7th Pay Commission Allowance news: ‘Committee on Allowance’ submits its report to FM Arun Jaitley, major announcement expected

If the pay commission recommendations on allowances are implemented fully, then as per estimates the cost to the exchequer will be Rs. 29,300 crore.

New Delhi, April 27: The ‘Committee on Allowance‘ headed by Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa today submitted its final report on ‘higher allowances’ and ‘minimum wages’ to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The comprehensive report on allowances under the 7th Pay Commission was submitted by Ashok Lavasa and his core team today at around 5 PM and after this, a major announcement is expected for Central Government employees who are eagerly waiting for arrears in higher allowances. As the final report is submitted, the Union Cabinet will take a call in next few days and there are chances that the government may come up with good news for central government employees. Around 43 lakh central government employees and 57 lakh pensioners are eagerly waiting for the Ashok Lavasa committee to submit its final report.

Earlier there were reports that the Committee on Allowance will submit its final reports after the elections for Delhi Municipal Corporations (MCD) is over and the results are out on April 26. The National Joint Council of Action convenor Shiv Gopal Mishra while speaking to India.com earlier this week said, “Once the committee submits its final report than there are chances that the government may take a final call on minimum wage and higher allowances by the end of this week”. 

The Ashok Lavasa Committee was formed in June last year, a week after the government implemented the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. The pay panel had ten recommended abolition of many allowances including acting, assisting cashier, cycle, condiment, flying squad, haircutting, rajbhasha, rajdhani, robe, shoe, shorthand, soap, spectacle, uniform, vigilance and washing.

Soon after submitting the final report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Ashok Lavasa said the committee has taken into account representations made by various central government employees and other stakeholders.

For next few days the report will be examined by the Empowered Committee of Secretaries and later it will be placed before the Union Cabinet, Mr Lavasa was quoted by news agency PTI.

Out of total 196 allowances, it had recommended the abolition of 52 and subsuming of another 36 into larger existing ones. The commission had recommended hiking the HRA in the range of 8-24 per cent.

If the pay commission recommendations on allowances are implemented fully, then as per estimates the cost to the exchequer will be Rs. 29,300 crore. Lavasa said the government will take the final call on the date of payout of revised allowances to government employees.

(With inputs from PTI)

Published Date: April 27, 2017 8:13 PM IST | Updated Date: April 27, 2017 8:22 PM IST

Talks With India Post On To Extend Weather, Health Services To Citizens

NEW DELHI: The Union Ministries of Earth Sciences and Health are in talks with the Department of Posts to use its resources to extend weather and medical services to citizens across the country. According to B V Sudhakar, Secretary, Department of Posts, the Ministry of Earth Sciences would like to use the manpower of Department of Posts to provide and also disseminate information on weather.

"We are going to provide weather data (on locally prevailing climate conditions) and also if Ministry of Earth Sciences want any data to be disseminated to the farmers or to the fishermen in coastal areas, the post offices will play the role of disseminating this information," Mr Sudhakar told PTI.

The technical details of the proposed arrangement have been finalised and the financial details are being worked out, he said.

The arrangement is expected to be rolled out in another two months, he said.

"It should be in another two months... Financially, we are discussing with them," he said.

The Ministry of Health wants the India Post to supply general medicines in remote and inaccessible areas of the country, the senior official said.

"We are talking with Ministry of Health to supply general medicines in remote rural areas where access is difficult. It has not been finalised. We hope we will be able to finalise shortly," he said.

The Ministry of Health is examining what medicines are to be supplied and where to supply and it needs to communicate on the matter to India Post, Mr Sudhakar added.

Department issued Orders for paid substitutes new salaries from 01/01/2016

Remuneration to be paid to Gramin Dak Sevaks engaged as substitutes in short term vacancies of Postmen/Mail Guards and MTS.

Payment of Dearness Allowance to Gramin Dak Sevaks effective 1.1.2017 onwards -Reg

Payment of Dearness Allowance to Gramin Dak Sevaks effective 1.1.2017 onwards -Reg

National Association of Postal Employees Group 'C' Appeal to all Federations and Unions regarding Removal of Rule 3A (i) of GDS Conduct & Engagement Rules.

National Association of Postal Employees Group 'C' Appeal to all Federations and Unions regarding Removal of Rule 3A (i) of GDS Conduct & Engagement Rules.

Government revamps jobs on compassionate ground for Gramin Dak Sevaks

Dependents of GDS to get benefit within 3 months

Department of Posts has revamped the existing compassionate engagement scheme offered to the dependent family members of Gramin Dak Sevak. A GDS who dies in harness, the dependents of such GDS will benefit from a liberalized and time bound procedure for engagement on compassionate grounds. Henceforth, any death of a Gramin Dak Sevak while on engagement would be compensated by a compassionate engagement to a dependent family member irrespective of the circumstances or indigence. Upper age limit of the applicant could also be relaxed wherever found to be necessary. Thus the new scheme of compassionate engagement will provide greater relief to the members of the family of the deceased GDS who belong to weaker and poorer sections of the society and are thrown into penury and hardship.

The ambit of dependent family member has also been expanded to include:

Married son living with parents and dependent for livelihood on the GDS on the date of death of the GDS

Divorced daughter wholly dependent on the GDS at the time of death of the GDS

Daughter in law of the deceased GDS who is wholly dependent on the GDS, if the only son of the GDS is pre deceased.

This expansion of definition of family members aims to bring greater relief to women in our society who are subjected to difficult circumstances in the unfortunate event of demise of their spouse/parent.

The present system of relative merit points to ascertain the degree of indigence has been dispensed with. Keeping in view the unique and distinct service conditions, socio economic aspects and to relieve the family from financial destitution, the time consuming process of consideration by Circle Relaxation Committee has been done away with. Henceforth, a request received for compassionate engagement would be considered and decided within three months from the date of receipt of the application.

Further to ensure least displacement, it has been decided that to the extent possible, compassionate engagement would be offered to the dependent of the deceased GDS, to a GDS post near the place where the family of the deceased normally resides.

Press Information Bureau.

7th Pay Commission – Finance Ministry ready to implement ‘higher allowances’ from May

7th Pay Commission – Finance Ministry ready to implement ‘higher allowances’ from May

Almost 10 months have been passed and the Commiteee on Allowances has not yet set a date for the submission of the report on allowances to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

New Delhi, April 26: The Union Government is all set to implement ‘higher allowances’ as some report suggest that the implementation will have no impact on inflation. The report first appeared on The Sen Times which also said that the ‘higher allowance’ will be implemented under the 7th Pay Commission.
The Sen Times reported, after Ashok Lavasa committee will submit its final report, the Union Government will implement the higher allowances from May. The National Joint Council of Action (NJCA) the joint body union of central government employees has also asked the Ashok Lavasa committee to pay higher allowance to central government employees with retrospective effect from January 1, 2016.

The Sen Times quoted an unidentified source from Finance Ministry who said, “The government is ready to implement the higher allowances from May once it has received the report from Ashok Lavasa committee”.

The source further added that once the government takes a final call on higher allowances, over 47 lakh central government employees and 53 lakh pensioners will benefit from the decision.

The Ashok Lavasa was constituted in June last year, after the government implemented the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission from January 1, 2016, in respect to basic pay and dearness allowances. Also, there are chances that the government is likely to take some call on minimum wages one the final report is submitted.

Under the 7th Pay Commission, the panel had recommended the abolition of 52 allowances and subsuming 37 others out of 196 allowances, which triggered resentment among central government employees that governments complied with formation of the Commitee on Allowances.

Almost 10 months have been passed and the Commiteee on Allowances has not yet set a date for the submission of the report on allowances to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. However, the committee was initially given four months’ time to submit its report to Finance Minister but the delay has irked a large number of central government employees.

Source:- India.Com

How to find No. Of MIS transactions done in a month for incentive

How to find No. Of MIS transactions done in a month for incentive

It is a common practice to submit MIS incentive bill every month. In finacle there is no separate report for number of transactions done, but we can find out the number of MIS transactions using alternate methods.

Please follow the below steps

1. Invoke the menu HFTI and you will get the screen as shown below.

2. Enter account id as SOL Id+0337

3. Choose Part Transaction Type as Debit

4. Enter Start Date as required

5. Enter End Date as requried

6. Enter user id in Entry User Id if requried

7. Un check Today Transaction Only

Click on Submit.

It will show all MIS transactions done in that period.

System will show MIS transactions done by that particular user in the given period as shown below. 

But the thing is there are no serial numbers for the transactions. Don't worry we have counted them. In each page it is showing 100 transactions. Count the number of pages and in the last page you have to count transactions yourself. So that is how you can find the number of MIS transactions done in a particular period of time.

Alternately if you want to print the number of transactions you can follow the below procedure.

1. Invoke the menu HFTR and follow the steps as said above until point number 7.
2. Click on the searcher beside MRT File Name
3. Choose the first option in this new window which is "MRT for Financial Transactions Report"
4. Click on GO
5. System will show all the transactions on the screen. But at the bottom of the screen there is option to print the transactions. Click on Print.
6. System will generate a report which can be viewed using HPR menu.
7. Invoke the HPR menu and print the report if you want to.
8. So this is how you print the MIS transactions in a given period. Hope you have liked the article. Do not forget to share with your DOP friends.

FM : The Central Government has no plan to impose any tax on agriculture income

FM : The Central Government has no plan to impose any tax on agriculture income

Following is the text of the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley's Statement on the subject to impose tax on agriculture income:

"I have read the paragraph in Niti Ayog Report entitled 'Income tax on agriculture income'. To obviate any confusion on the subject, I categorically state that the Central Government has no plan to impose any tax on agriculture income. As per the Constitutional Allocation of Powers, the Central Government has no jurisdiction to impose tax on agricultural income."

*****

DSM/VKS/KA

(Release ID :161298)

Meeting with Secretary, Department of Posts

            

Today i.e on 26.04.2017 a team from FNPO/ NAPE Group C Sri D.Kishanrao, GS along with Asst. Secretary Generals Sri B.Shivakumar and Sri Sivaji Vasireddy met Sri BV Sudhakar, Secretary and Chairman Postal Board and discussed the following problems.

1.Cadre restructuring :

            The NUPE, Group C already sought for modifications on 6.4.2017 for implementation of cadre restructuring. We opposed any deferment or abeyance of orders which will create frustration among the Group-c cadre. We also opposed the divisionalisation of LSG and HSG II. The base for the restructuring in Group-c is up gradation of C&B class offices which was approved by the nodal ministries and any deviation will affect the restructuring itself. There are no orders so far in regard to deferment or abeyance. It is the Secretary assured to settle the issues within 30 days.

2.The NAPE Group-c opposed the draft Revised Recruitment rules for AAO’s as per our letter dated 20.04.2017. Any modification to the RR will affect the cadre drastically.

3.On GDS issues two letters submitted for one time exemption of skill test for GDS who wrote PA examination in 2016.

4.It is also requested to allow the GDS employees to work as PA’s in the clear vacancies like MTS and Postman.

            

The response was positive.

*It is also informed orders are under issue in regard to compassionate appointment of GDS without any point system and adding more dependents like widow daughter and married son. 

* It is also informed orders are under issue regarding one time absorption from PA cadre to Administrative cadre in AP circle for Circle office.  

SIVAJI VASIREDDY, Circle Secretary & AGS  CHQ 

India Post payments bank to start selling mutual funds, insurance products by March 2018

As many as 100 firms have envinced interest such as IDBI Bank, HSBC, Axis Bank, Deutsche Bank, Barclays Bank, Citibank, SBI and LIC to partner the India Post Payments Bank given the unmatched rural reach India Post has.

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) will start selling mutual funds and insurance products of other companies by early 2018 and is open only to "non-exclusive" tie-ups, its Chief Executive A P Singh has said.

Nearly 100 firms, both domestic and foreign, have evinced interest in partnering the government-promoted IPPB.

In an interview to PTI, Singh said that IPPB will start full fledged operations in every district of the country by September 2017. The bank had launched its pilot project with a branch each in Raipur and Ranchi on January 30 this year.

Asked about plans to diversify and sell third party products through its platform, Singh said he is looking at offering only those products which customers can easily understand.

"We will sell third party products, but it is a question of biting as much as I can chew. We basically will provide a platform and the idea is to open it to everyone on a non-exclusive basis," he said.

Singh said the IPPB will curate third party products before selling it so as to ensure that it is simple for customers.

Also, there would not be any training of staff necessary as no individual product of any specific company is to be sold.

Asked when the IPPB would be ready to sell third party products, Singh said "by first quarter of calendar year 2018 it should be there".

As per RBI norms, Payments banks have to focus on providing basic financial services, including social security and utility bill payments, remittance functions, and can mobilise deposits of up to Rs 1 lakh.

Also, they can distribute insurance, mutual funds and pension products, and act as business correspondent for other banks for credit products.

As many as 100 entities including IDBI Bank, HSBC, Axis Bank, Deutsche Bank, Barclays Bank, Citibank, SBI and LIC have evinced interest in partnering with IPPB for various functions given the unmatched rural reach India Post has.

The list of insurance companies which have approached the payments bank include HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential, Max Life Insurance and Bajaj Allianz Life.

"I don't want to get into selection bias or exclusive relationships. I am clear that I am built by public money, I am offering a public platform and I don't want to appropriate the Post Office exclusively for a particular company. This infrastructure must remain open for everyone," Singh said.

He said IPPB's sales force would not advise customers on third party products and instead offer just a table depicting the returns that a simple group term insurance product or an Index Mutual Fund would offer to a customer.

"The thumb rule is if you sell you don't advise, if you advise you don't sell. We will basically be selling, we won't be advising. You cannot both advise and sell, it is a conflict of interest," Singh said.

As part of its expansion drive, IPPB plans to open 650 new branches by September. The Postal Department at present has a network of 1.55 lakh post offices and the new branches will be set up within the them. 

Treatment of Speed Post articles that are booked as local , but carry outstation addresses of senders -Reg.

Treatment of Speed Post articles that are booked as local , but carry outstation addresses of senders -Reg.

Clarification on billing queries in respect of CGHS Rate List 2014.

Clarification on billing queries in respect of CGHS Rate List 2014.

Instructions on roll-out of CSI-PLI POS in various Divisions of the Circles

Instructions on roll-out of CSI-PLI POS in various Divisions of the Circles

IPPB - Schedule of Charges

IPPB - Schedule of Charges

Cadre Restructuring & GDS Issues latest Information

FLASH NEWS

Cadre Restructuring  & GDS Issues latest Information

Today we discussed the matter with the officers in the Directorate.   According to our information, the Directorate is going to form a committee to review the order of cadre restructuring after obtaining the views of the Heads of Circle.  FNPO & NAPE-C strongly feel that some modifications required in the present cadre restructuring order at the same time keeping the orders in abeyance will create the unnecessary delay to get the promotion of the staff.  We are seeking the appointment of Secretary today after meeting the Chairman, we will post the outcome of our discussion on our website. 

GDS issues : GDS D. A order will be issued shortly, in regard to the implementation of GDS Committee recommendation formalities will take at least 3 months time.Let us hope for the best.

D.Theagarajan.               D.Kishan rao

S.G FNPO                         GS NAPE-C 

The Post Office is an example of our Identity , Every one loves Postman and Postman also loves every body : Honourable Prime Minister.

The Post Office is an example of our Identity , Every one loves Postman and Postman also loves every body : Honourable Prime Minister.

Whether Village Postman i.e; GDS MD TRCA Cooli is applicable for Postman as per the pronouncement of Honourable Prime Minister ?

Instructions on COD Articles

Instructions on COD Articles

PFRDA : Submitting application transformed from Physical Mode to Online Mode

PFRDA smoothens the Process of Registration of Retirement Advisers; Process of submitting application transformed from Physical Mode to Online Mode.

In order to smoothen the process of registration of Retirement Advisers, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has transformed the process of submitting application from physical mode to online mode.

The applicants can now submit their application online and upload scanned images of all the required documents. This will reduce the application processing time. PFRDA is registering Retirement Advisers for widening the coverage of NPS by facilitating on boarding of the subscribers and also providing advisory services to them for allocating assets under NPS and choosing Pension Fund Managers.

“Retirement Adviser” can be any individual, registered partnership firm, body corporate, or any registered trust or society, which desires to engage in the activity of providing advice on National Pension System or other pension schemes regulated by PFRDA to prospects / existing subscribers or other persons or group of persons and is registered as such under the PFRDA (Retirement Advisers) Regulations.

NISM and FPSB India are providing necessary certification in order to become eligible for registration as Retirement Adviser. However, Investment Advisers registered with SEBI are exempted from the requirement of such certifications and they can directly submit their application to PFRDA for registration.

PIB

Latest Rules on Provident Fund withdrawal

Latest Rules on Provident Fund withdrawal.

According to provident fund norms, 12 per cent of an employee’s salary goes into the fund along with a matching contribution from the employer.

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been taking many steps to ease the process of provident fund (PF) money withdrawal. The PF money can be withdrawn after two months from the cessation of employment. The application form can be filed with the PF authorities or through the employer. PF is meant for saving towards retirement years. Financial planners advise not to withdraw from the corpus before retirement. According to provident fund norms, 12 per cent of an employee’s salary goes into the fund along with a matching contribution from the employer. The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation every year announces interest rate to be paid on the accumulated provident fund corpus.

Here are 10 things to know:

1) To encourage long-term savings, the government has formulated tax laws accordingly. If the withdrawal from a recognised PF happens after five years of continuous employment, it attracts no tax liability. In case of employment with different employers, if the PF balance maintained with the old employer is transferred to the PF account of the new employer, it is considered a continuous employment.

2) If an employee has been terminated because of certain reasons beyond his or her control (such as ill health and discontinuation of business of employer), the withdrawal does not attract any tax, irrespective of the number of years of employment.

3) In case of a withdrawal before five years, the amount becomes taxable in the same financial year. Thus, the amount has to be shown in your tax return for the next assessment year. The employer’s contribution to PF and interest earned on it is added to one’s income and taxed accordingly.

4) In addition, if you have claimed benefits under Section 80C on your own PF contribution, it will be taxed as salary. The interest earned on your own contribution will be taxed as ‘income from other sources’ and taxed according to the respective tax slabs.

5) TDS (tax deducted at source) – If the withdrawal is after a period of five years of continuous employment, it attracts no TDS or any tax. What happens if the period of service is less than five years? If PAN has not been submitted to the EPFO authorities, TDS is deducted at 30 per cent. If PAN has been submitted along with Form 15G/15H, no TDS is deducted. If form 15G/15H is not submitted and PAN is submitted, TDS @ 10% is deducted. Form 15H or 15G is meant to prevent TDS for those whose income falls below the taxable limit.

6) The funds transferred from a recognised provident fund (PF) account to a National Pension System (NPS) account will not attract any tax, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) said in a circular dated March 6. “The amount so transferred from recognised Provident Fund/Superannuation Fund to NPS is not treated as income of the current year and hence not taxable,” the pension fund regulator said.

7) The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has come out with a single-page form for provident fund related claims – from provident/pension fund withdrawal to the advance facility.

8) In addition, an Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation or EPFO subscribers can submit the new one-page form directly to the retirement fund body without the employer’s attestation if their accounts are seeded with Aadhaar and bank account details.

9) For subscribers who are yet to seed Aadhaar and bank details, a new composite claim form has been introduced which has to be submitted with attestation of employers for any claims.

10) Also, no other document would be required to be submitted by the subscriber for taking advances from the provident fund corpus. A provident fund subscriber can go for partial withdrawal/advance from his or her corpus for specific purposes like purchase of flat, construction, marriage/education of children etc.

NDTV

Data Sharing Compliance of the IT Act, 2000 and Aadhar Act,2016 : Ministry of Communications & IT Order

Data Sharing Compliance of the IT Act, 2000 and Aadhar Act,2016 : Ministry of Communications & IT Order.

Drawl of Arrears- 7th CPC Pay Fixation- Employees on Leave Salary are entitled for Revised Pay and Arrears from 01.01.2016

Drawl of Arrears- 7th CPC Pay Fixation- Employees on Leave Salary are entitled for Revised Pay and Arrears from 01.01.2016