05/02/2016
 Timely completion of disciplinary proceedings/departmental inquiry proceedings - Improving vigilance administration- Click here to view the CVC orders

7th CPC implementation- Minutes of the Meeting of Nodal Officers held on 2-2-2016 - 2 Weeks time for further action 

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JOINT SECRETARY (IC) WITH NODAL OFFICERS HELD ON 2ND FEBRUARY, 2016

A meeting of all the Nodal Officers Of various Ministries/DepartmentS, who have been appointed to interact with the Implementation Cell in connection with the processing of the recommendations of the Central Pay Commission, was held on 02.02.2016. Joint Secretary (IC), Department of Expenditure, presided over the meeting

2. While explaining the background and the context in which the meeting of Nodal Officers was held, it was brought Out in the meeting that after the receipt of the report Of the 7th Central Pay Commission on 19.11.2015, Ministry of Finance initiated a proposal to setup an appropriate mechanism to process the recommendations Of the Commission. With the approval Of the Cabinet. an Empowered Committee Of Secretaries (E-COS) headed by the Cabinet Secretary has been set up on 27.1.2016 to screen the recommendations and to firm up the conclusions for approval Of the Cabinet. An Implementation Cell (IC), as a dedicated and focused wing in the Department Of Expenditure (DOE) has been created to work as the Secretariat for the E-CoS.

3. AS the recommendations Of the Commission relate to various Ministries/ Departments, their views/comments would be essential to process the matter for submitting the same before the E-CoS. JS(Pers), D/o Expenditure wrote a D.O. letter to the Secretaries Of various Departments on 21.11.2015, wherein all the Departments were requested to formulate their views/comments on the recommendations of the Commission pertaining to them after taking into account the representations of the Staff Associations and also to nominate a Joint Secretary level Nodal Officer for interaction with the Implementation Cell. While a number Of Ministries/Departments have sent their comments and nominated their Nodal Officers, the comments received from some Ministries are simply in the nature of forwarding the representations of the Staff Associations without their comments.

4.In the above background, JS(IC) explained that there was a need for all the Ministries/Departments to furnish their comments in a structured format so that their collation and analysis could be placed before E-COS in a systemic manner. Accordingly, JS(IC) impressed upon the following action points to be acted upon by the Nodal Officers to enable an expeditious processing of the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission:

(i) Departments who have not yet nominated a Nodal Officer, should do it within the next 2 days.

(ii) To be ensured that Nodal Officers are not changed midway, unless extremely unavoidable.

(iii) Nodal Officers may get acquainted with the recommendations of the Commission as specifically applicable to their Departments. Nodal Officers to find out which Wing/Office (attached or subordinate or UT) is concerned with the recommendations of the Commission. The mechanism of Nodal Officers should also be put in place in attached/ subordinate/lJTs so that the comments of such offices could be properly coordinated at the level Of the Department concerned without any further delay.

iv) The comments Of the attached/subordinate offices/UTs should be compiled by Nodal Officers at the Department level itself.

(v) Nodal Officers to take note of any representation or demand Of the Staff Association under the administrative purview Of their Department, Nodal Officers to ascertain the views/comments of the concerned Office on the recommendation Of the Commission in the light Of the representation /demands raised by the Staff Association.

(vi) In case, there is any need for consultation with the Staff Association at the level Of the Department, the same may be done as per the assessment Of the Department.

(vii) Thereafter, the formal views/comments of the Department should be sent to the Implementation Cell (IC) on the recommendations of the and directly related to that Commission, which are specifically Department.

(viii) In case, the Department is of the view that any recommendation which are specifically related to their Department. need any modification, adequate justification in clear-cut terms should be brought out while sending the comments to the Implementation Cell (IC),

(ix) In case of any modification, the extra financial implications (per annum) over the recommendation Of the Commission should be Clearly indicated.

(x) If no modification Of the recommendations Of the Commission is suggested, approval Of the Secretary of the Department should be Obtained before sending the recommendations to the Implementation Ceil (IC). If, however, any modification is suggested, approval of the Minister should be obtained.

(xi) While the views/comments of the Departments on the recommendations Of the Commission directly and specifically applicable to that Department are mandatory. a Department is free to offer views/comments on the recommendations which are Of general nature or concerning other Departments.

(xii) Besides sending the comments/views of the Department in the running format, the same should also be sent to the Implementation Cell (IC)in the ‘prescribed proforma’ within two weeks. The soft copies of the same should also be sent through email. The email id of JS(IC) is : jsic- cpc@nic. in

(xiii) Nodal Officers shoud regularly keep a watch on the website Of the Finance Ministry at the link http://www.finmin.nic.in/the ministry/dept expenditure/notification/7cpc/index.asp. E-mails Should also be checked regularly for the purpose. The updates/further action to be taken shall be posted there to facilitate quick action.

5. Apart from the above action points, it was also felt that sub-groups may be formed after the receipt of comments from the Ministries/Departments to accord focused consideration to certain specific issues, if necessary.

6. Besides above. after detailed deliberations, the Nodal Officers also agreed to the following ‘

(i) Even if the Department has no comments, it should send a response, saying that it has ‘Nil Report’.

(ii) While certain Departments have already given their comments, these comments would be sent again in the ‘prescribed format’ and in accordance with the points brought out in para 4 above.

(iii) Nodal officers would ensure that the comments of their Departments on all the recommendations Of the Commission and also on the representations received so far from the Staff Associations are forwarded to Implementation Cell (IC) in the prescribed format in a consolidated fashion and not in piece-meal within next two weeks.

(iv) If a representation was made by a Staff Association before the 7th Central pay Commission and the Commission after due diligence has not accepted the demand made therein, the same matter should normally not be considered at this stage. However, if Departments consider that the issues are of such nature that they require consideration at this stage also, then they may give their comments with full justifications to the Implementation Cell (IC).

7. With the above discussions, the meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.

***

Available at www.finmin.nic.in
[http://finmin.nic.in/the_ministry/dept_expenditure/notification/7cpc/NodalOfficer_MoM02022016.pdf]

LETTER FROM CHAIRMAN GDS COMMITTEE TO INDIVIDUAL GDS  EMPLOYEES

 

04/02/2016

Deferred implementation 7^th CPC award to Central government employees and pensioners It is possible to contemplate implementing the basic pay plus DA [dearness allowance] merger in the current year.

National Institute of Public Finance and Policy Director and Member of the Seventh Pay Commission Rathin Roy spoke to The Hindu on his proposal of deferred implementation of its award to Central government employees and pensioners. Edited Excerpts:

Should there be a further pause on fiscal consolidation?

Absolutely not. For three reasons: First the FRBM [Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management] target has been relaxed far too many times in India’s recent history. . Second, the ostensible reason for reducing the FRBM target, mainly to increase public investment, does not hold. Over 70% of the fiscal deficit is devoted to borrowing for consumption in the form of the revenue deficit. If you want to raise investment, you should do so by borrowing less to consume Three, even if the government wants to implement the [Seventh] Pay Commission award and modestly increase public investment, there is a pathway to do so, which I can see and so presumably can the Ministry of Finance.

What is this pathway for implementing the Seventh Pay Commission award to Central government employees and pensioners?

The Pay Commission award would result in a net impact on the Government of India Budget of approximately 0.5 % of GDP because the nominal GDP is lower this year than I calculated in the Pay Commission report. It is possible to contemplate implementing the basic pay plus DA [dearness allowance] merger in the current year and deferring implementing any real increases in pay and pensions to the future. This could be done by compensating those who would have to bear the burden of the deference by giving them a more generous award distributed over several years. I think what they should get, from April 1, 2016, is what they would get if we merge the basic pay and the DA, which is more or less what they are already getting. That will mean some increase in allowances but other than House Rent Allowance [HRA] the burden of that [on the government budget] will not be very high. The second thing we can do is defer allowances, principally the HRA. The case for that is strong because we are in the midst of fairly flat growth in consumption expenditure and rents are not going up much. The third thing we could do is to contemplate raising the service tax. Of course, the revenue generated will have to be shared with the States but when the GST [Goods & Services tax] comes in, the service tax rate will any way be approximately be 18%. Today it is 14%. So, a 2 percentage point increase in service tax is also a feasible option.

Could you explain your Pay Commission award implementation pathway proposal with an example?

My salary is Rs. 80,000 per month (basic) and with DA it comes to approximately Rs. 1,70,000. With the implementation of the Pay Commission award, that would go up to Rs. 2,30,000 a month. I am saying that the increment of Rs. 60,000 a month need not all be given at one go. It can be staggered and made more generous. So this could be done for pay and for pension. Now I am not competent to say whether this is politically feasible or not. But certainly it is an option.

Now on increasing public investment…

If you want to increase public investment, one option is to borrow less to consume, to reduce the revenue deficit. A 0.2% point reduction in the revenue deficit, say by reducing subsidies, can transfer to a 0.2 % point increase in public investment. That improves the quality of the fiscal deficit. If you cannot reduce the revenue deficit, you can reshuffle the portfolio of public sector assets. You can sell public assets that currently exist on the government books to the value of 0.2% of GDP. Here, you are selling public assets to create fresh public assets.

You are advocating disinvestment, which the government has not shown much political appetite for especially strategic sales and privatisation…

I can think of several reasonably profitable public enterprises which perform no public functions. Have you ever heard of a company called Balmer Lawrie? It’s a government travel agency. I would urge that the government identify assets like this which have no perceptible impact on either public welfare or on the ability of the government to steer the economy in the direction it wants and sell them.

Other options?

Given both the debt and fiscal deficit numbers of the States and Centre taken as a whole are healthy then it just might well be worth considering allowing States to increase public investment rather than the Centre. We could think of relaxing the states FRBM targets which can then increase public investment because the States together are not borrowing to consume [unlike the Centre]. The States together are running either a zero or very small revenue deficits. Allowing them to increase their fiscal deficits for the purpose of public investment will be far more virtuous in terms of the quality of the fiscal deficit than allowing the Centre to do it with its high level of revenue deficit. The point is that the agency to do it consistently with the minimum loss of the quality of fiscal rectitude today happens to be the states, not all, but taken collectively.

Growth depends on the combination of fiscal and monetary policy. The Reserve Bank’s Governor doesn’t appear open to reviewing the inflation target…

Setting the inflation target is not a technical exercise anywhere in the world. What the inflation target should be is not a call of the Governor, though his opinion is very important, it is ultimately the call of the government of the day and therefore of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance. We have an inflation target of 4%-5% and it is delivering to us a repo rate which is translating to an average lending rate of 11-12% whereas the nominal GDP growth is 7.75%. Think of the economy as a business. You are asking me to borrow money at 12% and the return I get from that borrowing is 7.75%. It doesn’t make good business sense. So something has to give. Either we reduce the cost of capital or we raise the nominal growth rate. The real rate of growth is only 50 basis points lower than forecast by the government But the nominal rate of growth has collapsed from around 13% just ten months ago to around 7.5%.

Are you saying that the inflation target for the RBI needs to be revised upwards? Or does it need to be redefined?

If you brought the GDP deflator in line with exactly what the consumer price index [CPI] is then we would be home dry because if real growth is 7.5% and the CPI is 4.5% then the nominal growth rate will be 12%.

So you are saying review not the inflation target but the GDP deflator?

The deflator needs to be re-evaluated. If you are not willing to do that then your inflation target needs to be re-examined.

Is an inheritance-based wealth tax an option?

As Gandhiji said of western civilisation, it would be a very good idea.

 
Request for submission of Memorandum to GDS Committee constituted by Department of Posts.
 
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT has sought a report from India Post with regard to the progress made by the department for starting payments bank, setting up of ATMs and real estate management.  
The committee, headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, is scheduled to discuss all issues in this regard during its meeting tomorrow, an official source said.
The pilot for payments bank is set to start from January 2017 while full-fledged operations may start by March 2017. As many as 40 international financial conglomerates, including World Bank and Barclays, have shown interest to partner with Postal Department for the payments bank. The Reserve Bank of India has granted payments bank permit to the postal department, which has 1.55 lakh branches across country and already provides financial services. The Public Investment Board (PIB) is soon likely to approve the Rs 800-crore proposal from Postal Department for setting up payments bank. As part of the modernisation project, the postal department also plans to open 1000 ATMs by March this year. PTI KIR MKJ

Promotion and postings of STS officers of IPoS, Group 'A' on ad hoc basis to Junior Administrative Grade (JAG)

03/02/2016

Promotion and postings of STS officers of IPoS, Group 'A' on ad hoc basis to Junior Administrative Grade (JAG)

1.15 Crore Subscribers for National Pension System (NPS) as on 23.1.2016

Press Information Bureau 
Government of India
Ministry of Finance

02-February-2016 16:35 IST

1.15 Crore Subscribers for National Pension System (NPS) as on 23.1.2016

National Pension System (NPS) had 11,459,555 subscribers with a total corpus of Rs. 90, 327 crore as on 23rd January, 2016. The total Assets under Management are worth Rs. 109,140 crore while Assets under Management per subscriber is Rs. 95,000 on an average. 

The number of NPS Subscribers of the Central Government are 1611,020 with a total corpus of Rs. 34,754 crore while subscribers from the different State Governments are 2,859,094 with a total corpus of Rs. 45,486 crore. The number of NPS subscribers in the Corporate Sector are 448,509 while in Unorganized Sector is 128,484, the total being 576,993. The number of subscribers under NPS Lite include 4,463,637 and under Atal Pension Yojana (APY) 1,948,811, with a total number of subscribers 6,412,448 in these two categories. 

NPS subscribers of Central Government are 14.1% of the total subscribers while that of the State Governments are 24.9%. The NPS subscribers under NPS Lite constitute 39% while under APY 17% of the total subscribers. 

Since PFRDA has completed two years of its statutory status on 1st February, 2016, to mark this occasion, PFRDA in collaboration with all its intermediaries in the National Pension System including Central and State Governments’ Nodal Offices, POPs, Aggregators, Central Recordkeeping Agency and NPS Trust etc. is observing NPS Service Week from 1st to 6th February, 2016. This week-long campaign is being dedicated to service-orientation towards the subscribers and aimed at awareness building and improved information dissemination. During this Service Week, besides sharing of information on the range of functionalities and services now available under the NPS, the subscriber community will be apprised about the need for constant updation of data/information to enable the system to operate at its optimum service level, so that the intended benefits can reach all the employees/subscribers under NPS. Besides, the subscribers will also be able to make best use of all the opportunities and facilities. 

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is organizing the 2nd Pension Conclave in national Capital on 4th February 2016 with the theme, “Towards Universal Pension: Coverage, Adequacy and Sustainability” in which all the stake holders are expected to participate and share their experiences. PFRDA proposes to use this occasion to acknowledge/award the best performing banks and Post Offices in mobilization and registration of subscribers under the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) up to 31st December 2015, and institute awards for best performing POPs under the Voluntary segment of the National Pension System. 

Earlier, PFRDA launched NPS Awareness Programme for State autonomous bodies, Unorganized Sector, Corporate Sector and other categories in order to highlight the benefits of joining NPS and has requested the various State Governments to implement NPS more inclusively among the State Autonomous Bodies, Boards, Corporations, Societies, Universities and State aided institutions under various State Government departments. During the awareness programme, key features and benefits of NPS, details and process of joining NPS, details about NPS architecture investment and exit guidelines of NPS are highlighted. 

Source: http://pib.nic.in/

AP Circle : Promotions, Allotments and Postings in the cadre of Norm based LSG (Postal) General line

02/02/2016

Report On Pay Commission Recommendations To Be Submitted By June

Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha (pictured) is head the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (CoS) for processing the report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission.

Click here to view details

Renovation of 85-year-old post office begins

The Department of Posts has begun renovation of an 85-year-old post office at Vellayil, a colony of about 10,000 people located between Kozhikode and West Hill railway stations. The renovation has been a long-pending demand, which was stepped up recently after it was found that the ceiling and other structures were unsafe for the employees and customers.

When this was brought to the notice of the Department, its authorities said that if the residents had a genuine appeal for improvement, it would be done. The residents, however, say that renovation is only one issue. The other is the status of the post office, and more facilities.

The residents have welcomed the renovation work, recalling how their campaign helped in re-opening it after it was closed for three years on the grounds of poor condition. They have demanded construction of a modern building with more parking facility.

Source: The Hindu

AP Circle : Promotions, Allotments and Postings in the cadre of Norm based LSG (Postal) General line

Click here to download the order



India Post Customer Care Phone Numbers and Contacts

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology

Meghdoot Bhawan, Link RoadNew DelhiNew Delhi DistrictDelhiIndia - 110001

Customer Care Phone Numbers and Contacts

Tollfree:     

1800 112 011        

Phone:       

+91 77 1223 3400 

+91 61 2222 5051 

Mobile:      

+91 12 0232 1176 

Fax:  

+91 61 2222 5011

+91 77 1223 3194

Webpages: 

www.indiapost.gov.in

Regional Contacts

Andhra Pradesh

Dak Sadan, Abidas, Hyderabad – 500001

Tel: +91 40 2346 3636

Fax: +91 40 2474 7282

Assam

4th Floor, Meghdoot Bhawan, Panbazar, Guwahati – 781001

Tel: +91 36 1260 3636

Fax: +91 36 1254 4838

Bihar

Patna GPO Complex, Patna – 800001

Tel: +91 61 2222 5051

Fax: +91 61 2222 5011

Chhattisgarh

Tel: +91 77 1223 3400

Fax: +91 77 1223 3194

Delhi

Meghdoot Bhawan, Link Road, New Delhi – 110001

Tel: +91 11 2362 0144

Fax: +91 11 2362 7114

Gujarat

Khanpur, Ahmedabad – 380001

Tel: +91 79 2550 5424

Fax: +91 79 2550 5275

Haryana

107, The Mall Road, Ambala Cant. – 133001

Tel: +91 17 1260 3100

Fax: +91 17 1260 3736

Himachal Pradesh

Kaithu, Shimla – 171009

Tel: +91 17 7262 9000

Fax: +91 17 7262 0351

Jammu & Kashmir

GPO Complex, Residency Road, Srinagar – 190001

Jammu

Tel: +91 19 1254 2878

Fax: +91 19 1256 1746

Kashmir

Tel: +91 19 4245 2528

Fax: +91 19 4245 2036

Jharkhand

Doranda HO Complex, Ranchi – 834019

Tel: +91 65 1248 2345

Fax: +91 65 1248 0153

Karnataka

Beaulieu, Palace Road, Bengluru – 560001

Tel: +91 80 2239 2523

Fax: +91 80 2220 2607

Kerala (for Kerala and Lakshadeep):

Thiruvananthapuram – 695033

Tel: +91 47 1230 8300

Fax: +91 47 1230 6500

Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal – 462012

Tel: +91 755 255 0838

Fax: +91 755 255 6547

Maharashtra (For Goa, Maharshtra and Dadra & Nagar Haveli):

Mumbai GPO Building, 2nd Floor, Mumbai – 400001

Tel: +91 22 2262 0049

Fax: +91 22 2262 0829

North East (All North-Eastern States except Assam and Sikkim):

Shillong – 793001

Tel: +91 36 4222 3800

Fax: +91 36 4222 3034

Orissa

Bhubaneswar – 751001

Tel: +91 67 4239 2000

Fax: +91 67 4239 4790

Punjab (For Punjab and Chandigarh):

Sandesh Bhawan, Sector – 17/E, Chandigarh – 160017

Tel: +91 17 2270 6700

Fax: +91 17 2272 1670

Rajasthan

Sardar Patel Marg, Jaipur – 302007

Tel: +91 14 1237 2020

Fax: +91 14 1236 6151

Tamil Nadu (For Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry):

Anna Road, Chennai – 600002

Tel: +91 44 2852 0367

Fax: +91 44 2852 2119

Uttar Pradesh

4, Hazratganj, Lucknow – 226001

Tel: +91 52 2262 2000

Fax: +91 52 2261 6855

Uttarakhand

Dehradun – 248001

Tel: +91 135 265 8396

Fax: +91 135 265 0065

West Bengal (For West Bengal, Sikkim and Andaman & Nicobar Islands)

Yogayog Bhawan, P-36, C.R. Avenue, Kolkata – 700012

Tel: +91 33 2212 0070

Fax: +91 33 2212 0811
Click here to download

01/02/2016
Biennial Circle Conference, West Bengal 2015-16
20th NUR-C WB Circle Conference was held  from 28th Jan to 30th Jan 2016 at MOULALI YUBA KENDRA KOLKATA-700014.Open Session was inaugurated by SUKHENDU SHEKHAR ROY M.P. S/SRI D.Theagarajan S/G.FNPO DOLA SEN M.P, TAPAS ROY M.L.A.  Rajat S Dasworking President FNPO, Soma GhoshDeputy CS P-4 , Tarak Dutta C/S R-IV,Debasis Kundu C/S DPLI,Anjan Sarkar C/S ADMN, Brojomadhav Ghosh, Dipak Mukherjee&Suren Sarkar addressed the conference other details published in our Sentinel.

21st Bihar Circle Conf of NUR-Gr-C was held on 31st Jan 2016. Conference was inaugurated by Dipak Mukherjee Chiefadvisor CHQ. S/Shri Asoke.Kr.Sing Working President NUR-Gr-C   B.K.Mishra C/S P-III, O.P.Rai C/S NUR -IV, VINOD KUMAR C/S P-IV, S.K.Tripathi C/S Admn, addressed the conference other details published in our Sentinel

125% DA from Jan 2016 for 7th CPC Fitment Factor is confirmed: AICPIN Dec, 2015 released

125% Dearness Allowance from January 2016 is confirmed now after releasing of December, 2015 AICPIN, which was already speculated by Seventh Pay Commission and was taken as fitment factor for determination of new pay matrix.

As per Labour Bureau  Press Release the All-India CPI-IW for December, 2015 decreased by 1 point and pegged at 269 (two hundred and sixty nine).  From this decrease the Expected Dearness Allowance from Jan, 2016 is confirm to stand at 125%.  The Dearness Allowance from Jan, 2016 is important factor of pay determination in 7th CPC, which is due to implement with effect from 01.01.2016.  The recommendations of 7th CPC has taken the expected DA @ 125% for the purpose of minimum pay determination and the fitment factor for new pay structure. Now the speculation of this DA by 7th CPC is correct and only minimum wages will be the main factor to increase the Fitment Factor from 2.57, which is main demand of employees. The line of recommendations of 7th CPC regarding Fitment Factor are given below:-

Fitment 

5.1.27 The starting point for the first level of the matrix has been set at Rs.18,000. This corresponds to the starting pay of Rs. 7,000, which is the beginning of PB-1 viz., Rs.5,200 + GP 1800, which prevailed on 01.01.2006, the date of implementation of the VI CPC recommendations. Hence the starting point now proposed is 2.57 times of what was prevailing on 01.01.2006. This fitment factor of 2.57 is being proposed to be applied uniformly for all employees. It includes a factor of 2.25 on account of DA neutralisation, assuming that the rate of Dearness Allowance would be 125 percent at the time of implementation of the new pay. Accordingly, the actual raise/fitment being recommended is 14.29 percent.