Children Education Allowance

Clarification on Children Education Allowance

No.21011/16/2009-Estt.(AL)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, P.G. & Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training

(New Delhi, Dated) 17^th June, 2011

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: – Clarification on Children Education Allowance.

The undersigned is directed to refer to DOP&T O.M. No. 12011/03/2008- Estt(Allowance) dated 02-09-2008 and clarificatory OM No.12011/16/2009- Estt.(AL) dated 13.11.2009 on the Children Education Allowance(CEA) Scheme, this Department has been receiving references from various
Departments seeking further clarifications. The doubts raised are clarified as under:

1) whether Children Education Allowance would be admissible beyond two children due to failure of sterilization operation.

The reimbursement of Children Education Allowance is admissible only for the first child born after failure of sterilization operation.

(ii) whether the admissible amount per annum per child (annual ceiling of Rs.15000/-) on account of CEA can be reimbursed in full in the first quarter of the financial/academic year itself.

(i) It is clarified that a Government servant is allowed to get 50% of the total amount subject to the over all annual ceiling in the first quarter and the remaining amount in third and or fourth quarter . Frontloading of the entire amount in the first and second quarters is not allowed. (ii) A Government servant can claim full amount subject to the annual ceiling of Rs.15000/- in the last quarter.

(Vibha Govil Mishra)

Deputy Secretary (P &A)

SUBORDINATE OFFICERS/JCO-NO IT RETURN

Earning Rs 5 lakh? Forget tax returns

Those with a taxable income of up to Rs 5 lakh per annum have been freed from the drudgery of filing returns. This will apply to people whose tax is deducted at source.

Those who have earned less than Rs 10,000 interest from savings accounts and have taxable income up to Rs 5 lakh will also not have to file returns for 2010-11.

The last date for filing returns is July 31, according to a Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notification issued today.

Experts, however, said the scheme was likely to continue next year, too. Sundeep Agarwal, associate director (tax), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), said, “There could be some changes according to the Direct Taxes Code, but I expect the exemption to continue.”

The move, announced by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Budget, is likely to benefit over five million taxpayers.

“Individuals must report their permanent account numbers and income from bank interest to their employers, pay tax by way of tax deducted at source and get a certificate of tax deduction (Form 16),” said CBDT.

But those with income from other sources such as fixed deposits and mutual funds will have to file returns.

Homi Mistry, partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, said, “If you have an income from shares, either through capital gains or dividend, or from units of mutual funds, you may not enjoy this benefit.”

Tax experts say the move in line with the global practice and will help the Income Tax Department focus on big taxpayers.

Experts said for those who qualify, the benefits could be much more.“Individuals with incomes in the range of Rs 6.5-8 lakh will qualify,” said Mistry.

Here’s how. Suppose you have an income of Rs 6.5 lakh. Let’s assume you invest Rs 1 lakh under Section 80C (Employees Provident Fund, Public Provident Fund, life insurance, five-year bank fixed deposits, equity-linked saving schemes), Section 80CCF (Rs 20,000 in infrastructure bonds) and Section 80D (Rs 15,000 towards health insurance for self and Rs 20,000 for parents).

This will leave you with a taxable salary of Rs 4.95 lakh. If you have also taken a housing loan on which the interest paid is Rs 1.5 lakh or more, you will be exempted even if your total income is Rs 8 lakh. “This is a good move as Form 16 is considered a better representation of income. Even for home loans and visas, the authorities ask for Form 16 and not tax returns,” said PwC’s Agarwal. But tax experts say returns will have to be filed for claiming refunds. Also, people getting salary from more than one employer and having income from sources other than salary will not get the benefit.

The scheme will also not apply in cases where notices have been issued for filing returns under Section 142(1) or Section 148 or Section 153A or Section 153C of the Income Tax Act 1961. “That is, if your returns have come up for scrutiny or your income has escaped assessment,” explains Minstry.

NAVAL AND COAST GUARD BASE EXPANSION AT KARWAR

India to spend Rs 10,000 cr on Karwar Naval and Coast Guard base expansion

India is finally getting ready to spend around Rs 10,000 crore on the proposed major expansion of the strategic Karwar naval And Coast Guard base in coastal Karnataka. Aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (the refurbished Admiral Gorshkov), Scorpene attack submarines and other frontline warships including few Coast Guard Ships will be based there in the future.

India is faced with the likelihood of Chinese warships using the Gwadar deep-sea port in Pakistan, which it helped build in the last decade, in the years ahead.

Apprehensions on this were reinforced recently when Pakistani defence minister Ahmed Mukhtar publicly declared that Islamabad had asked Beijing to build a naval base at Gwadar, which offers direct access to the Gulf region.

Though China was quick to deny it had any interest in establishing a naval base of its own at Gwadar, Beijing's assiduous role in building ports in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka has only served to underline its "string of pearls" strategic construct in the Indian Ocean Region.

Pakistan already has five major naval bases and ports at Gwadar, Ormara, Karachi, Pasni and Jiwani, while Karwar is India's third major naval base after Mumbai and Visakhapatnam on the east coast.

"After some delay, the defence ministry has now prepared a "note" for the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Phase-IIA of `Project Seabird' at Karwar after fine-tuning a detailed project report (DPR)," said an official.

"The note is being vetted by finance and will soon go to CCS for the final approval. The Navy will be able to base 27 major warships at Karwar after completion of Phase-IIA, at a cost of around Rs 10,000 crore, by 2017-2018," he added.

Project Seabird has been dogged by long delays, fund crunches and truncated clearances since it was first approved in 1985 at an initial cost of Rs 350 crore. Phase-I, completed at a cost of Rs 2,629 crore, has enabled the Navy to base 11 warships and 10 yardcraft at Karwar.

Under Phase-II, Karwar will get an airbase, armament depot, dockyard complex and missile silos, apart from additional jetties, berthing and anchorage facilities. The eventual aim is to base 50 major warships at Karwar after Phase-IIB is completed.

As reported by TOI earlier, Karwar will not only decongest the over-crowded Mumbai harbour, though the naval dockyard there will continue to house some warships, but also provide India with much-needed strategic depth and operational flexibility.

With Navy moving towards operating two carrier battle groups centered around the 44,570-tonne INS Vikramaditya and the 40,000-tonne indigenous aircraft carrier by 2015, the Karwar base is critical for its blue-water operations in Indian Ocean and beyond.

ARMY EYES ITBP CONTROL

Army wants operational control of ITBP for better border posture against China

With Chinese troops continuing with their aggressive "transgressions'' across the Line of Actual Control, the Army wants the ITBP to be placed under its "operational control'' for better border management.

NEW DELHI: With Chinese troops continuing with their aggressive "transgressions'' across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Army wants the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to be placed under its "operational control'' for better border management.

Defence ministry sources said the Army contends India's border management posture will acquire the much-needed "cohesion, coordination and synergy'' required to counter the People's Liberation Army's "offensive'' posture if ITBP is placed under its jurisdiction.

The Army feels such a step will prove operationally productive as well as ensure optimal utilisation of resources especially in eastern Ladakh where ITBP, one of the seven central police forces under the home ministry, is responsible for border management of 826 km of the LAC.

The Army is also present in depth along that stretch but it can exercise operational control over ITBP only during the outbreak of hostilities.

This is not the first time the Army has moved for getting ITBP under its operational wings along the 4,057-km LAC for "single-point control'' as well as effective "border-guarding'' rather than mere "border-policing''.

The defence ministry had six years ago taken up the Army proposal with the home ministry and the national security advisor, among others, but it all came to naught. Interestingly, one of the main objectors at that time was the external affairs ministry, which felt that it would needlessly antagonize China.

China has had no such compunctions. It continues with its policy of frequent troop incursions all along the three LAC sectors -- western (Ladakh), middle (Uttarakhand, Himachal) and eastern (Sikkim, Arunachal).

Officially, India often downplays Chinese intrusions, holding that they take place due to "differing perceptions'' of the still-unresolved LAC. The fact, however, remains that China has been indulging in aggressive border patrolling for several years now to strengthen its claim over disputed areas and put pressure on India.

India's overall border management policy has remained largely muddled over the years despite having a porous land border of 14,880-km, running through 17 states and touching six countries. Moreover, it took the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai for the government to rethink security of the country's 5,422-km coastline and 1,197 islands.

The large land borders with both China and Pakistan, as also Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal, continue to suffer from a lack of coordination among the different forces manning the border outposts, ranging from BSF, ITBP and Sashastra Seema Bal to Assam Rifles and of course the Army, which report to different bosses and ministries.

Incidentally, both the Border Management Task Force in the aftermath of the 1999 Kargil conflict, and the subsequent Group of Ministers' report on "reforming the national security system'' in 2001, had strongly recommended the principle of "one border one force''.

"Multiplicity of forces on the same borders has inevitably led to the lack of accountability as well as problems of command and control,'' held the crucial GoM report. But since then, both the previous NDA and the present UPA regimes have taken only half-hearted steps to plug the gaps.

Retirement: Survey

74% Indians financially prepared to handle retirement: Survey

Indians, who demonstrate impressive optimism, have lowest concern about financial hardship in retirement, according to survey done across 17 countries by Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance.

Indians are second best in Asia Pacific with 74 per cent 'feeling' adequately financially prepared to handle their retirement and 69 per cent of the respondents see themselves as being better off in their later life than their parents, the survey said.

However, 51 per cent respondents in India are worried about being able to cope financially in old age, with one in ten people in India expecting to continue working in later life to provide income for themselves, reiterating that the general optimism towards retirement must not therefore lead to complacency, it said.

India currently enjoys the fortunate position of relatively high savings rates. Further, it does not face the immediate demographic challenges of most of its peers. However, this will not last, said Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance CEO John Holden .

With the looming demographic time bomb, in the long term, India is likely to face the same pressure as its peers, he said.

Over the next 30 years, a higher proportion of the population will be of working age and when they retire, India too, will face the challenges of an ageing, non-working population. As life expectancy increases, the number of years spent in retirement is expected to get greater, he added.

The study further noted that those with a financial plan for the future enjoy several benefits over those who do not.

It is called 'planning premium' and these benefits are both 'hard' and 'soft', including not only greater and more diverse retirement savings, but also a more positive outlook and fewer worries about later life, it said.

Individuals who undertake financial planning are not only likely to be better off in retirement, but also are more likely than non-planners to associate retirement with positive ideas such as freedom and less likely to associate it with negative ones such as financial hardship, it added.

According to the study, a key challenge in encouraging households to start planning remains the need to raise basic levels of financial literacy.

The survey had a sample size of 1,028 in India. Of this 778 men while 250 women across various age-group were surveyed.

Augment NCC and Sainik Schools

Parliamentarians Urge Govt to upgrade and Augment NCC and Sainik Schools

Cutting across party lines, Members of Parliament urged the government to bring about sweeping changes in the structure and content of the training being imparted to the youth in the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and Sainik Schools to bring them in sync with the contemporary world. They were taking part in a discussion of the Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Defence. The members felt that there is the need for bringing in large number of youth into the framework provided by the NCC and Sainik Schools so that they imbibe sound values and become worthy citizens of the future.

There was unanimity among the members that contemporary societal requirements such as information technology, disaster management and strong leadership traits must form part of the training and education in NCC and Sainik Schools. Some members suggested that participation in NCC by every youth of the country for at least one year in their academic life be made compulsory so that discipline and societal values are absorbed by them.

Earlier opening the discussion the Defence Minister Shri AK Antony said NCC remains in the forefront of social and community development programmes throughout the country. He said NCC cadets provided timely assistance during the Jnaneshwari Express tragedy, cleaned the Mumbai shores during the oil spill and planted one million tree saplings as part of ‘My earth my duty’. Recalling the growth of NCC over the years Shri Antony said, established in 1948 the Corps today has a sanctioned strength of 1.5 million cadets and extends to 615 districts across the country.

Talking about the Sainik Schools Shri Antony said, the schools have entered 50th year of existence. At present, there are 24 schools in 24 states in the country with two schools each in Bihar, Karnataka and Haryana. Over these 50 years, Sainik Schools have prepared over 8,000 officers for the Armed Forces and have also made a substantial contribution to other walks of life.

Speaking at the meeting the Minister of State for Defence Shri MM Pallam Raju said the government is attaching a lot of importance to the two systems and more support are being given to them. He said in the last couple of years, MoD has invested substantial amount in upgrading the infrastructure and training of teachers of Sainik Schools.

The Members of Parliament who attended today’s meeting included Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Shri Ram Chandra Khuntia, Shri HK Dua, Shri Piyush Goyal, Shri Ishwar Lal Jain, Dr. Mahendra Prasad, Shri Shivanand Tiwari, Shri Manish Tewari, Shri Gopal Singh Shekhawat, Shri SS Ramasubbu, Shri Lalit Mohan Suklabaidya and Shri Harshvardhan. Others who attended the meeting included the Defence Secretary Shri Pradeep Kumar, Secretary (Defence Production) Shri RK Singh and Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri Shri VK Saraswat.

Free Monthly Seasion tickets

Free Monthly Seasion tickets to girls pursuing Professional/vocational courses upto Graduation.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
RAILWAY BOARD

COMMERCIAL CIRCULAR NO. 25 OF 2011

No.TCII/2010/09/Students/Policy New Delhi, dated:30.5.2011

The General Managers,
All Indian Railways.

Sub:- Free Monthly Seasion tickets to girls pursuing Professional/vocational courses upto Graduation.

As per existing provisions contained in Rule 242.2 of IRCA Coaching Tariff No.26, Part-I (Vol. 1), Girl Students upto graduation are eligible for Free Monthly Season tickets for travel between stations serving their school/college to residence.

2. As announced by Hon’ble MR during discussion on Railway Budget, it has been decided to extend the above mentioned concession to Girl students who are pursuing professional/vocational courses also upto the level of graduation.

3. There will be no change in other terms and conditions, including the eligibility/entitlement of free MSTs to Boy students.

4. This concession will be admissible on MSTs purchased on and after l July 2011

5. This issues with the concurrence of the Finance Directorate of the Ministry of Railways.

6. Necessary instructions may be issued to all concerned immediately and implementation ensured.

sd/-
(V.K. Sharma)
DTC(G)-II
Railway Board

Seventh Pay Commission-Arrears may not come

Seventh Pay commission gains may not come from back date

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NEW DELHI: The windfall government employees receive by way of pay commission award arrears may no longer be forthcoming. The government is examining a proposal to implement pay commission awards prospectively on the lines of finance commission awards, as large arrears throw the finances of both the Centre and states in disarray.

"We are examining the suggestion," a finance ministry official told ET. He, however, added that the final call on the issue would be taken when the next pay commission is constituted. Pay commissions are usually set up at intervals of 10 years. The Sixth Pay Commission, the most recent, gave its recommendations in March 2008. It had proposed pay raises between 20% and 40% for government employees.

The finance ministry had told a parliamentary panel last week that the issue should be deliberated upon as retrospective implementation of pay commission awards has had adverse impact on the finances of the Centre as well as the states, a government official privy to the meeting said. Many state governments had expressed concerns over the issue of arrears. States set up pay commissions for their own employees after the pay commission for the central government employees submits its report.

"While many reforms can and should be contemplated to end this self-inflicted distortion, one action that could be taken immediately is that of making the pay award commence from the date on which the recommendations of future pay commissions are accepted by the government," the 13th Finance Commission had said in its report.

The burden of arrears on the central government from the Sixth Pay Commission award was Rs 28,160 crore on a salary base of Rs 44,360 crore. This was because the recommendations of the panel announced in 2008 were implemented retrospectively from January 1, 2006.

To save itself from a larger fiscal trouble, the Centre disbursed the arrears in two installments: 40% in 2008-09 and 60% in 2009-10. The arrears contributed significantly to the Centre overshooting its target in 2008-09, ending the year with a fiscal deficit of 6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) against the budgeted 2.5%. The fiscal deficit rose to 6.4% of GDP in 2009-10 as pay commission arrears pushed up the expenditure when the government was battling slowdown in revenues.

The Centre had to readjust its fissense but can work only if pay commission reports come well in time for implementation prospectively," said D K Srivastava, director, Madras School of Economics. Unlike the private sector, the government does not give annual salary hikes to its employees. Instead, it gives out dearness allowance twice a year to compensate for the rise in prices. The periodic pay commissions help adjust government salaries to market benchmarks. Most experts find the system flawed, as the performance benchmarks are not included in the salary revisions. The Sixth Pay Commission had recommended a performance related pay for government employees.

cal goal post for the subsequent years. It has budgeted a fiscal deficit of 4.6% of GDP for 2011-12, which is projected to drop to 3.5% in 2013-14. The finance commission had said if the Centre implemented pay awards prospectively, it would give state governments an opportunity to time their awards in a way that the need for arrears does not arise.

"If finance commissions are able to present their inter-governmental recommendations without any need for retrospective fiscal transactions, then the same should be possible in the case of pay commission as well," the commission had reasoned in its report.

Fiscal experts say such a move is in the right direction.
Well in that case next pay commission should sit by 2014 and submit report by Sep 2015 so that GOI can implement it by 01 Jan 2016

FASTER NAVY PROMOTIONS

Navy Sailors to get faster Promotions

The government has approved an assured career progression scheme for over 50,000 sailors of the Navy, which will help them to get faster promotions and increased salaries."As per the recommendations made by the sixth pay commission, the government has approved the ACP for sailors recruited under the non-metric entry and also carried out the review of their career profile. The move will benefit over 50,000 sailors," Navy officials said here.

The scheme will also result in prolonging the service tenure of these soldiers who now retire after putting in 20 years of service.

"After the implementation of the scheme, the sailors will get promoted upto the rank of Petty Officer (equivalent to Sargent in Air Force and Havaldar in Army) and retire after 26 years of service," they said.

Approved May 19, the career progression scheme envisages three financial up-gradations counted from the direct entry grade and will be provided to sailors on completion of eight, 16 and 24 years of service respectively, the officer in the naval headquarters here said.
"Financial upgradation under the scheme will be admissible whenever a personnel below officer rank has spent eight years continuously in the same grade pay and the hike will be applicable to the grade pay," he said.
"For example, a direct entry seaman or equivalent with a grade pay of Rs.2,000 per month at the time of joining, will get a grade pay of a leading seaman of Rs.2,400 per month after eight continuous years of sevice in this rank.
"At 16 years of service, he would get a grade pay of a petty officer of Rs.2,800 and after 24 years, he would get grade pay of Rs.4,200 of a chief petty officer," he added.
However, there will be no change in the sailor's designation, rank bagdes, employability and re-engagement criteria. However, financial benefits linked to pay would be admissible such as family accommodation allowance, house rent allowance, travel allowance and other entitlements.
Sailors, who have be granted the assured career progression benefits, will still be considered for promotion to the next rank as per vacancies and existing norms. If the personnel refused promotion or promotion-related courses wherever applicable, the assured career progression scheme too would be denied to him.
Apart from the pay benefits, a non-matric recruit also gets to serve for four or five years more in the navy, instead of retiring after 20 years of service, thereby ensuring the availability of trained manpower.