“Forward ever, backward never: onwards with Breaking Through”

15/10/2015
Shri Narendra Modi Ji, Prime Minister, formally released the commemorative postage stamp on former President of India, Dr. Kalam, at DRDO Bhavan, New Delhi, today.



50 mail runners reached General Post Office, George Town on the occasion of celebrating National Postal Week


50 mail runners through post offices in Mogappair West, Valaaravakkam and Thiruvanmiyur reached General Post Office, George Town on the occasion of celebrating National Postal Week. Photo: V. Ganesan.

On Wednesday, a team of youngsters tried to rewind the clock a bit and took Chennaiites to a bygone era when sturdy men were employed to deliver messages.

Reaching across to someone in another continent is as easy as a phone call or a chat message now. But there were times when messages were passed through mail runners who travelled long distances on foot.

On Wednesday, a team of youngsters tried to rewind the clock a bit and took Chennaiites to a bygone era when sturdy men were employed to deliver messages. Clad in khaki and white, carrying mail bags and spears, these youth walked the streets of Chennai commemorating the service of mail runners, the predecessors of the postal system. Thirty five youngsters relayed two km in the costume and covered 50 post offices on two routes — Mogappair West to General Post office and Valasaravakkam to GPO. They were honoured at a function at GPO.

“It was difficult to manoeuvre in the traffic between Saligramam and Vadapalani. Because of the period costume, people gave me surprised glances and I was even chased by a dog. I understand how mail runners braved weather and animals in the past,” said Dheena M., an entrepreneur who was a volunteer ‘mail runner’ on Wednesday.

The idea to pay tribute to mail runners came about when debut actor and entrepreneur Ram Arun Castro was researching for his upcoming movie Ottathooduvan . “I did not find much information even on the internet on these brave men who met with even fatal accidents on their way to convey messages. There were runners who ran 20 km a day carrying a lantern, a sack of letters and a spear to defend themselves,” said Mr. Castro. He mobilised a group of youth to play the role of mail runners as a tribute.

“Some people mistook us to be beggars as we tried to check for addresses,” he said. The group has also submitted a petition to the postal department to establish a statue for mail runners. There were over 1300 mail runners in the Indian postal department when the service was started in 1854.

Mervin Alexander, postmaster general, Chennai City Region, said: “Even now, we have mail carriers in places like Kodaikanal where mails have to be delivered by

Source : http://www.thehindu.com/

Modification of Central Government Pensioners life certificate

Format for Revised Life Certificate – Modification in Life Certificate (Annexure XVII)
Personnel Ministry has published correction slip-24 for Modification in Life Certificate (Annexure XVII)
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
DEPARTMENT OF EXPENDITURE
CENTRAL PENSION ACCOUNTING OFFICE
TRIKOOT-Il, BHIKAJI CAMA PLACE.
NEW DELHI-110066
CPAO/Tech/Amdt.-Sch. Book/2015-16/1655
dated: 12.10.2015
Amendment to the Scheme for Payment of Pensions to Central Government Civil Pensioners by Authorized Banks [Fourth Edition, 3rd December, 2004)
Correction Slip-24
Modification in Life Certificate (Annexure-XVII)

ANNEXURE-XVII
(See para 15.1 page 11 of
CPAO’s Scheme Booklet)
Part-A (Every year)
LIFE CERTIFICATE
(To be submitted by Pensioner once a year in November)
Certified that I have seen the pensioner Shri/Smt./Ms. ___________________________________ (Name of Pensioner) holder of Pension Payment Order No. _________________________ and that he/she is alive on this date.
1. Present address of the pensioner/ family pensioner.
2. Telephone/Mobile number (if any).
3. E-mail Address (if any).
Name
Place:
Designation of Authorised Officer
Date: .
Seal

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
           Life Certificate of Pensioner/Family Pensioner of Shri/Smt/Ms._______ _____________ _________ _________ (Name of Pensioner) holder of Pension Payment Order No.___________________ has been received.
Date:-
Signature…………………..
Name
Stamp of the receiving Bank branch
(Vijay Singh)
Sr. Accounts Officer (Tech)
CGA’S Authority No. 1(7) CPAO SCI]. Book (1)/4-th Edition/2005/TA-III/566 dated-9th October, 2015.

Acceptance of Passport. Aadhar card and PAN card as a valid document for age proof of girl child for opening of Sukanya Samriddhi Account

Ministry of Communications and IT has issued a letter regardingAcceptance of Passport. Aadhar card and PAN card as a valid documentfor age proof of girl child for opening of Sukanya Samriddhi Account
SB ORDER No. 111/2015
F.No.116-57/2014-SB
Government of India
Ministry of Communications & IT
Department of Posts
Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, A
New Delhi-110001, Dated: 28.09.2015
To
All Heads of Circles/Regions
Addl. Director General, APS, New Delhi.
Subject: – Acceptance of Passport. Aadhar card and PAN card as a validdocument for age proof of girl child for opening of Sukanya SamriddhiAccount- reg.
Sir/Madam,
I The undersigned is directed to say that this office. has received some complaints regarding non acceptance of Passport, Aadhar card and ‘PAN card as a valid document for age proof of girl child for opening ofSukanya Samriddhi Account.
2. The matter was examined and it has been decided by the Competent Authority to accept Passport, Aadhar Card and PAN card as a validdocument for age proof of girl child for opening of Sukanya SamriddhiAccount in’case date of birth certificate of girl child is not available. It is, therefore, requested to circulate this instruction to all field units for information and necessary action.
This issues with the approval of DDG (FS).
Yours faithfully,
(Kawal Jit Singh)
Assistant Director(SB-II)
Air Travel on LTC once in Ten Years to visit foreign countries – WB State Govt Orders issued on 9.10.2015
The state government of West Bengal issued orders on availing of Leave Travel Concession (LTC) to foreign countries, such as, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives…
GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL
FINANCE DEPARTMENT
AUDIT BRANCH
No.7370-F(F)
Dated: 09.10.2015
MEMORANDUM

At present the State Government employees may avail themselves of the benefit of Leave Travel Concession once in service career during the period of five years preceding the actual date of retirement on superannuation for the following kinds of journeys, subject to the conditions as in this department’s Memo Nos. 9924-F dt. 07.12.2005 and 607 -F dt. 20.01.2006.


1. For journeys to respective home town and back, provided the home town is different from the place of posting; and

2. For journeys to any place of India and back.
The employees who have been duly permitted to retire voluntarily are also allowed to avail of the above benefit before their such retirement.
The present provisions of admissibility of Leave Travel Concession have been under consideration for review for sometime past.
Now, after careful consideration of the matter, the Governor has been pleased to decide in partial modification of this department Memo. No. 9924-F dt. 07. 2.2005 read with Memo. No. 607-F dt. 20.01.2006 to allow the following benefits to the State Government employees instead of journeys on LTC as mentioned at (2) above.

(a) One Home Travel Concession once in every five years to visit any place within the State;

(b) One LTC once in ten years to visit any place in the neighbouring countries, namely, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives or within the Country.

Conditions for admissibility of the same in case the spouse of the Government employee is also employed will be as follows:-

(i) If the spouse of the Government employee is also a State Government employee, the benefit can be availed of either by husband or wife as a one family unit and in that case undertaking shall be submitted by the other that no such claim will be preferred from his/her office and this should be recorded in his/her Service Book.

(ii) If the spouse of the State Government emploee is employed in Central/Central PSUs/Corporation/Autonomous Body, the benefit can be availed of either by the husband or wife employed under the State Government as one family unit from the State Government provided no benefit of LTC can be availed of by the other from the Central/Central PSUs/Corporation/ Autonomous Body and in that case letter from the employer there in this respect that he/she has given such undertaking there shall be produced before avaiiing of the above benefit.

(iii) If the spouse of the State Government employee is employed in the State PSUs/Corporation/Non-Government aided Institutions/Autonomous Body where facility of LTC does not exist, the spouse of the Government employee may avail of this benefit along with the Government employee a a member of the family on the condition that declaration to his/her controlling authority shall be furnished that in future he/she will not enjoy the benefit of LTC, if the same is extended in the organization/institution as above in future. Other conditions regarding admissibility of the benefit will be as in Finance Department Nos.9924-F dt. 07.12.2005 and 607-F dt. 20.01.2006. For the pupose of vailing of LTC in foreign countries as mentioned at SI. No. (b) above, the same can be availed of by air in economy class from the nearest international airport of the country on the condition that journeys will have to be performed either by national carrier or private airlines of the country. The part of the journeys to and from the airport will be as per provision in the existing orders.

For journeys in the foreign countries as mentioned above orders issued by the P&AR Department are also to be followed.

This will take effect from 01.11.2015.
Sd/-
H. K. Dwivedi
Principal Secretary to the
Gov1rnment of West Bengal


Source: http://cgstaffnews.com/wp-content/cgstaffs/2015/10/ltc-foreign-countries-wb-order.pdf

 Claiming of medical expenditure under section 80DDB for tax purposes made easy

Press Information Bureau 
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
14-October-2015 15:43 IST

Claiming of medical expenditure for tax purposes made easy  


One of the pillars of the of the taxation proposals included in the Finance Minister’s Budget Speech for 2015-16 was extension of benefits to the middle class. In this process, the Finance Minister announced extension of certain benefits in respect of medical treatment under section 80DDB. This section allows a deduction for expenditure incurred on treatment of specified ailments.


Taking the process forward, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued a Notification vide S.O. No.2791 (E) on 12th October 2015 amending Rule 11DD. The amended Rule relaxes the condition of obtaining the certificate for claiming expenditure under section 80DDB in respect of specified ailments from a specialist working in a Government hospital. As per amended Rule 11DD, the prescription can be issued by any specialist mentioned in the amended Rule. Henceforth, it will not be mandatory to obtain a certificate from a specialist working in a Government hospital.

The Notification is available on the website of the Income Tax Department www.incometaxindia.gov.in .
source: http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/communications/notification/notification78_2015.pdf