating for the same. Meanwhile, due to our persuasion, Federation has

agreed to fight the issue in the Court at Chennai. The process will start very soon.

Association Diary :

One of the initiatives of our Association has been publication of diary on the eve of the New Year. We

have been doing so for the last five years. The contents of the diary are considered by our members

as invaluable as the same has been serving as a reference book for day to day work particularly in HR

areas. Com. Suraj Nath, Assistant Secretary (Finance), Comrade Pawan Verma, Association activist

and all the other central committee members have immensely contributed in publishing the diary on

behalf of the Association. While acknowledging the contributions of these comrades, we request our

members to give their valuable feedback for further improvement of the same.

Publication of Unity :

Regular and timely publication of Unity has always been a cause of concern. However, the publication

of Unity, though quarterly instead of bi-monthly, has become a regular exercise now. We once again

take the opportunity to request our members to contribute articles relating to Trade Union issues so

that the house magazine can be a real trade union mouthpiece.

Relationship with the Sister Organisation :

Our relationship with the sister organisation has been very cordial and harmonious. It has been our

continuous effort to maintain cohesion as a trade union organisation and maintain mutual understanding

of each other's problems. Recently a co-ordination committee has also been formed to fight for the

common issues pertaining to workman employees and the Officers. In the past also both the association

fought many battles jointly when the call of humanity was the most prominent than anything else. We

are thankful to the leadership of SBI Staff Association (N.E. Circle) for their matured understanding of

the issues and extending co-operation and support from time to time. It has been our tradition since

long to move along on issues of common interest. We all along have been fighting shoulder to shoulder

to defeat the anti-employee, anti-people policies and measures of the management and the

Government. This relation has to be sustained for the greater interest of the membership of both the

organisations and look forward to realisation overall organisational goals.

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Thrift & Credit Co-operative Societies :

We are having three numbers of Thrift and Credit Co-operative Societies in our circle viz., Guwahati,

Shillong and Jorhat. All the societies are running very well. Apart from extending financial support to

the membership at times of need they are contributing immensely towards various activities of the

Association. This could be possible because of the faith and confidence reposed by the members of

our Association on the societies continuously. I would urge upon those of our members who are yet to

become members of our societies to immediately enroll themselves so that these activities can be

pursued without any disruption while benefitting themselves.

The 15 members Board of the State Bank of India Officers' Thrift & Credit Co-operative Society,

Guwahati unanimously elected the new Executive Committee on 07-09-2016. Com. Sanjib Sen has

been elected as the Chairmen of the Society. Com. Suraj Nath and Com. Bhupen Borah have been

elected as the new Secretary and Assistant Secretary respectively.

It is a fulfilling experience to earn "A" rating for all our 3 co-operatives headed by able leadership.

Association Website : We have also redesigned the website of SBIOA NE Circle (www.sbioanec.com)

through which our members will have the privilege of getting awareness about latest developments

not only in the area of Trade Union activities but also in other spheres of banking arena. Members can

also use this website for booking our Association Guest Houses situated at Guwahati and Chennai.

Members will also enjoy the facility of putting forward their feedback or suggestion through this website.

Guest House :

Members are aware that our Association is having two Guest Houses one at Chennai and the other at

Guwahati for the benefit of our members. Both the Guest Houses are running very well. The fact

remains we have to subsidise both the guest houses because the rate of tariff is quite low which can

be compensated by ensuring total occupancy and full capacity utilisation. As we do not incline to

increase the rate primarily because our members avail the guest houses mostly for medical treatment,

children education etc and at times on official duties. The Chennai guest house is run by the Association

whereas the Guwahati Guest House is run by the co-operative societies at Guwahati and Shillong

jointly.

SBOA Public School :

It had been a long cherished dream that took its shape with the formation of SBOA Education Society

which in turn gave shape to SBOA Public School the first of its kind amongst the eastern zone circle

Associations. Our predecessors thought of a pious initiative with a bird's eye view of creating good

citizens for the society. This dream was channelised by opening of the school in line with the Schools

run by Chennai Circle Associations and the school was established in the year 1994. When the earlier

committee passed on the baton to our hands the student strength was 1200-1300 and it has been a

fulfilling experience to surpass the figure within a year and now the student strength stands at 1450. It

had been a continuous effort by our predecessors to increase student strength in the school as they

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realised that, it won't be possible to run the school subsidizing from the Association for an indefinitely

long period of time and the student strength has to be improved. We continued with the endeavour

and even though profit making was never a set goal, we tried to make the school self dependent and

once it acquired self dependency we thought of investing the profit for infrastructural developments

and it is a pleasant experience that merits sharing with the members that we have undertaken a

series of developmental works during the interim period which in a nutshell are :

l We just started the run and faced the first hurdle with the existing Principal Dr. Samual Imbaraz

who already had completed his tenure of stay at our school was willing to repatriate to his parent

place Chennai. After a rigorous campaign we could however find a suitable principal for our

school who is in his pre-mid age and is very dynamic and energetic. We repose enough of faith

and hope in his leadership quality and expect that under his leadership the school will attain a

new height.

l It was a crunch situation when formation of the School Management Committee was due and the

chairman of the committee expressed his unwillingness to continue. We searched for an

educationist who can fit in our set of activities and understands the motive behind running of a

school by a trade union organsiation. It was fulfilling convince Dr. Sitanath Lahkar, one of the

brightest stars in the sky of luminaries who readily consented to take up the job and with his able

guidance we formed the School Management committee by including Mrs. Sumita Shome,

Principal Tender Feet play school , guardians' representatives, representatives from the teachers

and representatives from the Association.

l There had been a regular demand for increase of class rooms with the increase in student

enrolment and also to maintain the student/ class room ratio. To meet with the increasing demand

we started construction of 3rd floor of the second building and now we have 6 additional class

rooms at our disposal. For looking after the developmental activities and also to decentralize the

power centre we continued with the purchase subcommittee where in collective decisions are

taken and the purchases are made after undergoing proper market survey to ensure quality with

comfortable price tag.

l Apart from construction of the third floor we also brought some cosmetic changes in the class

rooms by colourful wall painting for the rooms, particularly the classes of kindergarten to attract

the students and give them a good feeling. The Principal's chamber has completely been renovated

to give a decent corporate look along with refurbishing and installation of cupboards, conference

table, chairs in the teachers' common room to ease their requirements.

l It had been a long fought battle in getting the land that had been under our occupancy, allotted in

our fold officially. The long sustained battle however could be won this time when the govt. authority

has given allotment of 3 bigha 3 katha 1 lecha land in our favour after payment of adequate

revenue. We are in the process of finalising barricading the entire portion of land with a boundary

wall and also evaluating the scope of constructing staff quarters alongside.

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l We experienced over the years that even though if our school excels in academic terms, if it's

look and ambience are not at par with the other renowned schools in the city, we loss to earn the

aspiration of the students and guardians and lag behind in terms of student enrolment. With this

concern we started with bringing in some cosmetic changes in the school and apart from painting

of class rooms we went for grass carpeting the school field and to create a lush green playground.

We also arranged for sprinklers to shower water on the grass to give it a refreshing look. A bay for

parking of the school buses has also been made to isolate it from students reach.

l There has been a remarkable change in the approach and perception of the teaching staff and to

get them to task we made it a point to regularly keep watch on their performances and maintenance

of discipline in the school. We even resorted to surprise visits to the schools to take stock of the

timely attendance by the teachers and timely operation of the buses by the transport operators.

l A well defined service condition for the teachers has been prepared and implemented to instill

organizational discipline and HR issues were given top priority to ensure that professionalism is

maintained along with scope for self development.

l We appreciate that in order to give appointment to talented teachers and also to retain them in

the school we need to improve the salary structure along with payment of attractive perks. In our

pursuit we revised the salary of the teachers and have made it at par with the State Government

in terms of Basic Pay with improved dearness allowances.

l All the students have been given insurance coverage with actual cost basis.

l Improvement made in science and computer laboratories with installation of new computers and

refurbishments.

The academic result of the school is consistently very good. That being the major strength we took up

some initiative to see that the school grows further. We took up with the CBSE for obtaining the

affiliation of 12th standard in all the streams like Science, Humanities, Commerce.

We invested adequately towards improving the infrastructure of the school and its playground.

Simultaneously we also gave due attention to publicity and advertisement. The efforts started yielding

positive results. Today we have roughly 1450 students in our school. During the last three years; the

school has grown by leaps and bounds. But this growth needs to be sustained. The sustainability will

depend on academic excellence as well as creating basic infrastructure for the increasing number of

students. We re-organized the school managing committee from time to time to give a perfect match

to our standard and aspiration. We have inducted Mr. David Barman as the Principal of the School.

We have also introduced Dr. Sita Ram Lahkar, once of the most eminent personalities of the state as

the Chairman of the School Management Committee besides certain other established educationists

of the locality. With their guidance we have been running the affairs of the school. Besides academic

results we are also giving stress on extra- curricular activities like games and sports, cultural activities

etc. Meanwhile we have completed construction of third floor of the second building to sort out the

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problem of shortage of class rooms. We have also increased the teachers' strength as per the

requirement and revision of the salary structure of the teaching and non teaching staff of the school is

also complete. We are happy to inform you that we are managing the fund requirement of our school

from the income generated out of it. The Circle Officer after measurement of our land including the

khas land which was in our possession has since been officially allotted to us. Thus a decade long

persuasion of the Association has finally yielded a positive result.

We are hopeful that with your active co-operation, our school will very soon be reckoned as one of the

best schools in the North Eastern Region. Comrades we are always open to any sorts of constructive

suggestions with regard to functioning of the Association as also the school. Your valuable suggestions

will definitely go a long way in shaping the school as dreamt of by our predecessors.

The salary of SBOA Public School teachers has been given effect from the month of May 2016. In this

connection the available central committee members including the General Secretary and President

convened a meeting with the Teachers where one of the senior faculties of SBLC Guwahati Sri Bikash

Das deliberated a motivational speech and shared his experiences with the teachers which evoked a

thunderous response.

WORKSHOP ON BANKING AND FINANCE IN COLLABORATION WITH JS INSTITUTE OF

BANKING AND FINANCE, BANGALORE.

With the objective to keep the office bearers of SBIOA North East Circle in tune with the current

developments in the Banking and Finance, the Circle Association in its wisdom organised a four

days programme captioned as "Workshop on recent developments in Banking and Finance" in

association with J.S. Institute of Banking and Finance, Bangalore.

The philosophy that guided organisation of such programme had been the Circle Association's strong

belief that in order to pursue the Trade Union activities in a meaningful way, it is imperative to know the

trade first and in the fast changing National as well as International economic scenario. With the

objective to keep pace with the change and make the organisation vibrant and relevant under the

present day circumstances and as a proactive approach towards learning and development, it was

felt that there cannot be any other alternative but to sharpen our knowledge and skill and percolate it

down the line for a holistic development of our members at large. The four days programme that kick

started from 23rd of July 2016 was inaugurated by Sri Shyamal Chakrabarty, the General Secretary,

SBI Pensioners' Association. The inaugural speech by the chief guest was followed by the mirthful

deliberation from the General Secretary of SBIOA N.E. Circle Comrade Rupam Roy, who in his brief

discourse narrated the idea behind inviting the faculty from J.S. Institute of Banking and the guiding

factor that motivated him to bring in the best amongst the lots, an organisation, capable of imparting

knowledge as per the requirements of the recipients. He urged upon all the participants to take full

advantage of their visit from the far flung areas and experience the best out of the best. It was a

conglomeration of 45 participants from all across the circle at SBLC Guwahati under the active support

of the Circle CMC that actually resulted in a successful completion of the programme. The Circle

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Development Officer accorded his consent for using the best of the facilities at the Learning hub. The

General Manager (NW-II) Shri PannaLal Das and the Circle Development Officer Shri Kaushik Sinha

made them available in the class room and enlightened the house with their valuable words. The CDO

urged upon the house to have a macro view of the scenario. Every officer and staff should know what

they are doing and it's purpose and effects; only then the employees can grow along with the growth of

the organization. He congratulated the Circle association and the faculties of J.S. Institute for organizing

such a nice workshop for the development of the officers which will immensely benefit the Bank as

well. The General Manager (NW-II) also applauded the JS Institute, the SBIOA NE Circle and the

Assistant General Manager of SBLC, Guwahati for materialising such a nice workshop. He urged

upon the officers to enhance their knowledge; he told that it is only through acquiring knowledge that

we can empower ourselves. Indeed, the four days workshop hugely benefitted the participants in

enhancing their knowledge; be it on deposits, advances, agriculture, organizational development,

etc. The faculties' of JS Institute designed the content of the workshop in such a beautiful manner that

there could not be anything better. The sessions being very interactive bears the testimony that the

officers enjoyed the lecture and participated whole heartedly.

The Chief General Manager of the Circle Shri PVSLN Murty also made it convenient on his part and

was present for the valediction programme. He congratulated the Circle Association for this unique

step. He appreciated the role of the JS Institute for years together in shaping the career of the bankers

in general and officers of SBI in particular. He shared that he referred hundreds of our members to JS

Institute. Acceding to our request, the Hon'ble CGM launched the Circle Association's Android App

available in the playstore named as "SBIOANEC" and the Association's official website in the presence

of the office bearers of the Circle Association. The mobile app and the website would bring all our

members much closer and fulfill the aspiration of the young officers. The Chief General Manager was

in all praise especially for the Android App and appreciated the SBIOA NE Circle for the unprecedented

move. Some of the features of the Android App "SBIOANEC" are as follows :

a) Officers' Directory : There is a database of all the members of SBIOA NE Circle along with

their Mobile Number, email id and the name of the branch he or she is posted at. There is an

option to directly make calls and send SMS and email to them from the app.

b) The soft copies of all the Circle Association publications are available there.

c) All the soft copies of the circle level and federation level circulars are available under the menu

"Publication".

d) The soft copies of all the Cooperative forms and Association membership form are available

under "Download."

e) All the news and notifications are uploaded there in the App.

f) There is an option called "Knowledge hub" where all the relevant materials are uploaded for the

greater benefits of our members.

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f) Last but not the least, the feedback option is also available in the app for the valuable suggestions

of the members. Further, we are working on it to bring in many more utilities in the App.

The website of the Circle association "www.sbioanec.com" has some additional features in it.

1) Online guest house booking facility by the members.

2) The contact details of all the Central Committee members of the Circle association, etc.

CIRCLE NEWS

JANTAR MANTAR :

It was a memorable journey of about 2 kilometers that has marked an indelible mark in the street of

Delhi and would remain fresh in the memory of the crowd for good due to its significance and the choir

that reverberated from the large gathering of around 7000 Bank officers stepping their feet out to

raise voice and protest against Govt's move towards privatization of Nationalised Banks, issues

relating to merger and anti labour policies on the part of the Government that is hitting the Bank

employees and threatening the interest of public at large, the reason for which the Banks were once

nationalized.

A delegation of 10 members from our SBIOA NE circle, under the leadership of President, Comrade

Dilip Kumar Roychoudhury and Comrade Rupam Roy attended the grand conglomeration and matched

voice with the chorus that enthralled the crowd and echoed the sentiments of thousands of officers all

over the country who could not make it to the ground. The movement started at 10.am with shouting of

slogans spearheaded by leaders of respective banks and the AISBOF had been the flag bearer. The

large procession started walking from Barakhamba Road and marched towards parliament. In the

front of the rally around 50 bikers wearing aprons designed marvelously with slogans set off the mood

followed by an open jeep where most of the AIBOC leaders guided the rally towards its march with

booming slogans. The procession marched towards SBI Head Office where it was halted by the

police and diverted the gathering towards Jantar Mantar where stage was set for marking the occasion

with the glorious deliberation by the leaders. Among the speakers there were three MPs, namely, Sri

Manish Tiwary, Sri Tapan Sen and Sri Dharam Veer Gandhi who unequivocally supported our cause

and assured all out support towards our struggle to save public sector in our quest to save INDIA.

VISIT TO BRANCHES

The Circle Association after taking over of the charge had been in pursuit of fulfilling one of its dreams

to visit the far flung places of the circle where rarely Association ever visited and to start with, it was

thought to visit some of the places of Lohit and Namsai district of Arunachal. Our journey started from

Dibrugarh and on 6th of June, 2016 we reached Namsai where we were given a very warm welcome

by the Deputy Commissioner and the local MLA. We shared our concerns and also came out with

suggestions and advises that will benefit both administration as well as our Bank vis a vis our members

in general. After Namsai, we proceeded to Tezu and met our members thereat sharing their problems

and issues of importance. A brief meeting with the officers was also conducted where in the General

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Secretary addressed the issues raised by our members. It was a matter of fulfillment for all of us to

see the amount of satisfaction that the members expressed on account of visit by the Association and

felt enthusiastic in showering all out support in our endeavour. The team also made visit to SBI Rupai

Siding, Doomdooma, Makum, Digboi, Segunbari, Margherita and finally a meeting was organized at

SBI Tinsukia Region, where around 50 participants shared their concerns and views.

The Central Committee Members of the SBIOA, NE Circle, joined by the Regional Secretary of

Guwahati (Urban), paid a visit to some of the branches under Bongaigaon RBO on 22nd and 23rd of

December, 2016 to take stock of the plight of the members during the cash crunch situation prevailing

at the branches post demonetization. Meetings were held at Dhubri Main Branch and RBO Bongaigaon

and the members present in the meeting detailed the office bearers about the various problems they

had to face mainly owing to the cash shortage and the pressure from the RBO for business generation.

The General Secretary and the President also talked in detail with the Assistant General Manager of

the RBO. The visit was well hosted by the Regional Secretary of Bongaigaon. The visit provided the

office bearers a better understanding of the branch officials' problems and the members were also

boosted to see the office bearers at their premises.

Comrades, we are sure that you are aware of the fact that some angry customers vandalised a few of

our branches in Manipur in November, 2016 after the bank refused to allow people to withdraw as per

their requirement owing to cash shortage. Leimakhong in Imphal West district was the worst hit where

a few account holders damaged the branch premises and injured a staff. Unfortunately, in the given

scenario post demonetisation, RBI was not able to cater to the cash needs of the banks leading to

this sort of untoward incidents. The General Secretary and the DGS (Shillong) immediately visited

Imphal and met with the high officials of RBI at Imphal and discussed the issue of cash crunch in the

banks. The General Secretary held a press conference and urged the public to abstain from resorting

to violent activity or causing damage to bank properties or injury to any of its employees or officers for

the reasons beyond their control. He also cautioned the public at large that if such mindless violence

and mob attacks continued, the bank staff would be constrained to resort to organisational action in

the greater interest of bank officers/employees which might affect normal banking services in the

state of Manipur. In another unfortunate incident, the Branch Manager of Bhandari Branch under

Mokokchung RBO was assaulted by miscreants, allegedly representing an outfit, on the night of

December 23, 2016. Condemning the incident, our Regional Committee of Mokokchung staged a

candlelight demonstration to show solidarity to the victim Com. Srivastava. The Regional Secretary

Com. Imtisanen Ao submitted a memorandum addressed to Assistant General Manager of the RBO

which apart from its demand on closure of Bhandari branch, had also demanded justice and proper

security be ensured to the bankers. The General Secretary also took up the matter with the General

Manager (NW-II) and issued a letter condemning the incident and demanding for closing down the

branch unless proper security is ensured to the officers.

The fourth Executive Committee and Central Committee Meetings were held on 30-12-2016 at the

Association Office premises. In the Central Committee Meeting, the house decided to co-opt Com.

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Partha Pratim Baruah as the new AGS, Guwahati Module and Com. Suraj Nath to replace Com.

Partha Pratim Baruah as the new Assistant Secretary (Finance). The Central Committee of SBIOA

(N.E. Circle) bade farewell to Com. J.D. Goswami on 30-12-2016 as he retired from the active services

of the Bank on 31-12-2016. Amidst a decent gathering, Com. Goswami was given a warm send off.

The undersigned also visited centres like Silchar and Aizawl and convened meetings with the support

of the Regional Committee.

Meanwhile, the Circle Association raised some pertinent issues before the Circle Management and

our Federation for redressal of the same. A few issues are highlighted below :

A) Increase in the number of vacancy in JMGS-I : The vacancy as decided by the Corporate

Centre in JMGS-I was 50 (including POs & TOs). Due to our persuasion and co-operation of the

management it was subsequently increased to more than 200.

B) Working on Holidays/Sundays and arrangement of vault by the vendors : The matter

was raised before the management and it is continuously being followed up and we are hopeful

that the issue will be redressed very soon. Members are advised to mandatorily avail compensatory

off along with cash compensation to discourage frequent calling for duty on Sundays and holidays.

C) Connectivity issues : We have also taken up the issue of connectivity problem with the

management and it is also an established fact that the connectivity problem has now improved a

lot.

D) Cross Selling : The issue of excessive pressure on cross selling is a centralized issue and our

circle is also not an exception to that. However, we urge upon the members not to indulge in any

sort of miss selling or forced selling in the name of cross selling. The Circle Association has also

taken up the matter with the Federation.

TASKS IN THE DAYS AHEAD

The days ahead are full of challenges and threats. The impending crisis threatening the status and

stature of the organisation vis a vis the Officers' is going to change the way we function both as a

Banker as well as an Association. The fast, metamorphic changes taking place in the banking industry

have been throwing many challenges before us and this will necessitate evolving proper strategies to

encounter the same squarely. The strategy should aim at protecting the trade union rights, self-respect

of the officers and particularly their service interests and at the same time strengthening the commitment

of the rank and file towards the goals and objectives of the Association/ Bank. In this direction, we

ought to have certain vision as well as sharpen our saw to edge out the evil design of destabilising the

Trade Union in coming days.

We have to declare war against the evil designed proposals and practices those aim at policy changes

to accommodate the corporate interest and to undermine the interest of the work force. We have to

defeat every covert attempt on the part of the Government to hand over the PSU Banks to private

players. It is time we need to consolidate and further strengthen our movement through cementing our

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bonds of camaraderie and emotional attachment of the members towards the organisation through

various activities of the Association and upgrade our knowledge about the developing situation. We

understand this will require the leadership to involve themselves full time for the organisational activities

and continuously enhance their knowledge in various fields of banking, technology and the entire fast

changing economic scenario.

We have to continue to strengthen our relationship with the Staff Association as well as all the other

constituents of UFBU including the pensioners' organisations as well as with the trade unions of other

public sector undertakings.

On our own Banking arena, we have to strive and struggle for sustaining the existing facilities and

further improve the same. The basic thrust has to be towards improvement in the working condition

and the quality of life of the officers' community in particular and working class in general.

In today's terms when the trade union is under tremendous attack from various quarters, we have to

involve each and every member for strengthening our unity and to protect the Association from de-

unionisation and for sustaining and upholding the position it has been enjoying in the Bank and the

industry for so long.

Ours is a great and glorious organisation built up by the sweat and toil, sufferings and sacrifices of our

predecessors. We were fortunate to be led by the great leaders of the yesteryears. We inherited a

great legacy and a glorious past. Let us be worthy of this great heritage. Let us take the pledge that

we shall live up to the dreams and expectations of the founding fathers and our leaders who have built

up this mighty edifice of our Association. The task is enormous and onerous. The future is going to be

full of hurdles and obstacles, we have to cross them, there shall be tides; we have to swim against the

same to establish our might. Unless we can build a broad team and function more effectively than in

the past, we will not be able to match the situation. Hence, strengthening our organisation both

numerically, philosophically and intellectually should be our main thrust and concern in the coming years.

I am assuring you that the present committee will leave no stone unturned to see that the organization

marches forward with greater heights of glory in the days to come and write history of its own, provided

you all co-operate with the committee as and when Association requires your physical, moral and

intellectual support in the functioning of the affairs of the Association.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I extend my heartfelt thanks to the members of the central committee for their guidance and co-operation

for successfully conducting the day to day activities of the Association.

Comrade Dilip Kumar Roychoudhury, the Circle President, Com. Utpal Baruah and Comrade Sunil

Sarma, the Vice Presidents, Com Sibananda Kakoti, DGS (HQ) of the Association as well as the

other senior comrades had been a constant source of inspiration and encouragement to me in

shouldering the responsibility of serving the Association. I have drawn their guidance and support in

abundance freely and frankly and have since never felt wanting on whatsoever. I am grateful to all of

them.

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I whole heartedly thank all the other office-bearers and central committee members, collectively and

severally who have been a guiding energy all along including Com. JD Goswami who superannuated

during the current tenure on this occasion. They are always the pillars of strength and source of inspiration

to me and were willing to shoulder any responsibility entrusted to them.

I sincerely thank the Regional Secretaries, Zonal Secretaries and Unit Secretaries / Representatives

for extending their support to me. They are rendering commendable service to the vast membership

as well as contributing towards the growth of the organisation in a very significant way.

I sincerely thank the office staff both in the Association and in the Thrift & Credit Co-operative Societies

in Guwahati, Shillong and Jorhat for their continued support to me. But for their support it would have

been extremely difficult to run the affairs of the Association.

I place on record my thanks and gratitude to the President Com. D.T. Franco Rajendra Dev and the

General Secretary, Com. Y. Sudarshan in particular and all other office bearers of the Federation for

their continued support in running the day to day activities of the Association.

We have a strong militant cadre in our circle that always stands by me and other office-bearers in the

Association which I always value as a source of strength and encouragement.

It has been only one and half year, since I have taken over the baton but within this short span I had the

unique opportunity of leading the Association as a frontline soldier just because of the co-operation

received from the team mates as well as the blessings showered by the seniors in my endeavour. I

have been fortunate enough to enjoy the continued support of the alert and responsive general

members, who keep a close eye on every affairs of the Association and guide the committee to take

correct decision. It is for the unflinching loyalty of this vast membership spreading over the seven

states of the circle towards this great organisation, it is the tenacity of the memberships that despite

working in trying circumstances in various branches/offices of the Bank they had been ever ready to

respond to any call given and I owe due credit to all of them without which I could not have been able

to discharge my duties in my assignment.

I once again bow my head with full sense of gratitude and reverence before all of you and thousands

of our predecessors who sacrificed their yesteryears to pave the way for the glory we enjoy today.

Once again I thank you all.

(Rupam Roy)

General Secretary

Place : Guwahati

Date : 11.06.2017

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BALANCE SHEET

&

INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

FROM 01/04/2015 TO 31/03/2016&

01/04/2016 TO 31/03/2017

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