Release of additional installment of dearness allowance to Central Government employees and dearness relief to Pensioners, due from 1.1.2014

The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal to release an additional installment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from 01.01.2014, in cash, but not before the disbursement of the salary for the month of March 2014 at the rate of 10 percent increase over the existing rate of 90 percent.

Hence, Central Government employees as well as pensioners are entitled for DA/DR at the rate of 100 percent of the basic with effect from 01.01.2014. The increase is in accordance with the accepted formula based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission.

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both dearness allowance and dearness relief would be Rs. 11074.80 crore per annum and Rs. 12920.60 crore in the financial year 2014-15 ( i.e. for a period of 14 months from January 2014 to February 2015). 

Source : PIN Release, 28 Feb, 2014

Govt approves Rs 1,000 minimum monthly pension under EPS-95

Friday, 28 February 2014 - 1:31pm IST | Agency: PTI

Government on Friday approved the proposal to ensure Rs 1,000 minimum monthly pension under a scheme of retirement fund body EPFO that would immediately benefit 28 lakh pensioners.

The decision to provide the entitlement under Employees' Pension Scheme-95, run by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, was taken by the Union Cabinet in its meeting held here.

The move will immediately benefit about 28 lakh pensioners including five lakh widows. There are 44 lakh pensioners.

Earlier this month the EPFO trustees had approved the proposal. The Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision making body of EPFO had met on February 5, and decided to amend the EPS-95 scheme for the purpose.

The proposal was placed before the Union Cabinet for approval as the government had made funding provisions for it.

The government would have to provide an additional amount of around Rs 1,217 crore to ensure the minimum pension of Rs 1,000 starting 2014-15.

Pensioners will get the benefit with effect from April 1.

The proposal has already been approved by the Finance Ministry. 

Source : http://www.dnaindia.com/

Cabinet approves merger of DA with basic pay

Defers decision on anti-corruption ordinances and Forward Contract Regulation (Amendment) Act

New Delhi  

February 28, 2014 Last Updated at 14:46 IST

The Cabinet today approved merger of 50% dearness allowance of Central government employees and pensioners with their basic pay. However, it has deferred a decision on anti-corruption ordinances and Forward Contract Regulation (Amendment) Act. A special Cabinet meeting is likely tomorrow to take call on these ordinances.

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/

Govt hikes dearness allowance to 100%, approves Rs.1,000 monthly pension

The decisions were taken by the Union cabinet in its meeting held in New Delhi

The government would have to provide an additional amount of around Rs.1,217 crore to ensure the minimum pension of Rs.1,000 starting 2014-15. Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint

New Delhi: The government on Friday raised dearness allowance (DA) to 100% from 90%, benefiting its 5 million employees and 3 million pensioners.

The decision to hike DA for its employees, and to provide dearness relief for pensioners, by 10 percentage points to 100% was taken by the Union Cabinet in its meeting held in New Delhi .

The government also approved the proposal to ensure Rs.1,000 minimum monthly pension under a scheme of retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) that would immediately benefit 2.8 million pensioners.

Earlier this month, EPFO trustees had approved the proposal. The Central Board of Trustees, the apex decision-making body of EPFO, had met on 5 February and decided to amend the EPS-95 scheme for the purpose. The proposal was placed before the Union Cabinet for approval as the government had made funding provisions for it.

The government would have to provide an additional amount of aroundRs.1,217 crore to ensure the minimum pension of Rs.1,000 starting 2014-15. Pensioners will get the benefit with effect from 1 April. The proposal has already been approved by the finance ministry.

This increase in DA and the minimum monthly pension of Rs.1,000 by the UPA government comes ahead of the imposition of the model code of conduct by the Election Commission. The code is likely to come into force with the announcement of the schedule for the forthcoming general elections in a week or so.

Also it would be the second double-digit DA hike in a row. The government had announced a hike to 90% in September last year, effective from 1 July 2013. The new hike in DA would be effective from the 1 January this year.

According to practice, the government uses consumer price index-industrial workers data of the past 12 months to arrive at a quantum for the purpose of any DA hike. Thus, the retail inflation for industrial workers between 1 January to 31 December 2013 was used to take a final call on the matter.

According to the provisional data released by government on 31 January, retail inflation for factory workers in December was 9.13% . The revised retail inflation data for January is scheduled to be released on Friday. An official had said earlier that the preliminary assessment suggests that DA hike will not be less than 10% and would be effective from 1 January.

Source : http://www.livemint.com/

Transfers and postings of Junior Administrative Grade (JAG) officers of Indian Postal Service, Group'A'

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Shri Abhinav Wallia (IPoS 1989) posted as PMG, Berhampur

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Voluntary retirement under FR 56(k), etc. and amendment of Rules.

Click here to view DoP&T O M No. No.25013/3/2010-Estt (A), dated 27.02.2014 and the copy of the Gazette Notification No.G.S.R.E.(27) dated 17.1.2014 amending FR 56(k) and FR 56(m)

Country's first Post Office Savings Bank ATM opened at T Nagar HO (Chennai) on 27/2/2014

Country's First Post Office Savings Bank ATM  inaugurated by Shri P. Chidambaram, Hon'ble Union Finance Minister, Govt. of India on Thursday the 27th February 2014 at Thyagaraya Nagar Head Post Office, Shivagnanam Road, T'Nagar, Chennai,  Tamilnadu - 600017. 

        In order to meet the requirements and needs of the I.T modernization project, Infosys Core banking Solution (CBS) will be implemented across India covering all the Post offices. 

      
        Core Banking Solution (CBS) - FINACLE is networking all the Post offices which enable customers to operate their accounts and avail Account related services from any Post offices on CBS network regardless of where he/she maintains his/her account. The customer is no more the customer of a particular Post office. He becomes the Post office Savings Bank (POSB) customer. Thus CBS is a step towards enhancing customer convenience through “Anywhere and Anytime Banking”. As Finacle is integrated to all the banks in course of time, the customer can access any bank account through post office.

        Around Rs.700 crore is earmarked for this Project. Core Banking Solution(CBS) for Post office Savings Bank is being implemented throughout India. As on date, 57 Head Post offices and 11 Sub Post offices have migrated covering 64 lakh accounts.  By 31.03.2014, 700 more Post offices will be covered. All the 26,840 Post offices would be functional in CBS by 2016.

 

 

Soon car manufacturers, e-commerce can use postal service

With traditional business dwindling, Postal Department looking for new avenues

The Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and E-commerce companies cansoon will be able to tie-up with theIndia Post, which spread across1.50 lakh locations across India, to reach out to their customers/potential customers.

The India Post, is being modernised with aninvestment of over Rs 4,900 crore, which will bring all the Postoffices under one net and all the operations will be computerised.

On the backdrop of the declining traditional businesses, includingtransaction of letters and post cards, the India Post is now planningto take a new avatar, with a budgetary support of over Rs 4,900 crorefrom the Union Government.

“In the recent years post offices have started offering various servicesincluding courier, parcel and others as the traditional businesses ofPost Offices, like letter and post cards were declining”, said the Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, after inaugurating India Post'sfirst ATM in the country at Chennai today.

In the interim budget the Department was allocated Rs 4,909 crore totake up various initiatives, including bringing all the post officesunder the Core Banking Solution (CBS), setting up new ATMs andothers.

To a question on what kind of services the post offices can possiblyoffer after the complete IT transformation, Padmini Gopinath,secretary, Postal Department said, “literally every second or thirdvillage got post office in the country. If somebody wants to buy acar and if we have tie-up with a company, we will collect theapplication forms so that the car company can come to know what wouldbe the market demand. How much should I produce. This is something wecan do.”

Theother area could be E-commerce, the industry need some body who candeliver in rural areas. “We are ready to do, we have asked for application. We want to bring allthe centres (post offices) to come on board with the technology, thenwe will look into it. By June it will be ready,” she said.

The Department of Posts got around 1.50 lakh post offices across thecountry and 80 per cent of it are in rural areas. The Department ison par with courier in one side and banks on the other sides. “Postal Department is the only one, which does both the businesses,” said Padmini Gopinath, who noted the Department got around Rs 28,000-30,000 crore deposits under its banking system.

So far about 64 lakh accounts, worth Rs 11,840 crore, were migrated to Finacle inthe last two months, which represents 60 officers. It may be notedpilot-in-pilot rollout of CBS was implmented in Greams Road PostOffice in Chennai on December 16, 2013.Commentingon ATM roll outs, she said, Chennai was the first one get theDepartment's ATM and four more ATMs are ready for operations, in Delhi and Mumbai.

The Department is proposed to install 1,000 ATMsacross the country in 2014 and add another 1800 ATMs in 2015.

“We are a bank which collects small savings unlike the commercial banks,we only do savings and our customers are small people,” she said. She noted, all public and private sector banks put together there areabout 50,000 locations, but post office are located across 150,000locations and that is our USP and these Post Offices also gotobligation to reach out to the last miles across the country. 

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/

Get Shiva's blessings through Speed Post

ALLAHABAD: This Mahashivatri if you are unable to go for Bholenath's darshan then too there is no need to worry as you can easily get the prasad at your doorstep through postal services.

Director postal services, Allahabad region Krishna Kumar Yadav said as per an agreement between the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir Trust of Varanasi and Department of Posts, prasad of Kashi Vishwanath Mandir will be made available at the home of devotees through post.

Under this scheme devotees will have to send a money order of Rs 60 to senior superintendent of post offices, Varanasi (East) and in return the devotee will get 'Bhabhuti' of the temple, 'Rudraksh' , a laminated photo of Lord Shiva and Shiva Chalisha as prasad from Kashi Vishwanath Mandir Trust.

Yadav further added that similarly prasad of renowned Shri Mahakaleshwar Jyotirling Mandir, Ujjain can also be ordered by post. A person is required to send a money order of Rs 151 to Prashashak, Shri Mahakaleshwar Mandar Prabandhan Committee and in return prasad including 200 gm of dry fruits, 200 gm sweets, Bhabhuti and a photo of Lord Shri Mahakaleshwar will be sent to the person through Speed Post.

Yadav said the Prasad is delivered in waterproof envelopes to ensure safety and purity during the delivery.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Cabinet, CCEA to get busy before poll code kicks in

NEW DELHI: These could be hectic few days for the UPA government before the model code of conduct kicks in, which will stop it from announcing anything that is seen as influencing voters. The Cabinet and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) have a heavy duty agenda for Friday, the last day of the month, as the government plans to make several announcements before the code of conduct kicks in. 

The rules that the government and political parties need to follow come into force from the date of the announcement of election schedule by the Election Commission and are operational till the elections are over. The commission is expected to announce the poll schedule in the first week of March. With Parliament having been prorogued on Wednesday, the government is in a position to issue ordinances to promulgate interim law. 

The Cabinet is likely to take up on Friday a proposal to increase the minimum number of work days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act by 50 days to 150 days for scheduled castes and tribes, and another to withdraw a conciliation offer made to Vodafone Group over a tax dispute. 

The CCEA is set to consider changes in the urea investment policy and a proposal to raise the fixed cost for urea plants. A proposal on increasing dearness allowance by 10% for central government employees is also on the list. 

It is also expected to consider re-promulgating an ordinance to empower the Securities and Exchange Board of India to act against pyramid schemes. The ordinance, which lapsed for the second time on January 18, was issued after the standing committee on finance asked the government to take stringent action against ponzi schemes and impose a blanket ban on investment schemes promising unreasonable returns. 

The ordinance empowers Sebi to regulate any money pooling scheme of Rs 100 crore or more and gives it power to attach assets in cases of non-compliance. It also gives the market watchdog power toattach assets in cases of non-compliance. It also gives the market watchdog power to seek information, such as telephone call data records, from any persons or entities with respect to any securities transaction it's investigating. The amendment bill could not be taken up in the just-concluded Par-liament session as the standing committee on finance has not yet submitted its report. 

The Cabinet is expected to bring in ordinances on two anticorruption bills - Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill and Right of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill. The Congress has been projecting its vice-president Rahul Gandhi as an advocate of these anti-graft legislations, more so after the Aam Aadmi Party made a stunning electoral debut in Delhi assembly polls by launching an anti-corruption movement. 

Apart from this, it may bring in ordinances to activate the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill and Rights of Persons with Disability Bill and Security Laws (Amendment) Bill. 

The government could soon decide on relaxing the curbs on gold imports that have hurt the gems and jewellery sector and increased local gold prices. If the curbs are not removed before the code of conduct kicks in, then the industry will have to wait till the end of the elections for a relaxation in import restrictions. It is also expected to consider a proposal to relax rules for foreign direct investment in the housing and construction sectors. 

Ministries are meanwhile speeding up some decisions before the code of conduct comes into force, said a government official. 

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Compendium of Best Practices on RTI

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Guidelines for Right To Information Fellowship - Extension of last date

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COM. UMRAOMAL PUROHIT, THE LEGENDARY LEADER PASSED AWAY

WITH DEEP SORROW WE REGRET TO INFORM ALL OUR COMRADES THE SAD DEMISE OF COM. UMRAOMAL PUROHIT, SECRETARY STAFF SIDE JCM. NATIONAL COUNCIL AND THE PRESIDENT OF ALL INDIA RAILWAYMEN FEDERATION AT MUMBAI TODAY AT 4.15 AM. WE CONVEY OUR HEART FELT CONDOLENCES ON BEHALF OF THE COMRADES OF THE CONFEDERATION OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND WORKERS.  WE APPEAL TO OUR COMRADES WHO ARE STATIONED AT MUMBAI TO TAKE PART IN THE FUNERAL PROCESSION WHICH IS TO COMMENCE FROM THE AIRF OFFICE AT MUMBAI AS A MARK OF RESPECT AND AFFECTION TO THE DEPARTED COMRADE.

M. KRISHNAN,

SECRETARY GENERAL;

FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL SECRETARIAT OF THE CONFEDERATION OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND WORKERS.

DATED; 27^TH FEBRUARY, 201

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