Page 1 of 26 Private Circulation for LIC Pensioners only ( A monthly e - Magazine of LIC Retired Class I Officers’ Association, Kolkata ) JANUARY,2018 51st Issue Chief Editor : Sudarsan Basu Editorial Board : Dilip Kr Ghosh Subir Kr Mazumder Amar Kr Goswami Subrata Kr Ghosh IN THIS ISSUE: Editorial…………………..2 Federation News..…..3 Financial News……..…8 Association News….. 9 Of Interest : …….………9 . Humour …. …... .. .. .. 13 Tourism………………...14 The River…………….…18 Mediclaim Circular..20 Health Guide………...21 Pensioners’ Tour..…23 EASTERN NEWS Price index ……………24 Member’s Photo…..25 WISHES Readers”view…..…..25 ALL THE READERS About magazine…….26 A VERY HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR Page 2 of 26 JANUARY,2018 51st Issue EDITORIAL : When we look forward we actually look backward. We all wish that the new dawn of the new year 2018 will bring some hope of relief for the Pensioners in LIC. The DA anomaly will no longer exist in 2018. Pension up- gradation will be a reality for us. The financial miseries to which LIC pensioners, particularly very senior pensioners, are subjected to will be a matter of the past and they will regain their respect in the family as well as in the society. Their regular medical expense for self and spouse will not depend on the mercy of their relatives and friends. They will not have to hide their distress by compromising personal requirements in view of the depleting funds. And above all the mental agony these retirees face day in and day out will finally come to an end. But then the memory of what we got in the past come to our mind. The Legal battle for getting our just demand moves from one Court to the other – once from lower court to higher court and then again from higher court to lower court. We get confused about justice. The Court was convinced and ordered interim relief without specifying the quantum of relief. Out of the two distinct prayers of the retired employees of LIC whether the court considered any one or both requiring relief was not clear and this gave rise to an actionable situation compelling retirees to run to the court for justice. As a lay man we sometimes get confused why a lower court goes beyond its terms of reference set by the apex court and argues on issues beyond the purview. Also why the same court sets norms when apex court opined that nothing can be decided unless parliament amends the laws. We are more confused to see when instead of judicial relief afforded by our constitution, we get financial relief which was not prayed for at all. God knows how long the controversy at the cost of toil, time and money will have to be tolerated by LIC pensioners some of whom are gradually are leaving this world after looking forward to the seat of justice in vain for decades? We also cannot forget the memory of fights among pensioner leaders to grab the limelight to become the father of success in legal battles. We have seen how some of them were totally confused, just like us, in understanding the Court verdicts. It is nice that some of them have gone missing for quite some time or are involving themselves in religious activities, just like a common pensioner who pray for some good news from the courts in lieu of trying to understand what is the process of justice in our case. LIC pensioners do not have any choice since no other method give them the opportunity to at least pray for a dawn which will bring some good news for them. So we must continue to fight the legal battle, not for the benefit of so called leaders, but for our own reason to hope for a day when the bright morning sunlight will bring some Good News for all of us- during our lifetime. Let us hope the new year 2018 has in store that day for us. Page 3 of 26 Federation News: NEW ALL INDIA COMMITTEE 2017-2019 PRESIDENT N.P BALI MUMBAI VICE PRESIDENT D.M. PATHAK MUMBAI P.P.DHAMIJA DELHI T.J.SIMON THRISSUR GENERAL SECRETARY D.KRISHNAN CHENNAI JT.SECRETARIES H.M.SHAH MUMBAI SUBIR KR.MAJUMDER KOLKATA R.K.KHANNA DELHI A.V.PRAVAKARAN NAIR THIRUVANTHAPURAM S.K.AWASTHI LUCHNOW TREASURER R.M.DALAL MUMBAI HON. AUDITOR R.B.L VAISH MUMBAI E.C.MEMBERS T.K.RAVINDRAN BENGALURU T.K.S NARAYANAN BENGALURU (TO BE INTIMATED) NASHIK V.R KRISHNAN CHENNAI R.N.BHARDWAJ DELHI A.V.RAMANI COIMBATORE P.BABU ERNAKULAM DILIP KR.GHOSH KOLKATA B.P.RAO DHARWAD G.P.PANDEY KANPUR A.V.SAWANT MUMBAI G.N.PANDA ODISHA PRAMOD KUMAR LUCHNOW GEORGE T PUNNOSE THIRUVANTHAPURAM T.S.SASI KUMAR ERNAKULAM SPL. INVITEES TO EC T.CHATTOPADHYAY KOLKATA BIRENDRA KUMAR DAS GUWAHATI M.ARUNACHALAM CHENNAI K.V.JHON KOTTAYAM O.P.VASHISHTH GURUGRAM LEGAL COMMITTEE G.N SRIDHARAN CHENNAI (CHAIRMAM) V.K.JAIN DELHI M. ARUNACHALAM CHENNAI R RAJAGOPALAN BENGALURU BASUDEB DAS KOLKATA OUR CASES ARE LISTED IN SC IN COURT NO. 4 ON 10.01.2018 AT ITEM NO. 49 Page 4 of 26 SRI DEVARANJAN KRISHNAN NEW FEDERATION GENERAL SECRETARY, Sri Krishnan Joined LIC in 1969 as a Direct Recruit Officer of the 9th Batch, along with sri Dilip Chakraborty and 21 others. He moved up in career over the years and saw postings as Divl Mgr in places like Ernakulam, Kottayam, Lucknow etc before coming to Chennai as RM Housing Finance. He spent 8 years in LIC HFL , moving up to the level of Chief Executive (ED). Returned back to Parent Organisation LIC in 2004 where he was ED HRD, ED CC, and finally ED OD/HRD & Corporate Planning, before Retiring in Aug 2006. While Sri Krishnan was Mgr Planning at Jamshedpur in 1986, he was in the Negotiating Committee of the Federation along with Sri O P Vasisht and Dilip Chakraborty. After Retirement he remained in Mumbai for a short period of 2 years working with Reliance Life Insce co as a Senior Consultant. He was member of the Mumbai Retd Officers' Assn. from 2006 to 2009. After settling In Chennai he was Vice President of the Chennai Retd Officers' Assn and continue to hold that position.. Eastern News wish him all success! 9TH General Council meeting of the Federation: The 9th General council meeting of Federation of Retired LIC class-I officers' Associations was held at Hotel Ram Krishna, Vile Parle (E), Mumbai on 8th Dec'17. S/Sri Dilip Kumar Ghosh, Basudeb Das, Amar Kumar Goswami, and Subir Kumar Mazumder represented Kolkata. Sri Tapasendra Chattopadhyay could not attend because of his being away from the country. The meeting started with Sri NP Bali, President of the Association, in the chair. He, in his address to the House, welcomed the delegates and set the tone of the business to organisational expansion, steering court cases, and financial strength of Federation. Also, he narrated the activities of the Federation during the period since 8th General Council meeting at Bangalore in December’15. The report of the General Secretary was placed before the house by the outgoing General Secretary, Sri GN Sridharan. Sri R Rajagopalan initiated the discussion on the report followed by seventeen others representing different affiliated units. Sri Dilip Kumar Ghosh Sri Subir Kumar Mazumder spoke on behalf of Kolkata. Clarification was, also, sought on our prayer before the SC Bench on Interim relief. It was replied by the General Secretary that neither our Counsel nor the Hon’ble Page 5 of 26 judges did specify the Interim relief. The report was passed after some modifications, suggested by the participants in the discussion. The accounts, placed by the treasurer, was passed unanimously after some clarifications offered by the treasurer. The House, thereafter, decided to request Sri RBL Vaish to undertake the job of Auditor. Resolutions concerning the retired employees were adopted including one, sponsored by, Kolkata Association. Two resolutions from Delhi and Bangalore concerning structural changes in the bylaws of the Federation were kept suspended till subsequent meeting of the Federation. The General Council decided that affiliated Associations may accord associate membership to spouses of the deceased members. The executive committee of the Federation was elected unanimously with Sri NP Bali as President and Sri D Krishnan as the General Secretary. Earlier, Sri GN Sridharan announced his decision of stepping down from the chair of the General Secretary. Sri Subir Kumar Mazumder was elected as Joint secretary and Dilip Kumar Ghosh was elected as EC member. Sri Tapasendra Chattopadhyay, President of our Kolkata Association, was elected as a Special Invitee to the Executive committee. The Legal Committee of the Federation was constituted with Sri Basudeb Das as a member.. Resolution, proposed by Kolkata association, adopted by the Federation of Retired LIC Class-I officers’ Associations General Council meeting held at Mumbai on 8th December’17 This House is of the opinion that during the last few years, resolutions were adopted in the meetings of General council and Executive Committee on issues directly affecting the LIC retired employees in general and retired Class-I officers in particular for actions to be undertaken for redressal. The issues were:- a) Pension re-fixation for those who retired as Class-I officer between 01/08/1992 and 31/03/1993. b) Pension re-fixation for those whose dates of births fell on the first day of a month. c) Improvement of Family pension in line with Central Government family pension. d) Option to join Group Medi-claim for those who could not join or renew Medi- claim earlier.