Training is an essential component in the overall strategy of efficient and cost effective service.  The need for training of personnel to face the new and emerging task of planning and development and achievement of social economic objectives has been emphasised in successive five years plans.  The training sector has been given a new impetus and focus during the last few years and the emphasis has been to evolve a new administrative set up with stress on competence, commitment and performance. The Estimates Committee also in its 78th Report presented to Lok Sabha on 25.4.1989 had observed that " Training is a strong motivating force and the most important aspects of motivation is the perspective that the Organisation provides an opportunity for individual development".  The Committee emphasised the importance of the systematic training and suggested that the Organisation should undertake the systematic and purposeful training to all officers in the department as this will go a long way in toning up the employees and improving their application to work to the benefit of both employees and Organisation.

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation having recognised the need for training its personnel so as to provide trouble free service to its members, set up an Apex Institution namely, the  National Academy for Training & Research in Social Security [NATRSS] at New Delhi in October, 1990.  Till March, 1992, it was operating from the Head Office of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation.  The National Academy was shifted to hired premises in April, 1992 is now functioning from its own building at 30-31, Institutional Area, Janak Puri, New Delhi – 110 058.

The National Academy for Training & Research in Social Security has a two-tier structure.  The Apex Institute is situated at New Delhi, which caters to the needs of Human Resource Development of Group ‘A’ officers as well as undertaking research and development activity.  The second tier consists of Zonal Training Institutes which carry out similar functions at the Zonal level for field formations of the Organisation. There are at present four Zonal Training Institutes under the administrative control of the National Academy viz.:

• Zonal Training Institute, North Zone at Faridabad covering regions namely Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Head Office. 

• Zonal Training Institute, South Zone at Chennai covering Regions namely Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

• Zonal Training Institute, East Zone, Calcutta covering Regions namely  Bihar, West Bengal and Andaman Nicobar Islands and Orissa.  

• Zonal Training Institute, West Zone at Ahmedabad covering Maharashtra and Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan regions.

Apart from above, a Sub-Zonal Training Institute, East Zone  has been set up at Shillong to impart training to staff working in North Eastern States.

National Academy overseas the functioning of the Zonal Training Institutes and it is responsible for training in-put and support to the management cadre in the Organisation.  National Academy also invites participants from other sister Organisations viz.:

• Coal Mines Provident Fund

• Employees' State Insurance Corporation

• Assam Tea Plantations Provident Fund

• Seamen's Provident Fund 

• Jammu & Kashmir Provident Fund

The National Academy also conducts International Training Programmes for officers from other developing countries.  It has already conducted four International Programmes for Officers from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Tanzania and Nepal.  National Academy is also contemplating to hold seminars for participants from other developing countries in the Asia-Pacific Region in consultation with International Social Security Association.

The Training Wing at the National Academy as well as at Zonal Training Institutes co-ordinates the designing and mounting of training courses on a uniform basis for personnel in the Organisation in different cadres i.e.

• At the management

• The supervisory and

• The operative levels.

It is intended that all personnel, at appropriate points of time, would be given necessary training exposure through induction courses, in-service courses and specialised courses/workshops in order to upgrade their professionalism and skills in discharging their functions in the field.   Since the Organisation has undertaken modernisation of its operations by induction of computer support, training wings at the National Academy as well as the Zonal Training Institutes would have the necessary hands-on training facility for personnel at different levels in the use and management of computer facilities. Such facilities are at present available at National Academy and Zonal Training Institute, South Zone at Chennai. 

The building of the National Academy at Janak Puri, New Delhi is a self-contained training institute with excellent hostel facilities.  The National Academy is expected to be fully commissioned during this year. The infrastructural facilities are being developed comparable to the best training institutes in the country.  Three training programmes can be run simultaneously therein after it is fully furnished and equipped.  Zonal Training Institute, South Zone at Chennai has started functioning from its own campus.  It has capacity of running two training programmes simultaneously.  The construction of the building of Zonal Training Institute of East Zone at Calcutta is at final stage.  The construction work of Zonal Training Institutes, West Zone and North Zone is at various stages of preparation of drawings and estimates by the Construction Agencies.

The courses mounted by the National Academy at New Delhi for Group 'A' Officers fall broadly under the following categories:

• Foundational Programmes :  For directly recruited/departmental promotee Assistant Provident Fund Commissioners

• Refresher In-Service Programmes:    For Asstt. Provident Fund Commissioners and Regional Provident Fund Commissioners.

• Specialised Programmes:   On Social Security Administration, General Administration, Financial Administration, Computer and Behavioural Sciences etc.

The courses mounted at the Zonal Training Institutes broadly fall under the following categories : 

• Induction Courses: For newly appointed Lower Division Clerks.

• Orientation /Refresher Courses: For Upper Division Clerks, Section Supervisors, Enforcement Officers /Assistant Accounts Officers.

The National Academy had the privilege of providing cross country experience sharing to officers from Karamchari Sanchaya Kosh, Nepal who participated in the training programme on 'Social  Security Administration.   The Central Provident Fund Commissioner & Dean of the National Academy provided orientation to the directly recruited Assistant Provident Fund Commissioners. The emphasis during this year has been on “Service to Members-Grievances Handling, Image Building, ‘Organisational Development/Behavioural Interventions’ and ‘Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995. As many as four national workshops/seminars for Board of Trustees and senior executives of exempted establishments were held during 1998-99 in National Academy.    The National Academy had the privilege of having the experts services of eminent faculties in various programmes like Padamshri Harmandar Singh, (Retd.), Ex-Regional Director, International Social Security Association, Shri R.K.A. Subramanya, IA&AS, former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Lieutenant General S.S. Apte, Shri Surendra Nath, IAS, former Chief Labour Commissioner, Shri Samar Chakraborty, Member, Central Board of Trustees, Employees' Provident Fund, Shri S.L.Passi, Chairman, National Commission on Labour Standards, besides senior officers of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation.  The feedback given by the participants indicated that the training programmes were excellent both in contents and quality.  

INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY ASSOCIATION (ISSA)  

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation is an affiliate member of the International Social Security Association (ISSA).  The Association was founded in 1927 with the aim to:

• Co-ordinate internationally, and

• Intensify efforts for the protection, development and promotion of Social Security through out the world.  

ISSA provides its member institutions with an ideal forum for pooling of information experience.  It organises international technical meetings, round table conferences and seminars on development of Social Security and also regional training programs.

In recognition of the important role played during the past three years and the major technical input in form of a report on “Future Directions of Provident Funds” in the Sixteenth Meeting of the Permanent Committee on Provident Funds, India is retained as Chairman of the Permanent Committee for another three years (1999-2001). 

International Social Security Association Bureau in its last meeting held at Marrakech (Morocco), unanimously elected Shri R.S.Kaushik, the then Central Provident Fund Commissioner, Chairperson of the Technical Commission on Provident Funds and Allied Schemes and representative for the countries of Asia and Pacific on the Advisory Board of the President in recognition of his valuable contribution in the area of Social Security in Asia and Pacific Region.