KAVALIPOST

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Postman/Mail guard Examination question paper (Set-A)held on 12/04/2015 of AP circle











NPS: govt employees may get to choose their fund managers

Flexibility to bring them on par with private individuals
New Delhi, April 13:   
 
Pension regulator PFRDA may allow Union and State government employees the flexibility to choose their own fund managers for managing their corpus in the National Pension System (NPS).
 
Such a move will bring the employees on par with private individual subscribers, who already enjoy the facility to choose their fund managers.
 
“The plan to provide choice to government employees for deciding their fund managers is consistent with the design of NPS architecture as a subscriber-centric model,” RV Verma, PFRDA Member, toldBusinessLine.
 
As on date, over 70 per cent of the NPS corpus of ₹82,000 crore comprises contributions from Union and State government employees.
 
Currently, it is the Centre or the State government that chooses the fund manager for the NPS contributions.
 
Empowering the subscriber to choose the fund manager will allow these government employees the option to take risk and maximise pension, according to Verma.
 
The facility of switching from one fund manager to another is also proposed to be provided, he said, adding that this will ensure that pension fund managers do not become complacent.
Verma also said the plan to provide choice to government employees is also in line with the Bajpai panel’s recommendations to widen choice for NPS subscribers — whether it be in the case of fund managers or the basket of instruments in which funds could be parked.
 
Add on choice

“The existing system (of government deciding the fund managers) will continue. We are only going to add choice to the government employees who are NPS subscribers,” Verma said.
In 2004, the Centre had moved away from defined benefit pension system to a defined contribution pension system.
 
All new entrants into government service after January 1, 2004, had to mandatorily go in for NPS.
 
Currently, the Centre and 27 States have adopted NPS.
Source : http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/
 
 

Posts must step out of comfort zone to build their future

13.04.2015 - BISHAR HUSSEIN, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION, HAS URGED THE 750 DELEGATES AT THE ORGANIZATION’S 2015 WORLD STRATEGY CONFERENCE TO TAKE A CRITICAL LOOK AT HOW POSTAL SERVICES ARE CREATED AND DELIVERED.

Some 750 delegates from 135 UPU member countries are talking strategy in Geneva

“Let’s step out of our comfort zone and test new ideas upon which we can build the future of the Post,” said Hussein as the UPU's global meeting got underway after being officially opened by Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan of Côte d'Ivoire, the country chairing the event. 
 
The conference starts the process of drafting the next world postal strategy to be delivered at the Universal Postal Congress in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2016. 
 
In a personal message, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said postal services have a clear role to play in the UN’s post-development agenda being finalized for adoption in September. “As the world shapes a new sustainable development agenda and strives to address the threat posed by climate change, postal services can and must be part of the solution.”
 
Postal activities increasingly focused on logistics and financial services instead of traditional mail, the growth of e-commerce and the rise of parcel volumes, and changing consumer behaviours are among various phenomena forcing public postal services to redefine themselves for the 21st century. 
 
Changing consumer habits brought on by new technological applications is perhaps one of the greater challenges facing the postal sector. 
 
“The modern consumer is digital, concerned with sustainable development, and has a totally different gauge for the value of a product or service,” said Hussein. “Clients today want to access services anywhere, anytime. They want products tailored to their preferred method of consumption, and they want those products to be delivered at home or right next door.”
And Posts must see this new reality as an exciting opportunity, not a constraint, added the director general.
 
About 135 UPU member countries are represented at the Strategy Conference, which concludes tomorrow. 
 
Some 40 speakers are taking part in a series of panel discussions covering major themes such as the role of postal services in trade facilitation and social, financial and economic inclusion, the role of postal regulation in an ever-evolving communications market and the importance of innovation in ensuring that postal services and networks remain relevant in today’s society.
 
 
 

UPU News : Speakers address innovation challenges

14.04.2015 - THE INNOVATION CHALLENGE FACING POSTAL OPERATORS WORLDWIDE DOMINATED DISCUSSIONS ON THE FIRST DAY AT THE UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION’S WORLD STRATEGY CONFERENCE AS POSTAL EXECUTIVES, GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES AND PRIVATE COMPANIES DEBATED HOW TO BEST RESPOND AND ADAPT TO THE RAPID CHANGES THRUST UPON THE SECTOR BY TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE.

(L. to R.) Dimitry Strashnov, director general, Russian Post; Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Morocco's minister of industry, trade, investment and digital economy; Stefan Krawczyk, associate general counsel and head, government relations, eBay; Lin Hongliang, director, Asian-Pacific Postal Union; Peter Somers, moderator (Photo: UPU/Pierre Alboui)
“Together we must take stock of our organizations and the postal sector today, and shape our future tomorrow,” UPU Director General Bishar Hussein told the conference.
 
The rapidly expanding e-commerce sector was of particular interest during the opening day of the conference. While this sector promises great growth for postal operators, it brings many challenges as well. Consumer demands when it comes to delivery of e-commerce goods, for example, are changing quickly. As well, it is still unclear whether e-commerce giants, such as Amazon, are interested in handling last-mile delivery themselves. 
 
“The future of commerce is a blurred landscape, where the consumer dictates how, where and when he will consume,” said Stefan Krawczyk, associate general counsel and head of government relations at eBay. “That means the delivery operators will have to adapt to what the consumer dictates.”
 
Postal operators are already changing the way they deliver packages, including introducing package lockers and sending delivery notifications to customers via text messages. Krawczyk, however, stressed that consumers are looking for transparency and predictability when it comes to package delivery. A seller in Europe needs to feel certain that when they send an item to a buyer in South America, it will arrive on time. They also want the service and pricing to be transparent and logical, Krawczyk added.
 
Dimitry Strashnov, director general of Russian Post, seconded that viewpoint. Postal operators, for example, should analyze what kind of delivery their customers need and expect. “Do we need to deliver all the parcels in one day or two days?” Strashnov asked. “Would a customer be satisfied having three-to-five day delivery but with a high predictability level. Can we deliver on the promise? This is getting more and more important today because the cost of five-day delivery is lower than one day.”
 
Postal operators must also be efficient to maintain their profitability, Strashnov said. This, in turn, allows them to invest in their infrastructure to create new products. 
 
The development of new products is an important focus for postal operators worldwide. Take Saudi Post, which is leveraging its established assets such as its transportation infrastructure, last-mile delivery network, postal offices and technology to expand its range of products, according to Mohamed Saleh Ben Taher Benten, the organization’s chairman and chief executive officer. For example, Saudi Post has transformed its transportation network into a logistics network. Its NAQEL logistics joint venture, in which it holds a majority stake, provides services for many different industries in Saudi Arabia, including fashion retailers and food processors. 
 
Another attractive area for expansion is postal financial services. In Indonesia, the government has asked the Post to conduct a pilot project called the “post savings account” in six provinces as many people in that country still store their cash at home, according to Kalamullah Ramli, Indonesia’s director general of the ministry of communication and information technology.
 
The development of such value-added services is what makes Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Morocco’s minister of industry, trade, investment and digital economy, optimistic about the future for his country’s postal operator. 
 
“From my point of view, posts will continue to be profitable in coming years if they modernize,” Elalamy told the conference. 
 
However, it’s not just the postal operators that have to adapt, but the rules as well, according to speakers at the conference. Philippe Wahl, president of France’s La Poste, said work on the development of the UPU’s global integrated postal programme, known as ECOMPRO, is necessary for the further development of the e-commerce market. 
 
“We need to communicate and exchange information with all members from the UPU,” Wahl said. “It’s the next big step we are taking together.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
IMAGES OF PJCA MEETING HELD AT BHUBANESWAR ON 12-04-15







DOP: I.T. Modernisation Project Survey-CBS/ McCamish Feedback 

 

Department of Posts: I.T. Modernisation Project Survey

The link given below should be used to get the survey responses filled from the officers and staff:
To monitor survey progress, CBS Management Team will be regularly sharing survey response status with you. We should strive to get maximum responses filled before the survey end date i.e. 15th April 2015.

 

 
 
 
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