RETIREMENT AND PENSION ?

RETIREMENT AND PENSION ?

The news in Financial Express :  Reducing the retirement age would be really worrying to aging central government employees if it is true. One of the leading financial daily in India has in its website reported that Central Government is considering a proposal that aims to reduce retirement of age of central government employees from 60 years to 58 years.

Central Government Employees have seen the increase in retirement age from 55 to 58 in the year 1962 and from 58 years to 60 years in the year 1998, but reduction of retirement age has no precedence .Though it is practically possible to show the employees the door, who are between 58 years to 60 years and who are nearing 58 years, such employees would be much affected emotionally apart from financial loss.

Text of Financial Express’s report is as follows.

In a move that would help curb the relentless increase in the Centre’s non-Plan spending and ease the way for infusion of more young blood and professionalism into the country’s largely moribund bureaucracy, the Narendra Modi government is planning to reduce the retirement age of central government employees from the present 60 to 58.

The move that comes at a time when the Seventh Pay Commission is mulling another sharp boost to the pay structure of the Centre’s 5-million-strong workforce is also aimed at creating the requisite space for lateral entry of technically qualified professionals into the government, official sources told to Financial Express.

The retirement age was last revised in 1998, when the then NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee raised it from 58 to 60 years. The last UPA government had reportedly considered enhancing the retirement age further to 62 just before the general elections, but dropped the move.

The superannuation age was increased from 55 to 58 way back in 1962.

The total wage and salaries bill of the central government, excluding PSUs but including the railways, rose sharply between 2008 and 2010 due to the revised pay scales (along with payment of arrears) implemented as per the Sixth Pay Commission’s proposals.

The wage bill rose from Rs 1.09 lakh crore in 2007-08 to Rs 1.4 lakh crore in 2008-09, and further to Rs 1.7 lakh crore in 2009-10, before the growth moderated to Rs 1.84 lakh crore in 2010-11. The government spent Rs 2.54 lakh crore in wages and salaries in 2013-14. The railways (with 1.4 million employees), defence (civil), home affairs, India Post and revenue account for more than 80% of the total spending of the Centre on pays and allowances.

According to Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at CARE Ratings, reducing the retirement age will give the government an opportunity to outsource more jobs, including by bringing in people as temporary consultants, who will then have to be paid only a fixed salary but not pension or provident fund. Their salary component will then show up as administrative costs, rather than as wage bill

The finance ministry is weighing the pros and cons of the proposal to cut the retirement age. The move, sources said, is also in line with the BJP’s manifesto, which had promised to rationalise and converge ministries, departments and other arms of the government, open up government to draw expertise from industry, academia and society and tap the services of the youth in particular to contribute to governance.

The Madan Sabnavis report is focusing only on the economy of the country and not considering the employees welfare and their mental health on sudden retirement. Psychiatric morbidity is an important issue for all retirees. The younger people who retire are at greater risk of psychiatric morbidity.(Retirement and mental health by Dr Farooq Khan MD) For the past two decays the Central Government employees having in mind that the retirement age is 60. Sudden reduction of retirement age will give a risk of psychiatric morbidity.

According to census 2011 the life expectancy is 66.7 years and showing a increase of 4 years than that of earlier census. Life expectancy is the most important demographic indicator because it is linked to the adequacy of the retirement age. The life expectancy now is more than that of earlier period the retirement age should also be more. 

In the report on extending coverage of NPS in India prepared by Simone Stelten, Hertie School of Governance recommending the following .

As a result of the Demograhic transition there is a rising demand for oldage security, particularly of women. The choice for an internationall used retirement age of 60 years of age would be reasonable considering the raidly raising life expectancy.

The retirement ages in some of the countries.

§  Austria - 65

§  Belgium - 65

§  Denmark - 65

§  France - 65 (extending from 62 to 67 years over an 8-year period)

§  Germany - 67

§  Greece - 65

§  Italy - 60

§  Netherlands - 65 (67 for women)

§  Norway - 67

§  Spain - 65 (increasing over the coming years to 67)

§  Sweden - 65

§  Switzerland - 65 (64 for women)

§  United Kingdom - 68

§  United States - 67

The various studies reveal that the projected rate of retiree is nearly than 3% every year. If the retirement age becomes 58 the rate of retiree will be more than 10% and it is a great burden to the Government. The Government should provide some period to prepare mentally to retire before the age of 60 years which was in the mind of the all employees.  

Lastly , if Government wishes to reduce the age of retirement to 58 it is better to get the opinion of the employees by  voting this scheme by online.

Another, an  unconfirmed socking news that the Central Government wishes to stop the Pension to all the employees of the central government which covers  56 percent of GDP and it will grow 100 percent in another 25 years as the life expectancy is growing rapidly.

Notwithstanding the limited size and scope, India has a long tradition of pension and other forms of formal old age income support system. The history of the Indian pension system dates back to the colonial period of British-India. The Royal Commission on Civil Establishments, in 1881, first awarded pension benefits to the government employees. The Government of India Acts of 1919 and 1935 made further provisions. These schemes were later consolidated and expanded to provide retirement benefits to the entire public sector working population. Post independence, several provident funds were set up to extend coverage among the private sector workers

Table-6 : Projection of Pension Payment to Central Government Employees (Civil)
	(at 6% annual rate of inflation)						(Rs.Crores)
Years	Basic pension+DR			Commutation of Pension	Retirement Gratuity	Death Gratuity	Restored Commtn	PENSION BILL
	Service	SOFP	FFP
1999-2000*	1546	248	225	312	472	174	275	3250
2000-01	1677	267	242	346	546	129	283	3488
2001-02	1861	291	264	346	578	137	290	3767
2002-03	2049	318	287	346	613	145	298	4056
2003-04	2242	346	311	346	650	153	306	4355
2004-05	2457	378	339	346	689	163	313	4684
2005-06	2695	412	366	346	730	172	320	5041
2006-07	2936	449	393	346	774	183	328	5409
2007-08	3219	489	426	346	821	194	339	5833
2008-09	3489	533	461	346	870	205	346	6249
2009-10	3818	580	499	346	922	218	352	6734
CAGR	9.5%	8.9%	8.3%		6.9%	2.3%	2.5%	7.6%

The 2009–10 budget estimated a total outflow of Rs.484 billion (approximately US$10 billion or 1% of GDP) on pensions and retirement benefits of central government employees (GoI 2009b). State government expenditure on pensions stood at Rs.1003.5 billion3 (approximately US$22.5 billion) in 2009–10 (RBI 2010). The outflows are expected to rise as the cohort of hires between the 1970s and 1990s retires. Bhardwaj and Dave (2005) estimated that the implicit pension debt on account of the civil service pension worked out to roughly 56 percent of GDP, It was therefore felt that the country was spending a disproportionate amount of money on a small set of the population, which was relatively better off to begin with.

Improvement in life expectancy and decline in fertility rate are leading to a significant change in the population age structure. The old age population (aged 60 years or more) has risen from about 19.8 million in 1951 to 56.7 million in 1991, resulting in an increase of the proportion of the elderly in the total population from 5.5 to 6.9 percent. According to the World Bank (1994a) estimates, the percentage of old people is expected to rise further to 10.3% by 2020. In absolute terms, the number of elderly citizens is anticipated to nearly double between 1996 and 2016, from 62.3 million to 112.9 million. Hence the liabilities under pension will increase enormousely.

There has been a fourfold increase in the number of pensioners from 0.27 million in 1984 to 1.05 million in 1999-2000. As a result, pension payment by the Indian Railways has increased 50-fold from Rs.1060 million in 1980-81 to Rs. 53120 million in 1999-2000.

It is suggested to give a lumpsum amount(Golden Hand Shake) to the retiree at the age of 58 as calculated below.

v A three times of cent percent commutation pension

v Usual DCRG

v Usual leave encashment

v No pension either to employee or his/her family

v The DCRG & Leave encashment to be paid in cash at the time of retirement.

v An example is given in Table A

Here an employee drawing Rs 20000/= (PAY+GP) and retiring at the age of 58 on 01/2015 is taken. If,he is getting a pension of Rs10000/= p.m  and getting pension for a period of 20 years to the tune of Rs7285010/= including 40% of commutation with an average of pension of Rs 344000/=.

The amount so calculated above (Golden Hand Shake) will come to the tune of Rs30,00,000/=

                                                   Table A

PAY	15800
G.P	4200
DA	20546
TOTAL	40546
PENSION	10000
DCRG 161/2	669010
Commutation 100%	1013520		X3 times	3040560
Total	1682530	say 17 lakhs
	Pension	10000	113
Commutation 40%	405408				Annual Amount
1.1.2015	6000	11300		17300	207600
1.1.2016	6000	12300		18300	219600
1.1.2017	6000	13300		19300	231600
1.1.2018	6000	14300		20300	243600
1.1.2019	6000	15300		21300	255600
1.1.2020	6000	16300		22300	267600
1.1.2021	6000	17300		23300	279600
1.1.2022	6000	18300		24300	291600
1.1.2023	6000	19300		25300	303600
1.1.2024	6000	20300		26300	315600
1.1.2025	6000	21300		27300	327600
1.1.2026	6000	22300		28300	339600
1.1.2027	6000	23300		29300	351600
1.1.2028	6000	24300		30300	363600
1.1.2029	6000	25300		31300	375600
1.1.2030	6000	26300		32300	387600
1.1.2031	6000	27300		33300	399600
1.1.2032	6000	28300		34300	411600
1.1.2033	6000	29300		35300	423600
1.1.2034	6000	30300		36300	435600
1.1.2035	6000	31300		37300	447600
					6879600
			40% Commutation		405410
					7285010

The amount so calculated will earn interest less than the pension he will get under pension rules 1972. it is shown in Table B with a formula of 21.6p.cf/100 where p= original pension cf =commutation factor with proportion of number of years completed.

The amount on Golden Hand shake will be deposited in Postal Bank (there is a proposal ) for a period of 10 years in the name of the retiree.  

It will create more fund for the bank and it will be utilized for loan purpose and will earn more interest than provided for deposit.

     Table B

SCSS	3000000
Interest	279250
20Yrs	5585000

For existing pensioner also we can use the same formula (21.6p.cf/100)

It is calculated on the 60% of the remaining commutation of pension with a commutation factor 8.194 as retired in 60years of age.

Pension		10000
Commuted Pension		4000
Factor		8.194
				1769904
Year Completed
1	1681410
2	1592920
3	1504420
4	1415930
5	1327430
6	1238940
7	1150440
8	1061950
9	973450
10	884960
11	796460
12	707970
13	619470
14	530980
15	442480
16	353990
17	265490
18	177000
19	88500
20	0

By  O.MADHAVARAJ

ACCOUNTS OFFICER

O/o THE GENERAL MANAGER(POSTAL ACCOUNTS AND FINANCE)

WEST BENGAL CIRCLE, KOLKOTA 700012

RTP SERVICE COUNTING – SRM AMBALA CANCELLED THE ORDER

RTP SERVICE COUNTING – SRM AMBALA CANCELLED THE ORDER. NO COUNTING OF RTP SERVICE AS REGULAR SERVICE

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Union Ministers and their Constituencies as on 14/12/2014 - PDF Download

Friends.. In the recent Bank Exams it is seen that one question related to Union Ministers and their Constituencies is being asked. Hence in this post we are bringing you the list of important Union Cabinet Ministers, their Portfolios and their constituencies. You can download this post as PDF from the print friendly button below. Hope this help you.

1) Narendra Modi- Prime Minister - (Constituency: Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh)

2) Shri Rajnath Singh -Minister of Home Affairs -(Constituency : Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh)

3) Smt. Sushma Swarajy - Minister of External Affairs, Overseas Indian Affairs - (Constituency: Vidisha , Madhya Pradesh)

4) Shri Arun Jaitley - Minister of Corporate Affairs, Finance -(Gujarat Rajya Sabha)

5) Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu- Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Parliamentary Affairs - (Karnataka Rajya Sabha)

6) Shri Nitin Gadkari - Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping - (Constituency: Nagpur, Maharashtra)

7) Shri D V Sadananda Gowda - Law & Justice - (Constituency: Bangalore North, Karnataka)

8) Sushri Uma Bharati - Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation - (Constituency: Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh)

9) Dr. Najma A. Heptulla - Minister of Minority Affairs - (Madhya Pradesh- Rajya Sabha)

10) Shri Ram Vilas Paswan - Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution - (Constituency: Hajipuri, Bihar)

11) Shri Kalraj Mishra - Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises- (Constituency: Deoria, Uttar Pradesh)

12) Smt. Maneka Gandhi - Minister of Women and Child Development - (Constituency: Pilibhit , Uttar Pradesh)

13) Shri Ananth Kumar - Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers- (Constituency : Bangalore South, Karnataka)

14) Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad - Minister of Communications & Information Technology- (Constituency: Bihar - Rajya Sabha)

15) Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati - Minister of Civil Aviation - (Constituency: Vizianagaram , Andhra Pradesh)

16) Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal - Minister of Food Processing Industries - (Constituency: Bathinda , Punjab)

17) Shri Anant Gangaram Geete - Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises - (Constituency: Raigad , Maharashtra)

18) Shri Jual Oram - Minister of Tribal Affairs- (Constituency: Sundargarh, Odisha)

19) Shri Radha Mohan Singh - Minister of Agriculture - (Constituency: Purvi Champaran , Bihar)

20) Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot - Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment - (Madhya Pradesh, Rajya Sabha)

21) Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani - Minister of Human Resource Development - (Gujarat, Rajya Sabha)

22) Shri. Manohar Parrikar - Minister of Defence - (Uttar Pradesh, Rajya Sabha)

23) Shri Suresh Prabhu - Minister of Railways - (Haryana, Rajya Sabha)

24) Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda - Minister of Health & Family Welfare - (Himachal Pradesh, Rajya Sabha)

25) Shri Narendra Singh Tomar - Minister of Mines, Steel - (Constituency: Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh)

A post office in Kerala which 'delivers' mails to God

Sabarimala (Kerala): It is a unique post office, and one of its main tasks is to deliver letters to God. Located near the famed Hindu temple at the Sabarimala hills, the post office may perhaps be the only one in the country which does not work round the year. It comes alive when the peak pilgrimage season of the Ayyappa shrine begins on the first day of the Malayalam month in November, and the period ends towards the middle of January.

The post office is also open for 10 days during the Vishu season. Functioning six days a week from 8 in the morning to 8 at night, the six employees, led by 23-year-old Sai G Prakash, have a lot to do. Prakash is happy to be here, and says he was a devotee of Lord Ayyappa.

"Our post office mostly gets invitation cards for weddings and shop openings addressed to Lord Ayyappa, obviously to seek divine blessings," Prakash said.

The post office is also open for 10 days during the Vishu season. Functioning six days a week from 8 in the morning to 8 at night, the six employees, led by 23-year-old Sai G Prakash, have a lot to do.
Most such mails come from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, he said. But the three letter boxes kept in the temple complex get more than post cards and envelopes. Every morning, the staff find scores of identity cards and wallets too in them.

"We make it a point to mail these cards to the individuals concerned," Prakash said. The employees often spend their own money to do this. "Since this season began, I have posted close to 20 PAN cards to the income tax office."

Police say all this is the work of pickpockets who operate in the temple town -- crowded during the pilgrimage season. The criminals pocket the money from the wallets and dump the cards -- and wallets -- in the post boxes.

Situated in the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats at 914 metres above sea level, the Sabarimala temple is four kilometres uphill from Pamba in Pathanamthitta district, around 100 km from Thiruvananthapuram.

The temple is accessible only on foot from Pamba. During the last pilgrimage season, more than 4.5 million devotees visited the shrine. This season the authorities expect a 10 percent increase.

A feature of the post office is the special pictorial cancellation stamp of the 18 steps that led to the Lord Ayyappa shrine. "Some devotees come and buy covers or cards and write their own address and post them here," said Prakash. "This is their souvenir."

The post office helps pilgrims to post 'appom' and 'aravana' (the temple prasad). It also sells mobile recharge coupons.

Of the six employees, three walk down the hill daily carrying the outgoing mail on their heads. When they walk up, they carry bags of mail -- mostly addressed to Lord Ayyappa. "Overall we enjoy what we do here," said Prakash. "We are very happy we got this posting.

Source : http://ibnlive.in.com/

RD Issues in Finacle - FAQ

  RD Issues

(i)  RD Premature Closure when requested within 3 years

Counter PA should be careful while closing RD account. System will THROW EXCEPTION if the RD account is closed within the lock in period and if exception is accepted, it will allow premature closure. Therefore, Counter PA should not accept the EXCEPTION and should not proceed further. If EXCEPTION is accepted, Counter PA will be responsible for closure.

(ii) Death Closure of RD products

During closure of RD once the customer dies, the user will have to update Date of death in CIF after marking as "Deceased" and then invoke the menu CRDCAAC and select death closure as ‘Yes’ and then select whether PSS closure is applicable or not. Date of death will automatically be taken from CIF.

(iii)  Is it possible to waive the default fee for defaulted RD accounts in Finacle?

Solution: No. Finacle will automatically calculate the default fee. It is not possible to waive the default fee.

(iv) Can RD accounts be extended?

Solution: Extension is automatic in Finacle on the day of maturity. On the day of maturity, during EOD, eligible RD accounts where 60 months intallments are deposited will be extended for a further period  of 60 months. If any account is missed, it can also be extended manually using PRDCM menu

 

(v) Can the maturity date deferred

Solution: Customer has the liberty to have maximum of 4 defaults on the day of maturity. Maturity date can be deferred equivalent to the number of defaults using the menu PMDDRD(Maturity Date Deferment for Recurring Deposit). During the deferred period, defaults deposits can be paid without default fee.

(vi) In case if there are cases of default and rebate in account, cheque should be prepared for what amount.

Solution: In case if the monthly deposit is Rs.1000/- and there is a default of Rs.10/- (one month default) and the customer is to pay for 7 monthly deposits to get rebate of Rs.100/-. Total cheque amount should be

Total 7 months deposit – 7 x 1000 – Rs.7000

Default                                                - Rs.10

Rebate                                                - Rs.100

 Total cheque amount                     - 7000+10-100=6910

(vii)  Is it mandatory to open RD Loan account separately for taking half  withdrawal

For Half Withdrawal, RD Loan accounts needs to be opened in Finacle. Corresponding RD account will be collateral for this RD Loan account. RD Loan account number will be the same RD account number but suffixed by “1”.  If RD Loan Principal is outstanding during migration, RD Loan account will be created automatically.

(viii)  Whether RD Loan account number will be created during migration if RD PRINCIPAL IF FULLY PAID and Interest is pending or partially paid

No. RD Loan account will not be created if the RD Loan Principal is fully paid. For RD Loan interest, LIEN will be marked for the corresponding RD account. Before closure, LIEN amount should be collected and LIEN to be removed by invoking the menu HALM.

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(ix) Can the RD account be closed without closing the RD Loan Account?

No. RD accounts cannot be closed without closing the Loan account as this RD is marked as COLLATERAL for the RD Loan accounts.

(x) Can the RD account be transferred without transferring the RD Loan account?

solution -RD Account can be transferred only when loan account is closed.

(xi)  What is the Procedure of RD account closure when RD Loan was taken?

Premature Closure

Invoke the RD Closure menu CRDCAAC from Operator Login. System will automatically deduct the RD Loan amount and interest will be calculated on SB Rate of interest as per rule. Loan interest will not be calculated. RD Loan account balance will become 0 but will not be closed.  Loan account with Zero balance should be remained as it is and not closed. No need to invoke HLAUPAY or HPAYOFF for repaying the Loan amount.

On Maturity

RD Loan amount should be adjusted before closing the RD account. Invoke the menu HPAYOFF (Loan Pay Off Process) to pay the pending principal along with interest. Interest will be calculated at the prescribed rate. Total amount displayed to be collected from the customer. In case of transfer, select the repayment account of customer or office account from where the loan amount is adjusted. Supervisor need to verify the same. Invoke the menu HCAAC to close the RD Loan account and verify the same. Invoke the menu CRDAAC to close the RD Account.

(xii) Can the loan amount be less than 50% of sanctioned amount?

While opening Loan Account invoking menu CAOLARD, 50% of RD balance will be sanctioned. But the operator has the option to modify (reduce) the sanction amount but the amount should be in multiples of Rs.5/- but sanctioned amount cannot be increased. LARDD menu to be invoked to disburse the loan amount.

(xiii) Is it mandatory that RD Loan amount to be accompanied with RD monthly deposit?

No. As per existing rule, RD Loan cannot be made without depositing the monthly deposits. But, in CBS Post Offices, since RD Loan is separate account in Finacle, system will allow you to pay only the RD Loan amount without paying the monthly deposits.

(xiv)  Will system allow Loan / Half withdrawal in extended period?

Yes. As per rule, only one Half withdrawal ie Loan is allowed in the entire life term of RD account ie 60 months if the account satisfies the eligibility conditions.

(xv) Why Default fee is displayed even after paying the current month deposit?

This is common complaint made by Post Offices. In Finacle there is no concept of “PAID FOR THE MONTH OF” like in Sanchay Post. From account open date to current month, number of months will be calculated and if the number of months paid is less than the number of months to be paid, then system will consider it as DEFAULT. In case if there are gaps in between ie intermittent gaps in sanchay post ie for eg - 3 intermittent defaults, Finacle will push all the deposits and last three months will be shown as default even though the current month deposit has been made. Therefore, ask the customer to pay first for the defaulted month.

(xvi) How Default fee is calculated in Finacle?

In Finacle Default fee will be calculated as per the new Default Fee structure as per recently modified rate ie 5 paisa for every 5 rupees and Re.1/- for Rs.100/- deposit instead of Rs.2/-

(xvii) Can the current month deposit be paid without paying the defaulted instalment or without paying the default fee?

No. Current month deposit cannot be paid without paying the defaulted instalment. Default fee also cannot be waived. Only in case of Maturity deferred cases, defaulted instalments can be paid without default fee in the deferred period.

(xviii)  Error “A time stamp error occurred” during RD account closure?

This is happening due to Verification pending for some modification made in the respective account. Verify the account by invoking the menu CRDACM by supervisor and then proceed for closure.

(xix)  Error “Parent record does not exist for the record 0000123456” during bulk posting by invoking the menu HAGTXP.

This happening due to following reason:-

When single cheque is given for multiple RD accounts,

(a) cheque number will be available in first record under the field “CHEQUE NO. FOR RD INSTALMENT” in HAGTXP menu.

(b) For all other accounts linked to this cheque, the cheque number will be available in the field “CHEQUE Remarks”

(c) Ready for Posting flag should not be removed for the record which has “Cheque No. for RD instalment” (a) If this record is removed, balance records will fail with above error.

(xx)  Error “E4221 while closing Loan account?

Solution

The above error occurs when the balance is not zero for the loan account. This means that payoff has not been done for the account. Please complete the payoff process and then close the loan account

(xxi) Error P39 coming in RD loan account payoff done through cash receipt

This error will be thrown in offices migrated in the middle of the month. (ie on or after 2^nd)

In case of Loan Disbursement or Loan Repayment, the value date will be automatically changed to 01^st of the month as interest is calculated from the 1^st of the month for loans. As Cash account of that office will not be available as on 1^st (since the office has migrated in the middle of the month) this error is thrown in Supervisor while verification. This error will be thrown only in the month of migration and from 2^nd month cash mode can be used for repayment or disbursement.

Workaround to overcome this error

“In case of Loan disbursement – Instead of Cash (even if it is below Rs.20,000) select Transfer and show RD Loan Disbursement office account (Account number ending with 323) and pay by cheque or cash from this office account. ( CTM menu is to be used for this )

In case of Loan repayment – Instead of repaying through cash accept loan repayment through Transfer. Transfer can be from RD Loan Repayment office Account (Account number ending with 323) or SB account of customer (if available) (CTM Menu to be used for this).

(xxii) Why RD SI executing after EOD of 15^th?

While configuring standing instructions of SB to RD, option should be selected as (B) i.e.  After change of Date. Otherwise, SI execution will happen after EOD of 15^th.

(xxiii) How to execute RD Trial Closure:-

For invoking Trial Closure of RD account, user has to invoke CRDAAC menu. Select, trial closure and go to HPR to see amount to be paid after closure.

Customer should be told about the amount of interest and if he agrees, fill up amount in SB7A and get the signatures of customer on receipt portion. After that, actual closure should be invoked.

In case, SB7A is received from BO alongwith Passbook for sanction, amount of principle and interest should be entered on the Warrant of Payment Side under signatures of APM/SPM and a remark on the top of the SB7A should be written as "Sanction Valid till last working day of the month only". Other procedure as laid down in BO Procedure document should be followed

(xxv) Issue Reported : When the user tried to invoke HAGTXP menu in Modify mode, an error is displayed as“Invalid Agent Type and Scheme Code Combination”.

Solution : SAS type of Agents do not have access to post RD bulk posting. The Agent Type for that particular Agent ID needs to be modified as either PRS or MPB in HDSAMM menu. Post this modification, user will be able to do posting in HAGTXP menu. Appropriate Agent ID need to be modified as the commission structure differs for both.

Courtesy : bnjho.blogspot.in

FILING ASSETS AND LIABILITIES BY PUBLIC SERVANTS ASPER THE SECTION44 OF THE LOKPAL AND LOKAYUKTAS ACTS,2013

FILING ASSETS AND LIABILITIES BY PUBLIC SERVANTS

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

03-December-2014 13:44 IST

Filing Assets and Liabilities

Section 44 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 mandates that every public servant (as defined in the Act, which includes Ministers, Members of Parliament, Government employees, employees of statutory bodies, PSUs, etc.) shall make a declaration of his assets and liabilities as well of his spouse and dependent children in the manner as provided by or under the said Act. In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) read with clause (k) and clause (l) of sub-section (2) of section 59 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 (1 of 2014), read with section 44 and section 45 of the said Act, the Central Government has notified the Public Servants (Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the Limits for Exemption of Assets in Filing Returns) Rules, 2014 in the official Gazette on 14th July, 2014, which, inter alia, contain the forms in which such information/return is required to be filed.

Subsequently, concerns and apprehensions were raised by several Ministries/Departments and other stakeholders, inter alia, about the complexity involved in furnishing the desired details in the forms prescribed under the Rules. Accordingly, the Government of India vide its order dated 28-08-2014, constituted a Committee to simplify the forms and the process in which public servants shall make declaration of assets and liabilities. The said Committee has submitted its First Report on 01-10-2014, recommending simplified formats for declaration of moveable property and for declaration of debts and other liabilities by public servants.

The Public Servants (Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the Limits for Exemption of Assets in Filing Returns) Rules, 2014 have also been amended by a notification dated 8th September, 2014, by which the time limit, for furnishing of such information/return by public servants, has been extended till 31st December, 2014.

This was stated by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to Shri Sudheer Gupta & others in the Lok Sabha today.

OBCs in Government Services

OBCS IN GOVERNMENT SERVICES

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

OBCs in Government Services

As per information received from various Ministries/ Departments till date, the representation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), as on 01.01.2013, in 69 Central Government Ministries/Departments was 5,23,721 which is 17.74% of 29,52,080 employees.

The reasons for lower representation of Other Backward Classes in services are identified as under-:

(i) Reservation for Other Backward Classes started only from the year 1993.

(ii) Other Backward Classes candidates who were appointed up to 1993, that is before introduction of reservation for the Other Backward Classes, are not included for counting the representation.

(iii) There is generally a time gap between occurrence of vacancies and filling thereof as recruitment is a time consuming process.

(iv) Some reserved posts for Other Backward Classes remain vacant due to non-availability of suitable candidates of reserved category.

(v) Some of the selected Other Backward Classes candidates do not join the service or leave the service after joining because they get better opportunities elsewhere.

Reservation in Central Government jobs for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes employees is provided at the rate of 27%, 15% and 7.5%, respectively. As per information received till date from 69 Ministries/ Departments, the representation of Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as on 01.01.2013, was 17.74%, 17.57% and 7.73%, respectively.

Instructions have been issued  in June, 2013 to all concerned to make concerted efforts to fill up the backlog reserved vacancies. A committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to analyse the reasons for less employability of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes in Government sector and to suggest remedial measures. Keeping in view the recommendations of the Committee, various time bound measures have been identified and intimated to concerned Ministries/Departments to fill up such backlog vacancies.

This was stated by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to Kumari Shobha Karandlaje in the Lok Sabha today.

REVISED DELIVERY NORMS FOR VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF MAIL

REVISED DELIVERY NORMS FOR VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF MAIL (OTHER THAN SPEED POST).

D.G. Post O.M. No. 13-45/2008-D dated 26.11.2014

            Reference is invited to the Directorate O.M.  of even no.  dated 10.12.2013 (and Addendum dated 21.01.2014 and 03.06.2014) , vide which revised delivery norms for Speed Post were communicated . Since then, the revised norms have also been hosted on India Post website in a PDF as well as in the shape of an interactive “MS Excel” tool.

2.         The matter relating to revision of delivery norms for various categories of mail (other than Speed Post) was under consideration at this Directorate, Accordingly, the delivery norms for mail and parcels have been revised as under:

(a)        For Registered (First Class) Mail:

            (i)         Local (within Municipal City Limits): 2 days.

            (ii)        Between Metro cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and  

                        Hyderabad) : 2 to 3 days.

            (iii)       Same state: 3 to 4 days.

            (iv)       Neighbouring state: 3 to 4 days.

            (v)        Rest of the country (for cities not covered in the category of: same state” and

                       “neighbouring state”) : 5 to 6 days.

(b)       For First Class (Unregistered) Mail:

            i)          Local (within Municipal City Limits): 2 days.

            (ii)        Between Metro cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and  

                        Hyderabad): 2 to 3 days.

            (iii)       Same state: 3 to 4 days.

            (iv)       Neighbouring state: 3 to 4 days.

            (v)        Rest of the country (for cities not covered in the category of: same state” and

                       “neighbouring state”) : 5 to 6 days.

 (c)       For Express Parcel:

            (i)         For 84 cities: Specific norms on city –to-city basis (being communicated

                       by e-mail)

            (ii)        Local (for cities other than the 84 cities covered under revised norms for city-to-

                       city norms and covering only Municipal limits): 2 days.

            (iii)       Same state (for cities other than the 84 cities and local mail covered under

                        revised norms): 3 to 4 days

            (iv)       Neighbouring state: (for cities other than the 84 cities covered under

                        revised norms): 3 to 4 days

(v)        Rest of the country (for cities other than the 84 cities covered under revised norms and not covered I “same state” and “neighbouring state”): 5 to 6 days.

(d)       For Business Parcel:

            (i)         Local (within Municipal City Limits): 2 to 3 days.

            (ii)        Between Metro cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and  

                        Hyderabad): 3 to 4 days.

            (iii)       Same state:  4 days.

            (iv)       Neighbouring state: 4 days.

            (v)        Rest of the country (for cities not covered in the category of: same state” and

                       “neighbouring state”) : 5 to 7 days.

(e)        For Second Class Mail:

            (i)         Local (within Municipal City Limits): 3 days.

            (ii)        Between Metro cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and  

                        Hyderabad): 4 days.

            (iii)       Same state: 4 days.

            (iv)       Neighbouring state: 4 days.

            (v)        Rest of the country (for cities not covered in the category of: same state” and

                       “neighbouring state”) : 5 to 7 days.

3.         The new delivery norms for Express Parcels on a city-to-city basis for 84 cities, which are being communicated by e-mail, are also limited to the local municipal limit of the cities concerned. Further, the new delivery norms for various categories of mail referred to above would be subject to the conditions that:

(i)         They do not apply to the articles booked after the cut off time on a day (normally taken as 3 or 4 pm for booking counters at post offices  or as decided by the Circle concerned) and an extra  day may be added in such cases,

(ii)        The delivery norms do not include Sundays and Holidays.

(iii)       Delay occurring due to curfew, bandh or strike in a particular city may adversely affect delivery norms.

(iv)       Delay occurring due to cancellation of flight/trains/buses/other  means of transport for carriage of mails or off-loading /non-carriage of mail by the carriers due to any reason is beyond the control of the Department, and therefore, he same may adversely affect delivery norms.

4.         Circles may give wide publicity to the new norms among the public and display the norms in the shape of a matrix of prominent/frequently-used destinations at the post office as display of entire matrix perhaps may not be possible.

5.         The new delivery norms would also be hosted on India Pos website in a user-friendly format so that a user could easily find delivery/transit norms. In the interim, a PDF version of the document will be uploaded by CEPT on the Department’s website.

6.         This O.M. supersedes all previous instructions on delivery norms for mail and Parcels (other than Speed Post) issued by this Directorate/Business Development and Marketing Directorate.

Annual Income Limit for Non-Creamy Layer

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment

04-December-2014 16:42 IST

Annual Income Limit for Non-Creamy Layer

The current annual income limit of creamy layer in OBC reservation is Rs. 6 lakhs per annum with effect from 16.05.2013. The parameter/criteria fixed for revision of said annual income limit of creamy layer is Consumer Price Index.

At present, there is no proposal to hike the annual income limit of creamy layer in OBC reservation.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha here today.

India Post collects over Rs 280 crore via Cash-on-Delivery for e-commerce firms

Within a year of joining the e-commerce bandwagon as a distribution channel, government entity India Post has transacted business worth Rs 280 crore in the Cash-on-Delivery (CoD) segment alone for firms like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon.

While the amount of revenue generated for itself could not be ascertained, government officials said India Post is very keen on developing its e-commerce related services as a major revenue model going ahead.

"India Post collected over Rs 280 crore from consumers and gave it to e-commerce firms, since CoD facility was started in December 2013. The department with its huge network can serve as the best agency for not just delivering products, but also collecting money," a government official said.

However, this is a small chunk of the overall market size for e-commerce in India, which runs into billions of dollars already and is growing at a fast pace every year.

CoD has emerged as one of the most sought after services for e-commerce entities and 50-75 per cent of orders are placed with various online retailers with this payment option, while the remaining opt for credit card or bank payments.

In India, customers tend to prefer CoD as the online payment modes are yet to catch up in many parts of the country while many people are not comfortable with advance payments for products purchased online.

India Post's cash handling services like core banking solutions, money transfer and a robust account system can further help e-commerce firms in collecting cash from users in urban as well as rural areas, the official said.

India Post has about 1.55 lakh post offices, making it the world's largest postal network. On an average, a post office serves 21.21 sq km area and about 7,175 people.

Another official said various e-commerce firms have been using India Posts CoD facility since it was introduced. Firms like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Shopclues, Naaptol, Telebrands and Homeshop18 are some of them.

India Post has set up booking counters in the premises of some customers like Amazon and Naaptol, while for Snapdeal it is exploring setting up of e-commerce booking kiosks in post office locations.

Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has also said previously that India Post is best suited to offer delivery services to e-commerce players, given its wide reach across rural, urban and semi-urban areas.

The Minister has directed officials from the Department of Posts to focus on opportunities in e-commerce sector.

India Post is also ramping up its infrastructure to grab a major chunk of the distribution, delivery or logistics, which will touch about $9 billion by 2021. According to market experts, e-commerce business in India was about $6 billion in value in 2012 and is expected to touch $76 billion by 2021 of which distribution, delivery and logistics constitutes around 12 per cent.

Source : The Economic Times