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Thursday 30 June 2016

IDA increase from July 2016 is 2.4%.

Labour Bureau of India has released the Consumer Price Index for May 2016:
  It is 275 points.

With this,  the IDA rate from July 2016 is assessed as 114.8%.

From January 2016 it continues as 112.4%. 

Hence, the increase from July 2016 is 2.4%.

Wednesday 29 June 2016

29/06
Cabinet approves Implementation of the recommendations of 7th Central Pay Commission
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the implementation of the recommendations of 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) on pay and pensionary benefits. It will come into effect from 01.01.2016.
In the past, the employees had to wait for 19 months for the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations at the time of 5th CPC, and for 32 months at the time of implementation of 6th CPC. However, this time, 7th CPC recommendations are being implemented within 6 months from the due date.
The Cabinet has also decided that arrears of pay and pensionary benefits will be paid during the current financial year (2016-17) itself, unlike in the past when parts of arrears were paid in the next financial year.
The recommendations will benefit over 1 crore employees. This includes over 47 lakh central government employees and 53 lakh pensioners, of which 14 lakh employees and 18 lakh pensioners are from the defence forces.
Highlights:
1.The present system of Pay Bands and Grade Pay has been dispensed with and a new Pay Matrix as recommended by the Commission has been approved. The status of the employee, hitherto determined by grade pay, will now be determined by the level in the Pay Matrix. Separate Pay Matrices have been drawn up for Civilians, Defence Personnel and for Military Nursing Service. The principle and rationale behind these matrices are the same.
2.All existing levels have been subsumed in the new structure; no new levels have been introduced nor has any level been dispensed with. Index of Rationalisation has been approved for arriving at minimum pay in each Level of the Pay Matrix depending upon the increasing role, responsibility and accountability at each step in the hierarchy.
3.The minimum pay has been increased from Rs. 7000 to 18000 p.m. Starting salary of a newly recruited employee at lowest level will now be Rs. 18000 whereas for a freshly recruited Class I officer, it will be Rs. 56100. This reflects a compression ratio of 1:3.12 signifying that pay of a Class I officer on direct recruitment will be three times the pay of an entrant at lowest level.
4.For the purpose of revision of pay and pension, a fitment factor of 2.57 will be applied across all Levels in the Pay Matrices. After taking into account the DA at prevailing rate, the salary/pension of all government employees/pensioners will be raised by at least 14.29 % as on 01.01.2016.
5.Rate of increment has been retained at 3 %. This will benefit the employees in future on account of higher basic pay as the annual increments that they earn in future will be 2.57 times than at present.
6.The Cabinet approved further improvements in the Defence Pay Matrix by enhancing Index of Rationalisation for Level 13A (Brigadier) and providing for additional stages in Level 12A (Lieutenant Colonel), 13 (Colonel) and 13A (Brigadier) in order to bring parity with Combined Armed Police Forces (CAPF) counterparts at the maximum of the respective Levels.
7.Some other decisions impacting the employees including Defence & Combined Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel include :
Gratuity ceiling enhanced from Rs. 10 to 20 lakh. The ceiling on gratuity will increase by 25 % whenever DA rises by 50 %.
A common regime for payment of Ex-gratia lump sum compensation for civil and defence forces personnel payable to Next of Kin with the existing rates enhanced from Rs. 10-20 lakh to 25-45 lakh for different categories.
Rates of Military Service Pay revised from Rs. 1000, 2000, 4200 & 6000 to 3600, 5200, 10800 & 15500 respectively for various categories of Defence Forces personnel.
Terminal gratuity equivalent of 10.5 months of reckonable emoluments for Short Service Commissioned Officers who will be allowed to exit Armed Forces any time between 7 and 10 years of service.
Hospital Leave, Special Disability Leave and Sick Leave subsumed into a composite new Leave named ‘Work Related Illness and Injury Leave’ (WRIIL). Full pay and allowances will be granted to all employees during the entire period of hospitalization on account of WRIIL.
8.The Cabinet also approved the recommendation of the Commission to enhance the ceiling of House Building Advance from Rs. 7.50 lakh to 25 lakh. In order to ensure that no hardship is caused to employees, four interest free advances namely Advances for Medical Treatment, TA on tour/transfer, TA for family of deceased employees and LTC have been retained. All other interest free advances have been abolished.
9.The Cabinet also decided not to accept the steep hike in monthly contribution towards Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme (CGEGIS) recommended by the Commission. The existing rates of monthly contribution will continue. This will increase the take home salary of employees at lower levels by Rs. 1470. However, considering the need for social security of employees, the Cabinet has asked Ministry of Finance to work out a customized group insurance scheme for Central Government Employees with low premium and high risk cover.
10. The general recommendations of the Commission on pension and related benefits have been approved by the Cabinet. Both the options recommended by the Commission as regards pension revision have been accepted subject to feasibility of their implementation. Revision of pension using the second option based on fitment factor of 2.57 shall be implemented immediately. A Committee is being constituted to address the implementation issues anticipated in the first formulation. The first formulation may be made applicable if its implementation is found feasible after examination by proposed Committee which is to submit its Report within 4 months.
11. The Commission examined a total of 196 existing Allowances and, by way of rationalization, recommended abolition of 51 Allowances and subsuming of 37 Allowances. Given the significant changes in the existing provisions for Allowances which may have wide ranging implications, the Cabinet decided to constitute a Committee headed by Finance Secretary for further examination of the recommendations of 7th CPC on Allowances. The Committee will complete its work in a time bound manner and submit its reports within a period of 4 months. Till a final decision, all existing Allowances will continue to be paid at the existing rates.
12. The Cabinet also decided to constitute two separate Committees (i) to suggest measures for streamlining the implementation of National Pension System (NPS) and (ii) to look into anomalies likely to arise out of implementation of the Commission’s Report.
13. Apart from the pay, pension and other recommendations approved by the Cabinet, it was decided that the concerned Ministries may examine the issues that are administrative in nature, individual post/ cadre specific and issues in which the Commission has not been able to arrive at a consensus.
14. As estimated by the 7th CPC, the additional financial impact on account of implementation of all its recommendations in 2016-17 will be Rs. 1,02,100 crore. There will be an additional implication of Rs. 12,133 crore on account of payments of arrears of pay and pension for two months of 2015-16.
29/06
CONGRATULATIONS FOR THE LOWEST IN 70 YEARS
Zee News says that Finance Minister Mr Arun Jaitley has congratulated the central govt officers, employees and pensioners for the ‘historic rise’ in pay and pension !!!!
For what ??
The lowest increase in70 years!!!!
29/06

NOTHING TO CHEER

Cabinet has given approval to the Seventh CPC recommendations, media says. But, what exactly is the improvement made by Cabinet? Not known. There was a calculated propaganda in the media about the 'BONANZA" to be given to government employees. Now, after the decision is taken the media talks about GDP, Overall expenditure, total expenditure, impact on economy etc. etc. See the report by SEN TIMES, the so-called newspaper of bureaucrats.

The decision to this effect was taken in a meeting which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources said.
The pay panel, in November last year, had recommended a 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay at junior levels — the lowest in 70 years. The previous 6th Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike, which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008.
The government in January had set up a high-powered panel under the Cabinet Secretary to process the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission that will have a bearing on remuneration of nearly 50 lakh central government employees and 58 lakh pensioners.
The Commission had recommended a 23.55 per cent overall hike in salaries, allowances and pension involving an additional burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore, or nearly 0.7 per cent of GDP.
The entry-level pay has been recommended to be raised to Rs 18,000 per month, from the current Rs 7,000, while the maximum pay, drawn by the Cabinet Secretary, has been fixed at Rs 2.5 lakh per month from the current Rs 90,000.
While the Budget for 2016-17 did not provide an explicit provision for implementation of the 7th Pay Commission, the government had said the once-in-a-decade pay hike for government employees has been built in as interim allocation for different ministries

Tuesday 28 June 2016

From BSNL Pensioner

SCOVA MEETING AND OUR ISSUES

Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies met on 28-6-2016.The Minister for Personnel and Pension Dr Jitendra Singh attended it for few minutes only. Com. K B Krishna Rao of Karnataka P&T Pensioners Association and Com. D Balasubramanian of Chennai based Federation of Central Pensioners raised our cases in the said meeting:
78.2%: Secretary, Pension informed that a favourable Cabinet Note is submitted to Cabinet on 78.2% case for BSNL retirees.
Pension Anomaly: DoT representative assured that this case would be settled within one month. It was pointed out that several times such assurances were given but not kept up. Then DoT Representative assured again that this time it would be definitely done.
CPC REPORT AND RUMOURS
The media is simply spreading rumours. Nothing has been revealed officially to anyone. Even Staff Side leaders were not told anything. If the media reports are to be believed, the Cabinet meeting scheduled for 29th June 2016 may take up the matter. Something will come out officially on 30th. Let us wait for that.

Saturday 25 June 2016

78.2 % IDA - OUR LEADERS PURSUING..CHQ News

Our Dy. GS Com. Gangadhara Rao and Karnataka Circle Secretary Com. Changappa met Shri Ananthakumar, Honourable Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers, appraised him of the present position of our case and requested his help once again for early clearance of the case by Cabinet.

Shri Ananthakumar assured that he would do needful.

Friday 24 June 2016

CHQ NEWS-LATEST
24/06
Every day, through Telephone calls, Whatsapp, Emails and SMS – we are receiving enquires about further developments in the case of 78.2%.One comrade from Varanasi informed that some BSNL pensioner there even got a copy of the order issued by Government. We do understand the anxiety of BSNL pensioners. It is a very very important issue for them. But, not for the Government or the Cabinet.
We can not expect that Shri Narendra Modiji, the Prime Minister, will cancel his foreign trips and wait in Delhi office to sign the order for us. 78.2% case is not an issue of national importance for him.
One week back, Department of Telecom has sent the Cabinet Note to Cabinet Secretariat.They are expected to include this item in the agenda for Cabinet meeting within a period of two weeks. Central Cabinet is meeting every Wednesday. It met on 22-6-2016 also. 78.2% was not an item for that meeting.Even after including the item in the agenda, Cabinet may postpone discussion and decision.Cabinet may take up politically important issues first.Service matter has least priority for the Government and political leaders.
Due to our persistent efforts, the issue of 78.2% has reached Cabinet Secretariat. Thereafter it will complete normal formalities and procedures. We have to wait.There is no other way.
SO, BE PATIENT.

Sunday 19 June 2016

LATEST NEWS


THE "GIFT" MAY COME FROM THE PRIME MINISTER

19/06
Some media, close to the Finance Ministry, reports that The Empowered Committee of Secretaries, headed by Cabinet Secretary, met on last Tuesday and prepared its report. The Committees Report is with Finance Ministry and Finance Ministry is preparing the Cabinet Note on it. It is further reported that Cabinet may take a decision in first week of July.
There may be some improvement in the recommendations of Seventh CPC. Those improvements will be announced as a GIFT FROM THE PRIME MINISTER.
It is all speculations. Officers are not willing to say anything. Till something is announced officially treat such reports as rumours. They may turn out as false or true.

STAFF SIDE WILLING FOR NEGOTIATION AND AVOID STRIKE

19/06
Excerpts from the Letter dated 14-6-2016 from Secretary, Staff Side of JCM to the Prime Minister:

" .........When the 7th CPC was set up in February, 2014, no announcement for Interim Relief or DA Merger was made by the then government, which had all along been the practice whenever the government had set-up the Pay Commissions earlier. We fully co-operated with the Commission, submitted a memorandum detailing the issues and explained the reasoning behind each demand. The 7th CPC submitted report on 19.11.2015 to the government. In our communication dated 10.12.2015 (copy enclosed), we sought improvement/amendment over the recommendations of the 7th CPC and explained our demands both in writing and orally before the Empowering Committee. Most of the meetings were monologues except perhaps the last one. What we have understood, is that, the Empowering Committee might not come forward to make any major changes. A fruitful meeting is supposed to be a dialogue where both parties at the negotiating table exchange their understanding, views and difficulties and reach a mutually acceptable position. In 1998, when the then Cabinet Secretary decided not to have such a dialogue with the Staff Side and unalterably issued the Government Notification on the 5th CPC recommendations, the then government did set up a committee of Group of Ministers. The GoM held discussions on all issues and averted the strike action. The 1998 situation establishes, without an iota of doubt, that, the Staff Side has always taken reasonable stand on all the issues and paved way for settlement.
The one and only recommendation made by the 7th CPC was to provide some relief to the past old pensioners. The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has unfortunately recommended to the Cabinet Secretary that, even that recommendation must be rejected on the specious plea that the requisite relevant records might not be available.

These developments have caused anguish, anxiety and anger amongst the workers. It is now more than six months that the Commission submitted its report. If the government comes forward to hold a meaningful discussion with the leaders of the NJCA, a mutually acceptable settlement can be brought about and the impending strike, slated to commence from 11.07.2016, can ultimately be avoided.
We seek your co-operation, supports and intervention in the matter

Saturday 18 June 2016

LATEST NEWS

18/06
[Yesterday, large number of comrades conveyed their happiness and congratulations on hearing that the Cabinet Note has finally gone out of Sanchar Bhavan. I could not respond immediately as there was no telephone line, or electricity of wifi because of sudden storm in my area... ......................................P S Ramankutty}
IT IS BECAUSE OF ORGANIZATION
After persistent persuasion and consistent efforts the Cabinet Note is gone. This Note was ready in December 2014. For about 20 months it was shuttling from one room to another; from one officer to another in Sanchar Bhavan. There was avoidable delay in DoT and DOE too. Without getting provoked, with patience we pursued the matter. Things moved because of thecollective efforts made by our CHQ leaders like Comrades Natarajan, D Gopalakrishnan, Muthiyalu and Vittoban in Chennai, Gangadhara Rao, BabuandChangappa in Bangalore, R C Malhotra, R L Kapoor and Sisodia in Delhi, Mitkary and Pillay in Nagpur etc. I can not forget the wonderful work done by late Comrade Chhiddu Singh. It is because of the timely action by our leaders at different places who conveyed their anger and anguish to the Minister through Emails, SMS etc. It is because of a vibrant organization and vigilant rank and file all over the Country. AIBSNLPWA is not an organization confined to a room and a computer.It does not depend upon any leader or any service Union.It is an independent organization with a collective leadership.
I acknowledge the work done by other organizations also.
We should be thankful to the Minister Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad who cleared the File on the same day or the next day after receiving it in his office. 
We must be thankful to Shri Ananthakumar, Honourable Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers for his effective intervention on many occasions that moved the File at different levels on different occasions
I still remember how Coms Natarajan and Gopalakrishnan remained calm in Delhi and worked for the case when their family members were in distress due to unprecedented floods in Chennai those days. I could not go to Delhi then due to personal reasons. I sat in Trivandrum and co-ordinated the work to some extent.
I hope that the Cabinet will accord approval to the proposal without further delay. It is only a ‘service matter’ for the Government; not a political issue. Still, I feel there is no reason why it should be denied or delayed.Let us wait with hope.
AIBSNLPWA   Salem East 5thDISTRICTCONFERRENCE

AIBSNLPWA   Salem East 5thDISTRICTCONFERRENCE  was held ON 12-6-2016 under the Presidentship of  Comrade K.Jegannathan.

Comrade P.Ramalingam District Secretary welcomed the gathering.

Comrade Amirthalingam TN Circle Vice President participated the conferrence.
Comrades K.Ramani  District Secretary Salem West, R.Subramanian District Secretary Dharmapuri ,P.Muniyan  District President  Dharmapuri participated as special Guests.
Comrades K.P.Rajamanikkam Secretary Mettur Branch,C.Ramasamy Secretary Namakkal 
 Branch participated. More than 140 participants including women members participated the conferrence.

President   Com. K.Jegannathan,
Secretary   Com. P.Ramalingam,
Treasurer  Com.C.Ponraj.

were elected unanimously.

Friday 17 June 2016

6
NEWS LATEST CHQ
THE CABINET NOTE ON 78.2% HAS BEEN SENT TO CABINET SECRETARIAT TODAY .

16/06

STAFF SIDE FIRM ON STRIKE DECISION

SECRETARY, OF NATIONAL JOINT ACTION COUNCIL OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES HAS WRITTEN A LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER ON 14TH JUNE 2016 STATING THAT THE ACTION COUNCIL IS FIRM ON THEIR DECISION TO GO ON INDEFINITE STRIKE FROM 11TH JULY 2016 BECAUSE ALL THE PLEAS OF THE CENTRAL STAFF HAVE GONE TO DEAF EARS.

Thursday 16 June 2016

16/06
MEDIA REPORTS; NOTHING OFFICIAL
Some media reports say that the Empowered Committee of Secretaries, headed by Cabinet Secretary, which was asked to study the VII CPC report and advise the Cabinet, has met on 14-6-2016. Media further reports that the Empowered Committee wanted to see more data from the Implementation Cell before taking a final view on the matter.
At the same time, the media reports give an impression that Empowered Committee is in favour of raising the minimum pay to Rs 24000 against Rs 18000 recommended by the CPC. Similarly the CPC recommended maximum pay of Rs 2,50,000 ( for Cabinet Secretary). The Empowered Committee favours raising it to Rs 2,70,000.
Will this hike benefit all?Details are not known now. It is all speculations by media.

Wednesday 15 June 2016

LATEST NEWS..CHQ

15/06
The government has not yet taken a final decision on the report of 7th CPC submitted in November 2015.Empowered Committee which looked into the recommendations met on 14th June 2016.The outcome is not yet disclosed. Therefore, these are the field days for rumour mongers.
National Joint Action Committee of central government employees organisations has served the notice for indefinite strike from 11th July, 2016, historic day for central government employees in India.
Some of the demands in the charter pertain to pension.They are:
(a) Parity between the past and present pensioners to be brought about on the basis of the 7th CPC recommendations with the modification that basis of computation to be the pay level of the post / grade/ scale of pay from which one retired; whichever is beneficial.
(b) Pension to be 60% of the last pay drawn in the case of all eligible persons who have completed the requisite number of years of service.
(c) The family pension to be 50% of the last pay drawn.
(d) Enhance the pension and family pension by 5% after every five years
(e) Commuted value of pension to be restored after 10 years or attaining the age of 70, whichever is earlier. Gratuity calculation to be on the basis of 25 days in the month as against 30 days as per the Gratuity Act.
(f) Fixed medical allowance for those pensioners not covered by CGHS and REHS to be increased to Rs. 2000 p.m.
(g) Provide one increment on the last day in service if the concerned employee has completed six months or more from the date of grant of last increment.
14 Exclude the Central Government employees from the ambit of the National Pension Scheme (NPS) and extend the defined benefit pension scheme to all those recruited after 1.1.2004.
WE SUPPORT THEIR DECISION FOR NATIONAL STRIKE. OUR MEMBERS ARE CALLED UPON TO EXTEND ALL POSSIBLE HELP TO MAKE THE STRIKE A GREAT SUCCESS.

Tuesday 14 June 2016

14/06
11.25 AM; 14-6-2016
Com. R L Kapoor, Legal Committee member reports

Honouring the assurance he gave to our leaders in Bangalore on 9th June 2016, 

Secretary (T) cleared the File yesterday evening and sent to Member (F). From there it moved to Member (Services) today and at present it is in the Estt. branch in Directorate for further action.
15/06
The Central Pension Accounting Office under Ministry of Finance has issued a new clarification on 13th June 2016 making it very clear that
1. All those pensioners who were drawing monthly pension after completion of 10 years qualifying service before 1-1-2006 are eligible for benefit in term of OM dated 6-4-2016.
2. These orders are not applicable to those absorbee pensioners who had got 100% lump-sum in lieu of their monthly pension on absorption in PSUs etc during 1973-1995. (No such people in BSNL).
3. Absorbee pensioners who are receiving full monthly pension would continue to be covered by the OM dated 1-9-2008 and 6-4-2016. (This includes BSNL retirees)
Hence it is now very clear that all the pensioners who retired with less than 33 years of qualifying but with at least 10 years service are eligible to get full normal pension, even if they were getting more than the minimum pension.
.BSNL retirees are also eligible to get it. There is no doubt in the above order from CPAO as DoT created some doubt in its OM dated 3-6-2016.
Click here to see the CPAO order dated 13-6-2016: 33-years-cpao-1.pdf