SCHEME OF ‘LIC GOLDEN JUBILEE SCHOLARSHIP’ FOR STUDENTS BELONGING TO THE ECONOMICALLY WEAKER FAMILIES FOR PURSUING HIGHER STUDIES.

1.      OBJECTIVE

The objective of the scheme is to award scholarships to meritorious students belonging to economically weaker families so as to provide them better opportunities for higher education and thus enhance their employability.

2.      SCOPE

The scholarship is to be awarded for studies in India in a government or private college/university. It will also cover technical and vocational courses in Industrial Training Institutes/ Industrial Training Centres affiliated with the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) of classes at Graduation level.

3.      ELIGIBILITY

Students who have passed Class XII exam or its equivalent in the Academic Year 2013-14 and are interested to pursue higher education in the field of

i) Medicine, Engineering, Graduation in any discipline, Diploma Course in any field or other equivalent courses.

ii) Vocational Courses through Government recognized Colleges/Institutes or courses in Industrial Training Institutes (ITI).

For i) above Candidates who have passed Class XII exam or equivalent in the Academic year 2013-14 with at least 60% marks or equivalent grade and annual income of whose parents/guardian from all sources does not exceed ` 1,00,000/- per annum.

For ii) above The basic educational qualification is relaxed to Class X or equivalent with at least 60% marks in the Academic year 2013-14 subject to income ceiling of parents/guardians.

4. DURATION

Scholarship shall be provided for the entire duration of the course subject to the candidate fulfilling the requisite eligibility conditions for renewal.

5. RATE OF SCHOLARSHIP

An amount of `10,000/- per annum will be awarded to the selected candidate which is payable in ten monthly installments of ` 1,000/- each. The Scholarship amount will be transferred to Bank Account of the selected scholar through NEFT. Therefore in case the candidate is selected for scholarship, the Bank Account details and IFSC code are compulsory.

6. CONDITIONS FOR SCHOLARSHIP
(i)   Scholarship shall be awarded to the students who have secured not less than  60% marks or equivalent grade in the previous final examination and the annual income of whose parents/guardians from all sources does not exceed `1,00,000/- per annum.

(ii)  Selection of LIC Scholar will be on the basis of merit and family background such as percentage of marks in class 12th /10th and annual income of the family. Eligible Students having the lowest income shall be given preference in the ascending order.

(iii) The candidate should secure more than 55%marks in professional streams and 50% marks in graduation courses in Arts/Science/Commerce or equivalent grade in the previous final examination of the course for which scholarship is awarded, failing which the scholarship will be discontinued.

(iv)  Scholarship shall not be given to more than one student in a family.

(v) The students should be regular in attendance for which the yardstick shall be decided by the competent authority of the school/college/university.

(vi)  Income certificate should be on self-certification basis by way of an affidavit on non-judicial stamp paper for self-employed parents and from employer for employed parents supported by documents (from revenue department) such as land held in the name of parents.

(vii) If a student violates any terms and conditions of the scholarship, the scholarship may be suspended or cancelled.

(viii)  If a student is found to have obtained a scholarship by false statement/certificates, his/her scholarship shall be cancelled forthwith and the amount of the scholarship paid shall be recovered, at the discretion of the concerned Divisional Administration of LIC.|

(ix) LIC Golden Jubilee Foundation will lay down the detailed procedure for processing and sanctioning of scholarships to eligible students.

(x)  The scheme shall be evaluated at regular intervals by the LICGJF.

(xi) The regulations can be changed at any time at the discretion of the Board of Trustees of LICGJF.

7. MODE OF APPLYING

ONLY ONLINE APPLICATIONS ARE TO BE SUBMITTED THROUGH THE LINK ON THE HOME PAGE. Once online application is submitted, the candidate will get acknowledgement at the email ID provided by him in his online application. Further correspondence will be made by the Divisional Office which is mentioned in the acknowledgement mail. The candidate should ensure to submit his correct email id and contact number for communication at a later date, if required. Bank Account details and IFSC code are not compulsory at this stage.

'At present our Divisional Offices are processing the online applications received from the candidates .The students will be contacted if they are shortlisted.'

Source : http://www.licindia.in/GJF_scholarship.htm

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Everything You Need to Know About Leave Travel Allowance (LTA)

With the Financial Year winding to a close by end of March and Summary Vacations on the horizon in April-May, many of us are planning our vacations during the time when our kids don't have School. Many of us go on yearly outings with family but most people don’t know or don’t use their Leave Travel Allowance. In fact, many of us would have heard the term LTA at some point during their careers but don’t bother to use it (including me) because we fail to appreciate its use and tax benefits.

The purpose of this article is to help you understand what LTA is and how to use it to reduce your tax liability.

What is Leave Travel Allowance?

Leave Travel Allowance is an allowance that is usually paid as part of Salary (Annual CTC to be specific) by employers to their employees. The original idea behind the LTA component was to help the employee meet his travel expenses. However, of late it has become yet another component of the CTC and no one cares much about it except how much is paid out as LTA every year by the employer.

LTA is usually decided for a year and then paid out on a monthly basis. For ex: If your LTA is Rs. 12,000/- every year, you will get Rs. 1,000/- every month as LTA.

Many Employers club together the allowances like House Rent Allowance (HRA), LTA, Medical Allowance etc. and come up with a final number that is added to the CTC. The employee is given the flexibility to decide how much of the total Allowance is allocated to each of the individual components. As LTA isn’t that popular with people, most of them usually enter a small number there and fail to utilize it properly. In other cases, company's themselves decide the LTA based on the employee's designation/experience etc.

Does the LTA Have Tax Benefits? 

Of Course YES. Do you think, I will be writing an entire article if it weren’t important?

How does LTA Affect My Tax Liability? 

Let us say your annual Salary is Rs. 6,00,000/-

After all your deductions like House Rent, Medical bills, Section 80C Tax Savings etc., your Taxable Income is Rs. 3,50,000/-

Let us assume, your annual salary includes a Rs. 25,000/- LTA component and if you satisfy all the criteria laid down by the Tax Authorities to utilize the LTA Tax benefits, your Taxable Income will come down to Rs. 3,25,000/-

Effectively, the entire LTA component of your Salary became Tax Free!!!

However, Did you read the Sentence "If you satisfy all the criteria laid down by the Tax Authorities to utilize the LTA Tax benefits" that I just used above?

Yes, the Tax Benefits aren’t available to everyone. You need to satisfy the following conditions in order to be eligible to avail this tax benefit.

Condition No. 1: The Amount should be spent only on Self and Immediate Family Who is totally dependent on you

By Family we are talking about - Spouse, A Maximum of two children, Parents, Brothers & Sisters Who are not employed and are dependent on your income

Condition No. 2: The Travelling Group should Include the person who is going to claim LTA

If you are not travelling with your family, you cannot claim LTA for that trip. For ex If my wife, two children and parents went to Delhi from Chennai, and I stayed back at work, I cannot claim LTA on that trip.

Condition No. 3: The Amount Claimed should be for Travelling Expenses Only via the Primary Mode of Travel

By Travelling Expenses, we are talking about the expenses incurred for the actual travelling part like Train Tickets, Air Tickets, Bus Tickets etc. Supplementary Travel expenses like Auto Fare, Taxi Fare etc. are not covered. All other expenses like Food, Accommodation, Sightseeing etc. are not covered as well.

Condition No. 4: Foreign Travel is not eligible for LTA

All Trips and Travels within the country of India only are eligible for LTA Exemption under the Indian Tax Laws

Condition No. 5: Travel Expenses are Considered only for the Shortest Route Possible

LTA Exemption can be claimed only corresponding to the fare that will be incurred if you take the shortest possible route. If you are travelling from Chennai to Bangalore, the amount you can claim is for a train/bus/flight that goes directly from Chennai to Bangalore. If you go from Chennai -> Hyderabad -> Bangalore for some strange reason and try to claim the two-trip expenses, it will not be approved. You have to either submit expenses for the Chennai -> Hyderabad -> Chennai trip or book tickets in a direct trip from Chennai to Bangalore

Condition No. 6: You can claim LTA only Twice in a Block of Four Years

You could claim LTA exemption in respect of any two journeys in a block of four years. The current block is 2010 to 2013. Say for example, you claim LTA exemption in 2010, then you could claim just one more till 2013. Remember - You cannot Claim LTA Every year. 

There is some confusion about whether LTA follows the financial year or the calendar year. LTA Year blocks are always based on calendar year. So, it goes from Jan 2010 to Dec 2013 for the current block. The claim can be done in the financial year that the travel actually happened. If you traveled between April to Dec 2013 you can claim it in the tax returns you will be filing in 2014 for the financial year Apr'13 to Mar'14. 

Condition No. 7: If Husband and Wife both receive LTA, They cannot claim the same Trip

If Husband and Wife both receive LTA as part of their salary, both of them could claim LTA individually as the rules of LTA apply individually to each of them. So in a block of four years, each spouse can claim LTA twice. The only restriction is that both spouses cannot claim an LTA exemption for the same journey. In other words, LTA cannot be claimed twice for the same journey.

Condition No. 8: You must have been on earned/annual leave on the dates for which you are claiming the LTA. You cannot claim LTA for days when you were working. You must have applied for annual or earned or paid leave (whatever you may wanna call it) and got it approved in order to claim LTA. There is actually no limit on the minimum or maximum number of days you need to apply for leave to claim LTA. But, for easier claims/processing try to utilize at least 3 consecutive days of annual leave for LTA purposes. 

As you can see, though LTA can be pretty useful in reducing your tax liability twice in a block of four years, it isn’t straightforward and involves a lot of Conditions. If you intend on claiming LTA, make sure that you Remember these 7 conditions above.

After reading the above conditions, you would definitely have a few questions that are lingering in your mind. I have tried to answer a few of them below. If you have any more questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to answer them.

1. Can I fly Business Class and claim LTA? 

No. For air travel, the maximum amount that can be claimed as exemption is the economy class air fare.

2. What is the Maximum Fare I can claim as LTA while travelling by Road or Rail?

For rail or road, the maximum amount that can be claimed as exempt is the air conditioned first class rail fare to your destination by the shortest route.

3. What happens if I did not make a claim in the current block? Do I get any benefits for the next block?

In case you don’t avail of the LTA exemption in a particular block, whether for both the journeys or for just one journey, you could carry forward one journey to the first calendar year in the next succeeding block of four years. Thus, in the next block of four years, you could claim the carried forward travel, plus, two journeys of that particular block i.e. a total of 3 exemptions!

For ex: Let us say you are entitled to an LTA of Rs.10, 000 per year and you do not utilize it in the block 2010-2013. This amount could be carried forward in the next block of four years. You must therefore claim this amount in 2014 and then you can further more claim your LTA entitlement of that particular block (2 more times i.e. 10,000+10,000) as well.

4. How does One claim an Exemption? 

As most of us are salaried employees, you can submit evidence for the travel (tickets/bills etc.) to your employer and they will include it in your form 16. If you are self-employed or missed submitting LTA to your company, you can avail the services of any chartered account who helps file Tax Returns for people and they will be more than happy to include this along with your tax calculations.

5. What happens if I spend more than my LTA amount? 

In case your travel expenses exceed your actual Leave Travel Allowance amount, the exemption you can claim is limited to your LTA Amount. For ex: If your LTA is Rs. 25,000/- this year and you incurred Rs. 40,000/- in air fares for a family trip, your LTA Exemption will be limited to Rs. 25,000/- and the remaining Rs. 15,000/- will not give you any tax benefits.

6. What happens if I don’t exhaust my LTA amount? 

In case your travel expenses are lesser than your actual Leave Travel Allowance amount, the exemption is limited to the actual amount spent. For ex: If your LTA is Rs. 25,000/- this year and you incurred Rs. 15,000/- in rail fares for a family trip, your LTA Exemption will be limited to Rs. 15,000/- and the remaining Rs. 10,000/- will not give you any tax benefits.

7. I Traveled more than once in a single financial year. Can I claim both for LTA? 

Yes.

8. I booked a tour via a travel operator as a Package. Can I claim the entire amount as LTA? 

No. Only the actual amounts spent on Road/Air/Rail transport can be claimed. Other expenses cannot be claimed as LTA. 

The idea here is - We will go on vacations with our families irrespective of the Tax Benefits we get out of it. However, if we can get tax benefits, why waste it.

Happy Vacations!!!

Source : http://anandvijayakumar.blogspot.in/2013/02/everything-you-need-to-know-about-leave.html

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Courtsy : Postmaster cadre of Andhra Pradesh
http://postmasters-dop.blogspot.in/

LTC Rules - Leave Travel Concession Rules

LTC Rules - Leave Travel Concession Rules 

as per 6th CPC - (w.e.f. 01.09.2008) 

1. LTC Rules is allowed all Government servants irrespective of the distance between headquarters and their home town. 

2. LTC Rules is allowed Hometown" means the town, village or any other place declared as such by the servant and accepted by the controlling officer. 

3. LTC Rules is allowed only to those who have completed one year of service on the date of journey. 

4. LTC Rules is allowed for self and family. 

5. LTC Rules is allowed only to the family (in the case of an employee under suspension). 

6. LTC Rules is allowed to journey to “Home Town” once in a block of two years. 

7. LTC Rules is allowed journey to “Any place in India” once in a block of four years. 

8. LTC Rules is allowed to expression "any place in India" will cover any place within the territory of India whether it is on the mainland, or overseas. 

9. LTC Rules is allowed journey to “Any place in India” in lieu of one journey to Home Town. 

10. LTC Rules is allowed availing during all leave periods

(Earn/Casual/S.Casual/Study/Maternity/Paternity). 

11. LTC Rules is allowed all journeys to travel by Rail/Road/Air/Ship. 

12. LTC Rules is allowed privilege not availed during a block may be availed before end of the next year. 

13. LTC Rules is allowed allow family members independently in any number of batches. 

14. LTC Rules is allowed traveling to “Any place in India” the employee and or members of the family may travel either to the same place or different places of their choice. 

15. LTC Rules is allowed traveling to visit “Any place in India” or can visit his same Home Town also. 

16. LTC Rules is allowed in the same two-year block, some members of family can avail Home Town concession while other “Any place in India”. 

17. LTC Rules is allowed reimbursement by the entitled class or actually traveled class, whichever is less. 

18. LTC Rules is allowed 90 per cent of the anticipated reimbursement amount may be granted as advance. 

19. LTC Rules is allowed Grade Pay holders of Rs.2400,2600 and 2800 can go AC-II Tier class by train. 

20. LTC Rules is allowed Grade Pay holders of below Rs.2400 can go AC-III Tier / First Class / AC-Chair Car class by train. 

Earned Leave Encashment Facility :- 

1. Earned Leave up to a maximum of ten days at a time may be enchased, subject to the condition that at least an equivalent duration of Earned Leave. 

2. This is limited to a maximum of 60 days during the entire career and the total number of days so enchased will not be included for computing maximum quantum of leave encashable at the time of quitting service. 

3. The balance at credit should be but less than 30 days after deducting the total of leave availed plus leave for which encashment was availed. 

4. Where both husband and wife are government servants, encashment of leave will continue to be available to both, subject to maximum limit of 60 days. 

Block Year :- 

1. The LTC to home town is allowed once in a block of two calendar years, such as 2006-2007, 2008-2009 and so on. 

2. The LTC to “Any Place in India” is allowed once in a block of four calendar years, such as 2006 - 2009 and so on. 

Husband and Wife… 

When both the husband and wife are Central Government servants: 

1. They can declare separate Home Town independently. 

2. They can claim LTC for their respective families, viz,. While the husband can claim for his parents / minor brothers / sisters, the wife can avail for her parents / minor brother / sisters.

3. Either of the parents can claim the concession for the children in a particular block; 

4. The husband / wife who avails LTC as a member of the family of the spouse, cannot claim independently for SELF. 

Family – definition… 

1. The Government servant’s wife or husband and two surviving unmarried children or stepchildren wholly dependent on the Government servant, irrespective of whether they are residing with the Government servant or not. 

2. Married daughters divorced, abandoned or separated from their husbands and widowed daughters and are residing with the Government servant and wholly dependent on the Government servant. 

3. Parents and / or step-parents (stepfather and stepmother) whole dependent on the Government servant, whether residing with the Government servant or not: 

4. Unmarried minor brothers as well as unmarried divorced abandoned, separated from their husbands or widowed sisters residing with and wholly dependent on the Government servant provided their parents are either not alive or are themselves wholly dependent on the Government servant. 

Change of Home Town… 

“The hometown once declared and accepted by the controlling officer shall be treated as final. In exceptional circumstances, the Head of the Department or if the Government servant himself is the Head of the Department, the Administrative Ministry, may authorise a change in such declaration provided that such a change shall not be made more than once during the service of a Government servant.” 

The CCS Rule allow an employee to change the Permanent Address given in their Service Records for once in their service. 

The employee can apply for this through their respective Head of Section enclosing the relationship and residential proof of the new address. 

Care to be taken before applying for the change of address as this facility will be available only once in their service. After changing the Permanent Address the employee is eligible to apply for Home Town LTC. 

Those employees who are residing on the outskirts of their work place, automatically they are ineligible for LTC HomeTown. For the benefit of these employees, a male employee can give the address of his wife’s native place or opposite, after the marriage of son or daughter, their residing place like that… But the respective Head of Section has the right to turndown the application. 

Courtesy : http://90paisa.blogspot.in

Finmin issued orders on grant of Non-Productivity Linked Bonus (ad-hoc bonus) to Central Government Employees for the year 2012-13

Grant of Non-Productivity Linked Bonus (ad-hoc bonus) to Central Government Employees for the year 2012-13.

No.7/24/2007/E III (A)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Expenditure
E III (A) Branch

New Delhi, the 27th September, 2013

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject : Grant of Non-Productivity Linked Bonus (ad-hoc bonus) to Central Government Employees for the year 2012-13.

The undersigned is directed to convey the sanction of the President to the grant of Non-Productivity Linked Bonus (Ad-hoc Bonus) equivalent to 30 days emoluments for the accounting year 2012-13 to the Central Government employees in Groups 'C’ and 'D’ and all non-gazetted employees in Group 'B' who are not covered by any Productivity Linked Bonus Scheme. The calculation ceiling for payment of ad-hoc Bonus under these orders shall continue to be monthly emoluments of Rs. 3500/-, as hitherto. The payment of ad-hoc Bonus under these orders will also be admissible to the eligible employees of Central Para Military Forces and Armed Forces. The orders will be deemed to be extended to the employees of Union Territory Administration which follow the Central Government pattern of emoluments and are not covered by any other bonus or ex-gratia scheme.

2. The benefit will be admissible subject to the following terms and conditions:

(i) Only those employees who were in service as on 31.3.2013 and have rendered at least six months of continuous service during the year 2012-13 will be eligible for payment under these orders. Pro-rata payment will be admissible to the eligible employees for period of continuous service during the year from six months to a full year, the eligibility period being taken in terms of number of months of service (rounded off to the nearest number of months).

(ii) The quantum of Non-PLB (ad-hoc bonus) will be worked out on the basis of average emoluments/calculation ceiling whichever is lower. To calculate Non-PLB (Ad-hoc bonus) for one day, the average emoluments in a year will be divided by 30.4 (average number of days in a month). This will thereafter be multiplied by the number of days of bonus granted. To illustrate, taking the calculation ceiling of monthly emoluments of Rs, 3500 (where actual average emoluments exceed Rs. 3500), Non-PLB (Ad-hoc Bonus) for thirty days would work out to Rs.3500x30/30.4 = Rs.3453.95 (rounded offto Rs.3454/-).

(iii) The casual labour who have worked in offices following a 6 days week for at least 240 days for each year for 3 years or more(206 days in each year for 3 years or more in the case of offices observIng 5 days week), will be eligible for this Non PLB (Ad-hoc Bonus) Payment. The amount of Non-PLB (ad-hoc bonus) payable will be (Rs.1200x30/30.4 i.e.Rs.1184.21(rounded off to Rs,1184/-). In cases where the actual emoluments fall below Rs.1200/- p.m., the amount will be calculated on actual monthly emoluments.

(iv) All payments under these orders will be rounded off to the nearest rupee.

(v) The clarificatory orders issued vide this Ministry’s OM No.F.14(10)-E. Coord/88 dated 4.10.1988, as amended from time to time, would hold good.

3. The expenditure on this account will be debitable to the respective Heads to which the pay and allowances of these employees are debited.

4. The expenditure incurred on account of Non-PLB (Ad-hoc Bonus) is to be met from within the sanctioned budge provision of concerned Ministries/Departments for the current year.

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

sd/-
(Amar Nath Singh)
Deputy Secretary to the Govt of India

Source: www.finmin.nic.in
[http://finmin.nic.in/the_ministry/dept_expenditure/notification/bonus/bonus2013.pdf]