Flourishing ESIC

During his speech at the time of presenting the budget, Hon’ble Finance Minister had gone on record having said that both the EPF and ESI had kept their beneficiaries as “hostages, rather than clients”.

The ESIC is an important social security organisation to provide the essential security net to the workforce. There had been many illustrious officers right from inception who had toiled for the proper administration of the ESI Scheme. Voluminous books on the ESI Act authored by various legal luminaries would testify to the manner in which the officers of the organisation had striven hard to enforce the Scheme for the public good and to prevent various malpractices by the employers, beneficiaries and the officials of the ESI Corporation.

The financial management of the ESIC had been appreciated by the Economic Times also, as dealt with in detail in various other posts. This department is doing well but it could, definitely, have done better. It could have scaled newer heights in social security.

Politicians well-intentioned & ill-intentioned

But, what is remarkable is that this organisation is doing well, so far, in spite of unlawful interference by many politicians in power who aligned themselves with corrupt bureaucrats at various levels of the organisation, to sabotage the organisation from within. Instead of monitoring whether this autonomous body was administered as per rules to achieve its avowed goal, as was done by many political leaders in power, some politicians who came to power, abetted corruption in various spheres by interfering in the affairs of the organisation, for mala fide reasons. They wanted to play their negative role, even in the matter of transfers and postings. And the damage they had caused, thus, was immense. They used to support the corrupt officers because it was only they who went to those politicians for ‘protection’.

There was many an occasion when such politicians in power virtually crippled the Administration of the Organisation. It is Providence that saved the ESIC this long, from those corrupt bureaucrats and the corrupt politicians in power.

But, now, things are once again drifting towards dark age. The present Finance Minister had chosen to paint the organisation black by accusing the ESIC as a department that held its beneficiaries as ‘hostages’. Moreover, as a consequential measure and as promised by the Minister of Finance in the Budget itself, efforts were taken by the bureaucrats in the PMO, in an unseemly hurry, to get a resolution passed by the Apex Body of the ESIC to amend the Sec.44 of the ESI Act, 1948 to tinker with the structure of this mammoth social security network of the nation. The intention was to allow the private players to enter the arena of social security who would reap a lot of profit and share it with the politicians in power in the name of donation to political parties and otherwise.

Thus spake Dr. Ambedkar

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had said insurance sector must be only with the Government and  that the government would be able to generate money through it for various public purposes without borrowing otherwise.“Dr. Ambedkar recognises the importance of insurance in providing the state with “the resources necessary for financing its economic planning, in the absence of which it would have to resort to borrowing from the money market at high rates of interest” and proposes the nationalisation of insurance.

He categorically stated: “State socialism is essential for the rapid industrialisation of India. Private enterprise cannot do it and if it did, it would produce those inequalities of wealth which private capitalism has produced in Europe and which should be a warning to Indians.” (Venkatesh Athreya – Frontline – 02.08.2002).

Disclaimer of the Ministry of Labour

As the accusation of the Minister of Finance that the ESIC was holding its beneficiaries as ‘hostages’ was contrary to the reality, it was considered necessary to ascertain the basis on which the Minister had included such a word in his Budget speech.

An application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 had, therefore, been sent to the Ministry of Finance on 09.04.2015.  That  had been forwarded by the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Labour vide their letter No. 2 /98670/2015 – RTI dated 13.05.2015. The Deputy Secretary / Nodal Officer of the Ministry of Labour had, in his letter dated 21.05.2015,  directed the SS-I and SS-II divisions of the Ministry of Labour to supply the information. These two divisions have now reported that they did not send any such communication to the Ministry of Finance. We had promised the readers that they would be informed of the developments as and when reply was received from the Ministry of Finance. And, we do inform.

The application and the replies

Copy of the Application dated 09.04.2015 sent under the RTI Act, 2005: Page 2

  Copy of the Reply dated 13.05.2015 sent by the Ministry of Finance: Copy of the Reply dated 02.06.2015 sent by the SS-I Division of the Ministry of Labour & Employment: Copy of the Reply dated 26.05.2005 sent by the SS-II Division of the Ministry of Labour & Employment:

ESIC, made to stoop to be conquered

The issue, now, is  how the Minister of Finance included the questionable and depreciative word ‘hostages’ in his Budget speech, delivered before the august body, the Parliament  of India, without keeping, beforehand, any documentary evidence in the form of note from the concerned Ministry of Labour & Employment or from “other” sources. Circumstantial evidence indicates that a consultant working for the caucus of the rich had been using the term ‘hostages’ in his articles written against the ESIC and the EPFO for about two years.

And, the persons-in-power had lent their ears to such a broker and incorporated that term to deride the two important social security organisations of India while presenting the budget on 28.02.2015. These rulers did not think it necessary to check back the veracity of such an allegation, and ascertain the facts from the departments under their own control, in spite of the fact that these two social security schemes were and are the backbone of the nation’s economy preventing various kinds of social chaos.

What becomes clear is that the these power-brokers, who want to belittle the ESIC and the EPFO, wield so enormous a power that they could personally influence the Minister of Finance and plant their choice of words to deprecate these two organisations, through the Minister himself in the Budget speech itself. And, the minister was so obliging and accommodative !

The issue did not stop with the budget on 28.04.2015 only. The same rulers pressured the Director General to place before the meeting of the Apex Body of the ESIC a proposal  to amend Sec. 44 of the ESI Act, 1948, to enable the private players to enter the social insurance sector. It is strange that this proposal for amendment of Sec.44 did not come from the field after proper field survey. It did not emanate from the need of the workforce. The proposal to amend Sec. 44 of the Act came from the top, and it was intended to satisfy the greed of the rich and powerful. Fortunately, the employees’ representatives had been alert and had opposed the proposal so fiercely during the meeting held on 07.04.2015 that the matter was deferred. The persons-in-power had, thus, demonstrated on 28.02.2015 and 07.04.2015 their penchant to make the ESIC to stoop so that it conquered by the rich and the powerful.

Social Security safe only when in Government hands

ESI Act, 1948 came into existence even before the Constitution came into existence in 1950. Art. 41 of the Constitution was framed by the Constituent Assembly keeping in view the fact that the ESI Act, 1948 was already existing. The noble scheme was conceived of with the intention of managing it through the government itself to attain the goal of social security for the masses. The Working Group on Social Security for the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007) wanted expansion of the Scheme. The meeting of this Working Group said, as under in its Minutes dated 03.07.2001: “There is need to take new initiatives to extend the spread and reach of the existing social security schemes being administered by the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation and Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation.“

But, the scheme is, now, being given a bad name by the rulers, with the mala fide intention of enabling the private players to enter the insurance field with (huge) profit motive. An organisation meant for service by the Government is converted to become a profit and loss venture for private players.

The ESI Scheme can be run successfully and must be run only by the government  but without any scope for corruption. It is the politicians in power who are mainly responsible for the non-performance of the organisation in any sector. They must rise up to the occasion and see that the Scheme is run properly. There is no public interest in freeing the social security field from State control and allow private players to play with the lives of the people.

Dr.Ambedkar has said that “liberty from state control is another name for the dictatorship of the private employer”. Sage words ! (For more: Frontline – July 20-Aug 02, 2002) http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1915/19151150.htm

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The Director General, ESI Corporation also did not send any report to the Ministry of Labour & Employment regarding the allegation that the ESIC was holding its beneficiaries as ‘hostages’ as reported by the Finance Minister in his budget speech. The Ministry of Labour has confirmed that it did not receive any such information from any other source. (Vide MOL&E letter No. RTI / 45 / 2015 – SS-I dated 02.06.2015). This letter is added to the article today.

 

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Further update on 19.06.2015:

The reply from the Ministry of Finance that they do not have any information about the source from which the word ‘hostages’ was chosen to be used in the budget speech, while referring to the state of beneficiaries of the ESI Corporation.

 

Readers may please recall the attempt of the present day rulers to bring in a legislation titled “The Small Factories (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Services) Bill, 2014”, to facilitate the rich businessmen to exploit the working population with immunity and impunity. The details have been provided in the Post in the following link: https://flourishingesic.info/2014/11/04/828/

Now, Mr. Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labour to the Government of the USA, has recorded in detail how the businessmen of USA are exploiting the workforce there and how the latter suffers under the tyranny of improper labour laws. The Small Factories Bill would, in India, make the life of working population even harsher.

The rich want only profit and they are ready to go to any extent to achieve their greedy ambitions. But, it is the Government which must reign them in. It is a pity that the Congress was and the BJP is bending backwards to please only the rich. The article of Mr. Robert Reich throws light on the sufferings of the common people in the USA. In India, a land with curtailed human rights when compared to the USA, the situation of the labour will be worse, if the aforesaid Small Factories Bill is made law.

While addressing businessmen, in the year 1945, after the Second World War, UK Minister Ernest Bevin stressed on the need for providing basic economic security to create fairer conditions of living for the working population also. “If profit can be the only motive, the natural corollary is economic disorder, and economic disorder will bring you back to the same position you are in now, ever recurring, and future generations will again pay, in the same form or another, the bitter price we are paying now…” he said. But, there is no Ernest Bevin among Indian rulers. The Indian politicians are always willing to go the way the rich wants them to go. They do not care for the poor. Businessmen drive the politicians in the USA. But, they own the politicians in India.

Readers may decide what the future holds for India, after going through what Mr.Reich says:

“These days it’s not unusual for someone on the way to work to receive a text message from her employer saying she’s not needed right then.

Although she’s already found someone to pick up her kid from school and arranged for childcare, the work is no longer available and she won’t be paid for it.

Just-in-time scheduling like this is the latest new thing, designed to make retail outlets, restaurants, hotels, and other customer-driven businesses more nimble and keep costs to a minimum.

Software can now predict up-to-the-minute staffing needs on the basis of  information such as traffic patterns, weather, and sales merely hours or possibly minutes before.

This way, employers don’t need to pay anyone to be at work unless they’re really needed. Companies can avoid paying wages to workers who’d otherwise just sit around.

Employers assign workers tentative shifts, and then notify them a half-hour or ten minutes before the shift is scheduled to begin whether they’re actually needed. Some even require workers to check in by phone, email, or text shortly before the shift starts.

Just-in-time scheduling is another part of America’s new “flexible” economy – along with the move to independent contractors and the growing reliance on “share economy” businesses, like Uber, that purport to do nothing more than connect customers with people willing to serve them.

New software is behind all of this – digital platforms enabling businesses to match their costs exactly with their needs. The business media considers such flexibility an unalloyed virtue. Wall Street rewards it with higher share prices. America’s “flexible labor market” is the envy of business leaders and policy makers the world over.

There’s only one problem. The new flexibility doesn’t allow working people to live their lives. Businesses used to consider employees fixed costs  – like the costs of factories, offices, and equipment. Payrolls might grow or shrink over time as businesses expanded or contracted, but from year to year they were fairly constant. That meant steady jobs. And with steady jobs came steady paychecks along with regular and predictable work schedules.

But employees are now becoming variable costs of doing business – depending on ups and downs in demand that may change hour by hour, possibly minute by minute. Yet working people have to pay the rent or make mortgage payments, and have keep up with utility, food, and fuel bills. These bills don’t vary much from month to month. They’re the fixed costs of living.

American workers can’t simultaneously be variable costs for business yet live in their own fixed-cost worlds.

They’re also husbands and wives and partners, most are parents, and they often have to take care of elderly relatives. All this requires coordinating schedules in advance – who’s going to cover for whom, and when. But such planning is impossible when you don’t know when you’ll be needed at work.

Whatever it’s called – just-in-time scheduling, on-call staffing, on-demand work, independent contracting, or the “share economy” – the result is the same: No predictability, no economic security.

This makes businesses more efficient, but it’s a nightmare for working families.

Last week, the National Employment Law Project reported that 42 percent of U.S. workers make less than $15 an hour (*). But even $20 an hour isn’t enough if the work is unpredictable and insecure. Not only is a higher minimum wage critical. So are more regular and predictable hours.

Some states require employers to pay any staff who report to work for a scheduled shift but who are then sent home, at least 4 hours pay at the minimum wage. But these laws haven’t kept up with software that enables employers to do just-in-time scheduling – and inform workers minutes before their shift that they’re not needed. In what may become a test case, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman last week warned 13 big retailers – including Target and The Gap – that their just-in-time scheduling may violate New York law, which requires payments to workers who arrive for a shift and then are sent home.We need a federal law requiring employers to pay for scheduled work.

Alternatively, if American workers can’t get more regular and predictable hours, they at least need stronger safety nets. These would include high-quality pre-school and after-school programs; unemployment insurance for people who can only get part-time work; and a minimum guaranteed basic income.

All the blather about “family-friendly workplaces” is meaningless if workers have no control over when they’re working”.

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*NB: Workers across the USA are fighting for the minimum wages of $15 per hour. For more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2015/apr/15/fight-for-15-protest-workers-minimum-wage-live

It is a pity that greedy middlemen who act as consultants to the ‘rich’ and the ‘powerful’ have now stepped up their campaign against the ESI and EPF schemes. They do not come forward to analyse how 27% of wages is recovered towards social security in Germany while it ranges upto 69 and 73% in Scandinavia.

It is even more pitiful that the politicians in power choose to pay heed to these middlemen to spoil the living conditions of the working population throughout the nation. The first of choice of these middlemen is to coin new terms. Contribution to Provident Fund is called by these middlemen as ‘confiscation’; removing the ESI and EPF benefits is projected as ‘increasing the take-home pay’; beneficiaries of the ESI and EPF schemes are called ‘hostages’. Fertile minds work in innumerable ways to curtail the benefits enjoyed by the common people!

The most charitable comment on the tendency of these middlemen could only be that these people are ‘least honest’ in their attempts. The way they tax their brains to coin new phrases to project their anti-people act as pro-people ones show that they enjoy their own sadistic behaviour. Their arguments will be replied to point-wise, later.

For now, we present only the opinions of the public across the world about the social security benefits provided by their governments and the extent of ‘confiscation’, as collected from Facebook:

(1). Patty Stewart Lucca : We visited Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. We can see your point!! We were very impressed how many benefits you had, free medical care. Free education, maternity and paternity leave, no homeless people in the streets! Taxes are high, but every one has the right to shelter and food. Some citizens can have more than others, but everyone has a decent standard of living. We said it would not work in the US, because we have a different work ethic here. (April 18, 2014).

(2). Bjarne Thyregod : Judy – because You dont know better. And Sorry to tell but a Danish teacher earn 60K a year, all people have 6 weeks paid freedom, state paid pension. Students dont pay their studies, schools re free, student get 1000 dollar pr month from the state, hospitals are free,, doctors free. We have som oeople that Want to get more and pay less – greed is a world spread disease.

(3). Tony Mavilia : My father came to the USA in 1932- he never completed high school because he had to go to work at 16 – was drafted into the army – The GI bIll enabled him to learn a skill. He bought a house ( worked 2 jobs to afford it – then Mom went to work, She had HS only ) They put me through private HS and I paid for College oin my own no loans ( partial scholarship – New York States Regents Scholarship and part time job while in school ) They lived a pretty secure life – vacationed several times a year – bought new cars when needed and had all the requisite mod-cons of a middle class life .At his death he owned his home – no mortgage payments. THAT was the American Dream. To live decently, own a home, see that your children got a decent education, have a secure job live nicely off your pension and savings and leave something to your kids when you passed away. Very few can afford that anymore- make no mistake the GOP laid the foundation for that beginning with the policies of Ronald Reagan and is working over time to make sure no American will live as was the former norm – the American Dream is dead and the GOP is responsible in great part. Now they work to remove Social Security and Medicare. Who do they represent – certainly not the American People.

(4). Mark Møller Hansen : I’m a Dane and there’s several things wrong with this:===== 1: The lady in the picture is an ACTRESS PLAYING a teacher, not a real teacher
. ===== 2: The average salary with a minimum of 4 years experience is 45k rather than 61k (no benefits and a higher pressure and negative energy than any other profession at the moment) =====3: The minimum taxes are around 43% (45% if you’re working)
 =====4: Students can barely survive on the support they get and there are no jobs to get since virtually all part-time jobs are occupied by wellfare-receivers (companies don’t have to pay for them, meaning a free work-force)
 =====5: The average family’s struggling to keep afloat with prices and taxes going through the roof while millionaires and politicians are laughing all the way to the bank.

No, Denmark isn’t crap and we TRY to take care of each other, but bureaucracy’s screwing us over as badly as any other country.

(5). Jackie Has IC : America sucks for our generation. It was great for my parents generation who could graduate high school, get married, get a good job that would invest in the worker and train that worker so yes you could work your way up, build a new home, mother stayed home, raised two kids, had family vacations, fathers job lasted 30 years, possibly came with a pension, plus health insurance. As his own children have had none of that at all, only low wage jobs, part time, zero growth or job training within any company, forced to go to college for a promise of a good job forced into to a lifetime of student loan debt, unable to live on one parent income, forcing the mother to work outside of the home, forcing the added cost of daycare which our parents didn’t have. It goes on and on. No we don’t have the American Dream, it’s a joke. People go homeless and die even if they have a job in this country. And our country allows it to happen and looks the other way, they don’t care one bit.

(6). Paul Chataway : The point is not to be anti USA or anti any other country, I have heard the above stats m any times and I wonder why other countries don’t follow countries like Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Dans, and look seriously at adopting similar principles…Today everyone is under more stress just to get through life should we not be looking at trying to enjoy our lives as we move forward and minimise our stresses? I am writing this from China where I choose to live but I am from Australia where some of the above principles apply and at times I really SAD to see our social institutions being attacked as if “Social Entitlements ” are evil. But Corporate Welfare is just because it might create jobs. That wealth distribution & caring about the less fortunate is a corporate concept. Don’t allow the Greedy rich & powerful dictate social policy, there is advantage ONLY FOR S FEW , to keep people in financial insecurity, it provides cheap Labour, your under some ones easy control. No i don’t support a dog eat dog society we don’t have to accepting this LIE we can all be included in being a part of a supportive fair community.

(7). Wayne Martin: I agree; your standard of living is much higher than it is here in America – I lived in Scotland and Ireland for 6 years and the standard of living there was so much better than when I came home – I couldn’t believe how much better life was over there…when I retired, I was paying 54% in taxes, which drove me to retire. You are so right – you pay more in taxes, but you actually get something for them….

‪(8). Gwen Sheder‪ My husband made more money than that before he retired from the phone company three years ago. He got 6 weeks paid vacation. Our health coverage provided by his employer is the best coverage in the world. If we have health concerns it is taken care of immediately. We choose our own doctors. When my husband was having heart problems it was taken care of right away. He had a triple by-pass by a top heart surgeon. Out of pocket expenses was $500 USD. Also, he has a great pension. Our home and two cars are paid for. It does not get any better in the world than that. It is all about how you play your cards in America. He paid 30% in taxes. A lot less than Europeans. By the way people can get higher education for less than $21,000 at public intitutions. It is affordable if you know how to go about it. Also, people can get grants, scholarships, and government assistance for higher education. It is all a matter of making use of what is available.

(8. a). ‪Terry McCoy‪ Ummm.. yeah the only reason you your enjoying such a good life style in retirement is because of the union that your husband was a part of while working for the telephone company. In this day and age starting out as a young 20 something a family would be hard pressed to duplicate that life style

(8.b).Ruth Leahy‪ Gwen Sheder You are living in another Age that people today cannot access. That’s why the Scandinavian system is being touted. To stop people falling through the cracks. You totally miss the point. Lack empathy. If you could do it then anyone can. Sounds like it was your husband doing it anyway, not you per se. Those Days are long gone. Just because you had it “easy” doesn’t mean others can who are no lesser people than you or your husband. You haven’t even tried to walk in other peoples’ shoes yet you know! Nothing.

‪(8.c). Donna Richardson‪ No, the moral is “go back in time to when unions were strong and the Republican Party didn’t exist only to help the wealthy devour the middle class.”

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Readers may, if time permits, go through many such statements from the link provided below given in two pieces. Add them together to reach the thread:

https://www.facebook.com/

angemayaworld/photos/a.10150341047095533.592075.311648465532/10154020989410533/?type=1&theater

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Also, the benefits assured under the social security system in Philippines:

Click to access DownloadContent

ESIC got ISSA Good Practice Award-2012 !

The International Social Security Association chose India for the Award in 2012. The Award was given by the ISSA at Seoul on 30.10.2012.

“The ESI Corporation of India has made remarkable efforts to extend social security protection to the workforce in India,” said ISSA Secretary General Mr. Hans-Horst Konkolewsky.

In all, 41 nations participated in the competition meant for Asia and the Pacific 2012 and India got the first prize.

Launched in 2008, the ISSA Good Practice Award programme is organized on a regional basis over a three-year cycle, and has garnered international attention from social security institutions.

Yet, our Finance Minister had fallen victim to the Goebbelsian propaganda by vested interests and said that the ESIC held the beneficiaries as “hostages”. It is sad that middlemen who work against the interests of the society are allowed to influence the decision of the democratically elected Government.

We request the rulers who happen to occupy power-centres to approach  all the core issues with open mind, so that the final decision is correct and is really  in the interest of society as a whole. ESIC has done well. It could have done much better but for certain decisions at the level of the Ministry of Labour & Employment. It would be in the interest of the nation that the Scheme is run without corruption and political interference.

NB: The website thanks Ms. Meenakshi,  for her timely prompting through her letter in response to the previous article. 

“By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise”….

– Adolf Hitler

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There is a sustained campaign, now a days, in India, against the ESIC (and the EPFO too) by vested interests with ulterior motives. But, the fact is that Social Security can serve the public better only when in public sector. Paul Krugman, the celebrated Nobel Prize Winner of 2011 has examined the issue in depth and warned the American legislators not to fall victim to the propagandists of privatisation of social security. He warned the USA not to fall victim to the propagandists who wanted to privatise Social Security. Some of his findings can be seen from the article given below:

Yet, the Indian politicians indebted to hyper-rich businessmen do not care. And there are so many Goebbelses who pose as themselves intellectuals and act as middlemen for those hyper-rich to poach into and encroach the ESIC properties. They work as a ‘team’ to ‘lease’ or ‘sell’ the ESIC to the rich. They mix up the issue of purging corruption in an organisation with dumping the very organisation itself. Man made failures in the organisation cannot be used to blame the organisation itself. But, these anti-ESIC propagandists pretend otherwise. They do not want to accept the fact that such man-made failures were only because of the unholy nexus between politicians and bureaucrats.

They run away from facing facts or answering questions. They want to use any means to achieve their end of selling the organisation to private-sharks. Greed for large amount of money makes such men immune to sense of justice. That there is corruption in the Collector’s office does not lead one to do away with the Collectorate itself. That there is corruption in election does not imply doing away with the system of election itself. ESIC can be run successfully if it is allowed to run corruption-free.

The ESIC is the brainchild of great souls. It has been built up from scratches. It became a mighty organisation because of the sustained efforts of so many committed officers, staff in both the general and medical side. So many judgments of Courts uphold this fact. There are so many devoted and dedicated officers and staff members in the ESIC. Numerous success stories are there but the propagandists would not even have a look at it. The murkier side they project became murkier thus mainly because of the political patronage and interference in the System. A lot has been said about them in various Posts in this website. The propaganda of these anti-ESIC groups that privatisation would work wonders is a white lie. Such a stand is not based on empirical facts. On the other hand there is clear proof that the politicians who worked overtime for privatisation and globalisation had, actually, been cheating the public for long.

In the year 1993, Mr. Manmohan Singh & Co, had been batting for globalisation. One vividly remembers him and Mr. Chidambaram proclaiming day-in and day-out that globalisation would bring in glorious days for the nation and there would be transfer of technical know-how and what not.

Can anyone say what technical know-how has been brought into India by Coca-Cola and Pepsi during the past 22 years? Has any one examined the cost-benefit ratio of having allowed these two units to enter India? How much money is siphoned off by them out of India every year, as profit?

In the year 2011 and 2012, the same Mr. Singh, during the Independence Day address said that large section of children in India suffer from malnutrition. He said, on 15.08.2012, “We would achieve independence in the true sense only when we are able to banish poverty, illiteracy, hunger and backwardness from our country…. Malnutrition in children is a big challenge for us..” Dr. Singh was talking of ‘banishing’ poverty, 21 years after injecting his globalisation-liberalisation-privatisation-medicine in the body of the nation. When Germany had been reduced to ashes in 1945, she gathered herself up and became a mighty nation within a period of 20 years. Her DM attained full value in 1971, within 26 years. That economic miracle could be achieved by Germans because of the effective social security system of the nation.

 

But, both Mr. Singh and Mr. Modi are afraid of having a look at these historical feats through Social Security run by public sector. Because, their aim is not welfare of the common-man but the welfare of the super-rich.

We, therefore, plead before the Members of the ESI Corporation to pose, at least, the following questions to the rulers, during the ensuing meeting on 07.04.2015 and obtain their reply duly recorded in Minutes. That way they can at least prevent another catastrophe falling upon the nation, although they had failed to prevent it last time before amending the ESI Act in 2010. The questions that are require answer from the authorities are:

Category I:

1. It is now said in Para 6.g. (Page 8) of the Summary Record of the 3rd meeting of the Sub-Committee on Medical Services and Medical Education held on 13.05.2014, that “Setting up and running of Medical Colleges is a cost intensive proposition in r/o capital cost, recurring cost, loss of revenue, etc.,” In Para 6.h (Page 9) of the same report, the Sub-Committee says that “based on current projections, the surplus funds of the corporation are likely to be negative by 2016-17.

◆ How is it then when the Bill 66 of 2009 for amending the ESI Act was introduced in the Lok Sabha, the Financial Memorandum said in Para 3 that “The Bill does not involve any expenditure whether recurring or non-recurring nature”.
◆ How was the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Finance convinced to certify thus, when the Medical Colleges involve recurring expenditure?
2. The Sub-Committee of 2014 says, in Para 6.a (Page 8) that “no projections of requirements of doctors were made while approving the medical colleges. ESIC doctors (MBBS) under bond would be available only from 2020 onwards and the current requirement would have to be met from outside ESIC system. Graduate doctors are readily available in the market.”

◆ How is it that the Sub-Committee of the ESIC that proposed the amendments, in the year 2009, to the ESI Act said against Item 17 for insertion of the new section 59 (B) that “There is acute shortage of doctors and para-medical staff in ESI Hosptials / dispensaries with (which) is adversely effecting the delivery of health care services to insured persons. It is therefore necessary for ESIC to have its own Medical Colleges and other training institutions to produce doctors and paramedical staff.”
◆ How is it that when the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour asked the same question, it was given wrong information as reply?

◆ How did that Parliamentary Standing Committee made to become victim to wrong information and was made to give its approval for setting up medical colleges?

3. It is now said in the Hqrs. Memo. No. L-11/12/3/20-(Corporate Cell) / ME Cell dated 05.01.2015 that the “ESIC should exit the field of medical education entirely as it is not the core function of the ESIC”. How is it that the Advice Department of the Ministry of Law cleared the draft Bill on 26.06.2009, within a record period of two days, without examining the real issues involved in it which were legally and constitutionally objectionable? (For more details: —).

4. How is it that the ESIC authorities say, in their Memo dated 18.03.2015, that “Admissions to ongoing MBBS/BDS?PG courses at ESIC Medical Education Institutions shall be continued” when they proclaimed on 05.01.2015 that the ESIC was going to exit the medical education itself?

5. How is it that they invite further problem to the ESIC and create, thereby, problems to the future student community also by admitting one more batch of students, when they had gone on record saying that the ESIC “did not have the core competency to run medical colleges” and that the medical colleges may be handed over to ‘relevant agencies with capability and mandate to run medical colleges’ (Vide Item 6/1 of the Action Taken Report on the Record of Discussions at the Presentation made by the MOLE to the Prime Minister on 05.07.2014).

Category II:

The Members of the ESIC are requested not to yield to any kind of political or bureaucratic pressure once again, as they had done in 2008-2010. They are requested to ask the following questions also from the authorities on record:

A. Will the authorities assure that the Medical Colleges, Hospitals and the buildings of these institutions at Rajaji Nagar (Bangalore), K.K. Nagar (Chennai), Joka (Kolkata) and Dental College (Rohini) will never be handed over to any private players in future?

B. Or, will these four institutions also be handed over to private players, after some time and whether it was only for that purpose admissions are sought to be made for another batch of students ?

C. What is the difficulty for the authorities to conduct a comprehensive Consumer Satisfaction Survey to know the opinions of the beneficiaries about the functioning of the ESI Scheme in the public sector?

D. What sort of study was made by the authorities to examine the experience of other countries regarding privatisation of social security?

E. Was the International Labour Organisation consulted before embarking on such major changes? Because even before introducing the Bill in 1946, Indian Government had invited Mrs. Stack and Mr. R. Rao to study the proposal of Dr. Adharkar and the draft Bill and offer their suggestions. The final Bill that became ESI Act was as per the suggestion of the ILO only.

Category III:

In addition, the following ten questions posted earlier under a different thread “Moving the court of law …” may also be raised by the Members so that the public whom they represent get appropriate reply in time. Those ten questions are also reproduced here for easy reference please:

1. Where is the provision in Sec. 59-B to empower the ESIC to run the “medical colleges” through private players or even through State Governments? Such third party participation is permitted by Sec. 59 (3) only to run the ESI Hospitals and not Medical Colleges. How can the ESIC mix up Sec. 59(3) with Sec. 59 (B)?

2. Besides, the basic issue is, where is the continued need for the ESIC to run medical colleges and also to seek PPP for that purpose, when it has found out that it is not its core activity, at least, now?

3. When the Administration has admitted that the buildings of 8 more medical colleges are only “under construction”, why should it not forget about medical colleges but use the infrastructure created, for some other purposes, in such a manner that it generates permanent rental income to the ESIC to add to the ESI Fund, to offset the money lost during the last six years?

4. Is it obligatory for the ESIC to run those medical colleges through proxies, either through the State Government or through PPP or through other methods (as implied from the world ‘etc’), just because buildings have been constructed or just because the MCI is going to give permission to it?

5. When the Private Players are allowed to run the medical colleges, will they be running it as per their own licence or by using the licence obtained by the ESIC from the Medical Council of India?

6. If the ESIC is using the licence obtained by it for running the medical colleges and allowing that licence to be used by the private players, will it be legal, when the ESIC has gone on record saying repeatedly that running the medical colleges is not its core activity?

7. Would those private players be able to get permission from the Medical Council of India to run medical colleges on their own? Are these private players permitted to be the beneficiaries of the misadventure and discomfiture of the ESIC in having illegally started construction of buildings spending thousands of crores of rupees from the year 2008?

8. How is it that some private players like Reliance, SRM and others are reported to have already entered the premises of various (proposed) medical colleges at Coimbatore, Joka and other places, officially and inspected the infrastructure under construction?

9. Is it true that those private players would admit students under Management Quota to make money, using the licence granted to the ESIC for starting medical colleges?

10. What is the significance of giving only 15 days’ time to the State Governments to accept the Terms and Conditions framed by the ESIC before and for inviting the private players to have a role in running the medical colleges on behalf of the ESI Corporation?

We request the Members of the ESIC not to fall prey to the one-sided propaganda of the ‘team’ of pseudo-intellectuals who make their living by brokering for the rich and crushing the poor. They can make easy living that way; can have direct links with power-centres; can enjoy the glory of getting articles published in news papers. But, that is not in the interest of the working population. The members of the ESIC have a vital role to play on 07.04.2015 to save the nation from chaos and for that purpose they should not fall prey to the propaganda of various kinds against the ESIC without hearing the other side.

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“The receptivity of the masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan”.

– Adolf Hitler

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We thank the Members in advance for asking these questions!

Appendix

1. Report contaiing the recommendations of the ESIC Sub-Committee for establishing medical colleges:

ESIC Sub-Committee wants to establish medical colleges and prepares ground for amendment that came in later in 2010.

Admission before the PM in 2014 that the ESIC does not have core competency to run medical colleges

ESIC Sub Committee of 2014 says the decision to open medical colleges was wrong.