Portal for pension-related info to ex-servicemen launched

NEW DELHI: CAG Shashikant Sharmatoday launched a website for providing pension-related information to ex-servicemen. 

"The Defence Pensioners' Portal has been designed to provide pension related information to pensioners paid by the Defence Pension Disbursement Offices (DPDOs)," a Defence Ministry release said. 

The portal was launched on the sidelines of a function to mark the 267th Defence Accounts Department Day. 

"The dpdopensioners.org portal can be accessed to know the details of pension received by the pensioner and the history of his pensionary benefits," the release said. 

The Defence Ministry gives pension to more than two million pensioners under it. 

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh complimented the Defence Accounts Department for issuing revised Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) to 6.5 lakh pensioners. 

"It has undertaken the gigantic task of issuing revised PPOs to pre-2006 pensioners on account of 6th Pay Commission. It is satisfying to note that the Department has been able to issue 6.5 lakh corrigendum PPOs besides implementing the Cabinet Secretary Committee recommendations made in 2012," he said. 

The Minister expressed hope that the department would complete the issuing of balance 12 lakh corrigendum PPOs as quickly as possible by deploying all possible resources. 

Defence Secretary RK Mathur also addressed the gathering in presence of IAF Chief NAK Browne and Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi. 

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

IRDA's new norms to benefit policy-holders but hurt agents

The Sarawade household in New Delhi, like many others, is worried about its domestic economics these days. The worry is not due to the economic slowdown alone, but the fear of what may be in store for them because ofinsurance regulatory changes for traditional products that may erode their income. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, or Irda, will herald a new era come January, aiming to reduce costs for policy holders, raise returns, and increase the cover after death. It will also cut to size insurance companies that have been benefiting more from discontinuation of policies than earning from investments.

But an unintended consequence may be that the intermediaries who have been at the centre of growing the industry, by whatever means, may be at the receiving end. Indeed, the measures may be something akin to what the Securities & Exchange Board of India's did three years ago. "It will be very difficult to sustain livelihood by selling insurance anymore," says Naina Sarawade, the 44 year-old housewife who also doubles up as an insurance agent to support her husband's policy sales. "We will go back 10 to 15 years, when we were selling long-term plans and the business was low. It will be very difficult to switch with uncertainty of jobs and income. "

Insurance policies, peddled by 23.59-lakh agents across the country, will have a makeover that may see a quarter of them, mostly recent entrants to the profession, going off the business as commission from the sale of policies dwindles under the new scheme of things. Although financial products have been getting more complicated, insurance middlemen have been selling policies relying on statistics and returns of the past, when hardly anyone questioned about what the unwritten cost of buying such policies was.

A substantial portion of investors' contribution toward policies was flowing into agents' bank accounts in the form of commission, which in some cases was as high as 35% in the first year. The maximum commission that can be paid to the agent under the new dispensation is capped at 15% in the first year, 7.5% in the second and 5% from the third year. At present, companies are allowed to pay 25% in the first year, 7.5% in the second year and 5% from the third year onwards.

Commissions are lesser for shorter-term products and increase progressively depending on the length of the policy life. New policies should have a minimum premium paying term of five years for agents to be eligible to receive these payments. In most cases, investors found out to their surprise that though an insurance policy might have been sold like a fixed deposit or easily saleable instrument, it offered none of the benefits of such products.

Many a time, when out of financial compulsion, a policyholder wanted to exit the investment, he was at the mercy of the insurer who would, at his discretion, decide how much the investor gets. In most cases, it was a paltry sum of 50% of the total with the new regime, scheduled to begin by January 1, signed on by the previous Irda chairman JR Hari Narayan. It was to begin from October 1, but current Irda chairman TS Vijayan decided to provide three more months to insurance companies to adhere to the new norms.

When Sebi banned mutual funds from paying commission to agents from investors' money, the number of mutual fund agents diminished to just a fourth to 20,000 active distributors from 80,000 in 2009. That created quite a flutter, but the markets regulator stood its ground. The jury is out on whether it benefited investors, or just threw some out of jobs. Indeed, yet another product, unit linked insurance plans, or Ulips, faced similar fate at Irda's hands. When commissions on Ulips were brought down to 7%-10%, from as high as 15%-20%, their sales plunged to Rs 69,650 crore a year, from Rs 1,09,036 crore in 2010-11.

From now on, investors surrendering a policy will get at least 30% of the money paid after completing five terms unlike in the past when the company used its discretion to decide the surrender value. That still is not much and is tilted towards insurance companies and punishes savers. Goldman Sachs estimated that the six top life insurance companies in India earned 37% of their March 2012 profits of Rs 4,182 crore from lapsed policies. But the flip side of these measures aimed at protecting consumer interest is that returns from vestments may also be lower and the industry may not be able to benefit from short-term instruments capturing the flavour of a season. The fact that fund managers in insurance firms have to return a minimum amount will force them to go for safer fixed income securities, rather than equities.

"In participating products (where bonuses are paid regularly), investments have to go into safer instruments, which will bring down the return for policyholders and margins for companies," said Sanjiv Pujari, head, actuary, SBI Life.

"There is a trade off of giving guarantees as the cost will have to be borne by existing policyholders." At present, 30-40% of investible amount under participating products are invested in equities, which enhance returns over a longer period, unlike fixed income securities. That allocation may fall to 20% in the new regime, fund managers estimate.

To discourage shorter-tenor products, commission on policies has been linked to the premium-paying period for all products. In its earlier revamp of life insurance products, the regulator banned Ulips with tenor of less than five years that were sold like mutual funds. Also, the focus will now be on traditional plans, which will come with higher protection cover in the main objective of insurance. The minimum sum assured is required to be 10 times the premiums paid for age below 45 and for age above 45 years, it will be seven times the premium paid. "Agents will have to increase productivity by 15% to match up to the present income," said TR Ramachandran, MD and CEO, Aviva Life. "Insurance products have become attractive for customers but insurance sales are dependent on discretionary income in the hands of customers."

It may be too early to declare that insurance industry is moving towards a structure where the cost of entry and exit will match that of others such as mutual funds, bank deposits, or bond purchases. But it promises to be better than what it is now, if implemented without dilution.

But life may not be the same for agents. The ubiquitous agents risk being washed away by the changing tide if they are not willing to change with the times. "Any change is difficult but unless you adopt new ideas, you will not be able to succeed. Now, agents will have to work intelligently besides working hard," said Bharat Parekh, an agent with Life Insurance Corporation. "Whatever happens, insurance companies can run their show only through individual agents, so they are investing in retaining agents. A sharp agent will adopt to the change but those who are not willing to will go out of business."

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Centre amends rules to prevent delay in payment for NREGA workers

NEW DELHI: In an effort to prevent delay in payments to workers under the rural employment guarantee scheme, the government has amended the rules to provide for mandatory compensation of up to half the pending wage. 

At present, 25% of the payments amounting to Rs 2,700 crore are delayed beyond the stipulated 15 days. A fraction of payments, about Rs 125 crore, have been delayed for over 90 days. Delay in wage payment is one of the biggest problems that plague the rural employment scheme. 

NREGA workers will now be paid an additional one-fourth to half of the pending wages, depending on the number of days the payment has been delayed, as compensation. 

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) requires workers to be paid within 15 days of closing the muster roll. The notification specifies compensation of one-fourth of pending wages for delays of 15 days after the closure of muster roll and half of pending wages for delays beyond 30 days. 

State governments have been asked to fix responsibilities for officials and the time limit for each stage of the wage payment process. "In case of delay at any step, the compensation amount will recovered from the responsible functionary/agency," Rural Development MinisterJairam Ramesh said in his letter to the chief ministers. 

The notification sets out a four-step process for determination and payment of wages under the programme— measurement of work, entering the muster roll and measurements in the NREGA software, generation of wage lists, and uploading fund transfer orders. States are required to set out time limits for each stage of the process as well as specify the official responsible. 

The whole process will be closely monitored through the management information system (MIS). The system will automatically generate the amount of compensation that would be due to the worker in the event of delay. 

Ramesh has asked chief ministers to take immediate steps to implement measures set out in the notification. "Streamlining wage payment is the most fundamental and vital step to guaranteeing MGNREGA's entitlements to its beneficiaries," Ramesh said. 

This is not Ramesh's first effort at enforcing a system to address delays in wage payments. In January, the minister had written to state chief ministers asking them to look into initiatives taken by Andhra Pradesh to help secure entitlements for MGNREGA workers. 

The Andhra Pradesh government introduced a system by which officials responsible for the delay would be penalised and required to pay the compensation amount. To disincentivise hold ups, the compensation that is due to the NREGA worker is deducted from the official's salary. 

The state has put out clear time lines for each function and official. Delays beyond these timelines would result in penalty for the concerned official.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

7th pay panel will look into concerns of elderly: PM's adviser

NEW DELHI: The Centre has always been concerned about the genuine problems of senior citizens and the Seventh Pay Commission will look into the demands of pensioners, TKA Nair, adviser to the Prime Minister, said today. 

"Several schemes benefiting the elderly and pensioners have been implemented by the government. The 7th pay commission will also look into the request and demand of pensioners. 

"It is always our concern to endeavour into the genuine problems of elderly citizens. We have been taking different effective steps at the state, national and international levels for the ageing population of our country," he said. 

Nair was speaking at a seminar organised on World Elders Day by Akila Bharatha Mooththa Kudimakkal Matrum Pensionergal Koottamaipu (ABMKPK), a Tamil-Nadu based body for senior citizens. 

The association also staged a rally from Jantar Mantar to Kamini Auditorium prior to the seminar demanding fare concessions and relaxations in health schemes, rent-free telephone for lone senior citizens and tax relief for senior citizens. 

Speaking at the seminar, A Saminathan, ABMKPK President, said, "Our primary aim is to educate the people about the benefits being provided by the government. We have set up many offices in various part of the state for the purpose." 

Putting forth another demand, he said, "Railways should provide 50 per cent fare concession for 58-year-old men and free travel by train for senior citizens above 80 years of age." 

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

UPU News : Posts advised to keep eye on the long term

01.10.2013 - Posts should have a long-term business vision that covers electronic services without forgetting physical mail, said postal CEOs at the UPU’s World Postal Business Forum in Vienna, Austria.

Herna Verhagen, PostNL CEO, told delegates that there is no one recipe for success 

(Photo: APA/Keystone Ludwig Schedl)

The postal business is constantly transforming, a process that could take years to complete. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” said Herna Verhagen, CEO, PostNL, the Netherlands’s designated operator.

“Prepare for the future. Be clear about the long-term view on the mail business and use existing competencies as well,” she added.

All postal businesses have been hit by failing mail volumes and it is crucial to manage this. “You can manage the decline by reorganizing your business, reducing costs and, where possible, increasing prices,” Verhagen advised.

Georg Polzl, Austria Post CEO, pointed out that many Posts were being innovative as they faced the opportunities brought by the e-commerce boom. “We are developing our shares of the business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets in Europe as well as in Turkey,” Polzl said.

The CEOs attending agreed that managing the business of e-commerce fulfilment was an important source of revenues for postal operators both now and in the future.

SingPost CEO Wolfgang Baier underlined that Singapore’s designated operator was well on its way to redefining itself as a Post that can deliver e-commerce services from end to end.

SingPost has sealed a deal to run sportswear company, Adidas’ e-commerce business in South-East Asia. While proud of this achievement, Baier underlined that mail was still SingPost’s main business, accounting for 80 per cent of revenues. “We cannot leave the core business of mail on one side. It will continue to be important [to SingPost] for some time to come. We must never forget that we are postal business,” Baier said.

Baier, Polzl and Verhagen were speaking at an annual forum organized by the UPU, which is held at Post-Expo, an industry event.

Source : http://news.upu.int

Directorate's order for payment of revised D A to GDS w.e.f. 01.07.2013

Electronic Indian Postal Order facility for RTI formalized

New Delhi, Sept 30 (ANI): RTI activist Commodore (Retired) Lokesh K. Batra said the extended Electronic Indian Postal Order (e-IPO)facility has got formalized on Monday with issue of memo by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Earlier on September 27, Dept of Posts (DOP) had released the names of 176 Indian, Missions as an extension to e-IPO facility.

Batra said that this is another step forward towards establishing a transparent regime.

In his letter the Secretaries of Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs(MOIA) and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), he proposed the launching of extended e-IPO facility to be made functional beforeGandhi Jayanti on October 2.

"We like to express our gratitude to you all for not only accepting the proposal but also making it happen in record time. For this to happen, concerned officials of each Ministry/Department and NIC (DOP) deserve kudos for a well coordinated effort," he said.

He further said that with addition of above 176 Public Authorities, eIPO facility will cover about 2,530 Public Authorities in India and abroad under Central Ministries, Departments, UTs and NCT Delhi, and added that this is a huge achievement of our Government.

Commodore (Retd) Batra also pressed for e-IPO awareness campaign and said that though e-IPO facility was launched on 22 March 2013, except for media stories, there was little awareness among Indian citizens abroad and including Indian Missions.

"An awareness campaign for e-IPO facility was launched on 5 July 2013 starting with my letter to Hon'ble Minister (MOIA) and later to MEA. Both Ministries provide complete support to the idea and issued advisories to the Heads of all Indian Missions on 23 July (MOIA) and 02 August (MEA) respectively," he wrote in his letter.

"I humbly propose to the Secretary (P) to consider extending the existing e-IPO facility that covers about 2530 Public Authorities in India and abroad for our Citizens living in India also," he added.(ANI)

Source : http://in.news.yahoo.com

Ministry of Railways Decides to Introduce Tatkal Scheme in Passenger Trains

The Tatkal scheme was initially introduced in 1997 with a view to provide reservation to those passengers who have to undertake journey at short notice and to save such passengers from the clutches of unscrupulous elements/touts. At present, this scheme is available in almost all Mail/Express trains and in all reserved classes except First Class and First AC Class. 

Ministry of Railways has now decided to introduce Tatkal scheme in reserved classes of passenger trains also. The Tatkal scheme in the passenger trains will be available in the reserved classes (2nd AC, 3rd AC, 3rd AC Economy, Chair Class, Sleeper Class and 2nd reserved sitting). For this purpose, Zonal Railways will identify the passenger trains and earmark Tatkal accommodation in that train/class in which average utilization during the previous financial year has been more than 60%. The extent of accommodation to be earmarked will be the same as applicable in case of normal Tatkal scheme. The minimum Tatkal charges prescribed for different classes will be applicable as flat Tatkal charges. All other conditions applicable to normal Tatkal scheme will be applicable in case of identified passenger trains. 

The Zonal Railways will issue train specific notification and date of effect of this scheme at their own level. 

Source : PIB Release, 1^st October, 2013

Consumer Price index Numbers for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) August 2013

According to a press release issued by the Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour & Employment the All-India CPI-IW for August, 2013 rose by 2 points and pegged at 237 (two hundred and thirty seven). On 1-month percentage change, it increased by 0.85 per cent between July and August compared with 0.94 per cent between the same two months a year ago. 

The largest upward pressure to the change in current index came from Food group contributing 1.58 percentage points to the total change. At item level, Rice, Wheat, Wheat Atta,Goat Meat, Dairy Milk, Milk (Cow & Buffalo),Onions, Chillies Green, Tea (Readymade), Firewood, Doctors Fee, Private Tution Fee. Secendory School Books, Petrol, Tailoring Charges are responsible for the rise in index. However, this was compensated to some extent by Groundnut Oil, Fish, Fresh Vegetables and Fruit items, putting downward pressure on the index. 

The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly CPI-IW stood at 10.75 per cent for August, 2013 as compared to 10.85 per cent for the previous month and 10.31 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Similarly, the Food inflation stood at 13.91 per cent against 14.10 per cent of the previous month and 12.20 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. 

At centre level, Chindwara recorded the highest increase of 8 points each followed by Jalpaiguri and Siliguri (7 points), Durgapur (10 points) and Ranchi, Hatia, Nagpur, Kolkata, Asansol and Tiruchirapally (6 points each). Among others, 5 points rise was registered in 8 centres, 4 points in 6 centres, 3 points in 12 centres, 2 points in 13 centres and 1 point in 19 centres. On the contrary, Goa reported a decline of 5 points followed by Ernakulam, Quilon and Surat (2 points each) and 3 other centres by 1 point each. Rest of the 6 centres’ indices remained stationary. 

The indices of 39 centres are above All-India Index and other 38 centres’ indices are below national average. The index of Tiruchirapally centre remained at par with all-India index. 

The next index of CPI-IW for the month of September, 2013 will be released on Thursday, 31 October, 2013. The same will also be available on the office website www.labourbureau.gov.in. 

Source : PIB Release, 1^st October, 2013

Computer Literacy / Working Knowledge on Departmental Software in respect of P As/S As and Supervisory Staff.

International Money Transfer Business through Western Union and Money Gram

When you should not use your credit card!

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Rapid pay hike by 2030

Source : The Sambad, 1st Oct., 2013

Applications are invited from employees of Central Government on deputation basis

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Important / Urgent : PTC Mysore certificate has been expired

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For solution please arrange to download the required certificate from potools.blogspot.in and register the certificate by double clicking on the file RegisterCACft.exe