Monday, October 30, 2017

TOUR PROGRAM OF GENERAL SECRETARY


31/10/2017 to 03/11/2017-BHUWANESWAR.
ODISA CIRCLE

 04/11/2017 TO 07.11.2017 - IN MUMBAI

 08.11.2017 TO 10.11.20177- CHENNAI

10/11/2017 to 12/11/2017- New Delhi

13/10/2017 - IN MUMBAI

DEPARTMENTAL ANOMALY COMMITTEE MEETING

IT HAS BEEN INFORMED BY THE POSTAL DIRECTORATE  THAT DEPARTMENTAL ANOMALY COMMITTEE MEETING WHICH WAS SCHEDULED TO BE HELD ON 31-10-2017 AT DAK BHAWAN  IS POSTPONED.

NEXT DATE OF MEETING WILL BE INFORMED BY THE DIRECTORATE SHORTLY.

    T. NRAHATE
  General Secretary
DEPARTMENTAL ANOMALY COMMITTEE
      

Indian Railways will create one million additional jobs.

MUMBAI: The Railways is looking to invest over $150 billion over the next five years which would help create one million additional jobs, minister Piyush Goyal has said.
Goyal, who took over as the rail minister after a Cabinet reshuffle in August, said he was trying to give the national transporter a "new direction".
"During the next five years, the Railways alone will be looking at an investment of upwards of $150 billion. And when I translate that into jobs, I see a million jobs being created only through investments in the railway sector," he said.
The Railways can play an important role in "aggressively pursuing" government agenda to provide safe, secure, comfortable travel, he said addressing an awards function organised by the business daily Economic Times late last night.
A focus on infrastructure could also help increase local manufacturing, he said.
Goyal said his ministry was also compressing the time taken for complete electrification of rail lines to four years from the earlier plan of 10 years, which would help cut costs by around 30 percent for the loss-making Railways.
This electrification initiative would help save the national transporter around Rs 10,000 crore per annum on fuel bill, he said.
Earlier this month, Goyal had said the Railways would create one million jobs within the next 12 months.
In 2015, his predecessor Suresh Prabhu had said the Railways needed investments of Rs 8.5 trillion over the next five years and invited overseas investors for the same
Prabhu had also secured a debt funding worth Rs 1.5 trillion from Life Insurance Corporation to fund various projects.
It is not clear whether Goyal's USD 150 billion is part of Prabhu's Rs 8.5 trillion investments.

Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have officially appointed Professor Lynette Harris to mediate their talks over pay, pensions and other issues.

In a statement sent to Post&Parcel today (25 October), Royal Mail said: “We are pleased to be entering a new phase of talks. Our priority is to reach agreement with the CWU. We are committed to using the mediation process to do just that. Moya Greene, CEO, will lead these talks for Royal Mail.
“Mediation will bring both parties together, with a third party, to seek the right outcome for employees, customers and the business.
“In total, the procedures allow seven weeks for negotiations from the appointment of a mediator. If we do not reach agreement, the union is required by law to give a minimum of two weeks’ notice of any industrial action after mediation has finished. This means that the process will take close to Christmas to be completed, and may be longer.
“Given the complexity of the issues under discussion and the shared appetite to reach agreement, we anticipate that discussions could be extended to facilitate an agreement.
“Royal Mail remains committed to reaching agreement with the CWU.”
As previously reported, CWU members had voted in favour of taking industry action – but a High Court ruling determined that they would have to pursue the mediation route first.

Bad news for Indian I.T


Indian IT services companies have been struggling amid a shifting technology landscape, changing client demands, and protectionist policies in the US. This became quite evident over the last two weeks as the latest round of quarterly financial results trickled in.
Most firms recorded tepid growth in the July-September 2017 quarter (Q2) of financial year 2018 and shared a sombre forecast.
Here are some highlights from the financial results:

The struggle

Despite it being a seasonally strong quarter, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services company and a sector bellwether, posted a lower-than-expected 1.7% quarter-on-quarter revenue growth. The Q2 figure stood at $4.74 billion, compared to $4.59 billion in the previous quarter.
This was  the 12th straight quarter in which the Mumbai-based firm has either underperformed or, at best, matched analysts’ estimates. TCS used to be a consistent out-performer earlier. In a post-earnings report, HDFC Securities described TCS’s Q2 revenue growth as “uninspiring” and called out its performance in core geographies as “sub-par.”

Bleak future

On Oct. 17, Wipro, India’s third-largest IT services company, toned down its revenue growth guidance for the October-December quarter (Q3) to just between 0% and 2%. This is slower than the 2.1% revenue growth (pdf) it clocked in Q2.
And Wipro is not alone. On Oct. 24, India’s second-largest IT company, Infosys, slashed its targeted revenue growth for FY18, hinting that the year is turning out to be worse than expected. The company now believes its revenue will grow between 5.5% and 6.5% (pdf) in FY18, as against 6.5-8.5% that it had guided for in July.

Trump threat

The Indian IT sector has been under pressure ever since Donald Trump was elected US president in November 2016. Trump’s protectionist views are a threat to India’s IT industry which massively relies on its low-cost workforce for its largest market, the US.
The Trump administration has already begun clamping down on the H-1B, the long-term visas that Indian IT companies mostly use for their personnel travelling for onsite tenures. Apprehensions over US visa policies continued to show on the Q2 earnings, with most firms increasing local US hiring.
TCS now ranks among the biggest job creators in the US IT industry, while 50% of Wipro’s employees in that country are now locals. Over the next two years, Infosys will hire 10,000 Americans. Meanwhile, mid-sized player Tech Mahindra said it has increased its staff strength at its Atlanta office by 100.
This is bad news for their balance sheets that are already bearing the weight of tough competition and tight client budgets. Hiring locals will add pressure on margins which have so far been maintained because of the low-cost Indian workforce.
Infosys was also among those hit by the move. In 2016, the Royal Bank of Scotland shelved plans to set up a separate bank in the UK, a project that was to be partnered by Infosys. Following RBS’s decision, Infosys lost around $50 million in revenue and had to shift 3,000 employees to other clients.

Brexit impact

Indian IT is also struggling in its second-largest market, Europe, thanks to Brexit.
Take, for instance,Bengaluru-based Mindtree, which acquired UK-based consultancy firm Bluefin in 2015. In June this year, the company said Bluefin was not growing in line with expectations due to a volatile business environment following Brexit.



More recently,in Q2, HCL, India’s fourth-largest IT services player, was hit by the post-Brexit currency fluctuation. “There has been some change in currency, so there are just the currency translation impacts,” CEO C Vijayakumar said.

The saviour

However, here’s the good news:There’s money coming from digital services like artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and internet-of-things (IoT)—verticals that Indian firms have built up over the past decade as the old cost-arbitrage model fell apart.
“We started training our employees on digital skills a couple of years ago and this focus has contributed greatly to our growth,” Ajoyendra Mukherjee, the executive vice-president TCS, told the Business Standard newspaper. In Q2, TCS’s revenue from digital services grew over 30% year-on-year.
Infosys attributed 11% of its revenues to digital or new technology services like cloud, data analytics, cybersecurity, and IoT.
At Wipro, these newer verticals accounted for 24% of the revenue. This share is only expected to grow in future. “Now, digital is pervasive across all customers,” Wipro CFO Jatin Dalal told the Hindu BusinessLine newspaper. “These clients will not go back to the old kind of systems.”

Letter to Chariman, Postal Board regarding Inordinate delay in implementing GDS commission Recommendations




Our Demand on Early implementation of GDS Committee report.

Saturday, October 28, 2017

GPF Interest rate for the period from 01/10/2017 to 21/12/2017


Minutes of Joint Memorandum given by FNPO &NFPE with CPMG , AP Circle on 23.10.2017





Thursday, October 26, 2017

Postal dept ready to deliver traffic e-challans by speed post

Mumbai, Oct 25 (PTI) The Maharashtra and Goa circle of the postal department has expressed willingness to deliver e-challans to traffic offenders by speed post.

The department has written a letter to the Mumbai Traffic Police as well as the state government in this regard, an official said.

The traffic police had been sending e-challans to motorists for violating norms through SMSes. However, this system is reportedly not working well as e-challans are not getting delivered properly because of frequent change in mobile phone numbers of offenders.

"Therefore, we have come forward and written to the traffic police as well as the state government to let us deliver e-challans to their (offenders') doorstep through our speed-post service.

"The violators can deposit challan amount in the nearest post office through e-payment mode of the department," said H C Agrawal, Chief Post Master General (CPMG) of the Maharashtra and Goa Circle.

But this move (delivering e-challans through speed post) will put additional financial burden on the police department's budget. Therefore, the traffic police alone will not be able to go ahead with the proposal," Agrawal said.

The official suggested that to overcome the financial burden, the speed post cost could be recovered from offenders themselves.

If e-challans are printed and delivered at violators address with an acknowledgement receipt, it will ensure offenders pay the fine and police get their rightful revenue, he said, "this will also sending a message to motorists to follow traffic rules." With a view to digitise the entire process of recovering fines from road rule violators, the Mumbai traffic police, in January this year, launched e-challan system.

It set up CCTV cameras across the city to monitor traffic violations. Whenever a motorist broke traffic rules, his/her vehicles number was captured on CCTV cameras.

Later, an SMS was sent about fine to be paid after obtaining the offender's mobile phone registered with the RTO.

According to figures, on an average 5,000 e-challans are issued daily in Mumbai, mostly for over-speeding, signal jumping, not wearing helmets, triple-riding on two wheelers, talking on phone while driving, driving without seat belts and overstepping at zebra crossings. 

PTI APM RSY .

Source : http://www.newindianexpress.com

Early implementation of GDS pay committee Report -Reg : Letter to Secretary , Staff Side, NC (JCM) -NAPE-C G.S


Report of the Committee on Allowances.

House Rent Allowance (HRA) : Report of the Committee on Allowances

House Rent Allowance (HRA) (Para 8.7.3-16)

Existing Provisions: HRA is paid @30, 20 and 10 percent for X class (50 Lakh & above), Y class (5 to 50 lakh) and Z class (below 5 lakh) cities respectively.
At present, in the case of those drawing either NPA or MSP or both, HRA is being paid as a percentage of BP+NPA or BP+MSP or BP+NPA+MSP respectively.
Recommendations of 7th CPC: It has been retained and rationalized. After applying a multiplication factor of 0.8, the rates have been revised downwards to 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the Basic Pay for X, Y and Z class cities, respectively.
The rate of HRA will be revised to 27 percent, 18 percent and 9 percent when DA crosses 50 percent, and further revised to 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent when DA crosses 100 percent. Add-ons like NPA, MSP, etc. should not be included while working out HRA.
Demands: I. National Council (Staff Side), JCM: HRA may be retained @30%, 20% and 10% for X, Y and Z cities respectively as the Commission has taken unreliable statistics to determine HRA, which has been reduced by a multiplication factor of 0.8 to 24%, 16% and 8% for X, Y and Z cities respectively.
II. CAG, Civil Aviation, M/o Health & FW, M/o HRD – D/o of Higher Education, MEA, Coal, DAE, DRDO, Dep. Of Space, CVC: Retain the allowance at the existing rates.
III. M/o of Law & Justice- D/o Justice: Cities having population of more than 1 crore may be granted HRA @ 30%.
Analysis and Recommendations of the Committee: The Committee has the following observations on the recommendations of the 7th CPC on HRA:
(I) HRA rates have been revised downwards by applying the multiplication factor of 0.8 applied by the 7th CPC on all percentage- based allowances. This was done to neutralise the significant increase in the Basic Pay. All fixed allowances have only been given an inflation indexed increase by the 7th CPC. While the 7th CPC has not explicitly stated how the multiplication factor of 0.8 has been arrived at anywhere in the Report, it may be seen that factoring in the expected Dearness Allowance of 125% on 01.01. 2016 would have yielded a multiplication factor of 0.875 which may have been rounded off to 0.8.
(II) On the 7th CPC recommendation that the rate of HRA will be revised to 27%, 18% and 9% when DA crosses 50 percent and further revised to 30%, 20% & 10% when DA crosses 100%, the Committee is of the view that given the inflation rates since January 2016 and the RBI policy on inflation, the DA rates might not go beyond 50% in the next 10 years.
(III) While the rents for residential accommodation have not gone up significantly in the recent past and might also have fallen in some areas, the HRA at the rates recommended by the 7th CPC at the lower levels might not continue to be adequate as per the prevailing market rent. 
In view of these observations, the Committee has deliberated upon the following three options which separately, or in combination, can be suggested by way of modifications to the 7th CPC recommendations:
Option (i): Having regard to submissions made before it stating that towards the later part of the ten year period, HRA compensation falls considerably short of requirement, the 7th CPC has recommended that the rate of HRA will be revised to 27 percent, 18 percent and 9 percent when DA crosses 50 percent, and further revised to 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent when DA crosses 100 percent. However, considering the present inflation rate, the rate of increase of the Dearness Allowance and future inflation projections, it appears unlikely that DA rates will reach 100 % in the ten year period. Taking this into consideration, the Committee considered that the timing of the upward revisions in HRA rates proposed by the 7th CPC may be advanced as under:

This would have no immediate financial implication and the 1st revision, as per the current trend of increase in DA, is expected to occur in July, 2018. Accordingly, additional annual financial implication in July, 2018 will be approximately ?1850 crore. The additional financial implication in the second, third and fourth revision will also be
approximately ?1850 crore per annum.
Option (ii): Instead of advancing the full restoration of HRA rates, the Committee considered splitting the revisions proposed by 7th CPC as under:

The financial implication would be similar as in Option (i) except that the timing of the revision would undergo a change.
Option (iii): It has been pointed out that at the recommended rates, HRA at the minimum level might not be sufficient. The minimum HRA calculated at the entry level of Level 1for X, Y and Z category cities at the rates recommended by the 7th CPC will be ?4320, ?2880 and ?1440 respectively. The Committee considered recommending that the HRA at the rates recommended by the 7th CPC may be subject to a floor which may be fixed at ?5400, ?3600 and ?1800 per month, calculated at 30%, 20% and 10% of the minimum pay for X, Y and Z category cities respectively. This will benefit employees in Levels 1, 2 and 3.
The additional financial implication is estimated to be ? 385.00 crore and around 7.70 lakh employees shall be benefited. After a detailed consideration of the above options, the Committee recommended that either only option (iii) or option (iii) in combination with option (ii) be accepted. A final decision in this regard may be taken by E-CoS.
Authority: www.doe.gov.in
 

Transport Allowance (TPTA) : Report of the Committee on Allowances

Transport Allowance (TPTA) (Para 8.15.53)

Existing Provisions: Granted to cover the expenditure involved in commuting between place of residence and place of duty. The existing rates are as under:
Officers drawing GP 10000 and higher, who are entitled to the use of official car, have the option to avail of the existing facility or to draw TPTA @ ?7000 + DA.
Differently abled employees are granted TPTA at double rates subject to a minimum of ?1000+DA.
Recommendations of 7th CPC: Transport Allowance is already fully DA indexed. Therefore, following rates of Transport Allowance are recommended:
Officers in Pay Level 14 and higher, who are entitled to the use of official car, will have the option to avail themselves of the existing facility or to draw the TPTA at the rate of ?15,750+DA pm.
Differently abled employees will continue to be paid at double rate, subject to a minimum of ?2,250 plus DA.
Demands:
I. National Council (Staff Side), JCM:
i. There should be only two levels for Transport Allowance, as under:
Level 9 and above
?7500+DA (Higher TPTA Cities)
?3750 + DA (Other Places
Below Level 9
?3750+DA (Higher TPTA Cities)
?1875 + DA (Other Places)
ii. Income Tax exemption, which was available for Transport Allowance, may be reintroduced.
II. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare: SAG Doctors should be paid Transport Allowance at the rates admissible to Joint Secretary in lieu of Staff Car.
Analysis and Recommendations of the Committee: The Committee notes that the Transport Allowance is fully indexed to Dearness Allowance and the rates have accordingly been revised by the 7th CPC. As the demands do not relate to any changes recommended by the 7th CPC, the recommendations of the 7th CPC on Transport Allowance may be accepted without any change.
When this allowance was introduced by 5th CPC, the entire amount was exempted from Income Tax. However, the Committee is not making any recommendations relating to raising of Income Tax ceiling on Transport Allowance as it is not within the purview of the Committee. The matter may be taken up separately with Department of Revenue.
Authority: www.doe.gov.in

BRIEF OF THE MEETING HELD TODAY WITH THE CABINET SECRETARY (GOVERNMENT OF INDIA)


SB ORDER NO.: 17/2017 - MOBILE NUMBER IS MANDATORY WHILE OPENING OF A NEW ACCOUNT IN PO SMALL SAVING SCHEME


Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Protest Demonstration at Kolhapur.( Maharashtra)




Why State Bank of India (SBI) is Afraid of Small but Nimble Fintech Companies

More than 24,000 branches and 42 crore customers make the State Bank of India (SBI) the goliath of all banks by sheer size and physical presence but its new chairman Rajnish Kumar is worried about the competition from nimble fintech companies.
“Today, the risk is the disruption that is caused by the technology ,“ Rajnish Kumar, chairman, State Bank of India (SBI) told ET in an interview. “We have to be very alert to this challenge. Protecting the turf and meeting the challenges from all the new fintech companies is the priority .“
India’s banking landscape has undergone tremendous change in the past 3-4 years with the likes of Paytm, and ItzCash disrupting banking services. Banks are increasingly worried about the businesses that these startups could eat into. Wallets and other payment mechanisms have become the preferred mode of payments as people walking into branches have dwindled. “We cannot live in this comfort that we have such a huge dominant market share or customer base,” said Kumar, who would serve at the helm till 2020. “When you are incumbent, the biggest challenge will be protecting the turf and continue to remain dominant player.”
Although it is two-century-old, Kumar’s predecessor Arundhati Bhattacharya laid emphasis on technology by launching products like Buddy, a wallet, and regaining number one position in mobile banking, hired experts from outside, including Shiv Bhasin from Barclays. SBI now has 30% market share in payments space despite facing competition from new players. “We should not be smug about it. Even if it is a small player challenging you, you should not underestimate it, because it can become big player,” said Kumar. “We have to ring fence our market fully.SBI has brand value and we should not do anything that erodes that trust.“SBI is set to launch a new mobile app Omni Channel where a customer can carry out all banking transactions except depositing and withdrawing cash.
Source: ET

7th Pay Commission – Revision of rate of Training Allowance.


No.13024/01/2016-Trg.Ref.
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Department of Personnel and Training
[Training Division (IST/IIPA)]
Block-4, Old JNU Campus
New Mehrauli Road, New Delhi-67
Dated: October 24,2017
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Implementation of Government’s decision on the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission – Revision of rate of Training Allowance.
Consequent upon the acceptance of the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) by the Government conveyed vide Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure Resolution No. 11-1/2016-IC dated July 6, 2017, the President is pleased to decide that the Training Allowance in Training Academies and Institutes shall be regulated in the following manner:-
(i) Training Allowance
In the National/Central Training Academies and Institutes for Group’ A’ officers 24% of Basic Pay
In other Training Establishments 12% of Basic Pay
(ii) Training Allowance will be admissible only to the employees who join the training establishments for a specified period of time and are then likely to go back.
(iii) Training Allowance will not be admissible to those employees who are directly recruited by such training establishments for imparting training.
2.The revised rates of training allowance shall be admissible with effect from the 1st July, 2017.
3.In so far as the employees working in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department are concerned, these orders are issued with the concurrence ofthe Comptroller and Auditor General.
4.Hindi version will follow.
S/d,
(Biswajit Banerjee)
Under Secretary to the Government of India

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

mendments in the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules,1965 : DoP Order

Amendments in the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules,1965 : DoP Order.

1ST MEETING OF THE DEPARTMENTAL ANOMALY COMMITTEE TO SETTLE THE ANOMALIES ARISING OUT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 7TH CPC RECOMMENDATIONS.

HC:Staff shortage no base for denying child care leave.

Punjab and Haryana high court has held that a woman employee can’t be denied leave if shortage of staff in the department is due to government’s fault. The order is significant for cases related to the entitlement of child care leave (CCL) to women employees.
The HC passed these orders on a plea filed by a government doctor in Haryana who was denied CCL on the grounds of insufficient number of medical specialists in the health department. Court found that the government was at fault in failing to fill up vacancies of medical specialists and the employees cannot suffer for it.
Justice Amol Rattan Singh passed these orders while allowing a petition filed by Dr Kanchan Bala -a medical specialist posted at Jagadhari in Yamunanagar district. In her plea, the petitioner had stated that she was not granted CCL at a time her daughter was in Class XII, a crucial period, and below 18 years of age.
Contesting her petition, the state government submitted that CCL shall only be granted if it does not disrupt the functioning of the depart ment concerned. It was further argued that she was denied CCL on the ground that there was only one other medical specialist available at the ESI hospital at Jagadhari, other than her.
On examination of record, the HC asked the government about delay in recruitment of doctors. The state informed the court that a requisition was sent for recruitment of medical officers to Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) in 2016 and another on September 29 after filing of the present petition.
The HC then observed, “Even though rules provide that CCL would not be granted if it disrupts the functioning of offices institutions schools etc, the government, in my opinion, cannot be allowed to take advantage of its own fault, to deny a right which has been statutorily recognized by it, and correctly recognized, seeing the future of children who would make future doctors engineers bureaucrats etc of the country .”
In its order, passed last week, the judge also asked the government to engage a medical specialist on contract basis to meet the requirements during the CCL period of the petitioner.

 

The Complete List of CGHS Covered Cities and their Website Links Eligibility for joining CGHS and Facilities available under CGHS Eligibility for joining CGHS


All Central Govt. employees drawing their salary from Central Civil Estimates and their dependant family members residing in CGHS covered areas.
Central Govt. Pensioners/family pensioners receiving pension from central civil estimates and their eligible dependent family members.
Facilities available under CGHS
OPD Treatment including issue of medicines.
Specialist Consultation at Polyclinic/Govt. Hospitals.
Indoor Treatment at Government and Empanelled Hospitals.
Investigations at Government and Empanelled Diagnostic centers.
Cashless facility available for treatment in empanelled hospitals and diagnostic centers for Pensioners and other identified beneficiaries.
Reimbursement of expenses for treatment availed in Govt. /Private Hospitals under emergency.
Reimbursement of expenses incurred for purchase of hearing aids, artificial limbs, appliances etc. as specified.
Family Welfare, Maternity and Child Health Services.
Medical consultation and dispensing of medicines in Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Unani and Siddha system of medicines (AYUSH)
No.
City Name
Website Link
1.
AHMADABAD
Click Here
2.
ALLAHABAD
3.
BENGALURU
4.
BHOPAL
Click Here
5.
BHUBANESHWAR
6.
CHANDIGARH
Click Here
7.
CHENNAI
8.
DEHRADUN
Click Here
9.
DELHI & NCR
10.
GUWAHATI
Click Here
11.
HYDERABAD
12.
INDORE
Click Here
13.
JABALPUR
Click Here
14.
JAIPUR
15.
JAMMU
Click Here
16.
KANPUR
17.
KOLKATA
18.
LUCKNOW
Click Here
19.
MEERUT
20.
MUMBAI
21.
NAGPUR
Click Here
22.
PATNA
Click Here
23.
PUNE
Click Here
24.
RANCHI
Click Here
25.
SHIMLA
Click Here
26.
SHILLONG
Click Here
27.
THIRUVANATHAPURAM