Thursday, September 24, 2015

PAYMENT OF DEARNESS ALLOWANCE TO CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES – REVISED RATES EFFECTIVE FROM 1.7.2015

No.1/2/2015-E-II (B)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Expenditure
North Block, New Delhi
Dated: 23rd September, 2015.
OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Payment of Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees – Revised Rates effective from 1.7.2015

            The undersigned is directed to refer to this Ministry’s Office Memorandum No.1/2/2015-E-II (B) dated 10th April, 2015 on the subject mentioned above and to say that the President is pleased to decide that the Dearness Allowance payable to Central Government employees shall be enhanced from the existing rate of 113% to 119% with effect from 1st July, 2015.

2.         The provisions contained in paras 3, 4 and 5 of this Ministry’s O.M. No. 1(3)/2008-E-II(B) dated 29th August, 2008 shall continue to be applicable while regulating Dearness Allowance under these orders.

3.         The additional installment of Dearness Allowance payable under these orders shall be paid in cash to all Central Government employees.

4.         These orders shall also apply to the civilian employees paid from the Defence Services Estimates and the expenditure will be chargeable to the relevant head of the Defence Services Estimates. In regard to Armed Forces personnel and Railway employees, separate orders will be issued by the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Railways, respectively.

5.         In so far as the employees working in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department are concerned, these orders are issued with the concurrence of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

Sd/-
(A. Bhattacharya)
Under Secretary to the Government of India

Authority: www.finmin.nic.in
(Click the link below for  DA Orders of Min. of Finance)

PJCA CIRCULAR

 PJCA CIRCULAR
POSTAL JOINT COUNCIL OF ACTION
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES
FEDERATION OF NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANISATIONS
ALL INDIA POSTAL EMPLOYEES UNION, GDS (NFPE)
NATIONAL UNION GDS

No.PF-PJCA/2015                                                     Dated: 23rd September, 2015
CIRCULAR
To
            All General Secretaries /All India Office Bearers
Circle Secretaries / Divisional and Branch Secretaries of NFPE, FNPO
& GDS Unions.


Comrades,

            The Postal Joint Council of Action comprising NFPE, FNPO, AIPE Union GDS (NFPE) & NUGDS has viewed with grave concern, the total negative attitude of the Central Government towards the genuine demands of the Postal employees which includes the revision of wages and service condition of the Gramin Dak Sevaks by 7thCPC, implementation of Cadre Restructuring Agreement and filling up of all vacant posts in all cadres of Department of Posts.

            As the 7th CPC  may  submit its report  any time before 31st  December,2015 , delay in settling the above demands will  result in denial of justice to 5.5 lakhs Postal Employees .

            In view of the above serious situation the PJCA  unanimously decided to  revive the  postponed indefinite strike of  May 6th  and  to commence  the indefinite  strike  from 23rd November, 2015, the date  from which JCM National Council  Staff Side  is going  on indefinite  strike. It is further  decided  that  in case  the JCM  Staff Side  change their decision the PJCA  will go on  strike from 23d November,2015 itself for the following  demands:

(i)Include GDS in 7th CPC for wage revision and other service related matters.

(ii)Implement cadre Restructuring proposals in all cadres including Postal     Accounts and MMS in Department of Posts

(iii)Fill up all vacant posts in all cadres of Department of Posts(i.e. PA,SA,       Postmen, Mail Guard, Mail Man, GDS Mail Man, MMS Driver & other staff in         MMS, PA CO, PA SBCO , PO Accounts & Civil Wing  Staff)

With revolutionary Greetings
                                   Yours  Comradely,                           
(D. Theagarajan)                                                                                                       (R.N. Parashar)
Secretary General                                                                                                  Secretary General
         FNPO                                                                                                                            NFPE
           
                                                                                     
(P. Panduranga Rao)                                                                                            (P.U. Muralidharan)
General Secretary                                                                                                  General Secretary
AIPEU GDS (NFPE)                                                                                                      NUGDS

Copy to:
The Secretary Department of Posts,
Dak Bhawan, New Delhi-110 001 ------------for information and necessary action.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

REGARDING FAMILY PENSION IN NPS



Family Pension for NPS Employees – A report states that between April 1994 and April 2004, more than 50 lakh youths joined Government Services. However, the same dropped to around 33 Lakhs after April 2004. Experts blame the Governments’ decision to abolish pension for this, which forced the youths to move towards the corporate sector. 

The 33 lakh Central and State Government employees who have joined after 2004, may soon have a reason to rejoice. The Government is seriously considering to offer Family Pension for NPS Employees who have joined after 2004. Reliable sources have said that the 7th Pay Commission has recommended the same. The State Governments’ have been asked to submit their reports by the end of December, and after due approval it is expected that the Pension Scheme will come into effect by 1, January 2016. 

We already know that the Employees who joined in Government Services after 2004 come under contributory pension scheme. Under which an employee will be deducted 10 per cent of his basic salary, and the same per cent would be contributed by the Government through out his/her service. After retirement, 70 per cent of the pension would be given in lump sum and the rest of the 30 per cent would be used for component to be paid every month till his/her life time. 

However the employees who joined in service before 2004, are eligible for family pension, and they are not deducted any amount from the salary in the name of pension. Such employees afterretirement, become eligible for 50 per cent of the last drawn salary as their pension.

Sources confirm, the 7th Pay Commission may include recommendations for NPS revisions, and it is expected to be converted to family pension. Mr.KKN Kutty, Secretary General, Confederation of CGEs and workers expressed his happiness and said, if the Central Government accepts the proposal, a large number of Government employees would be benefited.

Mr.K.S.Sharma, former Chief Secretary, Madha Pradesh said, “The family pension scheme was abolished from April 2004. It was a bad move by the Government. It is pension, that attracts the youths to join the Government Services, because their future is secured. If the Government accepts the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, the youths would be motivated to join the Government Services”.

A report states that between April 1994 and April 2004, more than 50 lakh youths joined Government Services. However, the same dropped to around 33 Lakhs after April 2004. Experts blame the Governments’ decision to abolish pension for this, which forced the youths to move towards the corporate sector.

Mr.Jayanth Malaiya, Finance Minister, Madhya Pradesh assured, “If the recommendations were accepted by the central government, he will definitely consider implementing the same in MP”. 

Source: Dainik Bhaskar
REPLY OF DEPARTMENT OF POSTS ON DEMANDS OF PJCA DHARNA BY ALL INDIA LEADERS TO BE HELD ON 22.09.2015 AT NEW DELHI.

No.08/13/2015-SR 
             Government of India
Ministry of Communications & IT
Department of Posts
                                                                  
                                Dak Bhawan, New Delhi
                               Dated:  17th September, 2015.
 To
The Secretary General,
National Federation of Postal Employees,
1st Floor, North Avenue Post Office Building,
New Delhi-110001

The Secretary General,
Federation of National Postal Organisations,
T-24, Atul Grove Road,
New Delhi-110001.

 Subject: Holding of day long Dharna on 22-09-2015 by Postal Joint Council of   
 Action (PJCA) - Regarding.

Sir,
         
            I am directed to refer to your Circular No.PF-PJCA/2015 dated 12th August, 2015 on the above mentioned subject and to send herewith the following point wise information relating to the Charter of Demands:-

      (i)     Include GDS in 7th CPC for wage revision and other service related matters:-
 Ministry of Finance has not agreed to the proposal of this Department for inclusion of GDS within the purview of 7th CPC inspite of several attempts. 

(ii)    Implement cadre Restructuring proposal in all cadres including Postal Accounts and MMS in Department of Posts:-

Cadre restructuring proposal of Group ‘C’ employees:  The proposal is pending with the Department of Expenditure, M/o Finance at present.

The Cadre Restructuring proposal of Stenographers cadre is under examination.

Postal Accounts Cadre: Regarding restructuring of Sorter, LDC and DEO cadre in PAO’s, views of both the Associations viz. AIPAEA, BPAOEA have been called for vide letter dated 29th June, 2015. It would be processed further on receipt of necessary inputs from them.

MMS Cadre:  The case of MMS is under process.

(iii)    Fill up vacant posts in all cadres of Department of Posts :-

(a)    As regards vacancies of LDC/JA/Stenographers under DR quota the necessary details have been uploaded on the SSC’s Website.  Further action would be taken on receipt of dossiers from the SSC. 

(b)    Abeyance order dated 27-04-2015 issued in r/o PA/SA DR Exam 2014 has been revoked in 10 Circles namely Andhra Pradesh, Assam, J&K, Karnataka, Kerala, North East, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Punjab and these Circles will now be filling up PA/SA DR 2014 held up vacancies.

(c)   Work of conduct of PA/SA DR Exam for the vacancies of 2015-16 has been entrusted to the SSC and in its notification dated 13-06-2015, 3506 vacancies have been announced to be filled up.            Examination is scheduled in the month of November, 2015.
(d)  The necessary instructions have been issued to fill up the vacancies in Postman/Mailguard and MTS cadre and circles are in the process of filling up these vacancies.

(e)    Instructions already exists for filling up of vacant posts of GDS Mail Man.

2.       In view of the fact that all the issues are under active consideration and being processed, the Federations are advised to cancel the Dharna as no useful purpose is served through agitations/dharnas.

Yours faithfully,
     -sd-
( Arun Malik )
Director (SR & Legal)

Thursday, September 10, 2015

GDS COURT CASE STATUS IN Pr. CAT, DELHI

THE GDS CASE PROCEEDINGS ARE GOING ON IN Pr.CAT, DELHI AND TODAY 
(10-09-2015) IS DATE OF HEARING.

IT IS INFORMED THAT THE CASE PROCEEDINGS ARE ADJOURNED TO 18-11-2015

FURTHER DETAILS WILL BE PUBLISHED SOON AFTEER  RECEIPT FROM OUR ADVOCATE

=P.PANDURANGARAO
GENERAL SECRETARY

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Seventh Pay Commission is no ogre


Its recommendations’ impact need not give us jitters because the rise in government wages will amount to only 0.8 per cent of GDP.

The report of the Seventh Pay Commission (SPC) is set to be released soon. The new pay scales will be applicable to Central government employees with effect from January 2016. Many commentators ask whether we need periodic Pay Commissions that hand out wage increases across the board. They agonise over the havoc that will be wrought on government finances. They want the workforce to be downsized. They would like pay increases to be linked to productivity. These propositions deserve careful scrutiny. The reality is more nuanced.

Critics say we don’t need a Pay Commission every ten years because salaries in government are indexed to inflation. At the lower levels, pay in the government is higher than in the private sector. These criticisms overlook the fact that, at the top-level or what is called the ‘A Grade’, the government competes for the same pool of manpower as the private sector. So do public sector companies and public institutions — banks, public sector enterprises, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and regulatory bodies — where pay levels are derived from pay in government. 
 
The annual increment in the Central government is 3 per cent. Adding dearness allowance increases of around 5 per cent, we get an annual revision of 8 per cent. This is not good enough, because pay at the top in the private sector has increased exponentially in the post-liberalisation period.
Competition for talent

 

A correct comparison should, of course, be done on the basis of cost to the organisation. We need to add the market value of perquisites to salaries and compare them with packages in the private sector. We cannot and should not aim for parity with the private sector. We may settle for a certain fraction of pay but that fraction must be applied periodically if the public sector is not to lose out in the competition for talent.

True, pay scales at the lower levels of government are higher than those in the private sector. But that is unavoidable given the norm that the ratio of the minimum to maximum pay in government must be within an acceptable band. (The Sixth Pay Commission had set the ratio at 1:12). Higher pay at lower levels of government also reflects shortcomings in the private sector, such as hiring of contract labour and the lack of unionisation. They are not necessarily part of the ‘problem with government’. 
 

Perhaps the strongest criticism of Pay Commission awards is that they play havoc with government finances. At the aggregate level, these concerns are somewhat exaggerated. Pay Commission awards typically tend to disrupt government finances for a couple of years. Thereafter, their impact is digested by the economy. Thus, pay, allowances and pension in Central government climbed from 1.9 per cent of GDP in 2001-02 to 2.3 per cent in 2009-10, following the award of the Sixth Pay Commission. By 2012-13, however, they had declined to 1.8 per cent of GDP.
 
 This happened despite the fact that the government chose to make revisions in pay higher than those recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission.

Today, Central government pay and allowances amount to 1 per cent of GDP. State wages amount to another 4 per cent, making for a total of 5 per cent of GDP. The medium-term expenditure framework recently presented to Parliament looks at an increase in pay of 16 per cent for 2016-17 consequent to the Seventh Pay Commission award. That would amount to an increase of 0.8 per cent of GDP. This is a one-off impact. A more correct way to represent it would be to amortise it over, say, five years. Then, the annual impact on wages would be 0.16 per cent of GDP.

The medium-term fiscal policy statement presented along with the last budget indicates that pensions in 2016-17 would remain at the same level as in 2015-16, namely, 0.7 per cent of GDP. Thus, the cumulative impact of any award is hardly something that should give us insomnia.

There are a couple of riders to this. First, the government is committed to One Rank, One Pension for the armed forces. This would impose an as yet undefined burden on Central government finances. Second, while the aggregate macroeconomic impact may be bearable, the impact on particular States tends to be destabilising.

The Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) estimated that the share of pay and allowances in revenue expenditure of the States varied from 29 per cent to 79 per cent in 2012-13. The corresponding share at the Centre was only 13 per cent. The problem arises because since the time of the Fifth Pay Commission, there has been a trend towards convergence in pay scales. The FFC, therefore, recommended that the Centre should consult the States in drawing up a policy on government wages.

Downsizing needed?

 
It is often argued that periodic pay revisions would be alright if only the government could bring itself to downsize its workforce — by at least 10 to 15 per cent. From 2013 to 2016, the Central government workforce (excluding defence forces) is estimated to grow from 33.1 lakh to 35.5 lakh. Of the increase of 2.4 lakh, the police alone would account for an increase of 1.2 lakh or 50 per cent. What is required is not so much downsizing as right-sizing — we need more doctors, engineers and teachers.

Downsizing of a sort has happened. The Sixth Pay Commission estimated that the share of pay, allowances and pension of the Central government in revenue receipts came down from 38 per cent in 1998-99 to an average of 24 per cent in 2005-07. Based on the budget figures for 2015-16, this share appears to have declined further to 21 per cent. In financial terms, this amounts to a reduction of 17 percentage points over 17 years or an annual downsizing of 1 per cent. It’s a different matter that it is not downsizing through reduction in numbers of personnel.

It is often said that pay increases in government must be linked to productivity. We are told that this is where government and the private sector differ hugely. However, the notion that private sector pay is always linked to productivity is a myth. In his best-selling book, Capital in the 21st Century, economist Thomas Piketty argues that the explosion in CEO pay in the West has been increasingly divorced from performance. He also argues that the emergence of highly paid “supermanagers” is an important factor driving inequality in the West.

We are seeing a similar phenomenon in the private sector in India. The serious public policy challenge, therefore, is not so much to contain a rise in pay in the public sector as finding ways to rein in pay in the private sector. It is also ironical that people should harp on linking pay to performance in the public sector when high-profile firms in the private sector such as Google and Accenture are turning away from such measurement.

A better idea would be to conduct periodic management audits of government departments on parameters such as cost effectiveness, timeliness and customer satisfaction.

Improving service delivery in government is the key issue. Periodic pay revision and higher pay at lower levels of government relative to the private sector could help this cause provided these are accompanied by other initiatives. The macroeconomic impact is nowhere as severe as it is made out to be.
(T.T. Ram Mohan is professor at IIM, Ahmedabad)
 

Tuesday, September 1, 2015