General Elections - 2014 Schedule of Elections

VOTE OUT NEO-LIBERAL GLOBALISATION POLICIES.

VOTE FOR ALTERNATIVE PRO-PEOPLE, PRO-WORKING CLASS POLICIES

               Once again our country is going for a general election.  India is the biggest democratic country in the world and general election is an opportunity to every citizen to express their opinion about the future Government and also future of our country.

               We, the Central Government employees including Postal employees are well aware of the fact that future of the Central Government Employees and various Central Government departments depends upon the policy of the Central Government.  As we are working directly under the Central Government, the policies are first experimented on us.  Upto 1991, the policy of the Government was to strengthen and expand the Central services and Public sector.  Based on this policy more and more offices were opened and employees are recruited and appointed to fill up vacant posts and also newly created posts.  The total number of Central Government employees went upto 40 lakhs.

               From 1991 onwards, the policy of the Government changed and started implementing the neo-liberal globalisation policies.  Ban on filling up of vacant posts and creation of new posts was imposed.  The process of converting Government departments into corporation started with the hidden agenda of ultimate privatization.  Attack came on the Telecom department first, and it is converted into three Corporations.   Expenditure reforms committee under the former Finance Secretary Geetha Krishnan was constituted and it recommended sweeping changes in all Central Government departments in tune with the liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation (LPG) policies of the Government.  Government started large scale outsourcing of the Government functions and many small departments were closed and many are in the verge of closure.  Downsizing has reached its peak and thousands of posts are abolished.  Casual and Contract worker employment has become the order of the day and in some departments the number of casual/contract workers exceeded the number of regular employees.

               When the NDA government came to power defeating the Congress government, employees were under the impression that the above policies of earlier government will be changed.  But to their dismay, the new government also persued the same policies.  A separate portfolio for disinvestment was created and a Cabinet Minister is appointed as incharge of the Disinvestment Ministry.  Downsizing, outsourcing, contractorisation and privatisation continued unabated.  Attack on the Central Government departments and employees continued.  Finally New Pension Scheme called Contributory Pension Scheme was also introduced. 

               UPA Government led by Congress which again came to power continued the same policy more vigourously.  The Pension Privatisation bill called PFRDA Bill was introduced in the Parliament with the help of main opposition party, BJP and again when the bill was passed both the NDA and UPA voted in favour of the bill.  Only left parties opposed the bill.  Regarding the main demands of the Central Government employees also the attitude of both the Governments was negative.  Only due to the continuous struggle conducted by Confederation and NFPE some improvements could be achieved.  In Postal, entire employees went on 14 days strike in 2000 but the then NDA Government constituted a cabinet committee of group of ministers under the then Home Minister and rejected all the demands.  Now also the UPA government rejected all our main demands. 

               Both the governments tried to privatise postal sector by amending Indian Post Office Act for granting licence to private courier services.  The move to close down 9797 post offices and 300 RMS offices were defeated only because of the united resistance of the Postal employees.  The attitude of both the Government towards departmentalisation of Gramin Dak Sevak was totally negative.  Even after the pronouncement of Supreme Court that GDS are Civil Servants the government is not ready to grant Civil Servant status to GDS. 

          From the above we can understand that future of the Central Government employees including Postal employees depends upon the policies of the Government.  Without changing the policy, we cannot except any positive action from Government.  Hence the coming general election is very crucial to us.  From our past experience we should recognise our friends and foes.  We have to defeat the anti -people, anti-worker neo liberal policies at any cost.   NFPE calls upon the entire Postal employees to vote out the Neo Liberal Globalisation Policies and to vote for an alternative pro-people, pro-working class policies.

GPF INTEREST FOR 2014-15 IS 8.7

CLICK HERE  to view MOF order

General Elections - 2014 Schedule of Elections

General Elections to Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim.

 Click here to See Schedule:

 

Revision of Interest Rates for Small Savings Schemes for the Financial Year 2014-15

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

04-March-2014

Revision of Interest Rates for Small Savings Schemes for the Financial Year 2014-15 Announced

            Various decisions taken by the Government of India on the recommendations of the Shyamala Gopinath Committee for Comprehensive Review of National Small Savings Fund (NSSF), were communicated to all concerned by the Government through its Office Memorandum dated 11th November, 2011.

            One of the decisions of the Government based on the recommendations of the Committee relates to revision of interest rates every financial year, to be notified before 1st April of that year.  Accordingly with the approval of the Finance Minister, the rates of interest on various small savings schemes for the Financial Year 2014-15 effective from 01.04.2014, on the basis of the interest compounding/payment built-in in the schemes, shall be as under :

Scheme	Rate of interest w.e.f.01.04.2013	Rate of Interest w.e.f. 01.04.2014
1.	2.	3.
Savings Deposit	4.0	4.0
1 Year Time Deposit	8.2	8.4
2 Year Time Deposit	8.2	8.4
3 Year Time Deposit	8.3	8.4
5 Year Time Deposit	8.4	8.5
5 Year Recurring Deposit	8.3	8.4
5 Year SCSS	9.2	9.2
5 Year MIS	8.4	8.4
5 Year NSC	8.5	8.5
10 Year NSC	8.8	8.8
PPF	8.7	8.7

Transfers & Postings in IP Cadre in Hyderabad Region

PMG Hyderabad Region vide memo no. PMG (H)/ST/6-5/IP/2013 dated 03.03.2014 has  issued the following transfers and postings in Inspector Posts cadre.

Name of the IP/IP candidate	Posting on Transfer/ allotment
G.Srinivasarao IP Devarakonda sub-dn	Medak (North) Sub-dn
V.Venkateshwarlu IP Huzurnagar Sub-dn	IP Bellampalli sub-dn
H.Sharath Kumar IRM RMS”Z” Dn	IP RC Puram Sub-dn.
KA Ramkishanrao IP Medak(N)	Hyd.City Region. (Re-allotment)
P.Vijaymohankumar IP Narayanpet Sub-dn	Kurnool Region.(Re-allotment)
K.Amarnath IP Nagarkurnool sub-dn	Kurnool Region. (Re-allotment)
N.Suryaprakash IP Wanaparthy Sub-dn	Vijayawada Region. (Re-allotment)
M.Ravikumar APS	IP (C&PG) wanaparthy (New posting)
G.sudheerkumar PA Adilabad dn	IP (C&PG) Nizamabad (New posting)
I.Ashokkumar PACO	IP Jammikunta Sub-dn(New posting)
J.ananthram PA Peddapalli Dn	IP (C&PG) Suryapet.(New posting)
B.Venkanna PA RO Hyd.	IP (C&PG) Nalgonda. (New posting)

POSTAL ASSISTANT EXAM- PREPARATION PLAN

Disclaimer:- All Information provided in this post are Compiled by A. Praveen Kumar for in good faith of Postal Assistant Exam Aspirants. Author of blog does not accepts any responsibility in relation to the accuracy, completeness, usefulness or otherwise, of the contents.

Friends, last year I published Postal Assistant exam material and model cum practice papers. All the aspirants welcomed my efforts and appreciated countrywide. This year also I am planning to post valuable information / quality material and model papers at free of cost in my blog. (Last year material is available ( akulapraveen.blogspot.com & http://sapost.blogspot.in/) @ Blog Archive, select the months Oct-2012, Nov-2012, Dec-2012, Jan-2013, Feb-2013, Mar-2013, Apr-2013)

I am receiving mails form the Postal Assistant exam aspirants regarding books to refer & how to prepare and publishing of quality study material.

Books are keys to success for any exam. Candidates should polish their basics by using best books. Candidates make big mistake while choosing books for exams. Never choose all in one book, these kind of guides doesn't concentrate on fundamentals. 

For Arithmetic:  (Any two books)

1. Quantitative Aptitude by R.S.Aggarwal

2. Magical book on Quicker Maths by M.Tyra

3. Numerical ability and Quantitative by P.K.Mittal

4. Quantitative aptitude by Arun Sharma

5. Quantitative aptitude by Abhijit guha

6. Quantitative aptitude by A.Gulati

For Reasoning section: (Any Two)

1.A modern approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal reasoning by R.S.Aggarwal

(R. S Aggrawal’s reasoning series is ok, but there are no shortcuts in these books. All are traditional methods).

2. A modern approach to logical reasoning by S.Chand

For English section: (Any Two)

1. For English you can buy any English Grammar book of your local language. This will help you getting basic idea on English grammar. Later you can switch to any Standard English grammar book like "Intermediate English Grammar" of Raymond Murphy or Wren & Martin

2. Objective General English by R.S.Aggarwal.

3. Objective English for Competitive examinations by Hari mohan Prasad and Uma Rani Sinha.

For General awareness: (Any Two)

1.General awareness and Current affairs digest by M.Laxmikanth

2. General knowledge and General awareness by Ravi chopra

3. Advanced Objective general knowledge by R.S.Aggarwal

4. Current affairs and General awareness by M.G.Rahmani

5. General knowledge by Manohar Pandey

For Current Affairs you can buy Pratiyogitha Darpan / Kiran (If you can afford around Rs. 75/- per month) Mahindra’s Current Affairs (it costs you around Rs. 30/-) or any leading competitive exams magazine of your language. But no book is perfect; better to make your own short-notes on Current Affairs.

1.    Just Remember, Almost all the topics they cover in Postal Assistant exams are of the classes 6th to 10th. So, Even a 10th Standard kid can clear this exam, if given enough time. With me? But the thing is, you have to complete the paper in given time. So, don't you think you can do it with little efforts and practice? (This is the same answer for those people who say, "I am not from science background. That's the reason why I can't write Postal Assistant Exams". Friends, you just lack practice. Not skills. Remember it).

2.    Stop saying, I have so many family problems. So, can't concentrate on preparation. First let us know, who the hell on earth don't have problems? See, nobody will remember your problems when you failed in the exam. Even your mom, dad and close friends will say that you lost it because of your negligence. Can you show me a single person, who sincerely says that you lost it because of your personal problems? Friends, they don't know your feelings, they don't want your emotions, all just they want is to talk about your success. So just stop searching reasons for failures and start make yourself ready for the exam.

3.    Stop thinking, What if I lost this exam? Pretty good question, isn't it? The answer is, the earth never gonna blast, the sun never gonna turn black and the most important thing, you never gonna die because of it. May be some blank faces and emotional atyachars for two or three days. Later everything gonna be fine. The only disappointing thing is, you just have to wake up in sad mood on the very next day of your result. But it’s not such a big deal. You will start preparing for another exam. After all we are here to win. Nobody gonna die as a loser. Who knows?  This may be your last step towards your goal :) Be positive. Just avoid negative thoughts. 

4. Is Coaching Necessary to clear the Postal Assistant Exam?

Of course not. Now a day’s almost all coaching institutes have became money minded. They just concentrate on covering topics rather than explaining them. So, if you are sincere enough, then you surely can prepare on your own without taking the help of any coaching class. By doing so, you can save your valuable money and time. The only best thing with coaching classes is, they just provide you the good environment of preparation. I mean, you will be motivated if people around you are continuously discussing about the issues related to preparation. Ofcourse, you can create this environment by making a group with your friends too. Combined studies and sharing ideas really help you prepare well. But make sure that all your friends are sincere and enthusiastic as you. 

5. What if I don't have good friends?

No problem, you can join in any Facebook group (Postal Assistant Exam) in which people who prepare for exams interacts and helps each other. But don't waste too much time in chatting with others. 5 to 10 minutes per day for a good cause is Ok.

6. Gathering Materials:

Don't try to buy every book with the name "Postal Assistant" on it. So, before going to collect the materials just read the syllabus. Make a list of topics to read; according to it you can buy the books. Books list are mentioned above.

7. Making Timetable:

If you are working somewhere: If you are working somewhere then it may not possible to dedicate the whole day on your preparation. Try to spend at-least five hours per day on preparation. Morning two hours and night time 3 hours. Try to practice Aptitude and Reasoning sections at morning. Try to manage reading news paper during the day time. At evening you can concentrate on English / General Knowledge section according to your convenience and interest. On holidays better work with practice sets and General Awareness topics. 

If you are completely dedicated to Exams: Congratulations. You have the whole day with you to prepare. But don't be a book worm. Too much of anything is good for nothing. Try to wake up at 4 (We know its really difficult for you at initial days. But trust us , your body will get used to it within 4 or 5 days). Work with Aptitude and Reasoning sections according to your convenience. You can prepare till 8 or 9 depending on your interest. Later you can have breakfast and do your favorite task for 1 hour. Later read the news paper and note important points. Try to remember if there are any new names and numbers / dates. Complete your lunch by 1 PM. Walk around for 10 to 15 minutes. Have a quick nap for two hours. Wake up by 4 PM. Prepare English for Two hours. Complete your dinner by 9. Prepare general awareness or any other subject according to your convenience. Go to bed by 11 PM Sharp. 

8. Starting Preparation: Before starting your preparation, just mug up the following things

·      Math tables upto 20

·      Squares up to 30

·      Cubes up to 15 

·      Powers of 2 (upto 12)

·      Powers of 3 (upto 6)

·      Complements of 100 (the difference between 100 and the given number). This will help you calculating faster. 

·      Try to learn 10 new English words per day (including Antonyms and Synonyms) (you should do this upto 7 days before your exam)

·      Learn Place value of Alphabets

9. During Preparation : 

·      For Aptitude and Reasoning: Pick any topic and try to learn the basics of the topic. Once you feel you perfectly got the topic then only go for problems. And remember, example problems are always easier to read and understand. It something like, riding bicycle when somebody is holding it. At that time you will feel that you are perfect at bicycle riding. But before going to the race, you have to test yourself whether you can really ride it or not. More than 70% of our friends fail at this point. Why to point others? Even my brother too does this. He is a lazy bug. He just opens the book, reads the concept and says "It is easy!!!" and sleeps. But after exam he comes with a sad face and says "Di, the paper was very tough. Even I also couldn't answer more than 100 questions (!!!). Nobody can clear this exam". Then where on the earth all those people who have cleared the exam came from? From mars? The only problem is, he has laziness and attitude. Which they don't have. Hope you have got what I am trying to say. Practice... Practice... Practice.... Practice till the end of your exam.

·      For English Language:  Try to learn the basics first. Later you can go with concept. And remember, spoken English is different and competitive English is different. You shouldn't be a fluent English speaker or you shouldn't learn every English word to clear the Exam with good marks. Just learn the basics perfectly and practice well. That's enough. 

·      Making Notes for Current Affairs: It’s better to depend on THE HINDU or The Times of India to make your CA notes. If you have any problem with them then you can go with any local language news paper. Maintain a notebook for Current Affairs. Read the news paper completely. Just write the date in the notebook as the main heading. Make some sub headings like International Events, National Events, Economy, Sports, People in News etc. Don't copy the news paper as it is, just 2 or 3 lines are enough. Try to highlight if there are any names or numerical values. And don't write everything you see in the news paper. They won’t ask you about silly things like Politician's second wife, Bollywood heroines' daughter and Cricketer's ankle pains the topics which the news papers publish as  their main headlines. Just ask yourself a question "Is it going to be appear in the exam?", if you feel YES, then write it. If you feel no then don't write. Of course, its not such an easy task as we are saying. We too agree. But trust us, day by day you could observe the improvement in you and finally you will be the expert of making Current Affairs notes.

9. Spirituality: Yep you heard it correct. Believe in god. Daily pray for 10 minutes (it would be more nice if you can Meditate). Of course, we are not saying that the god will show you the correct options during the exam. But the feeling "somebody is there to help me" makes you stay calm and peaceful.

 10. Merely passing the exam won’t help you at all. Your job is totally dependentent on the rank you get. The higher rank you get, the more chances for the selection. So, don't just try to clear the exam. Try to give your best. 

10 Uncommon Basic Computer User Tips

There are thousands of basic computer tips on this website alone, however in this article I am going to narrow it down to only the top 10 tips. These computer tips will be extremely handy for the newbie computer user.

#1. Shut Down The Right Way

Learn how to shutdown your computer correctly. This is very important and is often taken for granted. If you do not shut down the computer correctly it can cause an endless amount of problems. When a computer is shut down suddenly, and without warning, the computer is usually in the middle of an operation. The main problem is that if an operation is interrupted it usually remains unfinished and leaves stray or corrupt files lingering on your computer. 

The same applies when you want to remove a USB flash drive from your computer. You must do this correctly to ensure that the computer has in fact finished with the USB stick. If you remove the USB during a file transfer you might corrupt the USB drive and it’s contents.

#2. Know Where Your Files Are Being Saved

Know where to store your files the files that you create. You should not save files just anywhere on your computer. Everything you save or create should go into your documents folder in Windows XP, Vista and Seven. The Windows XP documents also has other folders in it such as my pictures and my music. On Windows Vista you need to save your files in your username section. For example my username is Mitz. This folder has documents, pictures, music, and so on in it.

To get to your pictures, documents and more, simply click on the start menu at the bottom right of your screen.

You should not save files in C: drive or even in C:Program Files. 

#3. Install All Software To The Default Location

Install programs to the correct location on C: drive. This is an easy task, as all program , by default, get installed in C:Program Files. Unfortunately  sometimes people presume they need to choose where to install a program and change the default destination.

#4. Don’t Mess With IT

Do not change default settings. “If it is not broke, don’t fix it.” People touch things they are not supposed to and cause problems. Most of the time if you just use your computer, and not fiddle with its settings, then your computer will run smoothly and without problems.

#5. Get Rid Of Trial Programs

Uninstall nagging trial programs and unused programs in the correct way.  It is important to know how to do certain tasks correctly, and removing programs is one of them. Too many people think that if they remove the desktop icon, then the program has been deleted also. This is not true. Each program has files scattered in different locations on your computer hard drive. These need to be removed by correctly and thoroughly.

#6. Take Some Lessons

Complete a computer basics course. It will save you money on repairs in the end. People can easily rip you off when repairing computers. I have seen people get charged $100 for a tech guy pressing CTRL ALT DEL on the keyboard to bypass the password login section on Windows XP. The customer nearly had a heart attack when she had forgotten her password again, bought the computer to me, watch me start it and press those three keys to get in.

I used to repair computers and I have seen and heard about a lot of rip off’s.

#7. Take Computer Maintenance Seriously

Learn how to perform computer maintenance and stick to a schedule. There are also some free programs that will help you keep you computer running smoothly.

#8. If You Need Antivirus – GET IT NOW!

Buy an Antivirus program if you plan to be on the internet. Don’t skimp on this one. Getting a virus can crash your entire computer and even damage hardware components. It is not worth risking your computers health by skimping on a an Antivirus program. Free Antivirus programs are OK in some circumstances, however they cannot protect you when you get hit by a serious virus. 

#9. Keep Updated

Perform regular updates. This is a great basic computer tip that is often overlooked. This includes downloading and installing Windows updates and Antivirus definition updates. They are both as important as each other. Firstly Windows updates usually contain necessary patches and updates that keep your computer up to date and ready for almost anything. Without these updates, your computer could be vulnerable to attacks and also prone to problems with programs. The updates are there to keep your computer up with the times, not to spy on you, as some people might think. Also updating your virus definitions is a vital process and needs to be performed to keep your computer safe. If you do not update your virus definitions, your virus checker will only be looking for outdated viruses, not the newly developed ones.

#10. Backup or Risk Losing Files

Backup your files. The best thing to do with your files is to store them on a separate partition or hard drive to the operating system. For example if you had C: drive and D: drive you should have Windows installed on C: drive and your saved files D: drive. This way if your computer crashes then the files will still be safe…But this does not mean you do not have to backup important files. You should have two copies of any important files and they should be stored in different locations. For example if you saved a group of photos in C:/users/mitz/pictures you should not store the second copy on C: drive. You could 

backup the file to an external hard drive or even a disc.

Applications for appointment on compassionate ground pending with the Railways as on date, zone-wise

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 4427

ANSWERED ON 20.02.2014

APPOINTMENT ON COMPASSIONATE GROUNDS

4427 . Shri JAGDISH THAKOR
RANJAN PRASAD YADAV
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:-

(a) the criteria adopted by the Railways for appointment on compassionate ground; 

(b) the total number of applications for appointment on compassionate ground pending with the Railways as on date, zone-wise; 

(c) the reasons therefor and the time by which these are likely to be disposed of;and 

(d) the steps taken/being taken by the Railways to expedite the process of these pending cases?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY)

(a) Compassionate grounds appointment is considered in favour of a dependent family member of a Railway employee dying in harness or who is retired on medical grounds, thereby leaving his family in penury, to relieve the family of the Railway employee concerned from financial destitution and to help it get over this emergency.

(b) A total of 2653 cases were pending for appointment on compassionate ground as per details below:-

S. No.	Railways	No. of pending cases.	S. No.	Railways	No. of pending cases.
1	Central	244	9	Western	92
2	Eastern	335	10	East Central	213
3	Northern	121	11	East Coast	42
4	North Eastern	222	12	North Central	50
5	North Frontier	256	13	North Western	78
6	Southern	344	14	South East Central	38
7	South Central	267	15	South Western	98
8	South Eastern	143	16	West Central	110
TOTAL		1932	TOTAL		721
1932 + 721 =  2653

(c) Majority of such cases are pending on account of wards being minor, non-availability of suitable vacancies, legal cases pending in courts, etc. Therefore, no time frame can be laid down for the disposal of the pending cases.

(d) Instructions exit for expeditious disposal of the pending cases and constant monitoring is done to this effect. For this, the following steps have been taken:

(i) Welfare Inspectors are deputed to contact the family members and to conduct enquiry into the details as soon as the applications are made.

(ii) Constant monitoring is done by Divisional Personnel Officers/Senior Divisional Personnel Officers at the Divisional level and by Chief Personnel Officers at the Head Quarter level and also by the Heads of Personnel Branch in other units.

(iii) Selections for determining the suitability of the applicants are conducted regularly.

(iv) Compassionate appointment Adalats are also held periodically to settle the grievances regarding appointment on compassionate grounds.

(v) The position regarding compassionate appointment is also reviewed by the Railway Board regularly.

Source: http://164.100.47.132/Annexture/lsq15/15/au4427.htm

Delivery of Pending Business Parcel/Express Parcel COD articles - Regarding