NFPE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES
GROUP C POSTMAN & MTS AIPEU-GDS NELLORE DIVISION
NELLORE ANDHRA PRADESH CIRCLE - 524001
WELCOME TO THE OFFICAL WEBSITE OF
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES AN ORGANISATION HIGHLIGHTING THE PRINCIPLE OF UNITY AND STRUGGLE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT POSTAL WORKERS
Govt to look into issues of Aadhaar being made mandatory for select schemes
New Delhi, January 26:
The Centre is examining various questions raised by Software Freedom Law
Centre (SFLC), a legal services organisation, with regard to violation
of the Supreme Court’s order against making Aadhaar mandatory for access
to certain services, sources close to the development, told
BusinessLine.
According to sources, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Electronics and
Information Technology, has recently responded to a letter by Rajya
Sabha MP, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, saying he was ‘getting the matter
examined’.
Chandrasekhar, in his letter to Prasad in December, had asked the
government to state the ‘correct position under law’ on the issue of
Aadhaar being made mandatory by various government and private entities
with regard to their schemes, which, he said was a violation of the apex
court’s orders.
Chandrasekhar had also raised question in the Rajya Sabha in November,
after which SFLC had written in detail to Chandrashekar, listing out
about 120 violations between September 2015 and September 2016, based on
which the MP had written a letter to Prasad, who incidentally is also
the Law & Justice Minister.
Exempted schemes
The Aadhaar scheme is instituted and operated by the Unique Authority of
India (UIDAI) and in 2015, the Supreme Court had restricted the
voluntary use of Aadhaar to six government schemes — the public
distribution system (PDS), LPG, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojna and National
Social Assistance Programme (old age and widow pension). The court had
clearly emphasised that no person should be denied any service for lack
of an Aadhaar card or number.
However, many schemes are being run wherein Aadhaar has been made mandatory to avail of the services.
Citing SFLC’s list, Chandrasekhar highlighted some of the schemes wherein Aadhaar has been made mandatory.
“For instance, he has mentioned government considering EPFO’s
voluntary pension scheme linked with Aadhaar, Linking BPL ration cards
with Aadhaar made mandatory for PDS in Bengaluru, Paytm starting
Aadhaar-based KYC process, government saying households not to get LPG
subsidy without Aadhaar,” said a government official.
111 crore cards issued
Meanwhile, the government is enrolling Aadhaar numbers to the
maximum number of people, including children, asking the authority to
enrol as many people as possible at the earliest.
As of Wednesday, 111 crore Aadhaar cards have already been generated, according to the UIDAI website.
Recently, Prasad had also said that the more people are enrolled
with Aadhaar, the maximum number of benefits they would get. He had also
said that the government was now going to introduce a new Aadhaar-based
digital payment system for the common man.
But, several citizen groups have pointed out that the mandatory use
of Aadhaar in social welfare schemes was leading to exclusion and
harassment of the poor, and was in violation of Supreme Court’s six
orders in three years.
The citizens groups also pointed out that the Aadhaar Act 2016,
‘nowhere authorises the seeding of the Aadhaar number in any database.
“The 2016 Act clearly speaks only of ‘authentication’, viz., asking the
UIDAI database to verify that we are who we say we are. So, asking
anyone to put the number in any other database (the LPG database, for
example, is unsupported by the law),” they said.
India Post becomes 3rd entity to receive licence to start payment bank operations
NEW DELHI: IndiaPost has become the third entity to receive a final
license last week from the Central Bank to start its payment bank
operations. Country’s largest telcom service provider Bharti Airtel and
digital payments firm Paytm are the other two to have received the
license while only Airtel has started operations so far.
enabled by the payment bank services. This will cover the entire network of 155,000 post offices in the country.
Earlier this month, Airtel Payments Bank launched nationwide operations,
offering 7.25% interest on savings bank balances, which is more than
the maximum 7% paid by SBI on its fixed deposits. Bharti and Kotak
Mahindra, which holds a 20% stake in the payments bank, would invest Rs
3,000 crore in the venture.
Payments banks can accept deposits from individuals and small businesses
of up to Rs 1 lakh per account. And RBI had set a condition that formal
license has to be obtained before 31 March.
ALIBABA backed Paytm also said early in January that it has received the
final license from RBI and the company hopes to launch operations in
February with the first branch coming up in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
While operation of Payment Banks such as Paytm are likely to be focused
on technology based differentiation, IndiaPost is banking on its huge
reach especially in the rural areas to be successful.
Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
Digidiary Android Mobile Application for Generating TA Bill in 25A Format
DIGIDIARY ANDROID APPLICATION DOWNLOAD LINK
The Android based diary application used to generate diary movemnets and
TA Bill in 25A format for submission to concerned authorities. The
Digidiary Application required internet connection and needs to be
register before accessing. The registration should be approved by the
Admin of the DIGIDIARY Application. Your movements are stored in Central
Server. Edit / Delete Option is not available in Andriod Application
and the same was available in Central Server.
Click Below link to Download Android Application by clicking the below link
SUBJECT: INCOME-TAX DEDUCTION FROM SALARIES DURING THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2016-17 UNDER SECTION 192 OF THE INCOME-TAX ACT, 1961.
Reference
is invited to Circular No.20/2015 dated 02.12.2015 whereby the rates of
deduction of income-tax from the payment of income under the head
"Salaries" under Section 192 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter
‘the Act’), during the financial year 2015-16, were intimated. The
present Circular contains the rates of deduction of income-tax from the
payment of income chargeable under the head "Salaries" during the
financial year 2016-17 and explains certain related provisions of the
Act and Income-tax Rules, 1962 (hereinafter the Rules). The relevant
Acts, Rules, Forms and Notifications are available at the website of the
Income Tax Department- www.incometaxindia.gov.in.
2. RATES OF INCOME-TAX AS PER FINANCE ACT, 2016:
As
per the Finance Act, 2016, income-tax is required to be deducted under
Section 192 of the Act from income chargeable under the head "Salaries"
for the financial year 2016-17 (i.e. Assessment Year 2017-18) at the
following rates:
2.1 Rates of tax
A. Normal Rates of tax:
B.
Rates of tax for every individual, resident in India, who is of the age
of sixty years or more but less than eighty years at any time during
the financial year:
C.
In case of every individual being a resident in India, who is of the
age of eighty years or more at any time during the financial year:
The Secretary, OFB, ID-A, S.K. Bose Rd, Kol-01 All Sr. General Managers/All General Managers
Ordnance/ Equipments Factories. All Group controllers & Branch AOs
Sub: Clarification on purchase of Air Tickets from unauthorized agents for non- entitled officials to travel by air
Kindly refer to
DoP&T letter No.31011/3/2015-Estt(A.lV) dated 18/02/2016 wherein it
is mentioned under points 14 & 15 that Govt employees not entitled
to travel by air, may travel by any airline. However, reimbursement in
such cases shall be restricted to the fare of their entitled class of
train/transport or actual expense, whichever is less. In all cases
whenever a Govt servant claims LTC by air, he/she is required to book
the air tickets either directly through the airlines or through the
approved travel agencies viz M/s Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd/ M/s Ashok
Tours & Travels Ltd/ IRCTC. Booking of tickets through any other
agency is not permissible.
This is for your information, guidance and necessary action please.
Subject: Recommendation of the Public Accounts Committee regarding reflection of the recurrent lapses in observing financial discipline in the Annual Performance Assessment Report (APAR).
The Public Accounts
Committee in its Nineteenth Report (16th Lok Sabha) (PAC) on Excess over
Voted Grants and Charged Appropriations (2012 -13) which was presented
to Lok Sabha on 29th April, 2015 has, inter-alia, recommended in its
recommendation no. 21 that:
"the Department of Personnel & Training to look into that the recurrent lapses in observing financial discipline should be reflected in the Annual Performance Appraisal Report of the budget controlling authorities as well as the Financial Advisors of the Ministry/Department concerned so as to ensure strict adherence to the financial discipline thereby reducing the recurrent phenomenon of excess expenditure to the barest minimum, if not, eliminated altogether.
2. The matter has been
examined in this Department. There already exist various tools in the
existing PAR formats to assess the attributes and performance of the
officers by reporting, reviewing and accepting authorities including
observance of financial discipline. Therefore, whenever instances of
recurring financial lapses come to light, these may be brought to the
attention of the Reporting/Reviewing/Accepting Authority so that they
may include these instances in the PAR of the officer of the relevant
year.
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Personnel and Training
Establishment A-IV Desk
North Block, New Delhi-110 001
Dated: January 13, 2017
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject:- Central
Civil Services (Leave Travel Concession) Rules, 1988 — Relaxation to
travel by private airlines to visit Jammu & Kashmir.
The
undersigned is directed to refer to this Ministry’s O.M. of even no.
dated 28.11.2014 on the subject noted above and to say that vide
aforesaid O.M., facility to travel on LTC by private airlines to Jammu
& Kashmir (J&K) under the special dispensation scheme was
allowed for a period of one year. This facility ended w.e.f. 28.11.2015
and was re-introduced on 01.06.2016.
2. Many references have been received about Govt. Employees who had
inadvertently travelled by private airlines to J&K during the gap
period, i.e. from 28.11.2015 to 31.05.2016, under the impression that
the facility was still operational and were later facing difficulties in
settlement of their LTC claims.
3. The issue has been examined in consultation with the Department of
Expenditure and Ministry of Civil Aviation. In relaxation to this
Department’s O.M. of even no. dated 28.11.2014, it has been decided to
allow the claims of those Government employees who had travelled by
private airlines to Jammu & Kashmir on LTC during the gap period of
28.11.2015 – 31.05.2016. This shall be subject to the condition that
tickets have been booked through the authorised modes and at LTC-80 fare
or less and other conditions prescribed in DoPT’s O.M. No.
31011/7/2014-Estt.A-IV dated 28.11.2014.
29th
SCOVA meeting under the chairmanship of Hon’ble MOS(PP) – Action Taken
Report on the Minutes of the 28th SCOV A meeting held under the
Chairmanshipof Hon’ble MOS(PP) on 27.06.2016
Mini try of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare)
Para 4(iv) of the minutes:- Extension CGHS facilities to P&T pensioners
The representatives of
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed that the 7th CPC has
recommended that all Postal Dispensaries should be covered with CGHS. It
was decided to await the decision of the Government within a month.
(Action:- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
The decision of the Government on the recommendations of 7th CPC is still awaited.
DoPPW
Ministry of Health &
Family Welfare to indicate latest status during the meeting a to where
the matter is pending. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has
also been reminded on the same vide DoPPW OM dated 04.01.2017 to
expedite the matter.
Subject:Representation
of Defence Civilian Employees’ Federations regarding misinterpretation
of Revised Pay Rules 2016 leading to incorrect pay fixation of employees
– reg.
The Defence Civilian
Employees’ Federation have reported that the Accounting Authorities in
the Defence Estts. are misinterpreting the provisions of CCS(RP) Rules,
2016 leading to anomalies pay fixation of the defence employees. The
Federations have demanded that clarification may be issued to the
Defence Estts. to enable them to issue correct pay fixation orders of
the employees, on the basis of the options exercised by them.
2. Taking into account
these reports, MoD has sent a proposal to MoD(Finance) to seek
clarification about the manner of fixation of pay through illustations
prepared by this office. The said proposal for seeking clarification has
been sent to MoD(Fiance) on 5.12.2016. A copy of this proposal is
enclosed for information. In view of the complaints of incorrect pay
fixation in defence establishments, it is requested that the
clarification on this subject from Ministry of Finance/MoD(Finance) may
please be awaited so that the pay fixation of the employees could be
issued on the basis of right position. This position may please be
communicated to various Accounting Authorities under the Contral of CGDA
to avoid any inconsistencies in the matter of pay fixation.
sd/-
(Pawan Kumar)
Under Secretary
Typewriting Test Exemption – Implementation of DOP&T instructions
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA/BHARAT SARKAR
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS/RAIL MANTRALAYA
(RAILWAY BOARD)
No.E(NG)I-2015/CFP/7
New Delhi, dated 16.01.2017
The General Managers (P)
All Zonal Railways & Production Umts.
(As per standard list)
Sub:- Exemption from passing the Typewriting Test – Implementation of
instructions of DOP&T issued vide their letter dated 22.04.2015.
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of
Personnel & Training , in their O.M. No.14020/2/91-Estt(D) dated
29.09.1992 had issued certain instructions/guidelines regarding
exemption from passing the Typewriting Test. The same has been
reiterated vide their O.M. No.14020/1/2014-Estt.(D) dated 22.04.2015.
2. Both the Federations viz. AIRF and NFIR have also raised this demand
in the PNM forum. Accordingly, matter has been deliberated in
consultation with concerned directorates and it has been decided by the
Board to adopt the stipulations made in DOP&T’s OMs ibid (copies
enclosed) mutatis mutandis to persons appointed/promoted as Junior
Clerks, Accounts Clerk against promotion quota, sports persons recruited
against sports quota, those appointed on compassionate grounds, under
Scouts & Guide and cultural quota, re-deployed medically unfit
Railway servants on alternetive posts re-deployed surplus staff and also
physically handicapped railway servants, as per prevailing rules. The
procedure of conducting of the typing test whether it is on manual type
writer or on Personal Computer as contained in Board’s letter
No.E(NG)I-2004/CFP/8 dated 04.02.2011 will remain unaltered.
3. The above instructions will take effect from the date of issue of
this letter. Cases already decided in the past need not be re-opened.
Please acknowledge receipt.
(MK Meena)
Deputy Director Estt. (N)
Railway Board
Friday, January 27, 2017
RICT MCD Device Unboxing Installation and Troubleshooting Video
In
the process of computerization of Branch Post Offices, it is well aware
that a HAND HELD DEVICE is going to supply to all GDS.
In
the project of RURAL INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (RICT)
the device i.e, MAIN COMPUTING DEVICE (MCD) with its peripherals to be
installed in BOs soon.
For
a preliminary information to GDS & for awareness on the
Computerization of BOs, a short video film is published in PoTools blog.
Click below to play the Video
ATTENTION TAX PAYERS!
As you are aware, a tax deduction is a reduction in tax obligation from a taxpayer's gross income and it can be the result of a variety of events that the taxpayer experiences over the course of the year, which lowers the taxpayer's overall tax liability.
At present different tax codes allow taxpayers to deduct a variety of expenses from taxable income. Taxation authorities in both the Central and State governments set the tax code standards at different intervals. It is an un- disputed fact that the tax deductions set by government authorities are often used to entice taxpayers to participate in community service programs for the betterment of society. Thus the taxpayers who are aware or unaware of eligible central and state tax deductions greatly benefit through both tax deduction and service-oriented activities annually.
We have been paying a huge amount of tax daily, monthly, quarterly half yearly or yearly towards different kinds of taxes to the Government, such as Service Tax, Building Tax, , Property tax, Gift Tax, Entertainment tax, Sales Tax, Excise tax/duty , Professional tax Income tax etc. In addition to that certain amount of cess is also levied along with taxes in some cases. Suppose the telephone bill for a particular month is Rs. 1000/-, we are paying an additional amount of Rs.150/- or more towards service tax and cess. Likewise if we recharge our mobile phone for Rs.100/- more than Rs.15 is immediately deducted and the remainder only is credited towards talk time. So also is the case of purchase for goods and availing of services. As such though aware or unaware of the fact, thousands of rupees are paid by us towards taxes including income tax every year.
Actually, the amount equal to the sum total of such taxes is a part of our income earmarked for government purpose. In short, the beneficiary of this part our hard earned money the Government as it is not utilized by personal or family purposes by the tax payer. Due to the very reason, we the individual tax payers including the salary class are entitled to get deduction from income tax equal to the sum total of different taxes paid especially income tax. But it is disheartening that only Professional Tax is being deducted from our income while computing income tax. As a result a huge amount of loss is being sustained by the tax payers every year,
The following simple calculation would reveal this
Suppose the Gross income of an individual tax payer is Rs.700000/- before deduction of Rs.150000 under section 80 (C ). He had paid total tax of Rs. 50000/-(including income tax of previous year) .
Computation of income tax - present system(AY-2017-18)
Gross Income
Rs .700000
Deduction under Section 80 ( c)
Rs. 150000
Net taxable income
Rs. 550000
Income tax payable (with out cess)
Rs. 35000
Computation of income tax under proposed system
Gross Income
Rs .700000
Deduction of Taxes paid
Rs. 50000
Deduction under Section 80 ( c)
Rs. 150000
Net taxable income
Rs. 500000
Income tax payable (with out cess)
Rs. 20000
Hence it would be advantageous is the Income tax computation system is revamped in such a way that un- necessary burden is shouldered by the individual tax payers who may have to take initiative to bring the matter to the notice of the government so as to remove the anomaly.
Thanks to Shri. Sivasankaran Areapatta
GDS Online Software implementation - reg
GDS Online Software implementation - reg.
CLARIFICATION REGARDING TIMELY PAYMENT OF GPF FINAL PAYMENT TO THE RETIRING GOVERNMENT SERVANT – DOPT ORDERC.
No.3/3/2016-P&PW
(F)
Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions
Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare
Desk-F
3rd
Floor, Lok Nayak Bhavan,
Khan Market, New Delhi-110003
Dated 16th January 2017.
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Clarification regarding timely payment of GPF
final payment to the retiring Government servant – regarding
During
review meetings held to evaluate the status of implementation of Bhavishya with
Ministries/Departments, it was observed that GPF final payment in many cases is
not being paid to the retiring Government servants immediately on retirement
from service leading to payment of interest for the delayed period.
2. Rule 34 of General Provident Fund
(Central Service) Rules clearly provides that when the amount standing at the
credit of a subscriber in the General Provident Fund becomes payable, it shall
be the duty of the Accounts Officer to make payment. The authority for the
amount payable is to be issued at least a month before the date of
superannuation, but payable on the date of superannuation. It may be noted that
the requirement of submitting a written application by the retiring Govt.
servant for GPF final payment has been dispensed with vide this Department’s
Notification No.20(12)/94-P&PW (E) dated 15.11.1996 and notified under S.O
NO.3228 dated 23.11.19963. As per Rule 11(4) of GPF Rules, in case the GPF
balance is not paid on retirement, interest on the GPF balance is required to
be paid for the period beyond the date of retirement also. While interest for
the first six months beyond retirement can be allowed by the PAO in the normal
course, approval of Head of the accounts office is required for payment of
interest beyond six months and that of Controller of Account/Financial Adviser
beyond a period of one year.
4. To ensure timely final payment of
GPF, and to avoid unnecessary financial burden on account of interest beyond
retirement, it has now been decided that every case, in which payment of
interest on General Provident Fund becomes necessary in terms of Rules 11(4) of
GPF Rules, 1960, shall be put up for consideration to the Secretary of the
Administrative Ministry/Department. In all such cases the Secretary of the
Administrative Ministry/Department will fix responsibility at all levels to
take appropriate action against the Government servant or servants who are
found responsible for the delay in the payment of General Provident Fund.
5. This issues with the concurrence
of the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure, vide their 10
NO.187/EV/2016 dated 2th September 2016.
6. Hindi version will follow.
(Seema Gupta)
Director
7th Central Pay Commission / Pay Fixation of 4200 MACP on 15.3.2016 – MoD Clarification with illustrations on 5.1.2017 Pay Fixation of 4200 MACP on 15.3.2016 – MoD Clarification with illustrations on 5.1.2017
MoD once again issued a clarification orders with three illustrations of an employee shall be fixed who has been granted financial upgradation in MACP on 15.3.2016 in the grade pay of Rs.4200.
MoD action on BPMS’s representation on Seeking of Clarification regarding Option & Pay Fixation in 7th CPC
Office of the Controller General of Defence Accounts Ulan Batar Road, Palam, Delhi Cantt – 110010
No.AT/II/2701/Orders
Dated: 05 Jan 2017
To All PCsDA/CsDA PCA(Fys)/All CsFA(Fys) (Through NIC mail server
Subject: Representation of Defence Civilian Employees’ Federations regarding misinterpretation of RPR 2016 leading to incorrect pay fixation of employees.
A copy of MoD/D (Civ-I) ID No 11 (6)/2016-D(Civ-I) dated 07.12.2016 along with all its enclosures on the above subject is forwarded herewith. It is seen that MoD/D(Civ-I) has requested that the clarification on the subject from MoF/MoD(Fin) may be awaited. Accordingly, the instructions issued by MoD in para 2 of the MoD ID dated 7.12.2016 may be adhered to avoid any inconsistencies in the matter of pay fixation.
Jt CGDA (P&W) has seen.
(Vinod Anand) Sr ACGDA (P&W)
The employee has exercised option 2 to fix the pay in the Pay Matrix after availing the increment dated 1.7.2016, in the old pay structure scale.
Option 2 is exercised by the employee to fix the pay in the new pay matrix after availing promotional upgradation under MACP Scheme that look place on 1.1.2016.
Option 2 is exercised by the employee tofix the pay in the pay matrix after availing promotion/MACP upgradation as on 15.3.2016
Secretary staff side/JCM writes to Shri Rajnath Singh about the demands of Central Government Employees
Brief of the meeting held on 19.01.2017 with Cabinet Secretary
KAMALESH CHANDRA COMMITTEE REPORT ON GDS
ONE STEP FORWARD
Sri Kamalesh Chandra,
Retired Member, Postal Services Board & Chairman Gramin Dak Sevak Committee has
submitted it's report to Government on 24th November 2016. Even though earlier
GDS Committee reports were published on the same date of submission itself ,
this time the Postal Board kept it pending for two months and published only on
19th January 2017. Against the unjustified delay in publishing the report ,
NFPE & AIPEU - GDS conducted series of agitational programmes like
protest demonstrations , mass dharnas and finally declared indefinite hunger
fast of Secretary General and all other General Secretaries in front of Postal
Directorate (Dak Bhavan) from 18th January 2017.
The main
recommendations of the Committee relates to simplification and rationalisation
of categories of GDS and the number of Time Related Continuity Allowance (TRCA)
slabs, increasing the wages of GDS and other welfare measures of GDS. The
Committee has not attempted to analyse the justification of our demand for
grant of Civil Servant status to GDS and has refrained from making any
recommendations on the legal status of the GDS stating that the matter is
presently subjudice and hence left it to the outcome of the court case. The
committee , however , observed that there is a tendency to withhold the
legitimate demands of GDS which are due to them , based on the apprehension
that they will get closer to regular employees , and their claim for
regularisation will be strengthened in the court of law , if such demands
are allowed.
The
Committee has further observed that the future survival of the Postal
department will largely depend on the successful management of the GDS post offices,
which effectively form it's "soul" and it would be difficult for the
department to survive without the "soul". The Committee felt that the
India Post Payment Bank (IPPB) which is going to be rolled out shortly , will use
the strength of the GDS network and experiences of more than 2.60 lakhs
trustworthy Gramin Dak Sevaks.
Under
the new wage structure recommended by the Committee, eleven (11) TRCA slabs are
subsumed into three (3) wage scales with two levels each for Branch Postmasters
(BPMs) and for other than BPMs. Out of three wage scales , one scale will be
common to both categories of GDS. The minimum scale for GDS other than BPM is
fixed as 10000 for 4 hours duty and the minimum scale for 5 hours duty is
12000. Similarly, the minimum scale for BPM with 4 hours duty is fixed as 12000
and minimum scale for 5 hours duty is 14500. There will be only three
categories of GDS with nomenclature BPM, Assistant BPM and GDS. All GDS working
in Branch Post offices (other than BPM) are re-designated as Assistant Branch
Post Masters (ABPM). All GDS working in Departmental Post offices are
designated as Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS).
The
minimum working hours of GDS is fixed as 4 hours (Level - 1) , instead of 3
hours at present and maximum working hours is 5 hours (Level - 2). Point system
for assessment of workload of BPM is abolished. The new wage structure is
linked to revenue generation of GDS Branch Post offices. Based on revenue
generation , all GDS Post offices will be categorised as A(Green), B
(Orange) , C (Pink) , D (Red) and efforts to be undertaken by the GDS BPM and
the departmental officers to increase revenue of each category is explained in
detail in the report. Committee has recommended that existing TRCA should not
be reduced. If the BPM in the category D (which is the lowest category as
per revenue earning) is not ready to improve the revenue earning ,
extension of working hours of Post office , stoppage of increment , withholding
of promotion under financial upgradation scheme , relocation of the Post office
etc are also recommended. The GDS BPM will be paid a revenue linked additional
allowance @10% beyond level - 2 wage scale , if the revenue earned
exceeds the limit fixed for category "A" offices. The increment rate
recommended is 3%.
The
other major recommendations are (a) Composite Allowance comprising of support
for hiring accommodation , office maintenance , electricity charges etc (b)
Children Education Allowance (c) three promotions (financial up gradations ) on
completion of 12 ,24 and 36 years. (c) Enhancement of ex-gratia ceiling and
Group Insurance Scheme amount (d) 26 weeks maternity leave for women GDS
and one week Paternity leave (e) 30 days General leave (instead of paid leave)
with provision for carry forward and leave surrender benefit upto 180 days of
accumulated General leave at the time of retirement ( f )
five days Emergency leave like casual leave (g) Minimum one year
service for writing promotional examination (h) liberalisation of grants
and financial assistance from welfare fund and (h) Risk and
hardship allowance.
Regarding
Pension, no major change is recommended by the Committee, except increase in
severance amount and increase in contribution to Service Discharge Benefit
Scheme (SDBS). Similarly, there is no favourable recommendation regarding
medical facilities. While recommending that the existing policy of
relocation /redeployment should be vigorously pursued to relocate GDS post
offices which are not justified as per norms, the Committee had also
recommended that the department should not order closing of any GDS post office
to further reduce the existing number of GDS post offices. The existing rule
that the maximum hours of duty of GDS should not go beyond five hours , is
retained by the Committee. There is also a recommendation that two separate
unions should be formed for GDS, one exclusively for BPMs and one for all other
categories of GDS.
Now
comes the question of implementation. Normally Department will appoint a Postal
Board Member to study and process the recommendations of the GDS committee for
implementation. Then Postal Board has to approve it after seeking the
comments of Joint Secretary & Financial Advisor. Then it is to be approved
by other nodal Ministries like Department of Personnel & Training, Ministry
of Finance, Law Ministry etc. After completing all these process, the final
proposal will be submitted to Cabinet for approval.
NFPE
& AIPEU - GDS will be making an in depth study of the recommendations and
shall submit a detailed memorandum to the Department demanding immediate
implementation of the favourable recommendations and also demanding
modifications , improvement and rejection where ever required. NFPE & AIPEU
-GDS will make sincere effort to get maximum benefits to the GDS. In case
Government refuse to implement or dilute the favourable recommendations NFPE
& AIPEU GDS will not hesitate to organise serious trade union action
including indefinite strike.
All of
us should keep in mind that the favourable recommendations of the GDS committee
is a product of sustained struggles conducted by the entire Postal employees
under the banner of NFPE , AIPEU -GDS , PJCA and Confederation of Central
Government Employees and Workers. Let us be ready for the 16th March 2017, one
day strike, for further improvement of our service conditions. Let us unitedly
fight and shall not rest till our final goal ie; civil servant status to GDS is
achieved. No doubt, Kamalesh Chandra Committee report is ONE STEP FORWARD. Let
us hope for the best.
