Value of Time
I am sure you must have been taken aback by the above headline. Is it really proper to compare UFBU vs a tree? It may look odd at first sight but if you think deeply, it has lot of meaning - we can learn few things from this comparison. We are living a world which is a creation of God and like human beings, tree too have a life / age which is to some extent comparable to human life period.
I have some hobbies which stretch beyond banking. In February this year (i.e. 12th February 2015) , I saw a tree in a garden (where I go for walk on regular basis) near my home, with no leaves and felt as if there will never be life on this tree. However, a close look gave me a hope that this tree too has good days. However, I was not sure, how long it will be as I have never kept a record of such changes in the nature. Will it be one month, two months or three months?
Thus, I started clicking a photograph of the same tree from the same spot for next few days to watch how life of tree changes say in a month or so. The results were beyond my imagination.
On the other hand, on 23rd February 2015, we saw an MoD signed between IBA and UFBU seeking 90 days to finalise the agreement which was already delayed by 27 months by that time, thus total time expected to clinch the deal is likely to be 30 months+.
Today as I was scanning through my camera photographs and on the other hand was reading an article about the achievements / failures of UFBU in last 50 days, it struck my mind to share some of the results with our readers, as I am sure most of you must not have noticed the growth of trees in the manner the same was captured by my camera. I know some UFBU sympathiesers will not like this the negotiations to be compared with the growth of a tree, but I would like them to suggest which is better way of comparing the delayed periods. May be they would like it to be compared to the period Pluto takes an orbit around Sun (i.e. over 248 years) !!
Thus to this extent, this article is beyond our regular updates. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY INTREST IN THE NATURE, YOU CAN EASILY IGNORE THIS ARTICLE OR YOU CAN ENJOY THE SAME AND LEARN FEW LESSONS FROM THIS. EVEN A PERIOD OF TWO WEEKS CAN MEAN A LOT FOR FEW OF US. Let me share some of the photographs of the tree about which I was talking:-
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As on 12th February 2015
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As on 16th February 2015
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As on 18th February 2015
(Just after 6 days)
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As on 23rd February 2015 (Just after 11 days) |
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As on 3rd March 2015 (Close up of the tree
with Mullberry easily visible)[Just after 20 days]
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As on 24th March 2015 (A Full family enjoying the shade of
the tree )[After 41 days] |
PS : I have many more photographs of intermediary days, including those where squirrels and children are enjoying the not yet fully ripped mulberry fruits. I have not uploaded the same as this article file would become too heavy for downloading.
The above shows that in the life of a living being the period of even 11 days can means a lot, leave alone a period of 50+ days. These many days can bring life to a dead wood tree or make a fully bloomed tree to almost a dead wood tree.
Similarly, a period of 50 days delay can cause distress to a human being / bankers. Therefore, almost negligible progress in 10th BPS talks during last 50 days is something like a criminal negligence as lot of senior bankers with financial crunch may have suffered beyond imagination. The delay of 30 months in reaching the negotiations is unthinkable for people in distress. Some of the bankers may be waiting to undergo some operation for self, spouse or even old parents on getting an arrear, which can give a fresh lease of life to them. On the other hand, some may be thinking of getting their son / daughter married with the additional help of arrears. There may be some others who might have promised their children of higher education or some additional course to get a job. The time lost will never come back.
However, for IBA and UFBU, 30 months delay has little meaning. Over a decade back, it was decided that unions will submit their demands six month in advance and by due date or so the BPS will be finalized. Purely on this assurance at that time the period of BPS was increased from 4 years to 5 years (I am sure number of senior bankers will vouch for this). However, that has been buried with the time and now delays are becoming longer and longer.
Even if you have not liked our comparison, learn the lesson that a period of even 15 days in our life has got a lot of meaning as nature does not stop whether you take some steps to do some good work or just sleep over it.
Desperate to defer the strike from 23rd January, the leaders even reported that 4 days strike has been kept on hold and IBA assured that the issues will be resolved in the first week of February 2015. UFBU also indicated that if not resolved soon, it will call for 4 day strike in February 2015 itself. Once strike was cancelled, IBA was again on the old tricks and held a meeting only on 23rd February and asked for 90 more days to finalise the BPS. Now as on 19th April, 55 days have lapsed and still there is hardly any progress on the issues of construction of pay scales, issues relating to retirees / pensioners, holidays on 2 Saturdays, medical reimbursement etc. etc.
Now there are serious doubts whether this will be completed within next 35 days with full understanding of the issues OR it will be delayed OR it will be signed by UFBU on the dotted lines given by IBA.
It is high time that UFBU realizes the value of time or it will again become ULLU (most of the initiative has already been lost) at the hands of IBA with bankers crying at least for next 5 years if not for whole life. Once the gap in the salaries with other counterparts increases, it will become extremely difficult to fill up that gap in future. For retirees, the delay of each day is more torturous.