Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Malfunctioning of Finacle and Mcamish – Programme of action by FNPO

 FEDERATION OF NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANISATIONS
       NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES GROUP – C
              T – 24, ATUL GROVE ROAD, NEW DELHI – 110001

      No. FNPO/CBS/2016                   dated 30-05-2016

To
The Secretary
Department of posts
New Delhi – 110001.

Sir,
        Sub – Malfunctioning of Finacle and Mcamish – Programme of
                   Action – reg
        Ref – Federation Letter No.120/2016   dated 28-03-2016

                  Kindly recollect our personal discussion on 27-05-2016 and with the General Secretary on 26-05-2016 on the above subject.

                  As we are assured that the issues in the software will be resolved by the first week of June 2016 and normalcy will be restored, we will wait till 10-06-2016.

                  In case of non settlement of the problem there is no alternative to my federation except to give a call to the officials to leave the office after their fixed working hours without waiting for the EOD.
                                                                                               Yours Sincerely

           D.kishan rao                                                             D.Thegarajan
     General Secretary                                                       Secretary General

       NAPE, Group – C                                                                FNPO

7th Pay Commission award to go to Cabinet next month

Finance Ministry plans to put up the 7th Pay Commission award for cabinet approval by fourth week of June.

7th Pay Commission award is likely to be sent to the Union Cabinet for approval next month, a top Finance Ministry official said on Thursday asked not to be named because he was not authorized to release the information.

“Implementation cell of the 7th Pay Commission met all stakeholders and took their inputs. The Empowered Committee or Secretaries group will be holding discussions internally on the inputs of 7th pay commission recommendations on June 11 and hope to put up the 7th Pay Commission award before cabinet by fourth week of June,” the official said.

The Finance Ministry received huge comments from various stakeholders on 7th pay commission recommendations.

The official also said 7th Pay Commission award for central government employees and pensioners will be implemented within July.

“The Secretaries group now is reviewing the Implementation cell’s observation and the process of 7th Pay Commission award is in the last stage,” he added.

He said Implementation cell in Finance Ministry has already sent its observation on 7th pay commission recommendations after vetting to the Secretaries group.
Source ; Times of India

Payments bank of the postal department to have Rs 800 crore corpus

NEW DELHI: Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said the payments bank of the posts department will have Rs 800 crore corpus at the beginning. 

"The payments bank of the department of posts will be functional by March 2017. It will initially have a corpus of Rs 800 crore, out of which Rs 400 crore will be equity and rest will be grant," he told reporters while announcing various achievements of his ministry in the last two years. 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on August 2015 granted 'in principle' approval to 11 applicants, including Reliance Industries Ltd, Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd, Department of Posts and Cholamandalam Distribution Services Ltd, to set up payment banks. 

The others who got the approval are Airtel M Commerce Services Limited, Fino PayTech Limited, National Securities Depository Limited, Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Tech Mahindra Limited and Vodafone m-pesa Limited. 

The payment banks will cater to the needs of small savings accounts, remittance services, low income households, small businesses and other unorganised sector entities. 

The minister also flagged off 14 vans of Digital India Outreach Campaign with the objective to create awareness about the programme.

Source:-The Economic Times

Transfers and Postings in PS Group B cadre in Vijayawada Region

R.O, Vijayawada has ordered the following transfers and Postings in PS Group B cadre  vide memo dated 30.05.2016.

Regional allotment of Inspector Posts candidates

The following Candidates who qualified in combined Graduate Level Examination 2013, approved for appointment as Inspector Posts and alloted to AP Circle under DR Quota are allotted to Vijayawada region for posting in IP cadre.
1. Ms Lakshmi Kothapalli
2. Sri Simhadri Suresh

FNPO Tendered evidence before GDS Pay Committee

FNPO tendered evidence before the GDS pay Committee headed by Sri Kamalesh Chandra, Chairman, from the official side Sri TQ Mohammad Secretary, Sri Susheel Member and from the staff side  Sri D Theagarajan, Secretary General FNPO, Sri TN Rahate, President FNPO, Sri Rajat S Das, working president , FNPO, Sri D Kishan Rao, Genral Secretary, NAPE Group-C, Sri B Shivakumar, Asstt. General Secretary, NAPE Group-C, Sri PU Muraleedharan, General Secretary, NUGDS, Sri CH. Laxmi Narayana Prsident NUGDS, Sri L LKrishna Prasad RR, NAPE Gr-C, AP Circle were tendered the evidence. A Video Presentation for 25 minutes was made before the commission showing the nature of duties of all the cadres of the GDS employees, usage of biometric devices for payment of MGNREGA, Social Security Pensions and the interview of the Hon’ble Communication Minister, Sri Ravi Sankar Prasadji covering the projects under took by the rural postal network present and future. Sukanya Samradhi Account, RPLI, sale of Godavari water, PM Suraksha Bhima Yojana were highlighted in the video. The Chairman and GDS committee keenly watched the video presentation and positively responded on the points raised in the memorandum. The Commission may call unions again in July 2016.
Some of the salient features of the evidence

1. Amending the rule 3A of the GDS conduct & Engagement Rules and allotting the GDS employees to work for 8 hours. Necessary documents obtained under RTI Act were submitted in support of the workload of the BPMs.
2. Dispensing with the unscientific point system for assessing the workload of BPMs and evaluations of new method for the GDSMC/MD/Packers keeping the future need of the rural postal system.
3. Reducing the cadres in the GDS System by making common cadre atleast two and suitably fixing the wages.
4. Fixing the wages of the GDS agents based on the scales implemented to the Central Govt. Employees in the 7th CPC minimum of Rs 20,000/- basic pay.
5. Finding ways and means for providing rented standard accommodation by the Department paying suitable HRA.
6. Cash conveyance arrangement to be made by the Department with conveyance allowance.
7. Fixed quota for the GDS employees in the PA recruitment and allowing GDS employees in the vacant posts of Postal Assistants like postmen & Group-D.
8. 5%  LR
9. The compassionate appointment of the dependents in case of   voluntary/invalid retirements
10.       Liberal transfer facility in place of limited transfer facility.
11.       Medical facilities, Group Insurance
12.       Chapter wise discussion of our Memorandum .         







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Filing your ITR? Don’t forget to claim tax relief on arrears

By 
Chandralekha Mukerji
, ET Bureau 


It is bonanza year for government employees. Around 16 lakh ex-servicemen have received the first installment of the one-rank-one-pension payouts along with another fifty-two lakh retired pensioners from central government service who would benefit from the 7th Pay Commission recommendations. Although, technically, they have earned the money years back, the pension and pay hikes will be credited as lump sum to their bank accounts only now. This could mean a huge tax bill. There is, however, an escape route which most are not aware of. As per tax rules, if you have received any portion of your salary or pension in arrears or in advance, you are allowed tax relief under section 89(1) . 

The intention of the relief is to save you from any additional tax burden due to delay in receiving your earnings . "The relief protects the taxpayer from paying a higher tax. In many cases, the individual might have moved up in the tax slab and should definitely not be penalised with higher taxes because he received his income late," says Archit Gupta, founder and CEO, ClearTax.in. Not many people understand how arrears should be taxed as the calculations are a bit complicated (see box). 

While you are claiming relief under Section 89(1) do not forget to fill Form 10E. It is is mandatory to file to be eligible to make the claim. "Taxpayers who have claimed relief under section 89(1) in the previous years but had not filed Form 10E have received letters from the department stating the relief was not allowed as Form 10E was not furnished," says Gupta. Good thing is that Form 10E can be easily filed and submitted online under e-file, other than ITR section. 


ELEMENT: Calculating tax relief on arrears correctly. 

Step 1: Calculate tax payable on the total income, including arrears for the year in which it is received 

Step 2: Calculate tax payable on the total income, excluding arrears for the year in which it is received 

Step 3: Calculate difference between tax liability in Step 1 and Step 2 

Step 4: Calculate tax payable on the total income, including arrears for the year o which the arrears relate 

Step 5: Calculate tax payable on the total income, excluding arrears for the year o which the arrears relate 

Step 6: Calculate difference between tax liability in Step 4 and Step 5 

Step 7: Subtract the tax difference you arrived at at Step 6 from Step 3. The excess amount is the tax relief you can claim. 

SOURCE: ClearTax.in 

Note: If the tax liability at Step 6 is more than the tax liability at Step 3, no relief will be allowed. 

Courtesy : The Economic Times

Monday, 23 May 2016

7th Pay Commission on pay and pension: Pensioners to gain the most at 23.63%

7th Pay Commission on pay and pension: Once the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission are implemented, the biggest gainers will be pensioners.
 While the 7th Pay Commission pay scale increase of serving employees is 16%, pensioners will see a 23.63% rise. However, the big gain per se is in allowances, which rise by as much as 63%. Here is an elaboration of the 7th Pay Commission pension recommendations:

Going by the numbers, pension payments could well be the next time-bomb. Based on the 7th Pay Commission data, already pension payments account for a third of the government’s wage bill. That is going to rise sharply over the next 10 years. It is driven by the fact that 9.48 lakh employees accounting for 29% of the 30.32 lakh employees on the rolls now are in the 50-60-year band. By this time in 10 years, that means the government will need to pay for an additional million pensioners. So, the pension bill will continue to rise – with better health, most people live almost 20 years after retirement.

The Urban Development Ministry will see the sharpest fall (61.3%) followed by the Department of Posts (41.6%). However, the Indian Railways will account for half of the retirees (4.94 lakh). Despite the 37.5% fall in employees, the Indian Railways will still have 9.22 lakh employees if no new ones are hired.

This is also due to the fact that there has been no real move to reduce the government employee base over the years. While there are 33 lakh employees now it was 32.74 lakh in 2006 and 32.31 lakh in 2010. The only relief from the pension bomb will come when those employed after 2004 come to retirement age. These people are covered under the National Pension Scheme where the pensions they receive will depend on the payout they make while being employed. However, these employees will reach the retirement age a good 30 years from now. Check out 7th Pay Commission on pay and pension quick calculator below:
 Employees (in lakh)In 50-60- yr group% share
Railways13.164.9437.54%
MHA9.80.686.94%
Defence (civil)3.981.5137.94%
Posts1.90.7941.58%
Urban devp0.310.1961.29%
Atomic energy0.320.1134.38%
Health0.210.0733.33%
Accts & audit0.480.1633.33%
Revenue0.960.3334.38%
Others1.860.737.63%
Total32.989.4828.74%

 Source:http://www.financialexpress.com/article/economy/7th-pay-commission-on-pay-and-pension-calculators-pensioners-to-gain-the-most-at-23-63/175621/

President conveys his appreciation and admiration for India’s unparalleled postal network.

Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India held a meeting with Shri Ravishankar Prasad, Minister for Communications and IT at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on 20th May 2016, in which the central topic of discussion was the ongoing transformation of the postal network. The President enquired about the modernisation project, and was happy to learn about how the induction of IT was making service delivery at post offices contemporary. He also used the occasion to convey his fondness and admiration for the postal network to the postal staff, through the Minister.

File photo of President Mukherjee with Minister Prasad at a stamp release function in October 2014. Courtesy:www.prokerala.com

Details of this interaction with the President were revealed by Shri Prasad himself, during his keynote address on 22nd May 2016, at the Conference of the Heads of Postal Circles at Hyderabad.

There have been a few other occasions in the past also when the Department has had the opportunity to benefit from President Mukherjee words of guidance and came in for praise from him. While inaugurating an international postal event at New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan in 2013, he had commended the unparalleled network of the Post Office and advised that there is a huge scope for postal services to be engaged in e-commerce, and that it should capitallise on the rising demand for such business products. On that occasion, he had also highlighted the need to move with the times, and said that globalization and easier movement of workforce across nations have opened a great window of opportunity for the postal sector in parcel and money remittance businesses. Further, he had emphasised that worldwide, postal administrations enjoy the trust of people and advised that the Post Office must leverage this and other strengths to provide improved quality of service to the people.


Inauguration of the new building of the Rashtrapati Bhavan PO 
in July 2014. Photo courtesy: Exposeindialive.com

It is no surprise then that hearing from the Minister about developments like the networking of post offices, postal savings coming on a CBS platform and the Post Office preparing to set up a Payments Bank would have been a matter of satisfaction for him. His sending a message a message to the postal staff through the Minister is a rare gesture, which is sure to inspire them to higher standards of service delivery.

The words of appreciation from the President represent the increasing significance of the Postal network in the national mainstream and in public perception. With it also comes a higher responsibility for the management and staff of India Post, the responsibility of living up to the expectations of the country’s First Citizen.

Rs. 800 cr. for Postal Payments Bank

Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad has stated that the Centre would invest Rs.800 crore in the proposed India Post payments bank, which is expected to become operational by March next. Half of it would be from the Department of Posts/Centre and the remaining would be equity.

RBI clearance

An additional Rs.400 crore would be mobilised as equity for the payments bank, to which the Reserve Bank of India had already given clearance, the Minister said here on Sunday while speaking on the sidelines of the three-day annual conference of heads of circles of the Department of Posts.

The payments bank would also offer third-party services of about 50 Indian and overseas financial institutions including insurance products, mutual funds, banking instruments and debt-equity and the board of the bank would decide the modalities of extending such services. “World Bank, Citi Bank, Deutsch Bank, Barclays and several others have already expressed their intent to partner with the India Post payments bank”, the Minister said.

Financial inclusion

Stating that payments bank would become a big platform for financial inclusion in the country, the Union Minister said performance of the Department of Posts had improved considerably during the last two years. He pointed out that from 2 per cent negative growth in revenue from parcel service as part of e-commerce in 2013-14, it went up by 45 per in 2014-15 and by 81 per cent in 2015-16.

The CAG had termed India Post speed post service best courier service in the country and its revenue was up by 8 per cent during 2015-16 compared to the previous year. With 1,54,939 post offices across the country, including 1,29,379 in rural areas, the Department of Posts had played a key role in financial inclusion by having 85.28 lakh accounts with a deposit of over Rs.4,500 crore in Sukanya Samriddhi accounts against just 4 lakh accounts achieved by all other banks put together, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

As part of digitisation and technological up-gradation, the department would soon introduce hand-held devices to 1.3 lakh rural postal staff for speedy and efficient banking, insurance and delivery services.

The Minister said 4,000 devices were already being used on pilot basis in six States including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

World Bank, Citi Bank, ready to partner with India Post: Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

Source : http://www.thehindu.com