All about 7th Central Pay Commission for Central Government Employees. Dearness Allowance for Government Employees, CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS - DOPT, DOPT Orders, Expected DA & more.
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment Review of Creamy Layer for SCs/STs and
OBCs
05 FEB 2020
As regard SC/ST reservation, at present, there is no concept of creamy layer. Hence question of the review
of creamy layer does not arise.
As regard OBC reservation, an Expert Committee has been constituted by the Government of India under the
Chairmanship of Shri B.P. Sharma (former Secretary, DOPT) on 08.03.2019 to examine the issues related to
Creamy layer equivalence among the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs).
The Expert Committee, after consultation with all stakeholders including the State / UT Governments, has
submitted its report to the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment on 17.09.2019. At present, the report
is under consideration.
This information was given by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar in
a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
The Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare was created in the Ministry of Defence on 22nd September, 2004 in
order to pay focused attention to the welfare and resettlement of Ex-Servicemen (ESM). It has 3 Attached
offices namely, Kendriya Sainik Board Secretariat (KSB Sectt.), Directorate General of Resettlement, (DGR)
and Central Organisation, Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (CO, ECHS).
KSB Sectt. is responsible for the welfare of Ex-Servicemen and their dependents and also for the
administration of various welfare schemes for them.
The office of Directorate General of Resettlement implements various Policies / Schemes / Programmes for pre
and post retirement training, re-employment and self- employment of ex-servicemen.
Central Organisation, Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme takes care of the healthcare and medical needs
of Ex-servicemen and their dependents through a network of various polyclinics across the Country.
The Service Headquarters for Army, Air Force and Navy also have dedicated Directorates i.e. Directorate of
Indian Army Veterans (DIAV), Directorate of Air Veterans (DAV) and Directorate of Ex-Servicemen Affairs
(DESA) respectively to assist veterans in resolving their Pension and welfare issues.
Service HQs organize Veteran’s Day on 14th January every year.
Events are organized by State / UTs at State and District level in form of ‘Sainik Adalat’ to redress their
grievances.
Interaction at DGR open forum twice a week at DGR office.
DGR Ex-Servicemen Seminar cum Job fairs are organized pan India. Approximately 8 job fairs are organized in
a year.
Regular interaction during visit of DGR / DRZ (Directorate of Re-settlement Zone) officials in their Area of
Responsibility (AoR).
Veteran personnel are also invited at ‘At Home’ functions during Army/Air Force/Navy Day celebrations.
A single window online grievance redressal mechanism (CPGRAMS) is already in place by the Department of
Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in which any citizen can lodge their grievances online and get
response from the concerned department.
The link of CPGRAMS /CPENGRAMS website has also been given in the website of Department of Ex-Servicemen
Welfare, CGDA and all Pension Sanctioning Authorities so that ex-servicemen can lodge their grievances in any
websites from their home by clicking on the pgportal.gov.in and get their grievances redressed speedily.
This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Shripad Naik in a written reply to Ram Mohan Naidu
Kinjarapuin Lok Sabha today.
Admission to Sainik School is strictly merit based through a competitive exam and medical fitness. As per
Sainik School Society Rules and Regulations 1997, seats for admission in Sainik Schools are reserved for
candidates belonging to SC, ST and Defence categories. It has been decided on 10th January, 2020 to
have 27% reservation for OBCs in admissions to align with the formulations of the M/o Human Resources
Development on the matter of admissions.
This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Shripad Naik in a written reply to Shri Margani
Bharatin Lok Sabha today.
This information was given by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment
in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
Charge Allowance may have been paid w.e.f. 01.01.2016 to 30.06.2017 at old rates which was admissible before
2016, the same may be reckoned for calculation of retirement benefits of employees who retired between the
periods from 01.01.2016 to 30.06.2017
PC-VII No.148/2020
RBE No.14 /2020
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA (BHARAT SARKAR)
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (RAIL MANTRALAYA)
(RAILWAY BOARD)
No. D-43/15/2019-F(E)III
New Delhi, dated: 30.01.2020.
The General Managers / Principal Financial Advisors,
ll Zonal Railways / Production Units.
Sub : Reckoning of Charge Allowance for the purpose of revision of Pension of Pre-2016 retirees in terms
of 7th CPC recommendations - reg.
Consequent upon the recommendations of 7th CPC, instructions were issued vide Board’s letters No.2016/F(E)III/1(1)/7 dated
10.08.2016 and 22.05.2017, regarding revision of pension / family pension of pre-2016 pensioners / family
pensioners. A number of references have been received in this office for reckoning of Charge Allowance for
the purpose of notional fixation of pay and accordingly revision of pension w.e.f. 01.01.2016.
2. The true nature of charge allowance was earlier considered by the Board and it was decided that the charge
allowance, which is actually in the nature of pay restricted under FR-35. should be reckoned as 'Pay' as
defined in Rule 1303(FR-9)(21) (a)(i) R-II/6th Edition and as such, it would count as pay for the purposes of
pension. gratuity etc. as well as for leave encashment. Accordingly, instructions were issued vide letter No.
F(E)III/94/PN1/26 dated 23.06.1995.
3. The issue has again been examined in Board keeping in view the earlier decision on charge allowance cited
in para 2 above and it has been decided as follows:-
Since. Board had already decided to treat the charge allowance as pay restricted under FR-35 and to
reckon it as emoluments for pensionary benefits vide letter dated 23.06.1995, the charge allowance may be
taken into account for notional fixation of pay for the purpose of revision of pension / family pension of pre-2016 retirees w.e.f. 01.01.2016 in terms of first
formulation as conveyed by Board’s letter No. 2016/F(E)III /1(1)/7 dated 22.05.2017.
Pay fixed in terms of Board’s letter No. PC-VII/2017/ 1/7/5/8 dated 08.08.2019 w.e f. 01.07.2017 may also
be treated as emoluments in terms of Rule 49 of the Railway Services (Pension) Rules, 1993 for the purpose of fixation of pension.
Since, Charge Allowance may have been paid w.e.f. 01.01.2016 to 30.06.2017 at old rates which was
admissible before 2016, the same may be reckoned for calculation of retirement benefits of employees who
retired between the periods from 01.01.2016 to 30.06.2017.
4. Please acknowledge receipt.
(G. Priya Sudarsani)
Director, Finance (Estt.),
Railway Board.
Bank Employees Dearness Allowance from February 2020 - DA 2020
According to the 10th Bipartite Settlement for the period from
February, March and April 2020, 75.90 percent of the Dearness Allowance
(DA) grants to Bank employees. In this regard the Indian Banks
Association (IBA) released a circular and the same is reproduced and
provided for your information below :
Indian Banks’ Association
HR & Industrial Relations
No.CIR/HR&IR/ 76/D/2019-20/ 8619
February 1, 2020
All Members of the Association (Designated Officers)
Dear Sirs, Dearness Allowance
for Workmen and Officer Employees in banks for the months of February,
March & April 2020 under X BPS / Joint Note dated 25.5.2015.
The confirmed All India Average Consumer Price Index Numbers for
Industrial Workers (Base 1960= 100) for the quarter ended December 2019
are as follows:-
October 2019 - 7418.42
November 2019 - 7486.90
December 2019 - 7532.55
The average CPI of the above is 7479.29 and accordingly the number of
DA slabs are 759 (7479 - 4440 = 3039 / 4 = 759 Slabs) The last
quarterly Payment of DA was at 717 Slabs. Hence there is an increase in
DA slabs of 42 i.e 759 Slabs for payment of DA for the quarter February,
March and April 2020.
In terms of clause 7 of the 10th Bipartite Settlement dated 25.05.2015 and clause 3 of the Joint Note dated
25.05.2015, the rate
of Dearness Allowance payable to workmen and officer employees for the
months of February, March & April 2020 shall be 75.90% of pay. While arriving at dearness
allowance payable, decimals from third place may please be ignored.
Yours Faithfully,
sd/-
S K Kakkar
Senior Advisor (HR&IR)
The Union budget for the 2020-21 financial year, presented to Parliament on February 01, 2020 by Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, envisaged a total outlay of Rs 30,42,230 crore. Rs 3,37,553 crore (excluding Defence Pension) has been allocated for Defence. A amount of Rs 1,33,825 crore was provided for Defence Pension in Budget Estimates 2020-21.
There is an increase in total Defence allocations (Rs 4,71,378 crore) of Rs 40,367.21 crore including Defence Pension over the 2019-20 fiscal year. Total defence budget accounts for 15.49 per cent of total central government spending for the 2020-21 fiscal year.
The allocation of Rs 4,71,378 crore reflects a 9.37 per cent increase over Budget Estimates (Rs 4,31,010,79 crore) for the 2019-20 financial year.
Of the Rs 3,37,553 crore allocated for the 2020-21 financial year, Rs 2,18,998 crore is for revenue (Net) expenditure and Rs 1,18,555 crore is for capital expenditure for Defence Services and Ministry of Defense organizations / departments. The total of Rs 1,18,555 crore allocated for capital spending includes expenditure related to modernisation.
Budget 2020 – Personal Income Tax and tax simplification
In order to provide significant relief to individual taxpayers and to simplify the Income-Tax law, the Finance Minister proposed to introduce a new and simpler personal income tax system in which income tax rates will be substantially reduced for individual taxpayers who forgo such deductions and exemptions.
The proposed tax-slab adjustments are listed in the table below:
Taxable Income Slab (Rs.)
Existing tax rates
New tax rates
0-2.5 Lakh
Exempt
Exempt
2.5-5 Lakh
5%
5%
5-7.5 Lakh
20%
10%
7.5-10 Lakh
20%
15%
10-12.5 Lakh
30%
20%
12.5-15 Lakh
30%
25%
Above 15 Lakh
30%
30%
Surcharge and cess shall be continued to be levied at the existing rates.
In the new tax system, a taxpayer will gain substantial tax benefit, depending on the exemptions and deductions that he seeks. Thus its tax burden in the new regime will be reduced by Rs. 78,000. He would still be the gainer in the new regime, even though under the old regime he took deduction from Rs. 1.5 Lakh under various sections of Chapter VI-A of the Income Tax Act.
To individuals the new tax system will be free. An person currently benefiting from more deductions and exemptions under the Income Tax Act may choose to take advantage of them and continue to pay tax in the old regime.
The new rates for personal income tax would require foregone revenue of Rs. 40,000 crore per year. Measures were implemented to pre-fill the income tax return so that a person who opts for the new regime would not need an expert’s assistance to file their report and pay income tax.
The Finance Minister said that over the past several decades she has reviewed all exemptions and deductions that have been incorporated into the income tax legislation. The Income Tax Act currently provides more than one hundred exemptions and deductions of different character. In the new simplified regime, she said she has removed about 70 of them. She said that in the coming years, the remaining exemptions and deductions would also be reviewed and rationalized to further simplify the tax system and lower the tax rate.
4% DA hike to Central Government employees is confirmed as from 1 January 2020
The Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers, according to a press release issued by the Labor
Bureau, increased by 2 points and pegged at 330
Now there is an average of 12 months of AICPIN available for calculating the DA from January 2020.
As per the approved Dearness Allowance rate calculation formula, the DA will be increased by 4 per cent
from January 1st, 2020.
For impact from 1.1.2020, the DA rate will increase from the current 17 per cent to 21 per cent. For this DA
hike the Central Government must grant its approval. In the second week of March 2020, the Union cabinet must
approve the plan to increase DA from 1 January 2020
The Ministry of Finance will subsequently issue an order for payment DA to central government employees and
DR to pensioners with effect from 1.1.2020
It appears that AICPIN does not have anything to do with the January 2020 rate DA. But it will provide
momentum to the July 2020 Expected DA to reach a level that will affect DA indexed Allowances.
Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) - December 2019
The AICPIN All-India CPI-IW for December 2019 increased by 2 points
and pegged at 330 (three hundred and thirty). On 1-month percentage change, it increased by (+) 0.61 per cent
between November and December 2019 when compared with the increase of (-) 0.33 per cent for the corresponding
months of last year.
The maximum upward pressure to the change in current index came from Food group contributing (+) 1.87
percentage points to the total change. At item level, Onion, Jowar, Rice, Wheat & Wheat Atta, Arhar Dal,
Moong Dal, Urd Dal, Mustard Oil, Egg (Hen), Fish Fresh, Goat Meat, Fresh Milk, Chillies Dry, Drum Stick,
Potato, Cooking Gas, Electricity Charges, Fire Wood, Employees State Insurance (ESI) Contribution, Petrol,
Flowers / Flower Garland etc. are responsible for the increase in index. However, this increase was checked
by Chillies Green, Ginger, Banana, Brinjal, Cabbage, Carrot, Cauliflower, Green Coriander leaves, Guava,
Lemon, Methi, Palak, Peas, Radish, Tomato, Toilet Soap, etc., putting downward pressure on the index.
Year-on-year inflation based on all-items stood at 9.63 per cent for December 2019 as compared to 8.61 per
cent for the previous month and 5.24 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Similarly,
Food inflation stood at 12.22 per cent against 9.87 per cent of the previous month and (-) 0.96 per cent
during the corresponding month of an year ago.
At centre level, Tiruchirapally observed the maximum increase of 12 points followed by Goa (11 points),
Giridih and Belgaum (9 points each) and Ludhiana and Puducherry (8 points each). Among others, 7 points
increase was observed in 4 centres, 6 points in 5 centres, 5 points in another 5 centres, 4 points in next
another 5 centres, 3 points in 11 centres, 2 points in 12 centres and 1 point in 13 centres. On the contrary,
Sholapur and Surat recorded a maximum decrease of 3 points each. Among others, 4 centres observed a fall in
index by 2 points and 6 centres recorded a decline of 1 point. Rest of 5 centres indices remained
stationary.
The indices of 34 centres are above All-India Index and 44 centres indices are below national average.
The next issue of CPI-IW for the month of January 2020 will be released on Friday 28th February, 2020. The
same will also be available on the office website labourbureaunew.gov.in.
