Khadi on Fridays for Central Government employees?

Khadi on Fridays for Central Government employees?

According to unconfirmed sources, the Centre is giving serious thoughts about making Khadi-wearing compulsory for its employees on Fridays. News continues to flow non-stop about Central Government employees and their offices the past few days. Recently, an order was issued making it mandatory to hoist the national flag atop the Kendriya Vidyalaya school buildings all over the country, everyday.

There are now plans of making the Central Government employees wear Khadi once every week, preferably on Fridays. All the Central Government employees – starting from the top bosses right down to the entry-level staff, will be asked to wear Khadi once a week. Saxena, the director of Khadi Gram Udyog, said that he was planning to discuss this possibility with the government soon. He however added that it wouldn’t be made mandatory, and will be left to the discretion of the employees.

According to sources, the officer also said that the sale of Khadi will increase tremendously if all the Central Government employees come forward to buy at least one dress and hoped that the employees wouldn’t oppose this.

7th CPC recommendations and Charter of Demands

7th CPC recommendations and Charter of Demands — Reg

NJCA
National Joint Council of Action

4, State Entry Road, New Delhi — 110055

No.NJC/2016/7th CPC

March 7, 2016

To
Cabinet Secretary,
Government of India & Chairman,
National Council/JCM

Subject:- 7th CPC recommendations and Charter of Demands — Reg.

Dear Sir

Kindly refer to the NJCA letter dated 10th December 2015 conveying you the decision of the National Joint Council of Action to go on indefinite strike in pursuance of the Charter of demands submitted there-with, if no settlement through bilateral discussions is brought about.

I am also to invite your kind attention to the discussion the Empowered Committee of Secretaries chaired by you with Standing Committee of NC of JCM on 15t March 2016 where-in while summing up the discussions on the charter of demands you assured that a fair consideration would be given on all demands raised by the Staff Side. It was also stated by you that reasonable time should be given to the Government since the issues concern inter=departmental consultations.

The NJCA in its meeting held on 7th March 2016 considered the request made by you. To give space for negotiated settlement on the charter of demands raised by the Staff Side it has been decided to defer the commencement of the indefinite strike to 11th July 2016 and to serve the strike notice on 9th June 2016, if the desired settlement through bilateral discussions is not brought about.

It is requested that in the intervening period the Government may hold meaningful negotiation with the Staff Side, JCM so that a settlement could be reached on the Charter of demands raised by the staff side, in the interest of industrial harmony.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,
(Shiva Gopal Mishra)

Source-http://ncjcmstaffside.com/

EPF Tax Withdrawn – How the Controversy Rendered NPS more Attractive

Under NPS, only 60 per cent of the corpus can be withdrawn as lump sum. Now, there is no tax on the 40 per cent. And if the person decides to invest the remaining 20 per cent also in annuity, there would be no tax on withdrawal.

EPF Tax Withdrawn – How the Controversy Rendered NPS more Attractive – Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday withdrew the controversial tax on employees provident fund after the middle class outrage threatened to synge the government badly.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday withdrew the controversial tax on employees provident fund after the middle class outrage threatened to synge the government badly. He, however, said the changes proposed for the National Pension Scheme (NPS) would be tabled in Parliament as they are. If his proposals are accepted, the NPS will become an attractive avenue for retirement savings than it was earlier.

“Employees should have the choice of where to invest. Theoretically such freedom is desirable, but it is important the government to achieve policy objective by instrumentality of taxation. In the present form, the policy objective is not to get more revenue but to encourage people to join the pension scheme,” Jaitley said explaining the rationale for the taxation proposal.


Until the current financial year, the NPS did not have many voluntary takers despite the government providing an  additional deduction of Rs 50,000 under Section 80CCD (1B) of the Income Tax Act. That’s because the entire corpus was taxable at the time of withdrawal.

Tapati Ghose, partner with Deloitte Haskins & Sells, explains: “According to the structure of the scheme, it is mandatory for an investor to buy an annuity plan with at least 40 per cent of the corpus. One could withdraw the balance amount after paying tax on it.” Many investors felt that to save tax, they would be forced to buy annuity with the entire money on retirement.

The Budget has rationalised the tax on NPS. While the structure of the scheme remains the same, a person can now withdraw up to 40 per cent of the corpus without paying any tax on it. And, if a person chooses to withdraw 60 per cent as a lump sum, he will need to pay tax only on 20 per cent of the total corpus. “This is a bonanza for NPS investors,” says Ghose.

Let us examine the following case. A person invests Rs 50,000 every year into NPS to benefit from tax deductions for the next 25 years. Assume that the person opted for Asset E, wherein 50 per cent of the contribution is allocated to equities, and earns an average annual return of 12 per cent. On retirement, the person will have a kitty of around Rs 75 lakh.

According to the existing provisions, the person will need to buy an annuity with 40 per cent of the corpus, which will be Rs 30 lakh. If he withdraws the balance amount of Rs 45 lakh, there will be 30 per cent tax, which works out to Rs 13.5 lakh. The person, then, ends up with a corpus of Rs 31.5 lakh in hand.

If one makes changes to these calculations based on the recommendations in the Budget, the individual will end up with Rs 40.5 lakh in hand. That is a significant difference of Rs 9 lakh or a saving of 12 per cent, as compared to the existing norms.

Here’s how it works out to be so. The person buys the mandatory annuity plans with Rs 30 lakh (40 per cent of Rs 75 lakh corpus). Of the remaining money, there will be no tax on Rs 30 lakh (40 per cent of the corpus) on withdrawal. On the remaining amount of Rs 15 lakh (20 per cent of corpus) the investor will need to pay 30 per cent tax, which will work out to Rs 4.5 lakh. The total money in hand of the individual thus be Rs 40.5 lakh.

If you are an employee, whose organisation has moved to NPS you will end up with similar savings on your total corpus at the time of retirement. The returns may or may not be as high as the EPF (depending, among other factors, on the amount you allocate to equities in NPS) but the proposed changes in the Budget will definitely put more money in your hands at the time of retirement.

Source: Business Standard

NPS Exit and purchase of Annuity - PFRDA

NPS Exit and purchase of Annuity – Clarification issued by PFRDA in respect of interim arrangement for the purpose of buying annuity from the NPS maturity amount

In the case of pre-mature exit by NPS Subscriber, any annuity scheme provided by Annutiy Service provider that covers the spouse of NPS subscriber can be purchased

PENSION FUND REGULATORY
AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
B-14/A, Chhatrapati Shivaji Bhawan
Qutab Institutional Area,
Katwaria Sarai, New Delhi-110016

Circular

PFRDA/2016/5/Exits/01

03.03.2016

Subject: Clarifications on Settlement of Claims Relating To Exits, Involving Purchase of Annuities.

1. Whereas the Authority has notified the PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals from National Pension System) Regulations, 2015 on 11th May, 2015 and is in force.

2. Number of claims have been received post the notification of the regulations covering pre-mature exits and also pertaining to claims arising out of the death of the subscriber under NPS. It has been brought to the notice of the Authority that as default annuity schemes mentioned under Regulation 3 of the PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals from National Pension System) Regulations, 2015 have not been made available by the Annuity Service Providers yet, these claims could not be settled and thus there exists a difficulty in settling claims in accordance with the aforesaid Regulations.

3. The Authority having considered and upon being satisfied that the claims of the subscribers are not being able to be processed and settled in accordance with Regulation 3 of the PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals from National Pension System) Regulations, 2015 and to ensure that the interest of the
subscribers are protected in this regard, has decided that till the time the default annuity schemes as mentioned under aforementioned Regulation 3, are made available to the subscribers, the claims both present and future shall be settled in the following manner:

Existing Provisions	Removal of difficulty
1.	Regulation 3 (b) applicable in case of pre-mature exit (to extract proviso from regulations)In place of default annuity scheme	Any annuity scheme provided by the Annuity Service Provider such that scheme shall mandatorily cover the spouse of the subscriber.
2.	Regulation 3 (c) applicable in case of death (to extract proviso from regulations)	The entire accumulated pension wealth (100%) would be paid to the nominee/legal heir of the subscriber and there would not be any purchase of annuity/monthly pension.

  4. The above provisions for removal of difficulty shall be in force till the default annuity schemes are devised by the Annuity Service Providers and made available to the subscribers, and shall cease on a date notified by the Authority, whereafter settlement of claims shall be in accordance with the applicable provisions of the regulations. All other provisions of settlement including settlement of lump sum pension wealth shall be continued to be governed by the applicable provisions of the regulations.

    5. This clarification for removal of difficulty is issued by the Authority in exercise of its powers under Section 14 of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 read with Regulation 39 of the PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals from National Pension System) Regulations, 2015.

    
Yours faithfully,
    sd/-
    (Subroto Das)
    Chief General Manager

Download PFRDA circular PFRDA/2016/5/Exits/01 dated 03.03.2016

Healthcare, Education Facilities for NPPS Employees

Healthcare, Education Facilities for NPPS Employees

Facilities for NPPS employees

In respect of employees at the Nuclear Power Plant sites, healthcare facilities are provided to all the employees and their family members through Contributory Health Service Scheme (CHSS) of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) through hospitals established by NPCIL/DAE at the Nuclear Power Plant sites and/or hospitals empanelled for the purpose. The wards of employees are provided education facility upto 12th standard through Atomic Energy Central Schools (AECS) managed by Atomic Energy Education Society (AEES), an autonomous grant-in-aid institution of DAE.

With regard to people living in the vicinity of Nuclear Power Plants, NPCIL has been contributing in the areas of education, healthcare and infrastructure & skill development through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Neighborhood Development Programme (NDP). NPCIL is running primary health centers through NGOs and providing Out Patient (OPD) services. It also runs Mobile Medical Vans and conducts free medical camps. It has also upgraded several primary health centers and provided medical equipment, ambulances, prosthetic aids etc. A multi-specialty hospital is being set up at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu under the Neighborhood Development Programme. In respect of education, school buildings have been constructed, improvements made in existing buildings, provisions for drinking water and toilet blocks made, educational aids including books, computers, bags & uniforms distributed and scholarships provided for meritorious students in neighborhoods of nuclear power plants.

NPCIL extends support for infrastructure around nuclear power plants like construction of roads, bridges, school buildings, drinking water schemes, water tanks, bore wells, community centres, crematoria, multi-purpose halls solar street lights etc. In the last two years and the current year, infrastructure projects totaling to about Rs. 67 crore have been planned.

This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in a reply to an unstarred question in Lok Sabha today.

Source: PIB News

7th Pay Commission – If not Hefty Pay Hike, Government Likely to Restore Allowances

7th Pay Commission – If not Hefty Pay Hike, Government Likely to Restore Allowances

Some good news for government employees anticipating Centre’s response to their demands on salary hike! As per reports, government may agree to reinstate some of the allowances that were subsumed by the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations.

7th Pay Commission – If not Hefty Pay Hike, Govt Likely to Restore Allowances – The employees have been demanding that allowances which are stated to be subsumed and which are clubbed with others also need to be looked at.

Central government employees have been claiming that the 7th CPC has recommended to abolish large number of allowances and interest free advances without going into the exact relevance in certain departments where the allowances are provided for.

The employees have been demanding that allowances which are stated to be subsumed and which are clubbed with others also need to be looked at.

Pay commission had suggested abolition of many privileges and facilities including risk allowance, small family allowance, festival advance and motor cycle advance etc in its recommendations.

Following are the demands of the central government employees regarding reinstatement of allowances that were hit by the 7th CPC recommendations:

1. Retain the rate of house rent allowance in place of the recommendation of the Commission to reduce it.
2. Restructure the transport allowance into two slabs at Rs. 7500 and 3750 with DA thereof removing all the stipulated conditions.
3. Fixed conveyance allowance: This allowance had no DA component at any stage_ This allowance must be enhanced to 2.25 times with 25% DA thereon as and when the DA crosses 50%
4. Restore the island Special duty allowance and the Tripura Special compensatory remote locality allowance.
5. The special duty allowance in NE Region should be uniform for all at 30%
6. Overtime allowance whenever sanction must be based upon the actual basic pay of the entitled employee.
7. Cash handling /Treasury allowance. The assumption that every transaction in Government Departments are through the bank is not correct. There are officials entrusted to collect cash and therefore the cash handling allowance to be retained.
8. Qualification Pay to be retained.
9. Small family norms allowances to be retained.
10. Savings Bank allowance to be retained.
11. Outstation allowance to be retained.
12. P.O. & RMS. Accountants special allowance.
13. Risk allowance.
14. Break-down allowance.
15. Night patrolling allowance.
16. Special Compensatory hill area allowance.
17. Special allowance for Navodaya Vidyalaya Staff.
18. Dress Allowance ceiling to be raised to Rs. 32,400 per annum.
19. Nursing Allowance to be raised to 2.25 times of Rs 4800.
20. All fixed allowances must be raised to 2.25 times as per the principle enunciated by the Commission.

Restore the following advances and revise the same to 3 times.

• Natural calamity advance.
• Festival Advance.
• LTC and TA advances.
• Medical advance.
• Education advance.
• Vehicle advances including cycle advance.

Source: Zee News

Reviewing Pay and Allowances of Armed Forces Personnel

Reviewing Pay and Allowances of Armed Forces Personnel

The Government entrusted the task to a Pay Commission in 1973, at the time of setting up of 3rd Central Pay Commission. The Government had set up a Post War Pay Committee in 1947, a departmental pay committee (Raghuramiah Committee) during 1959-60 and another Departmental Committee in 1967 for review of pay and allowances of Defence Forces Personnel. There was general discontentment amongst the Services with respect to the recommendations of these Committees. Thereafter, the Government decided to entrust the examination of structure of emoluments, including benefits in cash and kind and death cum retirement benefits of the Armed Forces to the 3rd Central Pay Commission.

The terms of reference with respect to the Armed Forces personnel were different to the extent that the 3rd Central Pay Commission was not required to make recommendations on the conditions of service of the Armed Forces personnel. Though, the matters related to pension of Defence Service personnel was referred to 3rd Pay Commission, there has been no clubbing with civilians. The Commission felt that by and large, the principles followed by Armed Forces Pension Revision Committee (AFPRC) continue to be valid. The 3rd Pay Commission had considered the peculiar conditions of service and hierarchical set up of the Services, age of retirement, period of qualifying service pension etc. in respect of Armed Forces personnel. As such there has been no mistake in entrusting the matter to 3rd Central Pay Commission.

This information was given by Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar in a written reply to Shri Mahendra Singh Mahra in Rajya Sabha today.

PIB

Indian Army faces shortage of 9,106 officers

Indian Army faces shortage of 9,106 officers

There is a shortage of 9,106 officers in the Indian Army and 1,265 officers in the Navy, the government said Tuesday.

“In army (excluding Army Medical Corps, Army Dental Corps and Military Nursing Service), as on July 1, 2015, against the authorised strength of 49,631 officers, held strength of officers is 40,525 with shortage of 9,106,” Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in a written response to a question in Lok Sabha.

The Navy, as on January 31, 2016, faced shortage of 1,265 officers. As of November 1, 2015, Air Force did not show any shortage of officers, Parrikar said.

The expenditure incurred on salary and allowances in financial year 2014-15 was Rs 94,233 crore for defence personnel and 35,458 crore for para-military forces.

Replying to another question, he said the strength of woman officers in the Indian Coast Guard is 27, which includes 17 pilots and 10 observers. The woman officers, employed for aviation duties, are involved in operations like prevention of illegal activities at sea and maritime surveillance.

PTI

LTC by Air Allowed for Non-Entitled Central Government Employees

LTC by Air Allowed for Non-Entitled Central Government Employees

All non-entitled central government employees have been allowed to travel by air while availing Leave Travel Concession (LTC) with a condition that reimbursement in such cases shall be restricted to the fare of their entitled class of train or actual expense.

The Ministry of Personnel had recently eased norms for processing claims of LTC — which allows grant of leave and ticket reimbursement to eligible central government employees to travel to their home towns and other places.

“Government employees not entitled to travel by air may travel by any airline. However, reimbursement in such cases shall be restricted to the fare of their entitled class of train, transport or actual expense, whichever is less,” an order issued by the Ministry said.

The move comes after the government received a number of queries in this regard. In many cases, employees did not have railway station or good road network to their home towns and they had requested for permission to travel by air to save time, which was being denied, officials said.

Now, they will be allowed to travel by air and by any airline, they said. At present, those entitled to travel by air have to mandatorily travel by Air India.

A government servant may also apply for advance for himself or his family members 65 days before the proposed date of the outward journey and he or she would be required to produce the tickets within ten days of the withdrawal of advance, irrespective of the date of commencement of the journey, as per the new norms.

There are about 50 lakh central government employees.

All central government employees have been asked to share photos and interesting details of their holidays.
The DoPT has decided to put a limit of one month for verification of LTC claim after the LTC bill is submitted by government employee for settlement and final payment.

“Efforts should be made to reduce the duration of processing of LTC applications or claims at the earliest. The maximum time limit should be strictly adhered to and non- compliance of time limit should be adequately explained,” its directive said.

PTI

Incomplete Data in Web Based Cadre Management System for CSS Officers of Under Secretary

No.21/1/2016-CS.I(U)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pension
Department of Personnel & Training

2nd Floor, Lok Nayak Bhavan
Khan Market, New Delhi.
Dated 8th March, 2016.

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Incomplete Data in Web Based Cadre Management System for CSS Officers of Under Secretary.

In continuation of this Departments O.M. of even number dated 26.02.2016 on the subject mentioned above and to say that another list of Under Secretaries is enclosed as Annexure in respect of whom the experience details in the web based cadre management system are found to be incomplete or there is some discrepancy therein.

2. In this connection, attention is invited to this Department’s O.M. No.21/1/2014-CS.I (PR/CMS) dated 31st December, 2015 (copy enclosed) requesting the nodal officers in the Ministries/ Department for updation of data in the web based cadre management system hosted at cscms.nic.in in respect of all the CSS/CSSS/CSCS officers working under them. Data in respect of two modules viz. experience and promotion details can only be modified by CS.I / CS.II Divisions.

3. It is imperative that data in the web based system is maintained up to date always to facilitate carrying out of various cadre management activities. In order to complete the data in the system by CS Division, it is requested to fill up the particulars of such Under Secretaries as shown in the Annexure in the attached format duly certified by the Admn. Division latest by 21.3.2016. The next list of Under Secretaries whose date is incomplete will follow.

4. The Nodal Officers should update the remaining data of officers in other modules viz. Employee Details, Basic Details, Address Details, Training and Qualification. For any technical assistance they may contact CMC Official at Telephone No. 24629890

(V.Srinivasaragavan)
Under Secretary to the Government of India
Tele: 24629412
Telefax:24629414

Source: persmin