Perturbed over alleged anomalies in the wage revision by the Central government, the members of NABARD Officers’ Association (NBOA) observed a day-long strike on Friday, in Chandigarh.

Ravinder Singh, secretary of the Association said that the protest was against the anomalies in the wage revision created by an order issued by the Department of Financial Services (DFS), the Ministry of Finance (Government of India).

“We were also supported by the retired staff since the wage revision holds implications for the future— for the service as well as retired staff. The officers of NABARD had been on agitation ever since the DFS order was issued on September 14, 2022 followed by the administrative circular on September 21, 2022, to implement the order. After many representations and rounds of dialogues with the officials of DFS over the last two months, there has been no resolution, hence we were left with no other choice but to go on strike,” said Mr. Singh.

He said that in the next phase of protest, they planned to stage a march to the Parliament and intended to go on a hunger strike, if their demand was not met.

Mr. Singh said the order had introduced a differentiated pay for the same cadre of officers. “Higher for those who had come from the Reserve Bank of India at the formation of NABARD in 1982, and lower for those directly recruited by NABARD. This is in contravention to ‘equal pay for equal work’ in the same organisation,” he said.

“The order has also reduced an allowance in contravention to what was approved by the Board of Directors and has equated it with that of the officers of the regional rural banks (RRBs), entities supervised by NABARD under the Banking Regulations Act, 1949. The financial loss and the humiliation have infuriated the officers’ community of NABARD, leading to the present agitation and strike call,” he said.