7th Pay Commission: Latest news is not good at all. After making a number of demands and then not being able to get them cleared by Centre has led these government employees not just to threaten to go on strike, but even actually put a date to it! They have called a protest as early as tomorrow and that too before Parliament to put greater pressure on the government and let it know of the seriousness of their call. It has been announced by Railway unions that they will be organising a protest march against 7th CPC report and go to Parliament on Wednesday. And their demands? Well, first of all, hike in minimum wages, and second, scrapping of the National Pension System (NPS).

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Railwaymen were not happy with was minimum salary. Mishra said minimum pay at Rs 18,000 that was approved by Centre was not enough and that it should be hiked to Rs 26,000 according to fitment factor of 3.68 times. The 7th Pay Commission and NPS protest will see a huge crowd descending on the capital. An estimated 40,000-50,000 Indian railways employees will march to Parliament, he revealed. The All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) general secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra, at a media event, explained their reasoning behind the move to demand the scrapping of NPS. He said that while social security to retired government employees was achieved after a long struggle, the same was withdrawn when NPS was implemented from January, 2004. The pinch is becoming increasingly painful, he indicated by saying, "Under the National Pension System, the defined minimum pension or family pension is no more guaranteed for those employees who came in government service on or after 2004. This is so even though they are regularly contributing 10 per cent of their wages every month towards this scheme."

This is not a new demand as it has been conveyed to the highest levels of government. NPS demand was made last year and a 3-member committee of ministers headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh was formed. However, no forward movement on this was seen. 
Mishra rushed to assure one thing by saying, "There is anger and anguish not just among railwaymen, but also among bureaucrats, over this. We have been assured again and again that our demands will be met, but nothing has happened so far." However, he held out the threat of taking much stronger action in the future. He said, "If they do not relent, then we will have to stick together and the next step could well be disruptive."

Fortunately, there is no threat of disruption and all rail services will be working as per schedule and railways passengers need not worry about being inconvenienced.
Mishra said, "We have given instructions that no trains will be stopped or delayed because of our march. However, there will be a lot of absentees. Most of those affected are youngsters and they are very upset and angry."

So, what happens if the Railwaymen's 7th Pay Commission and NPS demands are not met? Well, they have already taken some steps in this regard. It has been revealed that the AIRF had conducted a secret ballot over teh action to be taken if their demands were not met. Significantly, 95 per cent of the 9,00,000 railwaymen said a strike should nbe called. How bad would it be? Well, just in case you want to know, then let it be revealed that in 1974, Railway employees staged a strike and this paralysed life in the country for some 3 weeks. Yes, they were demanding a hike in pay.