NEWS --- SIXTH PAY COMMISSION

Recruitment of Stenographers Grade ‘D’ in CSSS

2011-09-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

No.5/22/2010-CS-II(C)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Personnel and Training

3rd Floor, Lok Nayak Bhawan,
Khan Market, New Delhi-100003.
Date: 20th September, 2011.

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject : Recruitment of Stenographers Grade ‘D’ in CSSS through Stenographers Grade ‘C’ & ‘D’ Examination, 2010 conducted by Staff Selection Commission (SSC) - nomination of qualified candidates reg.

The undersigned is directed to say that based on the results of the Stenographers Grade ‘C’ & ‘D’ Examination, 2010 held on 9th January, 2011, the Staff Selection Commission has recommended 398 candidates for appointment as Steno Grade ‘D’ in CSSS. Out of 398 candidates, examination
dossiers in respect of 385 (General-238, SC-82, ST-01, OT3C-64 ) candidates have been received in this Department for appointment to the Stenographer Grade ‘D’ of CSSS for the Select List Year 2010. Accordingly, they are nominated to the different Cadre Units of CSSS as listed in the Annexure to this Department’s O.M. in the order of their merit for appointment as Steno Grade ‘D' of CSSS.

Click here to continue the O.M.

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CCS(LTC) Rules, 1988-Relaxation for travel by air to visit J&K.

Posted: 20 Sep 2011 07:12 PM PDT

No.31011/2/2003- Estt. (A)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training

New Delhi, dated the 25th August, 2011

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject:- CCS(LTC) Rules, 1988-Relaxation for travel by air to visit J&K.

The undersigned is directed to refer to the O.M. of even number dated the 18.6.2010 and to state that the Ministry of Finance (Department of Expenditure) have clarified that the term ‘Entitled class” mentioned in para 1(ii) of the above quoted O.M. refers to “Economy class” only. All LTC claims for travel by air may accordingly be restricted to LTC-80 Economy class air fare of Air India from the date of issue of this Office Memorandum.

2. Past cases already settled will not be re-opened.

sd/-

(B.Bandyopadhyay)

Under Secretary to the Government of India.

Source: www.persmin.nic.in

[http://circulars.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D2/D02est/31011_2_2003-Estt-A.pdf]

LTC Orders

Requirement of LTC-80 Certificate

Posted: 20 Sep 2011 12:11 PM PDT

CIRCULAR

Office of the Controller General of Defence Accounts,
Ulan Batar Road, Palam, Delhi Cantt-110010

No. AT/IV4462/PC-VIII

dated:- 15/09/2011

Sub:- Requirement of LTC-80 Certificate

It has come to the notice of the HQrs office that some audit offices under the jurisdiction of PCsDA/CsDA are insisting on the requirement of LTC-80 certificate when the Air entitled officials are paying airfare for traveling on LTC in Air India which happens to be less than the LTC-80 fares.

The matter has been examined in the HQrs office and it is stated that requirement of LTC-80 certificate may not be insisted upon. The LTC fares are promulgated on official Air India Website periodically and the same can be downloaded through URL http://home.airindia.in/SBCMS/Downloads/WebFares.pdf to deal with such cases. The recent fare revision for LTC is updated on 01st Sept’ 2011.

The onus lies with the audit authorities to keep the LTC rates updated which is revised from time to time by Air India authorities and make payments accordingly.

sd/-

(A.K Sethi)

Sr.ACGDA (AT-IV)

Source: www.cgda.nic.in
[http://www.cgda.nic.in/audit/ltc80-cert.pdf]

More order regarding LTC-80

DA hike to be effective from January 2011: Govt

2011-03-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: The hike in dearness allowance of central government employees will be implemented from January this year, the finance ministry has said.
"The dearness allowance payable to central government employees shall be enhanced from the existing rate of 45% to 51% with effect from 1 January, 2011," said a statement issued by the ministry.

The additional installment of dearness allowance (DA) payable under these orders shall be paid in cash to all central government employees, it added.
However, DA arrears accumulated for the months of January and February, 2011 cannot be paid before the disbursement of salary for the current month.
The decision to increase DA by 6% will benefit over 50 lakh central government employees and 38 lakh pensioners. Presently, the DA is paid at 45% of the basic pay.
The government's decision to increase DA is in accordance with the Sixth Pay Commission prescription for central government employees.
The DA is revised twice a year, on January 1 and July 1. The combined impact of the hike will be Rs 5,715.90 crore per annum. However, in the next financial year, the burden on the exchequer would be Rs 6,668.52 crore after the additional 6% DA payout is factored in from January 1 to March 31 this year.
The DA hike comes at a time when the food inflation has again climbed to double-digit level, at 10.05% for the week ended March 12 from 9.42% in the previous week.
Headline inflation, based on the movement in wholesale prices, was recorded at 8.31% for February, much above the comfort level of 5-6%.
The Consumer Price Index (Industrial Workers), which is the basis for revising dearness allowance, was 9.47% in December and 9.30% in January.

Tourism employees stage protest for better salaries

2011-02-09T03:33:00.001-08:00

Guwahati: Employees of the Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) have staged a protest seeking introduction of the revised pay scale of the Sixth Pay Commission for them. They rued at being deprived of their dues in spite of the corporation earning huge profits during the stir on Saturday.

"The pay of ministers and MLAs have shot up and other government employees too are drawing salaries according to the new revised pay scale but inspite of our requests we are denied of the appropriate pay," said ATDC employees' association president P C Kalita.

"We hold chief minister Tarun Gogoi responsible for this. The government has invested huge sums for development of the tourism sector but did not care about he people who do all the work," Kalita added.

An employee said the corporation had several financial leverages which indicated that the staff could be provided with the new pay scale without any problem.

"The corporation has not availed any assistance from the government for the last 10 to 12 years to meet its revenue expenditures like payment of salaries," Kalita said adding that at present the corporation has 72 regular employees and 110 across the state.

"Moreover, there is consistent growth in the corporation's business. Manpower has also not been increased. We think the organization is capable of bearing the additional financial dues to be incurred for payment of salaries according to the revised scale," he said.

UP: Budget targets higher development trajectory

2011-02-09T03:29:00.000-08:00

LUCKNOW: The state budget 2011-12 needs be analysed in the backdrop of 12th Finance Commission's targets on six indicators, which all states are required to achieve. These indicators include Fiscal Deficit to be brought down to 3% of GSDP; Revenue deficit to be eliminated; Own tax revenues higher than 6% of GSDP; Non tax Revenues higher than 1.4% of GSDP; and Debt burden lower than 30% of GSDP.

Interestingly, on five of the six indicators, UP has outperformed the targets in 2008-09 itself. Debt was the only indicator where UP has consistently lagged behind the targets.

The impact of the implementation of Sixth Pay Commission recommendations along with the global meltdown compromised UPs Fiscal Deficit which slipped to over 6% of GSDP, revenue surplus also came down significantly.

However, in 2010-11 fiscal deficit has been brought down to 3.9% and was expected to go down to around 2.9% in 2011-12. Even revenue surplus rises to over 5,000 crore in 2011-12. This certainly is an indicator of increased fiscal consolidation and a step towards improved fiscal responsibility.

Equally significant is the rise in capital expenditure. In 1998, the year of fiscal crisis in UP, Capital expenditure shrank to less then 6%. In other words state was left with no capacity to initiate development.

By 2009-10 it rose to 18% and now it rises to 25.7% of the total expenditure. This is a critical indicator of states capacity to initiate development, and suggests towards the potential of the state to move into faster growth path. The rise in social expenditure is equally significant.

Education alone records a rise of 19.6%. This development space is substantially the outcome of revenue buoyancy in state taxes. It needs to be highlighted that in 2009, revenues of government of India fell by around Rs 60,000 crore but UP's revenues rose by 17% in the same year.

The story seems to continue in this budget too. The state's own revenue rises to around Rs 50,000 crore which is higher then the projections made in 2008-09 by some of the international agencies.

In the last several years, Debt has been a challenge spot in successive state budgets. Till three years back state debt was measured at over 50% of GSDP against the 12th finance commission Target of 30%.

Last year, it was brought down to around 40% of GSDP. On five of the Finance Commission identified indicators UP today is one of the better performing states in the country. Debt burden, however, is the genie which is yet to be belted. This year's budget projects debt to fall to 32% of GSDP. These are projected values but if they are achieved it will be a huge step towards fiscal consolidation.

Fiscal space is the pedestal on which the state weaves its effort towards development and social change. It need be noted that during the 1990s UP's rate of growth was only 4%. In the past three years the state has grown at over 7%. Rising fiscal space and increased capital expenditure have hugely contributed to this changing story.

The budget indicates towards stabilising state finances, rising capital expenditures and falling deficits.

This year is also significant because Government of India's revenues, which have taken a beating, have begun to rise implying that states share in Central taxes will also rise; The arrears burden of the sixth pay commission has also been taken care of and will not burden future budgets. This will only improve the fiscal space further. In other words, the state is development ready, and an appropriate marshalling of resources can take the state into the higher trajectory of development and social change.

Cabinet approves Increase in Dearness Allowance for CG Employees from July-2010

2010-09-16T08:30:00.001-07:00

As expected, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal to enhance Dearness Allowance (DA) from existing 35% to 45% with effect from 1st July-2010.

Consequent on this approval a net increase of 10% in the Dearness Allowance is to be allowed by Government to all Central Government Employees and Pensioners including Family Pensioners.

Once the order to this effect is issued by Government DA arrears from July-2010 and prospective DA increase will be sanctioned by Administration.

You may recollect that we predicted the tentative DA eligibility with effect from 1st July 2010 as 45% i.e an increase of 10%, based on CPI-IW (Consumer Price Index-Industrial Workers) base year 2001=100 for the months from July-2019 to June-2010.

Check the previous article of GConnect on tentative DA with effect from July-2010.

Check here to know the method to calculate Dearness Allowance using CPI-IW (Consumer Price Index-Industrial Workers).

Modified Flexible Complementing Scheme for Scientists

2010-09-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

A Flexible Complementing Scheme (FCS) for scientists is in position in some of the scientific Ministries / Departments of the Government of lndia and the same is presently governed by the guidelines issued by this Department under O.M. No.2141197-PIC dated the 9th November, 1998.

There is also in position a separate, merit based promotion scheme in the DRDO and the Departments of Atomic Energy and Space. The Sixth Central Pay Commission (6th CPC) has examined these schemes in detail and observed that various time-bound promotion schemes may be necessary for scientific organizations as the morale of the scientists has to be kept high in order to keep them motivated and to stop the flight of talent from Government organizations involved in research and scientific activities.

In this context, the 6th CPC has recommended that the existing scheme of FCS with necessary modifications has to be continued for RBD professionals in all SBT organizations, and the merit based promotion scheme in the Departments of Atomic Energy, Space and DRDO would also need to be persisted with.

The Commission has, however, recommended certain features to be incorporated in the existing schemes of FCS and merit based promotion scheme so as to make them more relevant to the context.

The recommendations of the Commission have been examined in detail by Government in the context of FCS and a revised comprehensive scheme is announced by Government for immediate necessary action by all concerned Ministries and Departments. Assessment of Scientists from 01 .01.2011 is to be carried out as per new scheme.

MACPS – Further Clarification by DOPT

2010-09-11T09:13:00.001-07:00

Department of Personnel and Training has issued clarifications on Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS), consequent upon, clarifications have been sought by various MinistrieslDepartments about certain issues in connection with implementation of the MACPS. The doubts raised by varlous quarters have been duly examined and point-wise clarifications have accordingly been indicated in the Annexure to DOPT OM No 35034/3/2008-Estt (D) dated 09-09-2010

For more details download this DOPT Clarification Office Memorandum No 35034/3/2008-Estt (D) dated 09-09-2010

Cabinet’s nod for raise in IT Exemption Limit

2010-09-01T03:58:00.000-07:00

The Cabinet on 26th Aug-2010, approved Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill, clearing decks for tabling the legislation in the Monsoon Session of Parliament so that the new Act ushering in reduced tax rates and exemptions may come into effect from next fiscal.

The new DTC bill proposes to raise exemption limit for personal income tax from Rs. 1.6 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh. The bill also proposes income tax for Rs. 2- Rs. 5 lakh slab to be 10 per cent, and 20 per cent on income up to Rs. 5 – Rs. 10 lakh, and 30 per cent on income beyond that.

The code aims at reducing tax rates, but expanding the tax base by minimising exemptions. When enacted, DTC will replace the archaic Income Tax Act and simplify the whole direct tax regime in the country.

The Finance Ministry had earlier come out with a draft on the DTC bill, some of whose provisions drew strong criticism from industry as well as the public.

To address those issues, the ministry brought out the revised draft, dropping earlier proposals of taxing provident funds on withdrawal and levying Minimum Alternate Tax on corporates based on their assets.

As of now, it is proposed to provide the EEE (Exempt- Exempt-Exempt) method of taxation for Government Provident Fund (GPF), Public Provident Fund (PPF) and Recognised Provident Funds (RPF).

The revised draft also puts pensions administered by the interim regulator PFRDA, including pension of government employees who were recruited since January 2004, under EEE treatment.

Under the EEE mode, the tax exemption is enjoyed at all the three stages–investment, accumulation and withdrawal.

The revised proposal has also made it clear that tax incentives on housing loans will continue. Payment on interest on housing loans up to Rs. 1.5 lakh will continue.

Once this bill cleared by Parliament Direct Tax Code will be a full-fledged Direct Tax law in India which will take effect from financial year 2011-12 (Assessment Year 2012-13)

Tax Structure proposed in the DTC Bill is as follows

Salaried persons exempt up to Rs. 2 lakh

Senior citizen upto Rs. 2.5 lakh exempt

Tax for those earning Rs. 2 – 5 lakh at 10 per cent

Tax for those earning Rs. 5-10 lakhs at 20 per cent

Tax for those earning Over Rs. 10 lakhs at 30 per cent.

Tentative DA eligibility w.e.f 1st July-2010

2010-08-02T19:55:00.001-07:00

Monthly All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (Base year 2001=100), shortly known as CPI-IW has been announced by the Government for the month of June-2010 today.

As per this announcement made by Labour Bureau, Government of India, Government of India, CPI-IW has increased from 172 (for the month of May-2010) to 174 for the month of June-2010. (Base 2001=100)

Check this Labour Bureau, Government of India website for more details.

CPI-IW for the month of June-2010 is significant for Central Government employees as it culminates the 6 months cycle for calculation of effective Dearness Allowance with effect from 1st July 2010.

If you want to calculate Dearness Allowance with effect from July-2010, get the average of monthly All India Consumer Price Index (IW) with the base year 2001=100 for the preceding 12 months and apply the same in the following formula

Dearness Allowance = (Avg of AICPI for the past 12 months – 115.76)*100/115.76

You don’t need to break your head much in this arithmetic as we have an online tool to calculate the DA, given the index for the preceding 12 months.

Proceed from here to GConnect online DA calculation tool

Based on this calculation the Dearness Allowance eligibility with effect from 1st July 2010 works out to 45% i.e., an increase of 10% from the present DA of 35% with effect from 1st Jan 2010.

Also check this previous GConnect article for detailed study on Central Government Employees Dearness Allowance Calculation based on CPI-IW

Please note that this is only attempt to estimate Dearness Allowance w.e.f July-2010 using the method adopted by Government for calculation of DA in the past. DA with effect from 1st July 2010 is yet to be announced by the Government.

PFRDA’s Plea for tax relief for investment in NPS

2010-06-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

The interim pension regulator has sought tax relief on investments in the New Pension Scheme (NPS) to make it more attractive to employees of private sector firms.

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has written to the finance ministry seeking level playing field for NPS with other long-term savings schemes that will get tax benefits under the proposed Direct Taxes Code. “All we want is equal treatment,” a PFRDA official said.

NPS is currently under the Exempt-Exempt-Tax system, which means investment will be taxed when it is withdrawn. Provident fund and many of the small savings schemes are under the Exempt-Exempt-Exempt (EEE) regime, and are not taxed at any point.

“If the finance ministry plans to continue with the EEE regime for long-term saving schemes, we want the NPS also to get the same treatment,” the official said, requesting anonymity. “Several multinational companies are talking to us. We need more clarity on the tax treatment,” he said.

The pension regulator has, in its letter to the central board of direct taxes (CBDT), said tax benefits will make the scheme more attractive and will help increase its share.

While a few public sector units such as Nalco and Damodar Valley Corporation have already transferred a portion of their superannuation funds to the NPS, manyprivate sector companies and public sector banks are also exploring the option as it would rid them of the headache of administering and managing the funds.

“This would be a good step. It would allow private companies to move their superannuation funds to the NPS,” said Amit Gopal, vice-president of pension consultant India Life Capital.

The PFRDA has further requested for an additional window under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act for contributions by subscribers’ employers.

Investments in specified schemes up to Rs 1 lakh are exempt under Section 80 C of the Income Tax Act. The budget for this year has given an additional exemption of Rs 20,000 for investments in infrastructure schemes.

Under Indian laws, companies with over 100 employees have to contribute 12% of an employee’s salary to the provident fund with an equal contribution from the employer.

The NPS, a defined contribution superannuation scheme for government employees, was thrown open to the private sector in May last year. The scheme offers subscribers the flexibility to decide their investment portfolio as well as choose between fund managers.

With weighted returns of over 12% annually, NPS is expected to be the ideal long-term saving instrument for workers in the unorganised sector. Its low fund management fees of 0.009% make it attractive.

The scheme, however, has managed only 6,500 private subscribers, partly because it does not enjoy some tax benefits given to private provident fund and private superannuation funds.

Source: The economic Times

Increment in case of promotion to same grade pay

2010-06-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

Mr.S. K. Pandey of ITAT asked:

Kindly suggest me whether an employee will get one promotional increment after promotion in 2009 when there is no change in his pay band and grade pay.

Also please suggest the pay band of an working employee in lower scale, who has passed UPSC Exam and joined as Assistant Registrar in ITAT in pre-revised scale 6500-10500, which was upgraded 8000-13500 later on. Is he eligible for PB-3 with Grade Pay 5400? Or should he be fixed in PB-2 only with grade pay 5400?

Also please suggest the pay band of an employee who was working in lower scale and promoted as Assistant Registrar in ITAT in pre-revised scale 6500-10500 which was upgraded 8000-13500 later on. Is he eligible for PB-3 with Grade Pay 5400? Or should he be fixed in PB-2 only with grade pay 5400?

Opinion:

As far as we interepret the Rule 13 read with Clarificatory OM dated 13/09/08 you are eligible to get 3% increment on your promotion (please go through Gconnect guest article Promotion is it honorary?

This has further been established from a reply under RTI. This is the gist of the query raised in RTI

“ It may be clarified whether on their promotion even though they are in the same pay band i.e 9300-34800(PB2) and same grade pay i.e 4200 as to whether any monetary benefit is to be given or not i.e 3% increment”.
Reply received: “Due to same grade pay in the grade STA(5000),DOS(5500) & AO, the pay is required to be fixed in terms of Dept. of Expenditure’s OM F. No. 1/1/2008-IC dated 13/09/2008.” (This OM is available in the article : Promotion is it honorary?

But this issue is yet to resolved by the respective administration.

One of the remedies available to the employee is to make categorical RTI question to 6CPC Implementaion Cell or DOPT seeking clarification.

Reply for point No: 2 and 3:

If the post of Assistant Registrar in ITAT is a Group A entry cadre, the up gradation promotion fixation should be given in PB 3 + grade pay of 5400. If not so, fixation is should be in PB2 + grade pay of 5400.

LATEST NEWS ON JCM meeting on 6TH CPC

2010-06-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

These are various issues discussed in first meeting of Joint Committee of MACPS held on 25.05.2010. This committee was formed by the Government recently to examine anomalies in Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme implemented consequent on implementation of pay commission with effect from 1.9.2008

Provide Grade Pay of the next promotional post under MACP:

Staff Side pressed for placement in the Grade Pay of the Promotional Post instead of next higher Grade Pay in the hierarchy of revised Pay Band and Grade Pay. It was insisted because the career progression only means the promotion in the hierarchy and not to a Grade Pay which is not present in the hierarchy of the respective department.

The Staff Side also gave an alternative that first two MACPs after 10 and 20 years should be to the next promotional post as per the hierarchy of respective department as under the erstwhile ACP scheme and thereafter the third MACP in the next Grade Pay of the Revised Pay Band and Grade Pay.

Date of Effect:

It was demanded that MACP scheme may be introduced with effect from 1.1.2006. A scheme which has been recommended by the 6th CPC will be not available to those employees who have opted for revised pay scales w.e.f. 1.1.2006 but had retired or died before 1.9.2008, which is very anomalous.

Option for earlier ACP Scheme:

Staff Side pointed out that the benefit which employees were getting through two ACPs after 12 and 24 years of service is much higher than the benefit that they will get under MACP after three financial upgradations. It was therefore urged that the service conditions which were available to the existing employees cannot be adverselyrevised and if that happens then an option to retain the old scheme is inherent. And if the present MACP is not converted to hierarchical pattern, then at least an option may be given to retain the erstwhilescheme of ACP.

Grant of financial upgradation between 1.1.2006 and 31.8.2008:

In Para 9 of the DOPT OM dated 19.5.2009, it had been provided that earlier ACP scheme will continue to operate for the period from 1.1.2006 to 31.8.2008. However, this is not being allowed to officials who have opted forrevised Pay Band and Grade Pay with effect from 1.1.2006. In some offices, it is being insisted that financial upgradation under the earlier ACP would be granted only in the pre-revised pay scales and they will have to opt for the revised pay scales only from the date they are granted the financial upgradation under earlier ACP. It was demanded that earlier ACP benefit may be given also to those officials who have come over to theRevised Pay Band and Grade Pay with effect from 1.1.2006.

Anomaly on introduction of MACP Scheme:

By an illustration in respect of Junior Engineer of CPWD, it has been pointed out that under earlier ACP they will go up to the revised Pay Band 3 with Grade Pay of 6600/- on completion of 24 years of service, whereas under the MACP Scheme, even after 30 years of service and getting third MACP they will get the Grade Pay of 5400/- only in PB-2. This is obviously less advantageous and therefore the demand for option to retain the old ACP scheme has been insisted. The Official Side indicated that they will consider all these demands and in the next meeting they will indicate how far they can go.

Applicability of MACP Scheme to Group D employees who have been placed in the Grade Pay of 1800/-:

The DOPT had already stated that all promotions and upgradations granted under ACP Scheme of 1999 in the post of four pay scales S-1, S-2, S-3 and S-4 shall be ignored for the purpose of MACP. In other words all the three MACP will be available to all the Group D employees who have since been placed inthe grade pay of 1800/-. If an employee has completed 10 years of service he should be granted the GP of 1900/-; if completed 20 years of service he should be granted the GP of 2000/-; and if he has completed 30 years of service he should be placed in the GP of 2400/-. In some departments these MACP has not been granted to the Group D employees. The staff side therefore insisted an enabling clarificatory instructions may be issued. The Official Side agreed to issue such clarificatory instructions.

Counting 50% of service rendered by Temporary Status CLs for reckoning 10,20, and 30 years of service under MACP scheme:

It was pointed out that the Railways have already issued orders for counting 50% of service rendered by Temporary Status Casual labourers for reckoning 12 and 24years of service under the old ACP scheme . It was also pointed out that Courts have also ordered that total service rendered as TS CLs may be counted for the purpose of ACP. The Official Side wereof the opinion that 50% of service rendered by TS CLs has been counted only for the purpose of pension. The Staff Side pointed out that the TS CLs have been granted all the facilities admissible to a Temporary Employee in respect of leave, increment, pay scale etc and therefore this may be deemed as a regular service for the purpose of MACP also as has been done by the Railways. The Official Side wanted the orderof the Railway Department regarding ACP and the Orders of the Courts for their examination.

Supervised staff placed in higher Grade Pay than that of the supervisor:

The Staff Side suggested that this item may be transferred to National Anomaly Committee item and discussed there. This has been agreed to.

Other issues:

There are 23 more items which have been suggested by the Staff Side leaders of Railways. It was pointed out that leaders of other departments may also suggest many other anomalies related to MACP.The Staff Side stated that as and when these additional items are received they may be included in the Agenda for discussion in the subsequent meetings. The Official Side agreed to.

Source: Confederation Of Central Government Employees

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2010-01-17T08:09:00.000-08:00

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"MODIFIED ASSURED CAREER PROGRESSION SCHEME” (MACPS)

2009-12-08T19:58:00.001-08:00

HIGHLIGHTS OF "MODIFIED ASSURED CAREER PROGRESSION SCHEME” (MACPS)

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(RAILWAY BOARD)

S.No.PC-VI/110 RBE No.101 /2009

No. PC-V/2009/ACP/2 New Delhi, dated 10 .06.2009

The General Managers

All Indian Railways & PUs

(As per mailing list)

Sub: Recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission – Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS) for Railway Employees

Download MACP

1. Scheme would be known as "MODIFIED ASSURED CAREER PROGRESSION SCHEME” (MACPS) FOR THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES.

2. The Scheme comes into effect from 1.9.2008 & is in supersession of previous ACP Scheme.

3. Three financial up-gradations shall be given from the direct entry grade on completion of 10, 20 and 30 years’ service respectively.

4. Financial up-gradation will be given in the immediate next higher grade pay in the hierarchy of the recommended revised pay bands and grade pay, not as per the hierarchy available in the cadre.

5. Benefit of pay fixation available at the time of regular promotion shall also be allowed at the time of financial up-gradation under the Scheme. (3% increment plus difference in the Grade pay).

6. Promotions earned / up-gradation granted under ACP Scheme in the past to those grades which now carry the same grade pay due to merger of pay scales / up-gradations of posts recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission shall be ignored for the purpose of granting up-gradations under Modified ACPS.

7. The grade pay of Rs. 5400 in PB-2 and Rs.5400 in PB-3 shall be treated as separate grade pays for the purpose of grant of up-gradations under MACP Scheme.

8. 'Regular service' for the purposes of the MACPS shall commence from the date of joining of a post in direct entry grade on a regular basis either on direct recruitment basis or on absorption/re-employment.

a) Screening will be done for grant financial up-gradation under MACP.

b) Benchmark of 'good' would be applicable till the grade pay of Rs. 6600/- in PB-3.

c) Screening Committees shall be formed by the respective departments / Cadre Controlling authority.

d) Screening Committee will take up in first week of January the financial up-gradation cases maturing during the first-half (April- September). Similarly the Screening committee will take up in first week of July the financial up-gradation cases maturing during the second-half (October- March)

e) Cadre Controlling Authorities shall constitute the first Screening committee within a month from the date of issue of these instructions to consider the cases maturing up-to 30th June, 2009 for grant of benefits under the MACPS.

9. Financial up-gradation would be on non-functional basis subject to fitness, in the hierarchy of grade pay within the PB-1.Thereafter for up-gradation under the MACPS the benchmark of 'good' would be applicable till the grade pay of Rs. 6600/- in PB-3.

10. Illustration

1. Recruitment in Rs. 4200 GP – with no promotion for 10 years

 1st Financial up-gradation after 10 years with GP - Rs. 4600.

 2nd Financial up-gradation after (10+10) 20 years with GP - Rs. 4800.

 3rd Financial up-gradation after (10+10+10) 30 years with GP - Rs. 5400.

11. Illustration 2. Recruitment in Rs. 4200 GP – with 1st promotion in 5 years with GP - Rs. 4600.

 2nd Financial up-gradation after (5+10) 15 years with GP - Rs. 4800.

 3rd Financial up-gradation after (5+10+10) 25 years with GP - Rs. 5400.

12. Illustration 3. Recruitment in Rs.4200 GP - 1st promotion in 5 years with GP - Rs. 4600.

 2nd promotion after 8 years, (5+8=13 years) GP, Rs.4800.

 3rd Financial up-gradation after (5+8+10) 23 years, GP, Rs.5400.

PROMOTION WITHOUT PAYHIKE

2009-11-18T08:21:00.000-08:00

A promotion unless to a honorary posting, should fetch some monetary benefit to the employee. But it’s no so after implementation of Sixth Pay Commission report. You would get a promotion and yet you are not sure of receiving any pay hike.

I feel this disorder has been caused not because of the government orders but the wrong interpretation of the same. It is causing considerable financial loss to certain employees in the form of denial of increment at the time of promotion.

This is the Audit Observation of SRU and PAOs that causes the problem:

“As per Rule 13 of CCS Revised Pay Rules 2008, fixation will be done only in case of promotion from one grade pay to another in the revised pay structure. As such, no fixation benefit in the form of increment equal to 3% of Pay Band +Grade pay should be allowed where there is no change in grade pay due to promotion.”

The cadres affected by this wrong interpretation are :

Case 1: When Superintendents who got the grade pay of Rs.5400 as on 1.1.2006, are granted ACP to the pre-revised scale of 8000-14000 from the pre-revised scale of 7500-12000, pay fixation with 3% increment is denied to them, on the notion that it is only an ACP to the next grade that carries same grade pay.

Case 2: Administrative Officers promoted from DOS cadre, DOS from STA cadre, Inspectors from STA cadre, and Havildars promoted from Sepoys cadre have been badly affected by this wrong interpretation.

Case 3: A Deputy Office Superintendent after completion of service of more than 18 years, which includes the service of a decade or more in the junior cadres like TA/STA/UDC/LDC etc, is promoted now as AO and transferred from one end to the other end of the State. Do you how much his pay hike will be for this promotion? A Big Zero !

Case 4 : So is the case of a Senior Tax Assistant who has been promoted as Deputy Office Superintendent and under the orders of transfer from one end to the other end of the State without any change in his pay as a result of the promotion.

A close look at Rule 13 of CCS Revised Pay Rules 2008, that provides the procedure for fixation on promotion after 01/01/2006 could throw some light on this issue.

“ 13.fixation of pay on promotion on or after 1.1.2006- in the case of promotion from one grade pay to another in revised pay structure, the fixation will be done sa follows:-

(i) one increment equal to 3% of the sum of the pay in the pay band and the existing grade pay will be computed and rounded off to the next multiple of 10.This will be added to the existing pay in the pay band. The grade pay corresponding to the promotion post will thereafter be granted in addition to this pay in the pay band. …”

The portion where the audit team got stranded was put in the bold letters above, viz., Promotion from one grade pay to another “. However they have not given attention to the clear wordings under the same Rule (i) which is also put in the bold letters above – “the Grade pay corresponding to the promotion post”. At the time of release of 6CPC notification itself we discussed the adverse effect of this Rule in GConnect, especially in the case of uneven merger of three or four non-gazetted and gazetted cadres under one Grade Pay.

By understanding the field level problems, a Clarification was issued in OM No.F. No.1/1/2008 IC dated 13/09/2008 by the Government which reads as follows

“Clarification 2: The method of fixation of pay on promotion after 01.01.2006
On promotion from one grade to another/financial upgradation under ACP, a Government servant has an option under FR 22(I)(a)(1) to get his pay fixed in the higher post either from the date of his promotion, or from date of his next increment, viz. 1st July of the year. The pay will be fixed in the following manner in the revised pay structure:-
(a) in case the Government servant opts to get his pay fixed from his date of next increment, then, on the date of promotion, pay in the pay in the pay band shall continue unchanged, but the grade pay of the higher post will be granted…”

The words coined under Rule 13 as “Promotion from one Grade Pay to another” has been changed in the form of clarification dated 13.09.2008 mentioned above to the extent that “On promotion from one Grade to another grade”, to rectify the mistake that is causing the pay fixation problem we are discussing so far. So, if an employee promoted from one grade to the other, he is entitled for pay fixation with an increment of 3% irrespective of the fact that both the grades from and to which the employee was promoted carry same grade.

With the clarifications issued further by the Government, even the very little ambiguity that prevailed has been sorted out now. Thus the audit /SRU teams are to review their stand on this issue.

If the audit/SRU teams and PAOs are still persisting with those 7 words i.e. promotion from one grade pay to another, following fundamental things are under Question.

What will be the use of forming a DPC for promotion, if no pay benefit accrues to the promoted employee?

What is the fun in shuffling the employee across the State in the name of a promotion without any pay Benefit?

ENHANCED GRADE PAY FOR INSPECTORS

2009-11-18T08:20:00.001-08:00

In line with the enhanced grade pay of Rs.4600/- granted to certain cadres such as income tax, customs and central excise Inspectors who were drawing pay in the pre-revised scale of Rs.6500-10500, Assistants and PA of CSS, Armed Forces Headquarter service, Indian Foreign Service “B” and Railway Secretariat Service and counter part stenographer Services have also now been granted the grade pay of Rs.4600/-

Do Govt Employees need Health Insurance ?

2009-11-02T08:16:00.000-08:00

“Why should I go for a Health Insurance if I am a Government Employee? I am already covered by either CGHS or Medical Attendance Rules.” This may be your thought process when you start reading this article.

But the reality is in case of an unfortunate event like you or your family members had to be admitted in a good hospital for a medical treatment, the present health schemes such as CGHS or Medical Attendance Rules might not cover the entire medical expenditure as these schemes have a cap in the form of package or schedule rates. And the net result is you will not be reimbursed with what you had actually paid to Hospital. Willhealth Insurance schemes could come in handy at these kind of situations ?

Answer for this question may not be affirmative if you had asked this question last year. Because till last year Government norms for claiming medical reimbursement and Health Insurance claim simultaneously was bit stringent as the total of reimbursement from the government and the health insurance claim shall not exceed the package rate prescribed by the Government. In other words there was no additional benefit in taking a health insurance policy if you are a government employee.

However, this year this condition has been relaxed. We can claim medical reimbursement from Government as well the hospitalization expenses from the Insurance Company, provided the total claim should not exceed the actual expenditure.

Click here to go through this earlier article on GConnect about Govt orders on claiming medical reimbursement as well as insurance claim

Be an early bird:

Also most people tend to think that Health Insurance is something that they need to think about only when they grow old.

However, the fact is Health insurance premium tends to increase with age - more the age, higher the premium. So insure at a young age. So that your insurance gets fixed at a low cost and by the time you grow old and the money become dearer, your insurance premium cost will be almost negligible.

Stay insured:

The other truth is that health insurance protects you in case you become seriously ill or meet with an accident. A sudden accident, loss of health or natural disaster can happen to anyone. Such situations can drastically alter a person’s life, causing loss of income and inability to pay bills. So, it makes sense to stay insured

Cost of Health Insurance:

A health insurance policy not only covers the cost of financial losses when disaster strikes, but also helps you tide over emergency medical bills due tohospitalization. If you think your health insurance premium is expensive, just wait till you receive a medical bill.

Even if someone is down with jaundice or malaria and requires hospitalization for a couple of days, his hospital bill could range from anywhere between Rs 15,000 and 25,000 depending on the hospital. And in these days of rising health care costs, imagine a chronic diabetic who needs insulin injections everyday, some one who needs frequent dialysis/chemotherapy or someone who needs continuous medication to keep living.

While taking a survey of the Health Insurance premium cost, we just found that at a cost ranging from Rs. 100 to Rs 200 per member per month, a family consists of 4 members viz., husband in the age of 40, wife in the age of 36 and two kids in the age of 12 and 7, could be covered with thehealth insurance benefits of Rs.2 lakhs per year. The following is the chart containing premium cost per year for a sum assured amount of Rs.2 lakhs for the family consists of 4 members as narrated above.
health-insurance-1
Please note that this is not a campaign to the insurance companies mentioned in the chart. There may be other insurance companies which could offer good rates than the premium cost mentioned in this chart. This is just an indication to emphasize thatinsurance premium costs are affordable. Readers are advised to verify the health insurance schemes offered by various companies before choosing the right one that suits them.

What are the other benefits of taking a Health Insurance policy?

The immediate benefit of taking up a Health Insurance policy is the Tax benefit that you can enjoy under section 80 D of the Income Tax Act.

Do not worry if you do not have adequate money to pay for sudden hospitalization or surgery. Your health insurance policy offers a cashless hospitalization facility. This facility is a great help since one doesn’t have to run around in the middle of the night to collect cash for paying up large deposits prior to admission.

If a person gets hospitalized all his medical expenses 30 days prior to hospitalization and 60 days post hospitalization will be covered. This includes nursing expenses, diagnostic and medical expenses, surgery, anesthesia cost, doctor’s expense, specialist fees, scanning, x-ray, ambulance expense, oxygen, operation theatre expenses, and cost of surgical appliances, room expenditure, day care expense and similar expenses.

There are few treatments which due to technological advancement are done as an outpatient, that is, you need not have prolonged hospitalization. These treatments are also covered under health insurance.

Reduced Health Insurance Cost over the period if no claim now:

If you are a non-claimant don’t think that your money is wasted. In fact, a Health Insurance policy is most advantageous to you when you do not claim for the first few years and stay insured continuously. You will not only enjoy the Incometax benefits under Section 80D of the IT Act, but also your sum insured gets increased without paying any extra premium by way of cumulative bonus. Or you can keep the sum assured constant and start paying lesser premium.

MNS wing protests university's fee hike

2009-11-02T08:15:00.000-08:00

MNS wing protests university's fee hike

MUMBAI: Activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS), the students' wing of the MNS, stormed Mumbai University's office at Fort
on Saturday afternoon and gheraoed registrar K Venkatramani to protest against a fee hike.

MNVS vice-president Sainath Durge, who heads the Mumbai University cell of the students' wing, said, "The varsity has increased the fees for courses, such as MCom, MA, MSc and PhD, by 50% to 300%. They claimed that they had hiked the amount as the government had implemented the Sixth Pay Commission.'' The MCom fees, which was Rs 3,000, has now been raised to Rs 11,000. A student said, "The hike came all of a sudden. The officials announced the rise of fees for 15 post-graduate courses, including MSc in computers and MCom. The fees of some of the courses have been hiked by as much as 300%.''

A discussion on the rise of fees was first held in February and subsequently, the final decision was taken on August 7. A circular on the hiked amounts was issued on October 6. "What surprised us is that the authorities are now collecting the arrears from students. We decided to take up their cause after many of them complained to us. We told the university officials that it was unfair to collect the fees after the academic year had already started,'' said Durge.

The MNVS activists sat outside Venkatramani's office for nearly three hours and left only after being assured that the varsity would look into the matter. The police were also called but no one was arrested.

"The vice-chancellor is currently not in town. She will be back on Monday, after which we will request her to look into the matter,'' said registrar K Venkataramani.

Through this move, the MNVS seems to have earned a brownie point over the Shiv Sena-sponsored Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, a political source said. The two students' wings are vying with each other to control the campus and this time around, the MNS wing took the lead.

6 TH PAY COMMISSION- 2ND INSTALMENT

2009-08-27T22:59:00.001-07:00

The Finance Ministry today decided to release the balance 60 per cent of revised pay arrears to all government employees. By the end of September, the government will shell out Rs 17,500 crore to its 50 lakh employees — a kind of mini stimulus before the festival season.

The arrears are part of the Sixth Pay Commission awards that were implemented with retrospective effect from January 1, 2006.

The Department of Expenditure issued a notification asking administrative ministries to release the money sanctioned to them in the Budget for 2009-10. The Department has recommended that employees retain at least a part of the arrears in their government provident fund accounts.

Pensioners too will receive their second instalment of arrears. After these payouts are made, the government will have given its employees a total of nearly Rs 30,000 crore in arrears.

Raising retirement to 62 for Central Govt. Employees

2009-08-13T05:22:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Raising retirement to 62 for Central Govt. Employees ? May be announced on Independence day.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is keen on extending the retirement age of civil servants to 62, one of his aides told this columnist in Delhi recently. He had apparently been keen to do so earlier this year, but such a change was thought politically risky at a time when the Congress party was using Rahul Gandhi’s youth as its electoral strategy (how do you convince voters that the party is going to harness the energy of the youth if you propose to keep all the old babus for another two years?). It may seem unreal now, but back then many in government feared that the Congress might lose power (even national security advisor M K Narayanan apparently threw a farewell party!), so the PM’s plan was shelved. It is being revived again, with the PM himself taking great interest.This proposal has two justifications. First and foremost is fiscal. As had happened when the retirement age was raised from 58 to 60 in 1998, the expenditure on pensions would be curbed. In this year’s budget, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee earmarked non-Plan expenditure for pensions at Rs 25,085.49 crore. That is a growth of almost 40 per cent (39.4 per cent). It is a major contributor to the total spending that was announced by Pranab, a little over Rs 10 trillion, a hike of around 36 per cent from last year. Of course, coming at the time of a global economic slowdown this massive expenditure is possibly a good risk to take; but the prime minister is obviously looking for ways to keep costs from running away.Of course, worse than the central finances are those of many of the States; their governments are far more reckless than the Centre’s. In the decade after New Delhi raised the age of superannuation to 60, the States slowly but surely followed suit. The States would likely follow the Centre’s lead again and that would help them manage their fiscal problems.The other reason the PM wants to push retirement back another two years is that he wants to make tap the valuable human resource that bureaucrats represent. For one thing, life expectancy in India has gone up. According to UNICEF, in 2007 it was 64 years, and this is a figure that the average bureaucrat would have pulled upwards. Thus, when a civil servant retires at 60, she or he is still at their mental peak, and each acts as an institutional storehouse of government policy and programme implementation. Retaining them for another two years would possibly enrich functioning of the government. At the very least, it would keep some of the hypocrites off the boob tube — it’s very bizarre that the same bureaucrats who set government policy for 30 years or so, start abusing the government at the nearest TV station studio the moment they find themselves jobless. (Maybe it’s their pique at not getting a post-retirement sinecure).The PM is not the first person to have such a brainwave. Almost a year ago, the University Grants Commission appointed a committee under G K Chadha to study pay revision, and he made a suggestion that teachers’ retirement age be raised to 65. This is timely advice considering that India is currently set to expand education in a major way under the stewardship of the dynamic Kapil Sibal. It is not just a matter of filling the ranks of teachers, but imparting quality teaching to India’s children.If the PM wants to extend the retirement age then he would only be following a global trend. The retirement age in the US is 65; in Japan it is 60 and the government is gradually raising it to 65 by 2013, but people anyway continue working till 65 on reduced wages. By 2033, Austria’s retirement age will be 65. In Denmark it will be 67 years by 2027. Hungary plans to make it 69 years by 2050. Israel is already raising it to 67 years for men. All these countries and many others are increasing the retirement age because of an increasingly alarming problem — their ageing populations. By 2020, a quarter of Japan’s population will be 65 and over. Life expectancy in the US is about 77, and by 2050 is expected to go up to 83. Japan’s is already 82.4 years. Indeed, the life expectancy in some of the advanced countries, according to 2009 OECD data, are: France 80.9 years, Canada 80.4 years, Sweden 80.8 years, Italy 80.9 years and Spain 81.1 years. You would have to think that as India gets wealthier — which it undoubtedly is — our population’s life expectancy will similarly increase.Imagine a person retiring at 60, but living till at least 80 (if not more), perhaps physically weakened as she or he passes 75, but still mentally at the top of his or her game. What do they do with such a long retirement? And besides the fact that the increase in life expectancy leaves retirees with too much time on their hands and their skills unutilised, it also places a great burden on the working population, which has to finance the social security and health benefits that the elderly need. In the West it costs much more to maintain an elderly person than it does to raise a child; and health care costs in the rich world are projected to be those countries’ biggest finance headache (much more than the costs of the stimulus to end the current economic crisis). Thus it is not surprising that there are an increasing number of voices in the West and Japan who are talking of increasing the retirement age to 75. Doing so would engage the older citizens, contribute to the state exchequer in terms of taxes from older workers, and reduce the social security burden on the young. It is a surprisingly obvious solution.With the PM politically on the defensive after the all-round criticism of his joint statement with his Pakistani counterpart at Sharm-el-Sheikh, it is unclear when he may undertake the change in retirement age, though he is said to be very enthusiastic about it. Sharm-el-Sheikh will pass however; party boss Sonia Gandhi can manage the naysayers in the Congress, and the BJP is still shell-shocked from its electoral defeat to do serious damage to the government. And even within the BJP it is thought that currently the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra favour the Congress. Manmohan Singh will soon enough have the political wind at his back to make this proposal. Good thing, for it is an eminently sensible one.

Source : Column of Sri Aditya Sinha for express buzz.

An Update

The government is actively considering raising the retirement age of all central government employees, including those in the armed forces, from the present 60 to 62 years.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has submitted a report to the prime minister outlining all the pros and cons of the move, including the “cascading effects” on government employment and the huge savings, at least for two years, on account of retirement payouts.

If the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the prime minister find the arguments forwarded by the finance ministry credible and convincing, the announcement may come as early as August 15, as part of Manmohan Singh’s Independence Day speech.

The Cabinet may discuss the matter tomorrow.

Although the finance ministry is making a strong case for the move, the DoPT is taking time to make up its mind, possibly out of consideration for the 1979 batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and other central services. Officers of the 1979 batch have been empanelled for promotion to the ranks of additional secretary and secretary but can take up their posts only after the present incumbents retire. If an announcement extending the retirement age comes before November, a batch of empanelled joint secretaries stand to lose their future ranks. In turn, this will also affect those who joined the central administrative services in 1980. The DoPT also says that the age profile of Indian bureaucrats, instead of becoming younger, will become older, out of tune with the rest of the world.

For the finance ministry, the gains from the move are clear. The pension payout of all armed forces personnel of the rank of Lieutenant General and equivalent who were to retire this year will be postponed by 24 months; the government will also defer by two years the liability of paying pension to more than 100,000 employees. While salaries will have to continue to be paid, this will be cheaper than paying upfront benefits like gratuity.

This is all the more important given the government’s other financial liabilities on account of stimulus spending and one drought, though the effects of the latter will kick in only in the next fiscal year. The fiscal deficit is 6.8 per cent of gross domestic product this year and a two-year lag in paying pensions will help in bridging this.

In 1998, the National Democratic Alliance government had raised the retirement age from 58 to 60, a move that benefitted 90,000 government servants and 50,000 defence personnel. At the time, the logic was: the retirement of 140,000 employees would have cost Rs 5,200 crore whereas paying salaries cost only Rs 1,493 crore.

That move came in the wake of the 5th Pay Commission report which had just been implemented by the then United Front government. In 2003, the government also right-sized the central government employee workforce by 30 per cent.

Every time the Centre announces an increase or concession on pay packages, both public-sector units and state governments follow suit. If the prime minister does decide to raise the retirement age, state governments and Public Sector Units (PSUs) will mirror this action. This has its own implications for many cash-strapped states like Punjab.

If the decision is finally taken, it will only be the third time the government will have raised the retirement age. Jawaharlal Nehru was the first prime minister to have increased the age of superannuation from 55 to 58 following the 1962 war with China. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government did it a second time in 1998.

Source : Business Standard.
at 9:23 PM
0 comments:

Sixth Pay Commission’s award to its serving and retired employees.

2009-07-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

For all the impression of being a populist exercise, Ms Mamata Banerjee’s 2009-10 Rail Budget is actually a pretty practical response to the prevailing business environment in which the public sector transport behemoth is operating. Consider this. In 2008-09, the economic slowdown resulted in the Indian Railways’ (IR) freight loading falling short of its budgeted target of 850 million tonnes (mt) by 17 mt.

Simultaneously, it had to fork out an additional Rs 13,600 crore following the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission’s award to its serving and retired employees. The current fiscal, too, will see an outgo of Rs 14,600 crore on this account.

This double whammy has severely dented the IR’s finances. After meeting all its expenses, including provisions towards dividend and statutory appropriations, the Railways will be left with an investible surplus of just Rs 8,631.04 crore during 2009-10 — as against Rs 19,972.43 crore in 2007-08.

Despite this setback, beyond any Rail Minister’s control, Ms Banerjee has not compromised on the Plan outlays. For the current fiscal, the total investment Plan has been pegged at an all-time-high of Rs 40,745 crore. This is not only higher than the Rs 36,336 crore of 2008-09, but even the Rs 30,145.34 crore of 2007-08, when the IR was in the pink of financial health!

This strategy of maintaining, or rather enhancing, capital investments, even in a downturn scenario, may reap dividends in the coming fiscals. By 2010-11, the arrears against the Sixth Pay Commission award would have been fully paid up. Also, by then, an economic recovery would have set in, reversing the present vicious cycle of soaring costs and sluggish revenues into a virtuous cycle for the IR.

Ms Banerjee’s focus now should be on ensuring that the budgeted capital outlays get spent, so that the stage is set for the Railways to capitalise on the better times ahead. But on the whole, one cannot doubt that the strategy laid out in the Rail Budget is both sound as well as bold (in most cases, the immediate response of firms to revenue pressures is a cut-back on capex).
Higher Plan size

How has Ms Banerjee managed to project a higher Plan size? Well, to an extent, the credit goes to the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee. Call it the Bengal connection, but the fact is that Mr Mukherjee has bestowed Ms Banerjee with an extra Rs 5,000 crore of support from the exchequer.

Budget support to the Railways’ Plan has been pegged at Rs 15,800 crore, which is more than the Rs 10,800 crore pledged in the Interim Budget for 2009-10. Mr Mukherjee has further helped Ms Banerjee’s cause by allowing the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) to float Rs 5,000 crore worth of tax-free bonds this fiscal.

The tax-free bond facility to the IR’s fund-raising arm was withdrawn after 2003-04 by Mr Mukherjee predecessor, Mr P. Chidambaram. IRFC officials say that the renewed permission to issue tax-free bonds would enable a 100 to 150 basis point reduction in its cost of funds. That, in turn, has given the Railways the leeway to target borrowings of Rs 9,170 crore in the current fiscal, more than the Rs 7,190 crore raised in 2008-09.

IRFC raises funds for IR at close to sovereign debt cost levels and a margin of 50-70 basis points. The higher budget support of Rs 15,800 crore, along with IRFC’s borrowings of Rs 9,170 crore, together will help fund over 61 per cent of the IR’s budgeted Plan of Rs 40,745 crore this fiscal.
Big outlays

It is only the balance of Rs 15,775 crore that the Railways will have to raise from internal and other sources. Ms Banerjee has clearly tied up the funds for her ambitious Plan; what remains to be seen is whether the investments actually happen on the ground. Of the total Rs 40,745-crore Plan, Ms Banerjee has allocated Rs 12,393 crore to rolling stock acquisition. The IR’s procurement plans include 18,000 wagons, 3,041 conventional coaches, 144 LHB coaches, 855 electric multiple units, 444 DEMUs and MEMUs, 250 electric locomotives and 250 diesel locomotives.

The other big outlay is Rs 5,135 crore towards track renewals. Ms Banerjee has also provided Rs 1,880 crore towards the dedicated freight corridor, which is Rs 1,100 crore more than what was allocated last fiscal.

On the services front, instead of making mega announcements, Ms Banerjee has tried widening the number of stations where basic amenities and low-cost food will be made available.

She has also decided to experiment with some new services, like the 12 non-stop passenger trains (which will have operational halts but no commercial halts), three premium parcel services and premium services for container train operators with transit time guarantees.

The premium services will be priced higher, though the exact levels have not yet been finalised. “The exact fares have not yet been decided,” Mr S. S. Khurana, Chairman, Railway Board, said when contacted.

The Minister has not stressed big-ticket projects much, and has qualified her eastern industrial corridor plan by suggesting a “robust business plan”. The lack of a valid business plan for both the eastern and western corridors is perceived as one of the reasons for the delay in the projects.

Related Stories:
Rail Budget: Long on passengers and short on freight
Is Mamata plan more realistic than Lalu’s?

GREAT OPPORTUNITY IN R & D

2009-06-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

MINISTRY OF Human Resource Development (MoHRD) and Ministry of Science and Technology (MoS&T) assert that talented researchers should be selected for research and teaching. Top administration in these ministries think that they are doing enough to motivate and entice top talents of the country who study in IITs and other high profile academic institutions. However, on surface level, as usual, only money speaks and since money-package to young researchers is not enough and never comparable to packages offered in jobs, especially in private sector, talented pools from top institutions in our country prefer to avoid joining R&D sector as a viable career option.

Since B Tech and M Tech graduates from IIT and other top engineering institutes are offered high-package jobs where they receive Rs 30,000 - 50,000 salary in hands and other perks, they could not opt for joining research where a Junior Research Fellow (JRF) gets a meager Rs 12,000 and a Senior Research Fellow gets Rs 14,000 with no other incentives and an indirect deduction for regular registration fees for about four years (during a crucial phase) in one's life. Moreover, those students, who are not getting high-package job from IIT and keep research as good career option, meticulously opt for joining PhD programmes abroad where they easily gets US 2000 dollars on an average while a foreign degree will rather help them to be the first preference for teaching and research jobs in our academic institutions too.

In the recent sixth pay commission, salary package of Central government has seen abrupt hikes and now employees in research and teaching in India also seem satisfied with their jobs and job packages. Therefore, just because of the generous sixth pay commission, reports say for the first time 12 per cent of the 500 recruitments at DRDO has been from top IIT whose students are primarily known to grab six-figure dollar salaries across the world. But for a great surprise, in previous years the 52 DRDO labs, conducting R&D in naval, aeronautical, life sciences and other sectors, could manage to recruit just one or two engineering graduates from IIT. Though DRDO recruits employees through an entry test and through campus recruitment across 40 IIT, central universities and other engineering schools, the IIT graduates are recruited on campus. Not for big surprise, the sixth pay commission has also helped DRDO to get 30 non-resident Indians recruited last year. Nevertheless, this success of DRDO in recruiting so-called talents is mainly attributed to the recession and lack of high package jobs in the market and only figures in coming years and after recession will tell where country's so-called top talents prefer to move for jobs.

You will definitely be surprised to know that seven IITs together produce on an average 1,500 – 2,000 PhD in an year despite having big structures whereas a single university in America like Princeton University or MIT has intake of 1,500 students for MS and PhD programs in an year. On an average, India produces only 5,000 – 7,000 Science PhD in a year whereas the figure is about 30,000 and more in America. Usually, master and doctoral programme students in the US are paid good stipends during the research and are in great demand for high profile jobs. This keeps the standards and innovation in each sector. Universities as well as industries both marvelously entice students to join higher studies in America.

Therefore, our young researchers after obtaining PhD from IIT and IIS always look for joining post doctoral research or jobs abroad despite there are number of vacancies in teaching and research sectors. Administration opts a foreign degree holder should join or a local PhD pass out should have some years of industrial experience or post doctoral experience in foreign labs whereas as work-environment at home is pathetic in attitude and do not motivate or even allow researchers to implement their ideas properly. A person starts earning US 3,000 - 4,000 dollars on joining job or even research in foreign country, so it is difficult to assume that he or she would prefer to come back to work on a low package and in poor work-environment at home. There are good number of cases when scientists and academic faculties of this country quit jobs to move to foreign countries as there has been large volume of reports on brain drain and talents moving to green pasture. Even employed scientists and faculties from IIT, IISc and top laboratories usually take many year leave to work abroad only for earning good amount of bucks and for the matter of prestige also.

House Building Advance to Central Government Employees

2009-02-05T22:47:00.000-08:00

House Building Advance to Central Government Employees
January 22nd, 2009
1. The Scheme of House Building Advance to Central Government Employees is aimed at providing assistance to the Government employees to construct/acquire house/flats of their own. The scheme was introduced in 1956, as a welfare measure. Ministry of Urban Development & Poverty Alleviation act as the nodal Ministry for the same.

2. House Building Advance is admissible to all those temporary employees also who have rendered 10 years of continuous service. The Ministries/Departments are delegated powers to sanction House Building Advance to their employees in accordance with the House Building Advance Rules.

3.With effect from 27-11-2008, the following provisions of grant of House Building Advance shall be in operation, until further orders:-

(i).The maximum limit for grant of HBA shall be 34 months’ of pay in the pay band subject to a maximum of Rs. 7.50 lakh or cost of the house or the repaying capacity whichever is the least, for new construction/purchase of new house/flat.

(ii).The maximum limit for grant of HBA for enlargement of existing house shall be 34 months’ pay in the pay band subject to a maximum of Rs. 1.80 lakh or cost of the enlargement or repaying capacity, whichever is the least.

(iii).The cost ceiling limit shall be 134 times the pay in the pay band subject to a minimum of Rs.7.50 lakh and a maximum of Rs.30 lakh relaxable up to a maximum of 25% of the revised maximum cost ceiling of Rs.30 lakh.

4. The rate of interest on House Building Advance is between 5% to 9.5% ,depending on the loan amount.

5. The repaying capacity of Govt. servants who have more than 20 years of remaining service has been revised from 35% to 40% of pay. (Pay means pay in the pay band).

6. The salient features of House Building Advance Rules are as follows-

1. ELIGIBILITY

Permanent Government employees.
Temporary Government employees who have rendered at least 10 years continuous service.
To be granted once during the entire service.
If both the husband and wife are Government of India employees and eligible for HBA, it shall be admissible to only one of them.

2. PURPOSE

HBA is granted for:

Constructing a new house on the plot owned by the official or the Official and the Official’s wife/husband jointly.
Purchasing a plot and constructing a house thereon.
Purchasing a plot under Co-operative Schemes and Constructing a house thereon or acquiring house through membership of Co-operative Group Housing Scheme.
Purchasing /construction of house under the Self-Financing scheme of Delhi, Bangalore, U.P., Lucknow etc.
Outright purchase of new ready-built house/flat Housing boards, Development Authorities and other statutory or semi-Government bodies and also from private parties.*
Enlarging living accommodation in an existing house owned by the official or jointly with his/her wife/husband. The total cost of the existing structure (excluding cost of land) and the proposed additions should not exceed the prescribed cost ceiling.
Repayment of loan or advance taken from a Government or HUDCO or Private source even if the construction has already Commenced, subject to certain conditions.
Constructing the residential portion only of the building on a Plot which is earmarked as a shop-cum-residential plot in a Residential colony.
* Private party means registered builders but not private individuals.

3. CONDITIONS:

a) The applicant or spouse or minor child should not already own a house in the town/Urban agglomeration where the house is proposed to be constructed or acquired.

b) The title to the land should be clear. The land may be owned either:

- by the Government employee; or

- jointly by the Government employee and spouse.

c) COST CEILING

134 times of pay in the pay band subject to a minimum of Rs. 7.50 lakh and a maximum of Rs.30 lakh

Administrative Ministry may relax the cost ceiling to 25% of cost ceiling mentioned above in the individual cases on merits.

(Effective from 27th November, 2008)

d) AMOUNT OF ADVANCE:

will be the LEAST of the following:-
(i) 34 times the pay in the pay band.

(ii) The cost of construction.**

(iii) Rs. 7,50,000/- ***

(iv) Repaying Capacity.

** 80% of cost in rural areas.

*** Rs. 1,80,000/- in case of enlargement of existing house.

e) REPAYING CAPACITY:-

Repaying Capacity is computed on the following basis:-

S. No.
Length of remaining service of the applicant.
Repaying Capacity

1.
Retiring after 20 years.
40% of pay @

2.
Retiring after 10 years but not later than 20 years.
40% of pay @ plus 65% of * Retirement Gratuity

3.
Retiring within 10 years
50% of pay @ plus 75% of * Retirement Gratuity.

@ Pay means pay in the pay band

4. DISBURSEMENT OF ADVANCE:

S. No.
Purpose of HBA
Disbursement

(1)
(2)
(3)

(i)
For construction/enlargement (single or double storeyed).
50% -

50%
on execution of mortgage deed

on construction reaching plinth level (Ground Floor).

(ii)
For purchase of land and construction (Single storeyed)
40% or -
actual cost

30% -

30% -
for purchase of plot on execution of agreement and production of Surety Bond.

On execution of Mortgage deed.

On construction reaching plinth level.

(iii)
For purchase of land and construction (Double storeyed)
35% or actual cost

32.5% -

32.5% -
for purchase of plot on execution of agreement and production of Surety bond.

On execution of the mortgage deed.

On construction reaching the plinth level.

(iv)
For purchase of ready built house/flat
100% - in one lumpsum.

(v)
For acquiring flat/house from Co-operative Group Housing Society.
20% -

80% -
Towards purchase of land by the Society.

in suitable installments on receipt of demand (pro-rate basis)

(vi)
For purchase of flat under SFS of Development Authorities etc.

No payment for initial registration Deposit.

May be released in not more than 5 instalments. But the fifth and final instalment should not be less than 10% and is to be released for making final payment.

5. TIME SCHEDULE FOR UTILISATION OF HBA:

S. No.
Purpose
Time limit

(a)
Purchase of registered plot on which construction can commence immediately.
Sale deed to be produced within 2 months.

(b)
Purchase of ready built house.
Acquisition and mortgage to Government to be completed within 3 months.

(c)
Purchase/construction of new flat
Should be utilised within one month of sanction.

6. REPAYMENT OF ADVANCE:

The recovery of advance shall be made in not more than 180 monthly installment and interest shall be recovered thereafter in not more than 60 monthly installments. In case Government servant is retiring before 20 years, repayment may be made in convenient installments and balance may be paid out of Retirement Gratuity.

7. INTEREST

The rate of interest on Housing Building Advance with effect from 1st April, 2003 are as follows:-

S. No.
Amount of Advance sanctioned to a Government Servant
Rate of Interest on HBA (Per Annum).

1.
Upto Rs. 50,000/-
5%

2.
Upto Rs. 1,50,000
6.5%

3.
Upto Rs. 5,00,000/-
8.5%

4.
Upto Rs. 7,50,000/-
9.5%

8.COMMENCEMENT OF RECOVERY:

Construction of a house or enlargement of living accommodation
* From pay for the month following the completion.

Or

The pay for the 18th month after date of payment of the 1st installment, whichever is earlier.

Purchase of land and construction.
* From pay for the month following the completion of the house.

Or

The pay for the 24th month after date of drawl of instalment for purchase of land, whichever is earlier.

COMMENCEMENT OF RECOVERY (CONT’D):

Ready built flat.
* Pay for the month following the month in which advance was drawn.

Purchase of Flat under SFS from Development Authority/Housing Society.
* From the pay for the 18th month after date of payment of 1st instalment.

* The sanctions of HBA should invariable stipulate a higher rate of interest at 2.5% above prescribed rates with the stipulation that if conditions attached to the sanction are fulfilled, rebate of interest to the extent of 2.5% will be allowed.

9. CREATION OF SECOND MORTGAGE:

The Government servants who have obtained HBA from the Government may be permitted to create a second charge on the property provided they obtain prior permission of the Head of the Department and the draft deed of second mortgage is submitted to the Head of the Department for scrutiny. Such a second charge may be created only in respect of loans to be granted for meeting the balance cost of houses/flats by recognised financial institutions.

10.PROVISIONS FOR SAFE RECOVERY OF HOUSE BUILDING ADVANCE:

(i). As a safeguard of the House Building advance, the loanee Government employee has to insure the house immediately on completion or purchase of the house, as the case may be, at his own cost with Life Insurance Corporation of India and its associated units. The house/flat constructed/purchased with the help of House Building advance can also be insured with the private insurance companies which are approved by Insurance Regulatory Development Authority(IRDA). However, the insurance should be taken for a sum not less than the amount of advance against damage by fire, flood and lightning, and has to be continued till the advance together with interest is fully repaid to Government.

(ii).The house constructed/purchased with the help of House Building Advance has also be mortgaged in favour of the President of India within a stipulated time unless an extension of time is granted by the concerned Head of the Department. After completion of the recovery of the advance together with interest thereon, the mortgage deed is re-conveyed in a proper manner.

Modification in the Travelling Allowance - New order dated 22.01.09

2009-02-05T22:43:00.000-08:00

Modification in the Travelling Allowance - New order dated 22.01.09
January 24th, 2009 At last CG Officers working in field formations could breath easy after this new stand taken by the department on TA Rules.

As you are all aware of the modified Travelling Allowance Rules as per Office Memorandum dated 23.09.08 consequent on Sixth pay commission recommendations, which was based on reimbursement principle (i.e) Officers have to produce receipts for the amount spent on accommodation, food, transportation etc.

This principle may be fine for the officers who travel to a cities, as the charges for lodging, transportation etc could be claimed at actuals subject to a maximum ceiling.

However, Officers who had to travel on duty to remote places like villages sea shores were really put to hardship because they could not get the receipts for the amount spent by them for food as it would be meaningless to ask for serially numbered bill from a small Hotelier or “Dhabawala” in those places. Even for those who travel long distances in trains in which fare is not inclusive of food, it would be very difficult to get receipts for food from pantry car or railway platform salesmen.

Now, this hardship has been done away with by the issue of new Ofice Memorandum dated 22.01.2009, as the Govt has decided to sanction daily allowance on tour, based on earlir office memorandum dated 17.04.1998 in case the officers opted to claim slab rate based daily allowance instead of reimbursement based travelling allowance prescribed vide office memorandum dated 23.09.08.

In a nutshell, this new order provides the choice to the Officers for claiming the Travelling allowance either based on old TA rates as per the office memo dated 17.04.98 or at actuals using the bills for food etc as per the office memorandum dated 23.09.08. However, Officers can not mix up these two orders for a single tour.

Expected DA for Central Government Employees from 1.1.2009 - 22%

2009-01-25T06:45:00.000-08:00

Expected DA for Central Government Employees from 1.1.2009 - 22%

All India Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) on base 2001=100 for the month of November, 2008 remained stationary at 148 (one hundred and fortyeight).
During November, 2008, the index recorded maximum increase of 5 points each in Quilon and Madurai centres, 3 points each in Mysore, Ernakulam, Bhilwara and Coonoor centres, 2 points in 13 centres and 1 point in 14 centres. The index decreased by 1 point in 19 centres and 2 points each in Jalandhar, Nasik, Bhavnagar, Siliguri, Asansol and Howrah centres, while in remaining 20 centres the index remained stationary.
The maximum increase of 5 points in Quilon centre is mainly due to Fish, Fresh Vegetable Items and Washing Soap etc., while that in Madurai centre is mainly due to Rice and Vegetable Items. The increase of 3 points each in Mysore, Ernakulam, Bhilwara and Coonoor centres is due to Rice, Onion, Fish Fresh, Vegetable Items, Tea Readymade, Toilet Soap etc. While the decrease of 2 points each in Jalandhar, Nasik, Bhavnagar, Siliguri, Asansol and Howrah centres is due to decrease in the prices of Vegetable items, Mustard Oil, Groundnut Oil etc.

The point to point rate of inflation for the month of November, 2008 remained constant 10.45% at the level of October, 2008.
The CPI-IW for December, 2008 will be released on the last working day of the next month, i.e. 30th January, 2009.

All India Consumer Price Index Industrial Workers BASE YEAR 2001 = 100
Month Base year 2201=100 Total of 12 Months 12 Month Average % Increase over 115.76 for DA
Nov2007 134 1562 130.17 12.45
Dec2007 134 1569 130.75 12.95
Jan-2008 134 1576 131.33 13.45
Feb-2008 135 1583 131.92 13.96
Mar2008 137 1593 132.75 14.68
Apr-2008 138 1603 133.58 15.39
May2008 139 1613 134.42 16.12
Jun-2008 140 1623 135.25 16.84
Jul-2008 143 1634 136.17 17.63
Aug2008 145 1646 137.17 18.50
Sep-2008 146 1659 138.25 19.43
Oct-2008 148 1673 139.42 20.44

Expected Dearness Allowance for Central Government Employees from 1.1.2009 - 22% (As per Swamy's News - Jan-2009)