One Rank One Pension – Not Happy with OROP Tables – Veterans Woe to Continue Protest

One Rank One Pension – Not Happy with OROP Tables – The veterans body has said that anomalies remain in the OROP scheme announced by the government.

OROP tables and detailed instructions for One Rank One Pension scheme issued by the government have not satisfied protesting military veterans who have vowed today to continue their protest. The veterans body has said that anomalies remain in the OROP scheme announced by the government.

“OROP tables short-change widows, reservists, battle casualties, havildars, subedars and subedar majors. The Jantar Mantar protest will continue and legal options will be exercised,” Col Anil Kaul (Retd), spokesperson for the protesting ex-servicemen said. The statement came after veterans met today at the Jantar Mantar over the OROP scheme implementation issue to decide on the future course of action.

The main complaint with OROP tables is that instead of giving the highest pension at one rank, government has decided on giving the average pension of a rank which ‘nullifies’ the meaning and definition of OROP. The annual recurring financial implication of OROP at the current rate will be approximately Rs 7,500 crore, the government said yesterday as it issued detailed instructions for the scheme.

The government issued OROP tables which said that the arrears from July 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015 would be approximately Rs 10,900 crore. 86 per cent of the total expenditure on account of OROP will benefit the Junior Commissioned Officers and other ranks. The total increase in the defence budget for pensions is estimated to go up from Rs 54,000 crore (BE 2015-16) to around Rs 65,000 crore (proposed BE 2016-17), thereby increasing the defence pension outlay by about 20 per cent.

The government’s OROP order said that the payment of arrears and revision of pension under One Rank One Pension is to be made by the Pension Disbursing Authorities in four instalments, except for family pensioners and pensioners in receipt of gallantry awards who will be paid arrears in one instalment. The government had in November last year taken the decision to implement OROP scheme, “fulfilling” the long standing demand of defence personnel after 42 years. The move will benefit over 18 lakh ex-servicemen and war widows.

Source: Financial Express

Discontinue the Practice of Appointing Pay Commissions every 10 years – AK Mathur

Discontinue the Practice of Appointing Pay Commissions every 10 years – According to Mathur, this could be avoided if a system of annual salary hikes — as in the private sector — is implemented for government staff as well.

The Centre could discontinue the practice of appointing pay commissions every 10 years to suggest salary revisions for its staff, justice AK Mathur, chairman of the Seventh Central Pay Commission (7th CPC), said. Instead, he said, the government could have a mechanism for annual increment in salaries, taking into account all aspects including the consumer prices. While the dearness allowance offsets the impact of retail inflation on the salaries of government employees, the salary increases are now accorded by way of the pay commission-awarded “fitment” factor and annual increment.

Since pay commission awards come once in 10 years, the two to three years subsequent to each award tend to be fiscally stressful for the government — the latest instances are FY09 and FY10, years when the Centre’s fiscal deficit exceeded 6% and states too suffered major blows to their finances.

According to Mathur, this could be avoided if a system of annual salary hikes — as in the private sector — is implemented for government staff as well. “The government should review the matter (salary of its staff) every year looking into the data available to it and based on the price index,” he told.

The 7thCPC, which submitted its report to the government on Thursday, has proposed an increase of 23.55% in the pay (salary and allowances) of central government employees and similar increase in pensions, which will become effective from January 1, 2016. The additional payout is projected to be Rs 1.02 lakh crore in FY17, or 0.65% of GDP, making it difficult for the government to reduce the fiscal deficit by 0.4% to 3.5% of GDP in the year. India Ratings in a note said the actual impact of the 7th CPC award could be higher at Rs 1.27 lakh crore after taking into account the arrears for three months (January-March) as the implementation will be from April 1, 2016.

Concurring with the Mathur, India Ratings chief economist Devendra Pant said the huge salary revision after the 6th CPC award came at a time when there was a global slowdown and the impact was severe on the exchequer for the initial two years. “A formula needs to be developed by the government to implement salary revision in every two or three years,” Pant said. The formula can take into account benefits like fitment and annual increment, besides DA given in the present pay commission format. If periodic revision was applied, the cumulative impact of Rs 1.02 lakh crore of the 7th CPC would have been spread over several years, rather than primarily in FY17 and FY18, providing the government with better absorbing capacity. The pay commission recommendations also put huge burden the state governments, PSUs and central universities, which take their cue from the commissions and undertake similar pay revisions.

Mathur said that the 7th CPC should take credit for timely submission of report which avoided the need for the government to pay massive arrears unlike in the case of the 6th CPC award (which came 31 months after the due date).

Mathur said the recommendation for a virtual one-rank-one-pension scheme for both the civilian and armed forces was one of the most important recommendations of the panel. “It will be difficult for the government to go back on this,” he said. He said the commission did not consider the OROP announced by the government for armed forces earlier this year as it was not part of their mandate.

Mathur said the panel’s recommendations were in consonance with of the financial position of the government conveyed to it and hence, “the present dispensation that we have given, I think the government will be more keen to accept”.

[ Financial Express ]

No more Affidavits, Interviews for Government Jobs

No more Affidavits, Interviews for Government Jobs – “The most revolutionary and path breaking decision is abolition of attestation of certificates by gazetted officers instead promoting self-attestation.”

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Path-breaking initiatives like discontinuation of affidavits for host of government services and ending job interviews for various posts from January 1 among other initiatives kept the Ministry of Personnel in news during 2015.

 

“The most revolutionary and path-breaking decision is abolition of attestation of certificates by gazetted officers instead promoting self-attestation,” Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh told PTI.

He said the government took this decision as it was willing to trust citizens, more importantly it’s youth who will not give wrong information while submitting self-attested documents.

This decision has come as a big relief to common people, especially those living in rural areas, who had to take lot of pain in getting documents attested.

The Ministry also recently discontinued the practice of submission of affidavit by the family members of deceased government employees for the appointment on compassionate grounds.

Now people are required to submit self-declaration at the time of applying for compassionate appointment. All states and union territories have also been asked by the Centre to do away with practice of getting gazetted officer-signed affidavit and seek self-attestation.

“We have decided that from January 1, next year, the process of interview for Group C and D recruitments will be abolished,” he said, adding that these are some steps which nobody thought of in past over 60 years after country’s independence.

Singh said the Ministry which is held by the Prime Minister started several measures to increase transparency and simplify governance.

“We have started the process of simplification of various application forms being used in the government. We are converting multi-page application forms into one-page,” the Minister said.

Talking about other initiatives, he said a pension portal has been started. “Those who are getting superannuated can check the status of their pension online. They can also check pension payment orders online,” Singh said.

He said out of 6.5 lakh public grievances received by his ministry during the year, 4.8 lakh were disposed of.

“The ministry will continue to work towards simplifying governance,” Singh said.

In another novel initiative, the ministry started yoga camps for the central government employees and their dependents.

Besides, it exempted the parents of differently-abled children from the mandatory transfers so that they can take proper care of them.

The scheme of interaction of officers with school students has been launched in which the officers of government of India visit schools and share their experiences with the students.

As a pilot project, senior officers of Department of Personnel and Training have visited kendriya vidyalayas in Delhi and interacted with the students.

For the first time in the history of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the officers of 2013 batch were posted as assistant secretary in the Central Secretariat for a period of three months.

In order to crack a whip on non-performing bureaucrats, it has started assessing the performance of employees. The government has asked all its departments to identify such public servants and move proposals for their premature retirement.

The Personnel Ministry has formed rules to check unauthorised stay on foreign postings by IAS, IPS and IFS officers.

[ Financial Express ]

Suresh Prabhu flags off first double decker Goa Mumbai train - PTI

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today flagged off the first Goa to Mumbai double-decker Shatabdi train through video conference from here.

By: PTI | Panaji | December 6, 2015 9:57 PM 

 

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today flagged off the first Goa to Mumbai double-decker Shatabdi train through video conference from here.

The train will run thrice a week between Margao and the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) in Mumbai.

“I am always ready to support the demands of Goa government. They requested for the train and we ensured it could happen,” Prabhu said.

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik were present on the occasion.

Parsekar said the fully air-conditioned double decker train would help boost tourism.

“The train will help tourists to come to Goa. I am happy the service has been started. It’s the first fully air-conditioned double decker train of its kind in India,” he added.

The double decker train will cover the distance in around 12 hours. It has eight compartments with a seating capacity of 120 in each compartment.   
[PTI] [Financial Express]

India determined not to let Paris climate meet fail: Govt - PTI

Ahead of key ministerial talks, India today said it is determined not to make the Paris climate meet like past summits where nations returned with "false optimism and fictitious hopes"...

By: PTI | Paris | December 6, 2015 9:46 PM

 

Ahead of key ministerial talks, India today said it is determined not to make the Paris climate meet like past summits where nations returned with “false optimism and fictitious hopes” and would ensure that rich countries pay back their “debt for overdraft” drawn on the carbon space.

 

The statement comes a day before the crucial high level segment gets underway where ministers of 195 countries will deliberate on the draft negotiating text which emerged yesterday to reach a final agreement to tackle the challenge of climate change.

 

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar who arrived here to attend the high level segment said that although nations are “midway” in their journey to reach a new climate agreement, substance-wise it is “sometimes at crossroads” while hinting at the various unresolved issues which remain in the draft negotiating text.

 

Noting that the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a “fundamental global climate constitution”, India also made it clear that any attempt to rewrite or to overwrite will “not be acceptable”.

 

“We are at this time midway on our journey to reach new climate agreement, but substance-wise we are not midway but sometimes at crossroads. India is ready and committed to work with French Presidency which has done a monumental job over the last one year to build political momentum,” Javadekar said.

 

Noting that India will not let the Paris conference fail in reaching its objectives, Javadekar said that the country will ensure that the seminal principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) is respected.

 

“India is also determined not to make Paris summit like past summits where we all returned home with false optimism and fictitious hopes.

 

“For India it is a question of present and future lives of our 1.27 billion people with aspirations to develop. We will not let this meeting fail to reach its objectives.

 

“India is here to ensure that seminal principle of CBDR is respected, and India is here to ensure that rich countries pay back their debt for overdraft that they have drawn on the carbon space,” Javadekar said.

 

The text that was handed to ministers yesterday still contains all the unresolved options on key issues at stake.

 

Observers have maintained that very little actual progress has been made in terms of compromises and agreements on the contentious points.

 

“UNFCCC is a global climate constitution. It is fundamental. Any attempt to rewrite or to overwrite will not be acceptable to anybody.

 

“Our collective decision should be based on Science, CBDR and Collective Conscience,” Javadekar said.

 

After week long negotiations, contentious issues like financing by developed nations to developing ones to tackle the challenge of climate change, CBDR, access to technologies still remain on the table.

 

The contentious issues which has been raised by India and which still remain are positioning of the agreement visa-a-vis the convention while the second is the process by which INDC becomes nationally determined mitigation commitment (NDMCs).

 

Another issue which India has raised is the mechanism for global stock take and updating of INDCs. India has said that global stock taking is in view of a global aggregate of the commitments that nations have made.

 

“Mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation – that is what India would like. There is a an emerging consensus but the only issue in this particular thing is once one has stock take, how does it influence the update of INDCs.

 

“While India believes it will influence on the next INDCs others believe that it updation should occur even on the existing INDC,” a key developing country negotiator had earlier said.

 

Developing countries need money and technology to make the switch to clean energy sources like solar and wind power. They are also asking for money to adapt to climate change.

 

The developed countries are willing to help but reluctant to make firm commitments as negotiators from over 190 nations look to negotiate a post-2020 deal to curb emissions and limit global temperature rise.

 

The 12-day conference, for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, is aiming to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C over pre-industrial temperatures.

[PTI] [Financial Express] First Published on December 06, 2015 9:46 pm

 

CBDT notifies emails as new communication mode with taxpayers

The amendment in the Income Tax Act was also required as the I-T department has recently launched a 'pilot project' of sending email queries, notices and summons to taxpayers while processing cases of scrutiny.

By: PTI | December 6, 2015 4:41 PM 

 

Central Board of Direct Taxes has notified use of emails as the new mode of communication between the taxman and taxpayers. (Thinkstock)

The Central Board of Direct Taxes has notified use of emails as the new mode of communication between the taxman and taxpayers, as part of the government’s e-initiative to reduce human interface and complaints of harassment and corruption in conducting tax related jobs.
The amendment in the Income Tax Act was also required as the I-T department has recently launched a ‘pilot project’ of sending email queries, notices and summons to taxpayers while processing cases of scrutiny.

According to notification 89 issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy-making body of the tax department, an amendment has been made in the Section 282 of the I-T Act (Service of notice) allowing for inclusion of taxpayers or tax paying entities’ email as the new mode of official communication along with the existing modes like courier, postage or departmental dispatch.

Henceforth, the taxman can now send official communication to “email address available in the income-tax return furnished by the addressee to which the communication relates or the email address available in the last income-tax return furnished by the addressee or in the case of addressee being a company, email address of the company as available on the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs”.

“Also, any email address made available by the addressee to the income-tax authority or any person authorised by such income-tax authority,” the CBDT notification issued in this regard earlier this week said.

The department, in order to reduce the taxpayers’ visit to the IT office, had launched the ‘pilot’ project and the first set of e-communications have been decided to be mailed to 100 chosen people each in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Chennai regions.

The CBDT had recently asked the department to “initiate the concept of using email for corresponding with taxpayers and sending through emails the questionnaire, notice etc at the time of scrutiny proceedings and getting responses from them.”

“This would eliminate the necessity of visiting the Income Tax offices by the taxpayers, particularly in smaller cases, involving limited issues and where taxpayer is able to provide details required by the Assessing Officer (AO) without necessitating his physical presence,” the order said.

Former CBDT Chairperson Anita Kapur, in a recent interview to PTI, had said that the “first-of-it’s kind initiative” was aimed at making life easy for taxpayers.

“We have been thinking how can we make life easier for taxpayers especially for those who are in the middle and the slightly higher tax bracket.

“So, now we are thinking of allowing that when a notice is issued in an assessment or scrutiny case, the taxpayer can send the department an e-response,” she had said.

The former CBDT boss had also said the purpose of introducing the system was to reduce the interface between the taxpayer and the AO.

“The taxpayer can send documents over email, scan them, upload them and it’s over. It (email-based scrutiny session) should be over and should not go beyond that.

“This is the way we are trying to address the issues of compliance and limiting the interface between the taxman and the taxpayer. This will be a sea change in our tax administration,” Kapur said.

Tax experts say the initiative will also ensure privacy of a taxpayers’ communication with his AO and the tax department.

The CBDT chief had said she was aware of instances where the taxpayers complained that the AO raised numerous queries upon meeting the assesses despite their earlier order sheets having mention of only a few queries.

The department will now soon “specify the procedure, formats and standards for ensuring secure transmission of electronic communication.”

First Published on December 06, 2015 4:41 pm

[PTI] [ The Financial Express]