Editorial January - 2015
New
BSNL Captain - steer the ship clear of the murky and deep waters –
Revival Mandate of and Message from the Owner of the Company – Weed out
“CHALTA HAI” attitude, formulate clear and comprehensive road map and
strategies- get them ruthlessly executed – don’t bend and compromise -
alibis won’t justify failures.
When one looks at what the government has decided in terms of allowing the new born Chairman of the Company to hold office for five long years, of course rightly linking his continuation on a year to year basis on his capacity and performance to deliver, the mandate and the message is loud and clear- deliver or quit and this is precisely the message that he has to send in very strong and unambiguous terms down to the lowest rung of the Company. The message has not only to superficial, the way messages so far unfortunately were conveyed by his predecessors, but should be quite audible and mean serious, meaningful and tough business. New Captain of the Company has to underscore one thing in strongest terms i.e BSNL is not a charity but a truly commercial organization and anyone failing to deliver would be shown the door. Accountability, performance, strict enforcement of discipline and fool proof monitoring mechanisms, ruthlessly coming down on corruption and corrupt people, toughness to deal with the administrative ministry, uplifting the sagging morale of the workforce and fully involving them in rebuilding process must command highest priority of the new leader.
Speaking of revival of telecom behemoth of the Country, one cannot escape recapitulating what Sam Pitroda had to say- it just needs one person to revive the Company and that is the leader of the company for the simple reason that he has to lead, and if he leads courageously, honestly, fearlessly, with conviction and commitment, everything else will automatically fall in place. The biggest tragedy of this Company has been that we really did not have a leader tall enough to have these ingredients to carry the Company through the crisis. We have had very soft peddlers, lacking conviction and strength to put their foot down and call spade a spade.
The greatest strength of the new Chairman and one believes that he is surely conscious of that, is that he would be operating in an entirely different climate than his predecessors did where the head of the Country is committed to meaning tough business and is driven by sheer ruthlessness and an insatiable urge and unquenchable thirst to get things delivered, by hook or crook. Head of the Country has proclaimed that there is just no room whatsoever for inefficiency, corruption, inertia, complacency, indiscipline, “CHALTA HAI” attitude. BSNL is the victim of CHALTA HAI attitude and this has gone deep into our veins and destroyed the Company. Taking huge inspiration and cue from the ruthless and uncompromising manner in which the leader of the Country is bringing the gigantic Country out of the terrible mess that it has been in, it should not at all be impossible for the new leader of BSNL to get the Company out of the rut and lawlessness that it is engulfed in.
Dealing sternly with policy maker’s vis-à-vis protecting legitimate interests of the Company and creating a level playing policy climate in which BSNL operates would be yet another formidable challenge for new guardian of the Company. Here we are reminded of that great and highly illustrious veteran of CPSU leadership, late Sh. Subhir Raha, ex- Chairman of ONGC. He took on political masters and the bureaucracy in the oil ministry and went to the extent of warning then Union Petroleum Minister of retaliatory actions when the latter tried to safeguard interests of Reliance by trying to compromise legitimate interests of ONGC. Can the new Chairman of BSNL go to this extent when it is question of dealing with political masters, vested interests and “BIG BABUS” in the telecom and finance ministry remains to be seen?- Litmus test for him- requires conviction and courage.
Having said that, even bigger and huge responsibility rests on the shoulders of the trade unions in spontaneously and unconditionally responding to the initiatives of the new Chairman. Basically, trade unions have to undergo a radical and paradigm shift in their philosophy, outlook and approach - Shifting the entire focus of the workforce towards revival of the Company by getting new work ethos deeply ingrained in the workforce. Undoubtedly it is a very tough and challenging task for trade unions for obvious reasons but surely an inevitable and inescapable one.
Finally last but not the least is the most potential tool of “Human Resource”. Don’t treat it as garbage. Maintain optimum motivational levels of Human Resources and the end results would be astounding. Of particular concern should be imminently addressing very just and badly delayed concerns of the potential segment of Human Resources with enormous untapped talent. Consequences of trampling over the potential segment of Human Resources would be very dangerous.
A comprehensive and clear revival roadmap has to be drafted and it is the job of the new leader to get it executed ruthlessly. The vision document has to be essentially based on how the new leader perceives the entire landscape in the Company, his understanding of the issues and strategies to be formulated. No compromises, no bending over. Decisiveness, toughness, pragmatism and radical out of box approach are going to be the key. At the end of the day, new Chairman should leave a highly contented person, not a disillusioned and bewildered one like his predecessors, of having accomplished yeoman task of turning around telecom behemoth of the Country and saving strategic national telecom asset from extinction. That is the clear mandate of and crisp message from the owner of the Company too. Chairman has to reckon that failures are eventually failures and nothing whatsoever justifies failures.
When one looks at what the government has decided in terms of allowing the new born Chairman of the Company to hold office for five long years, of course rightly linking his continuation on a year to year basis on his capacity and performance to deliver, the mandate and the message is loud and clear- deliver or quit and this is precisely the message that he has to send in very strong and unambiguous terms down to the lowest rung of the Company. The message has not only to superficial, the way messages so far unfortunately were conveyed by his predecessors, but should be quite audible and mean serious, meaningful and tough business. New Captain of the Company has to underscore one thing in strongest terms i.e BSNL is not a charity but a truly commercial organization and anyone failing to deliver would be shown the door. Accountability, performance, strict enforcement of discipline and fool proof monitoring mechanisms, ruthlessly coming down on corruption and corrupt people, toughness to deal with the administrative ministry, uplifting the sagging morale of the workforce and fully involving them in rebuilding process must command highest priority of the new leader.
Speaking of revival of telecom behemoth of the Country, one cannot escape recapitulating what Sam Pitroda had to say- it just needs one person to revive the Company and that is the leader of the company for the simple reason that he has to lead, and if he leads courageously, honestly, fearlessly, with conviction and commitment, everything else will automatically fall in place. The biggest tragedy of this Company has been that we really did not have a leader tall enough to have these ingredients to carry the Company through the crisis. We have had very soft peddlers, lacking conviction and strength to put their foot down and call spade a spade.
The greatest strength of the new Chairman and one believes that he is surely conscious of that, is that he would be operating in an entirely different climate than his predecessors did where the head of the Country is committed to meaning tough business and is driven by sheer ruthlessness and an insatiable urge and unquenchable thirst to get things delivered, by hook or crook. Head of the Country has proclaimed that there is just no room whatsoever for inefficiency, corruption, inertia, complacency, indiscipline, “CHALTA HAI” attitude. BSNL is the victim of CHALTA HAI attitude and this has gone deep into our veins and destroyed the Company. Taking huge inspiration and cue from the ruthless and uncompromising manner in which the leader of the Country is bringing the gigantic Country out of the terrible mess that it has been in, it should not at all be impossible for the new leader of BSNL to get the Company out of the rut and lawlessness that it is engulfed in.
Dealing sternly with policy maker’s vis-à-vis protecting legitimate interests of the Company and creating a level playing policy climate in which BSNL operates would be yet another formidable challenge for new guardian of the Company. Here we are reminded of that great and highly illustrious veteran of CPSU leadership, late Sh. Subhir Raha, ex- Chairman of ONGC. He took on political masters and the bureaucracy in the oil ministry and went to the extent of warning then Union Petroleum Minister of retaliatory actions when the latter tried to safeguard interests of Reliance by trying to compromise legitimate interests of ONGC. Can the new Chairman of BSNL go to this extent when it is question of dealing with political masters, vested interests and “BIG BABUS” in the telecom and finance ministry remains to be seen?- Litmus test for him- requires conviction and courage.
Having said that, even bigger and huge responsibility rests on the shoulders of the trade unions in spontaneously and unconditionally responding to the initiatives of the new Chairman. Basically, trade unions have to undergo a radical and paradigm shift in their philosophy, outlook and approach - Shifting the entire focus of the workforce towards revival of the Company by getting new work ethos deeply ingrained in the workforce. Undoubtedly it is a very tough and challenging task for trade unions for obvious reasons but surely an inevitable and inescapable one.
Finally last but not the least is the most potential tool of “Human Resource”. Don’t treat it as garbage. Maintain optimum motivational levels of Human Resources and the end results would be astounding. Of particular concern should be imminently addressing very just and badly delayed concerns of the potential segment of Human Resources with enormous untapped talent. Consequences of trampling over the potential segment of Human Resources would be very dangerous.
A comprehensive and clear revival roadmap has to be drafted and it is the job of the new leader to get it executed ruthlessly. The vision document has to be essentially based on how the new leader perceives the entire landscape in the Company, his understanding of the issues and strategies to be formulated. No compromises, no bending over. Decisiveness, toughness, pragmatism and radical out of box approach are going to be the key. At the end of the day, new Chairman should leave a highly contented person, not a disillusioned and bewildered one like his predecessors, of having accomplished yeoman task of turning around telecom behemoth of the Country and saving strategic national telecom asset from extinction. That is the clear mandate of and crisp message from the owner of the Company too. Chairman has to reckon that failures are eventually failures and nothing whatsoever justifies failures.
GS writes to ED (Finance) to expedite filling up of about 250 unfilled posts of CAOs
Click here to view Letter
Click here to view Letter
Meeting with ED/finance:
CHQ president and AGS, Com Daihya, met ED/finance MS Sujata Ray and elaborately discussed following important issues relating to Telecom Finance personnel:
A) Proposed amendment of BSNLMS RRs of telecom finance: We informed ED/finance that telecom finance personnel continue to be grossly discriminated against because of inordinate delay in amending RRs to bring them at par with Telecom Engg. and that this discrimination is unfair, unwarranted and completely unacceptable to this Association. Simply because Board/directors from DOT want HR plan to be finalized by BSNL and for that reason they are vetoing the proposed amendment is totally unreasonable and irrational. ED/Finance, while acknowledging our serious and genuine concern on this issue, maintained that this issue has to be dealt by the BSNL/Board and that she is broadly in agreement to push through the proposed amendment in order to bring about complete parity between telecom finance and Engg. wings in so far as RRs are concerned. However, she advised us to discuss the issue with concerned officers and assured us of her support on this issue.
We will be very shortly discussing this issue with Board of Directors from DOT and CMD/BSNL, urging upon them to immediately end this discrimination by enhancing the percentage of STS posts to be filled up on regular basis from existing 50% to 75%. We assure our telecom finance Comrades that we will pursue this issue vigorously and relentlessly till the proposed and badly delayed amendment of RRs is approved by BSNL/Board.
B) Filling up of about 250 unfilled posts of CAOs immediately: We requested ED/finance to initiate immediate action towards filling up of about 250 available posts of CAOs since large number of CAOs are getting retired and are thus being deprived of their promotion. ED/Finance assured of very quick action to fill up all the available posts of CAOs as quickly as possible.
CHQ president and AGS, Com Daihya, met ED/finance MS Sujata Ray and elaborately discussed following important issues relating to Telecom Finance personnel:
A) Proposed amendment of BSNLMS RRs of telecom finance: We informed ED/finance that telecom finance personnel continue to be grossly discriminated against because of inordinate delay in amending RRs to bring them at par with Telecom Engg. and that this discrimination is unfair, unwarranted and completely unacceptable to this Association. Simply because Board/directors from DOT want HR plan to be finalized by BSNL and for that reason they are vetoing the proposed amendment is totally unreasonable and irrational. ED/Finance, while acknowledging our serious and genuine concern on this issue, maintained that this issue has to be dealt by the BSNL/Board and that she is broadly in agreement to push through the proposed amendment in order to bring about complete parity between telecom finance and Engg. wings in so far as RRs are concerned. However, she advised us to discuss the issue with concerned officers and assured us of her support on this issue.
We will be very shortly discussing this issue with Board of Directors from DOT and CMD/BSNL, urging upon them to immediately end this discrimination by enhancing the percentage of STS posts to be filled up on regular basis from existing 50% to 75%. We assure our telecom finance Comrades that we will pursue this issue vigorously and relentlessly till the proposed and badly delayed amendment of RRs is approved by BSNL/Board.
B) Filling up of about 250 unfilled posts of CAOs immediately: We requested ED/finance to initiate immediate action towards filling up of about 250 available posts of CAOs since large number of CAOs are getting retired and are thus being deprived of their promotion. ED/Finance assured of very quick action to fill up all the available posts of CAOs as quickly as possible.
Congratulations- Dir(HR) cleared the proposal for holding DPC from JTO to TES Gr B up to the vacancy year 2013-14. We are extremely thankful and indebted to Director(HR) for having given a very serious and dispassionate consideration to our request on 28th Jan for clearing the proposal for holding DPC, inclusive of the vacancy year 2013-14. We are also extremely thankful to GM(P) and DGM(P) for their sincere and serious efforts in getting the proposal approved from Dir(HR).
Discussion with GM(P) on the ongoing DPC from JTO to TES Gr B
CHQ president and AGS, Com Dahiya, had discussions with GM(P) on the need of completing the ongoing DPC from JTO to TES Gr B and issuing promotion orders at the earliest, reiterating him of our continued and total support in getting the preparatory work relating to DPC like like collection of CRs and VCs completed at the earliest. GM(P, once again while acknowledging the enormous efforts that Association is putting in to get CRs and VCs from Circles, fully assured that he and his entire team are committed to complete the work and issue the promotion orders as quickly as possible.
CHQ president and AGS, Com Dahiya, had discussions with GM(P) on the need of completing the ongoing DPC from JTO to TES Gr B and issuing promotion orders at the earliest, reiterating him of our continued and total support in getting the preparatory work relating to DPC like like collection of CRs and VCs completed at the earliest. GM(P, once again while acknowledging the enormous efforts that Association is putting in to get CRs and VCs from Circles, fully assured that he and his entire team are committed to complete the work and issue the promotion orders as quickly as possible.
Meeting with Director(HR): CHQ President and AGS, Com Daihya, had a detailed discussion with Director(HR) on the issue of ongoing DPC from JTO to TES Gr B, urging upon him to direct the concerned officers to expedite DPC and also personally monitor the progress of the DPC. We informed Director(HR) that Association exclusively made singular and tireless efforts for the last more than two years in getting the Court case dismissed at Ernakulam CAT and now the Management should demonstrate its concern and by getting the promotion orders issued at the earliest. We also apprised Director(HR) as to how JTOs belonging to year of recruitment 1995 are awaiting for first promotion of their career and have had been suffering for the last about three to four years despite availability of thousands of posts in seniority quota.
Finally, we requested Director(HR) to clear the proposal for holding of DPC immediately and very strongly pleaded with him and urged upon him to clear the proposal for holding of DPC for the vacancy year up to 2013-14. We also informed Dir(HR) about the massive and strenuous efforts that Association has so far undertaken and is continuing with in collecting CRs and VCs from the fields units.
Director(HR) was kind enough and expressed strong optimism and interest in getting the DPC work completed at the earliest and assured that, besides directing concerned officers to expedite DPC work, he will definitely monitor the progress of DPC personally and very closely. He also categorically assured us that he will clear the proposal for holding DPC for the vacancy year up to 2013-14.
Subsequently, we have had extensive follow up discussions with DGM(P) on how to go about in completing DPC work at the earliest.
Finally, we requested Director(HR) to clear the proposal for holding of DPC immediately and very strongly pleaded with him and urged upon him to clear the proposal for holding of DPC for the vacancy year up to 2013-14. We also informed Dir(HR) about the massive and strenuous efforts that Association has so far undertaken and is continuing with in collecting CRs and VCs from the fields units.
Director(HR) was kind enough and expressed strong optimism and interest in getting the DPC work completed at the earliest and assured that, besides directing concerned officers to expedite DPC work, he will definitely monitor the progress of DPC personally and very closely. He also categorically assured us that he will clear the proposal for holding DPC for the vacancy year up to 2013-14.
Subsequently, we have had extensive follow up discussions with DGM(P) on how to go about in completing DPC work at the earliest.
General Secretary writes to Dir(HR) regarding
Non-Finalization of standard pay scales for JTO/JAO and SDE/AO w.e.f 01.01.2007 in accordance to the agreements reached in Feb,12 and March/Sept14.
Decision of the Management to refer the case to DOT again is nothing but breach of agreements, provocative and unwarranted. Personal intervention solicited to address the issue urgently.
Click here to view the letter
Non-Finalization of standard pay scales for JTO/JAO and SDE/AO w.e.f 01.01.2007 in accordance to the agreements reached in Feb,12 and March/Sept14.
Decision of the Management to refer the case to DOT again is nothing but breach of agreements, provocative and unwarranted. Personal intervention solicited to address the issue urgently.
General Secretary Writes to Dir(HR) regarding
Continuing discrimination of accounts and finance wing totally unacceptable - immediate amendment of RRs by increasing the quota to fill up regular STS from existing 50% to 75% to bring complete parity with Telecom Engg.
Click here to view the letter
Continuing discrimination of accounts and finance wing totally unacceptable - immediate amendment of RRs by increasing the quota to fill up regular STS from existing 50% to 75% to bring complete parity with Telecom Engg.
Corporate office orders
AGM / DE(T) Conformation Data Click to View Letter Click to View List
Revised Fair usage policy on office Broadband connections
AGM / DE(T) Conformation Data Click to View Letter Click to View List
Revised Fair usage policy on office Broadband connections
JTO to SDE promotion status as on 27.01.2015
ACR and VC received from AP and WB Circles. CSs of all other Circles (AS, BR, CHTD, CTD, GUJ, KTK, NE II, PB(only VC), UKD(only VC), TN(only VC) and UP(West)) to send the ACRs and VC urgently. Since the VC for other Circle are expiring from 10.02.2015, all particulars from these Circles to reach BSNLCO latest by 30.01.2015 without fail. It is the responsibility of the CSs and other office-bearers, otherwise we will be compelled to skip these Circles and go ahead with promotions.
Click here to view the status as on 27-Jan-2015
ACR and VC received from AP and WB Circles. CSs of all other Circles (AS, BR, CHTD, CTD, GUJ, KTK, NE II, PB(only VC), UKD(only VC), TN(only VC) and UP(West)) to send the ACRs and VC urgently. Since the VC for other Circle are expiring from 10.02.2015, all particulars from these Circles to reach BSNLCO latest by 30.01.2015 without fail. It is the responsibility of the CSs and other office-bearers, otherwise we will be compelled to skip these Circles and go ahead with promotions.
Circle Web site Links