The Indian Railway Ministry has discontinued the tradition of awarding gold-plated silver medals to retired officers. Medals will no longer be awarded upon retirement…
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Railway Officers Medal Discontinued: Taking a major decision, the Indian Railway Ministry has discontinued the practice of awarding gold-plated silver medals to retiring officers. After this decision came into effect from Wednesday, medals will no longer be awarded on retirement.
In a circular addressed to the heads of all zonal railways and production units by the Railway Ministry, it has been said that the practice of awarding gold-plated silver medals to retiring railway officers is being discontinued. The silver medals already available with the Railways should be used for other activities, which will address the concerns regarding their utilization.
Why was this tradition discontinued?
While the circular did not specify any reasons, officials cited reasons such as the poor quality of medals supplied by outsourced vendors and the high cost of silver. A senior official said that in recent years, there have been instances where the silver used in medals supplied by vendors has been found to be of poor quality or even counterfeit. This could be one of the reasons for discontinuing this practice.
Another official said that since the price of silver has increased manifold in the last 20 years, this decision may also have been taken as an effort to cut down unnecessary expenses.
This tradition began in 2006.
Nearly 20 years ago, in March 2006, the Ministry of Railways decided to award a gold-plated silver medallion weighing approximately 20 grams to all railway employees who took voluntary retirement or retired through the normal process.
The medallion was initially designed to feature the Indian Railways logo on one side and the name or logo of the respective railway zone or production unit (PU) on the other. The expenditure on these medallions was included under the head “Unclassified Miscellaneous.” The Ministry clarified that the silver used in the medallion would weigh 20 grams and have a purity of 99.9 percent.
