MEETING WITH THE CHAIRMAN OF TASK FORCE ON LEVERAGING THE POST OFFICE NETWORK ON 27.11.2014
On behalf of National federation of Postal Employees, Com. Giriraj Singh, President NFPE, Com. R. N. Parashar, Secretary General, NFPE and on behalf of AIPEU Group ‘C’, Com. N. Subramanian, General Secretary, Com. Balwinder Singh, Financial Secretary & Com. A. Veeramani, AGS have met the chairman Shri. T. S. R. Subramanian, Task force on Leveraging the Post office Network on 27.11.2014 at Meghdoot Bhawan, New Delhi.
Age before duty: Babus to retire at 58 instead of 60
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 FE.
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.
Thanks to successive pay commissions, the salaries and other emoluments of government employees have, on average, more than doubled in every decade since independence even though lack of sufficient performance incentives is still considered to be a drawback.
A merger of 50% of the dearness allowance with the basic salary, likely to be part of the Seventh Pay Commission’s award, which is to implemented from 2016, is expected to hike the Centre’s wage bill by a third and strain its fiscal situation. In February this year, the government hiked DA to 100%, from 90%, benefiting both its employees and 3 million pensioners.
The Centre’s expenditure on pension stood at Rs 74,076 crore in 2013-14 and the estimate for the current fiscal is Rs 81,983 crore. However, growth in the outgo on pension is expected to moderate due to the National Pension System based on the concept of defined contribution, launched in January 2004. The NPS has been accepted by large sections of central government employees and most state governments have shifted their employees to the new system.
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.
Source : http://www.financialexpress.com/
Central govt employees to file assets details by December 31: Govt
New Delhi: All central government employees have to file the details of their assets and liabilities along with that of their spouses and dependent children as mandated under the Lokpal Act by December 31, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
As per the rules notified under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act in July this year, every public servant who has filed declarations, information and annual returns of property under the provisions of the rules applicable to such public servants shall file the revised declarations as on August 1 to the competent authority on or before September 15.
The provision of the said rules has subsequently been amended by which the time limit for furnishing of such information or return by public servants has been extended till December 31, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh said in a written reply.
The declarations under the Lokpal Act are in addition to similar ones filed by the employees under various services rules.
All Group A, B and C employees are supposed to file a declaration under the new rules. There are about 26 lakh employees in these three categories, as per latest government data.
The Personnel Ministry has also issued new forms for filing these returns which have fields for mentioning details of cash in hand, bank deposits, investment in bonds, debentures, shares and units in companies or mutual funds, insurance policies, provident fund, personal loans and advance given to any person or entity, among others.
The employees need to declare motor vehicles, aircraft, yachts or ships, gold and silver jewellery and bullion possessed by them, their spouses and dependent children.
PTI
Source : http://zeenews.india.com/
More Likes for the New Post
THE POSTAL DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN MAKING EFFORTS AT EXPANDING ITS REPERTOIRE OF SERVICES TO BE MORE CUSTOMER-CENTRIC IN CHANGING TIMES.
‘Penta Phones for sale’ says the banner before the district head post-office here, located near the old bus stand. Another of the Postal Department’s efforts at a makeover, the Penta Phone seems to have got off on the right foot. In the last one month, post offices at Sangareddy and Zaheerabad sold about two hundred phones, the stock being cleared within just an hour.
The phones, which can be booked by paying Rs.500, come with a BSNL-to-BSNL talk time offer of Rs.1,999.
That’s not all. Targeting the corporate customer and their needs for fast and end-to-end, reliable transportation across the nation, the department launched ‘Logistic Post’.
Tie-up with Railways
Another service of the Postal Department is the Book-Now Pay Later (BNPL) scheme, where customers can first avail of the service, and pay their bills later. More than a dozen organisations, including private sector units, have already been using this service.
The Passenger Railway Reservation System (PRRS) was introduced at Sangareddy and Jogipet post offices. However, reservations can only be made during working hours of the department, making it inconvenient for customers.
The E-seva, similar to MeeSeva, introduced by the department provides services to the public at a cost fixed by the government. “Other services being offered by the department include My Stamp – where one can get his or her printed photo on the stamp and use it, Direct Post for distribution of pamphlets, Media Post through which customers can put up advertisements in the department premises, and e-Post which enables a customer to send a scanned copy of a letter to the remotest part of the country where a post office exists,” says Postal Superintendent K. Janardhan Reddy.
The phones, which can be booked by paying Rs.500, come with a BSNL-to-BSNL talk time offer of Rs.1,999.
That’s not all. Targeting the corporate customer and their needs for fast and end-to-end, reliable transportation across the nation, the department launched ‘Logistic Post’.
Tie-up with Railways
With a tie-up with the railways, and its own strong nationwide network to back it, Logistics Post transports the customer’s goods to the nearest post office. Four routes were launched two months ago, including Hyderabad-Adilabad-Mancherial, Hyderabad-Chennai (via Vijayawada), Hyderabad-Bangalore, and Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam and eight vehicles roped in exclusively for this purpose. The industrial estate at Patancheru in Medak district serves as the Logistics Post Centre.
Another service of the Postal Department is the Book-Now Pay Later (BNPL) scheme, where customers can first avail of the service, and pay their bills later. More than a dozen organisations, including private sector units, have already been using this service.
The Passenger Railway Reservation System (PRRS) was introduced at Sangareddy and Jogipet post offices. However, reservations can only be made during working hours of the department, making it inconvenient for customers.
The E-seva, similar to MeeSeva, introduced by the department provides services to the public at a cost fixed by the government. “Other services being offered by the department include My Stamp – where one can get his or her printed photo on the stamp and use it, Direct Post for distribution of pamphlets, Media Post through which customers can put up advertisements in the department premises, and e-Post which enables a customer to send a scanned copy of a letter to the remotest part of the country where a post office exists,” says Postal Superintendent K. Janardhan Reddy.
Source : http://www.thehindu.com/
Postal Department redefines its role
Chief Postmaster General Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States B. V. Sudhakar, trying his hand at a two-wheeler while launching the first of its kind mechanized letter Box clearance service in Hyderabad at Dak Sadan on Wednesday. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf .
Tirumala Tirupati ‘darshanam’ tickets and non-judicial stamps to be sold in post offices soon. Unlike the popular belief that Internet and mobiles have reduced the usage of Postal Department, personal and business mails were increasing.
Post offices will soon begin selling Tirumala-Tirupati ‘darshanam’ tickets and also non-judicial stamps (stamp papers).
The Chief Post Master General of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, B.V. Sudhakar, said the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has agreed to sell 1,000 tickets through select post offices in five districts – Chittoor, Vizianagaram, Warangal, Kurnool and Hyderabad – on a pilot basis.
The number of tickets may go up to 5,000 per day if the TTD agrees later. Training of employees for this purpose is on, he said.
With regard to sale of non-judicial stamps, he said the Telangana government has accepted the proposals sent to them and non-judicial stamps will be available across all post offices from December first week onwards. Similar proposals were also sent to the Andhra Pradesh government and it is likely to give its nod soon.
Mr. Sudhakar, who was speaking to the reporters after launching mechanised clearance of letter boxes here on Wednesday, said the Postal Department was sending 10.27 lakh Speed Post articles per month in the two States, of which 5.81 lakh were from Hyderabad alone. It was also handling 17.35 lakh Speed Post deliveries, of which 5.31 lakh were in the city.
Unlike the popular belief that Internet and mobiles have reduced the usage of Postal Department, personal and business mails were increasing. Till last year, 16 lakh letters were handled daily while it has increased to 22.24 lakh per day as per the September 2014 figures, he said.
Mr. Sudhakar said extreme care was being taken while disbursing money under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. “We disburse Rs. 1,500 crore under the scheme to the beneficiaries. Biometric method is being used to ensure genuineness of the person and later the same is linked to the Aadhar card,” he said, adding that even the social security pensions to the tune of Rs. 450 to Rs. 500 crore per month were disbursed without any hassles.
Mechanised clearance system to ease delivery
Under the mechanised clearance of letter boxes, mails are cleared through specially-designed Departmental Mail Motor Services in all the prominent pillar type post boxes under three postal divisions in the city.
For this purpose, all these post boxes are segregated into 10 beats. Letters collected under this system will be brought directly to the Hyderabad sorting office for onward dispatch to various stations. The mechanised clearance will not only save time, but also speed up the delivery.
Letters are also being cleared in selected post boxes under the ‘Nanyatha’ programme. Under this system, when the letters are cleared, the barcode number kept inside the box is scanned through a mobile phone using android technology.
The information is uploaded on the website ‘http://appost.in/nanyatha’ indicating the time of clearance, number of letters cleared in each box, the person who has cleared and the location. The scheme helps people to know whether the letter posted in a particular box was cleared and when. It is available in Hyderabad and Vijayawada as of now.
Source : http://www.thehindu.com/
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