Minutes of the 2nd meeting of Empowered Committee of Secretaries

A meeting of the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS) was held on 1 st March, 2016 in the Cabinet Secretariat under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary to discuss issues raised by Staff„side of JCM

2. Welcoming the members of E-CoS and JCM Staffside, Cabinet Secretary observed that the meeting had been called to take a note of concerns of Staff-side of JCM regarding recommendations of the 7th CPC and invited the members Of Staff-side of JCM to share their views on the recommendations.

3. Opening the discussion, representative of Staff-side of JCM expressed gratitude to Cabinet Secretary for inviting them for interaction regarding the recommendations of the 7th CPC and requested that more frequent interactions of JCM may be held to resolve outstanding issues across the table. It was expressed that 7th CPC has recommended a meager increase of 14% in the minimum pay as against increase ranging up to 54% during previous Pay Commissions. It was further stated that the recommendations on minimum pay, allowances, advances etc. will cause difficulty to employees. Representative of Staff-side informed that they have already submitted a charter of demands to the Cabinet Secretary bringing out the issues. These have also been discussed in the meeting of JS (IC) with Staff-side of JCM held on 19.02.2016.

4. Major concerns expressed by JCM Staff-side were as under:

The minimum pay of Rs. 18000/- p.m. recommended by the Commission is on lower side and needs to be revised upward by taking into account the prices of commodities as on 01.07.2015 and appropriately factoring in for social obligations & housing.

(ii) New Pension Scheme should be done away with. Persons governed by the NPS are deprived of Family Pension and do not have provision of provident fund. As a result they are at a disadvantageous position as compared to the persons governed by the old system.

(iii) Recommendations on allowances need to be properly examined before taking a decision.

(iv) Fixed Medical Allowance should be increased from existing Rs. 500 p.m. to Rs. 2000 p.m. as majority of cities are not covered under CGI-IS and people residing outside the CGHS covered area are unable to meet their medical needs with meager amount of Rs. 500 p.m.

(v) Recommendation regarding withdrawal of non•interest bearing advances may not be accepted.

(vi) Outsourcing of services should be discouraged as the contract workers are being exploited by contractors and at the game time the service delivery is being compromised due to inefficiency and lack of accountability of low aid contractual staff.

(vii) Enhancement in contribution towards Group Insurance Scheme, is not justified as this would reduce the actual increase in take home salary considerably. If the rates are to be raised, the Government should bear the insurance premium

(viii) The recommendation regarding grant of only 80% of salary for the second year of Child Care Leave need not be accepted as this would deter women from availing of CCL, which was introduced as a welfare measure.

(ix) Annual increments be granted @ 5% instead of existing 3% and increments may be granted on two dates viz., 1 st of January and 1 st of July of every year as in the present system of grant of increment on 1 st July of every year, employees joining/promoted after 1 st January, who do not complete 6 months services as on 1 st July, have to wait for up to 18 months for grant of increment.

(x) The Commission’s recommendation of downgrading the Assistants of Central Secretariat for bringing in parity with their counterparts in the field offices is not appropriate.

(xi) Recommendation regarding PRIS need not be accepted as no scientific mechanism has been devised to assess the performance of employees and the same could e courage favoritism.

5. Issues regarding financ al upgradation under MACPS in promotional hierarchy without grading stipulation. grant of two increments on promotion introduction of Productivity Linked Bonus, treating Grameen Dak Sevak as Government employees, removal of pap of 5% on compassionate appointment 8i full pay and allowances In case of Work Related Illness and Injury Leave improving promotional avenues for technical and supervisory staff etc. were also raised by members of JCM.

6. During the discussion, representatives of JCM also suggested that the Nodal Officers nominated by various Ministries/Departments may hold interactions with recognized Staff Associations and other stakeholders under their purview so as to identify issues specific to those Ministries/Departments for redressal.

7. After hearing the participants, Cabinet Secretary observed that the deliberations have helped E-CoS in understanding the major concerns of the Staff-side and said that all issues have been taken note of. He assured that fair consideration will be given to all points brought out by JCM before taking a final view. He further stated that the E-CoS needs to examine the Report of the Commission in entirety as well as the issues raised by JCM in consultation with all other stakeholders. As such, it may take some time to take a final call on the recommendations of the Commission.

8. Cabinet Secretary also advised the members of E-CoS to hold interactions with their Staff Associations and other stakeholders under their purview preferably within a week.

9. Meeting ended with vote of thanks to the chair.

Venue: Committee Room, Cabinet Secretariat, Rashtrapati Bhawan
Date of Meeting: Thursday, the 1 st March, 2016
Time of Meeting: 6:45 PM

7th Pay Commission Enhanced Salaries, Arrears To Be Paid In July

The central government is going to start payment of salaries and pensions to its 48 lakh employees and 52 lakh pensioners according to the 7th Pay Commission recommendations from July along with six months’ arrears.

The Seventh Pay Commission report was presented to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in November.

The payments will be made following the pay-fixation method in the new pay matrix which has been suggested in place of pay band and grade pay by the Seventh Pay Commission.

The government’s overall arrears payout will be lower because of only six months arrears this time, compared to the previous pay commission, which came in late.

The government has been provisioned Rs 70,000 crore in the Union Budget 2016-17 to meet the demand for the new pay commission award that will be made effective from January 2016.

Basic salary of central government employee will almost be 30 percent hiked under the new pay commission award with employees in the lower rung are likely to get the highest percentage of raise.

“We’re at the final stage for issuing the notification and 3-4 more months will be required to implement, so we hopefully say that they will get new pay and arrears in the July,” a source close to the developments told The Sen Times.

The report of the Seventh Pay Commission was presented to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in November with a recommendation for raising minimum pay to Rs 18,000 per month from current Rs 7,000 while the maximum pay, drawn by the Cabinet Secretary, has been fixed at Rs 2.5 lakh per month from current Rs 90,000.

The panel recommended a 14.27 per cent increase in basic pay. The overall increase in salary, allowances and pensions is 23.55%. The increase in allowances will be higher by 63% while pensions will rise 24%.

The government set up a 13-member Empowered Committee of Secretaries (CoS) headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha for processing the report of the Seventh Pay Commission before cabinet nod.

An Implementation Cell has been created in the Finance Ministry which works as the Secretariat of the Empowered Committee. All central government employees unions’ submitted their written demands in respect of seventh pay commission’s anomalies in the cell to review, which are under process.

GPF Interest rate likely to hit downward soon

Interest rate slashed in small savings, GPF likely to hit soon

Savings Deposit	Rate of Interest w.e.f 01.04.2016  to 31.03.2016 4.0	Rate of Interest w.e.f 01.04.2016 to 30.06.2016 4.0
1 Year Time Deposit	8.4	7.1
2 Year Time Deposit	8.4	7.2
3 Year Time Deposit	8.4	7.4
5 Year Time Deposit	8.5	7.9
5 Year Recurring Deposit	8.4	7.4
5 Year Senior Citizens Savings Deposit	9.3	8.6
5 Year Monthly IncomeAccountscheme	8.4	7.8
5 Year National Savings Certificate	8.5	8.1
Public Provident Fund Scheme	8.7	8.1
Kisan Vikas Patra	8.7	7.8 (Will Mature in 110 Months)
Download the O.M. As the Intgerest rate of GPF  for Central employees generally remain  at par with PPF, it is most likely to be reduced to 8.1% in 16-17.

Pay Commission Notification To Be Issued After States Polls

The notification to put into effect the Seventh pay commission recommendation will be issued after the completion of states assemblies’ poll process as the model code of conduct is currently in place, sources of Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.

The reports of Pay Commission will be implicated from next fiscal as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in the Parliament.

The assemblies’ election of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry states, which will be held from April 4 to May 16 and the counting of votes in the states will take place on May 19 but the model code of conduct will remain in place till May 21.

So, it is believed that the government will announce Seventh pay commission award after the end of model code of conduct of states assemblies election.

The government doesn’t want to give any chance to the Opposition to deter its image in the polls and hence, sources, said that the announcement of the dates of the the model code of conduct of states polls seems to be the cut-off point for notification of the Seventh pay commission award.

The Seventh pay commission recommendations will benefit 48 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners including dependents.

“The BJP led central government decided execution time of the pay commission’s proposals in April but the Empowered Committee of Secretaries headed by cabinet Secretary can’t sort out some anomalies of Seventh pay commission recommendations like scrapping of advances, allowances and minimum pay before declaration of states Assemblies polls,” sources said.

Sources also said the Implementation cell of the Empowered Committee of Secretaries for the Seventh pay commission recommendation in Finance Ministry works hard to send a summary of the pay commission implementation to PMO for its nod. After PMO’s nod, it would be placed before the cabinet for its nod through cabinet secretary.

Sources said the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations implementation notification will be issued in June, after cabinet nod.

The Seventh Pay Commission was set up by the UPA government in February 2014, The Commission headed by Justice A K Mathur submitted its 900-page final report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 19, recommending 23.55 per cent hike in salaries and allowances of Central government employees and pensioners.

The panel recommended a 14.27 per cent increase in basic pay, the lowest in 70 years. The previous 6th Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike, which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008.

The Seventh pay commission recommended fixing the highest basic salary at Rs 250,000 and the lowest at Rs 18,000and its increased the pay gap between the minimum and maximum from existing 1:12 to 1: 13.8

The government constitutes the Pay Commission almost every 10 years to revise the pay scale of its employees and pensioners, often these are adopted by states after some modifications. However, the Seventh Pay Commission suggested to discontinue the practice of appointing pay commissions in future.

Indian Railways Launches Four Services to Ensure Passenger Comfort

Indian Railways Launches Four Services – Prabhu said that every passenger service is backed by well-planning and lots of efforts.

Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu in a programme held on 15th March at Rail Bhawan, New Delhi inaugurated Four services / initiatives namely:

(I) Extension of e-Catering services from existing 45 large Railway stations to all 408 A-1 and ‘A’ class Railway Stations.

(II) Launch of E-ticket booking facility for accredited Journalists on concessional Passes.

(III) Traffic Rationalization – Policy permitting 2-point loading in BCN wagons and increasing scope of mini-rake facility from 400 km to 600 km in both BCN and BCNHL wagons.

(IV) Commencement of Pilot Study on introduction of Accrual Accounting and Upgraded costing system at Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala (A production unit of M/o Railways).

Prabhu said that every passenger service is backed by well-planning and lots of efforts. Under the extending scheme of E-Catering, travelling passengers would be able to order food of their choice from leading private caterers at designated 408 major railway stations.  He said that this scheme will include food prepared by women at home which will also lead to women empowerment.

Initially, e-catering service was train specific and made available in 1350 trains which did not have services of Pantry car or Train Side Vending. As a major initiative during September 2015, this scheme has been reoriented to make it ‘Station Based E-Catering’ in place of train specific e-catering.

Passengers travelling from these stations can access E-Catering facilities for all trains passing through these stations.

IRCTC has launched a massive E-Campaign for encouraging passengers to use these services when they book their ticket through its website. e-mails are sent on daily basis to lakhs of passengers to book their meals through E-Catering services.

Speaking on E-Ticketing Service to accredited journalist, the Minister said that this was a long-standing demand of the journalists to allow the process of online booking ticket through concessional passes which has now been fulfilled. He said that duty of a journalist demand lot of travelling and thus their demand was acceded to by the Ministry.

Further, mentioning the salient features of the another initiatives of Commencement of Pilot Study on introduction of Accrual Accounting & Upgraded costing system at Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, Shri Suresh Prabhu said that Indian Railways holds a huge assets which requires proper monitoring. He said that Railways want to orient and integrate cost and management system.  He said that incurring expenditure is nothing. But more important is to get desired outcome for incurred expenditure. He said that 7 zones have already implemented this kind of scheme thereby making expenditure accountable to outcome which is the sole objective to introduce this scheme. Regarding freight rationalization, Shri Suresh Prabhu said that it is an ongoing process and we will continue to do so as freight is main revenue resource for Railways. We will be very market friendly, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Railways said that Indian Railways is now working on a different leak and bringing new culture in the Indian trains through E-Governance and Digital India Initiatives.  He said that these services will ease and benefit the railway passengers.

Revised Pensionary benefits under OROP released

The Defence Pension Disbursing Offices (DPDOs) functioning under Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) in the Ministry of Defence have released revised pensionary benefits to 2,21,224 Defence pensioners drawing service/disability pension. The amount along with first instalment of arrears had been released and credited by the Defence Ministry to the accounts of these pensioners on 01.03.2016.

In the case of remaining 1,46,335 family pensioners drawing pension from DPDOs, payment along with arrears is expected to be released by March end. Banks are under process of revision work.

These steps are a follow-up to Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare (ESW) of the Ministry of Defence’s notification on 07.11.2015 ordering implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for Defence pensioners.

The total additional annual financial increase for grant of One Rank One Pension (OROP) is Rs. 7488.70 crores. The total amount on account of arrears to be paid for the period 1.7.2014 to 31.12.2015 is Rs. 10925.11 crores.

Out of total annual liability of Rs. 7488.70 crores, PBOR family pensioners shall get Rs. 6,405.59 crores, which works out to 85.5% of total expenditure of OROP.

Due to increase in defence pension budget, the additional liability for current financial year 2015-16 shall be Rs. 4,721.34 crores which will increase the current defence pension liability of Rs. 60,238 crores to Rs. 64,959.34 crores for the year 2015-16.

Detailed implementation orders of OROP with 101 tables containing revised pensions of different ranks and categories were issued by the Department of ESW on 03.02.2016 through their website www.desw.gov.in. According to the orders, the Pension Disbursing Agencies have been authorized to make payments with arrears as scheduled.

To facilitate the pension disbursing agencies, the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (P) have also issued implementation instructions through a circular on 04.02.2016. The implementation instructions along with Government orders are available on the website www.pcdapension.nic.in.

Real Estate Bill Passed – As a House Buyer What You should Know

For the House Buyers

@ The bill provides for mandatory registration of all projects with real estate regulatory authority in each state. Real estate agents who intend to sell any plot, apartment or building should also register with the authority.

@ It makes mandatory to disclose all information for registered projects like details of promoters, layout plan, land status, schedule of execution and status of various approvals.

@ It seeks to enforce contract between the developer and buyer and act as a fast tract mechanism to settle the disputes.

@ Fifty percent of the buyers amount has to be deposited in to an escrow account that would be used only for construction of that project.

@ The bill prohibits the developer from changing the plan in a project unless two-thirds of the allot tees have agreed for such change.

How the bill will benefit real estate sector

@ Promote timely execution of projects thereby achieving the objective of housing for all

@ ensure speedy adjudication of disputes and orderly growht of the real estate sector through efficient project execution, professionalism/standardisation

@ Bill aims at restoring confidence of consumer in the real estate sector by institutionalising transparency and accountability

@ Like other sectors such as telecom, electricity, banking, securities insurance etc provides for specialised regulations and enforcement

@ Will boost domestic and foreign investment in the sector and help promote private participation

@ Illegal and unplanned development due to absence of regulator would end.

How it will benefit developers

@ Weed out fly-by-night operators from the sector

@ Will infuse credibility by making the sector mature on the lines of securities, banking, insurance etc

@ Channelise investment into the sector: Huge unsold stock as consumer confidence is low: Bill would restore investment sentiment of consumers and help address inventory pile-up.

How the bill will benefit home-buyers

@ Make operations transparent, promoting informed choice for buyers

@ Disclosure of ‘carpet area’ for sale will curb unfair trade practices

@ Model agreement would end one-sided agreements

@ Time and cost overruns due to funds diversion will be controlled

@ Will help curb black money and speculation leading to price controls

@ Indefinite delay in dispute resolutions in civil courts will end

@ Bill provides curative and preventive measures with powers to enforce specific performance unlike consumer protection laws.

Source: The Hindu

7th Pay Commission – Government and staff side gave indications of Handshake, implementation is expected soon

Government employees have demanded a minimum salary of Rs.26,000 as against Rs.18,000 recommended by the 7th Central Pay Commission while threatening to go on strike if demands not met. “Minimum pay needs to be revised to Rs.26,000 per month and the “Minimum pay of Rs.18,000 as recommended by 7th CPC is not acceptable,” said Minutes of the meeting of Joint Secretary (IC) with the members of the Staff-side of the Standing Committee (National council – JCM).

Secretary, Staff-Side, Standing Committee (National Council-Joint further stated that an Consultative Machinery) Said Staff-Side is “Not at all happy” with the recommendations of the CPC and, if fact, “No section of the employees is satisfied”, as the commission has Recommended a minimal pay increase as compared to the previous pay Commissions.

The Secretary further stated that an amicable and mutually negotiated settlement of these demands is necessary as “Non-acceptance would further cause resentment in the employees”. The secretary “informed that Staff-Side has already made their stand clear to go on strike from April 11, 2016 if their demands are not considered and no amicable settlement happens”, the Minutes said. The meeting was held to discuss the issues raised by the National Joint council of Action (NJCA) in their letter addressed to the Cabinet Secretary, regarding their charter of Demands on the recommendations of the Pay Commission.

The Staff-Side also said the central government employees need to be excluded from the National Pension Scheme (NPS), a long pending demand the fixed monthly medical allowance for pensioners who are not covered by CGHS and REHS needs to be increased from Rs.500 to Ts.2,000 is another major demand. The Joint Secretary (Implementation Cell) assured the staff-side that the concerns and demands made by them would be placed before the Empowered Committee of Secretaries for consideration after examining the Same in the light of the recommendations of the Commission. The scheme of joint consultative Machinery (JCM) is a platform for constructive dialogue between the representatives of the staff side and the official side for peaceful resolution of all disputes between the Government as employer and the employees.Demands are submitted to the Finance Ministry, to work as Secretariat for the Empowered Committee of Secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha. The pay Commission recommendations when implemented would have bearing on remuneration of 47 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners. Subject to acceptance by the government, the recommendations will take effect from January 1, 2016.

DA WEF FROM JULY 2016 LIKELY TO BE 7 %

MONTH        INDEX    % INCREASE

Jan  16         269       1.91
Feb  16         267       2.91

Mar  16         268       3.92
Apr  16         271        5.00
May 16.       275.       6.23
      

AICPI-IW – All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers for April 2016 released by Labour Ministry – Three points increase from March 2014

Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) – March, 2016

The All-India CPI-IW for March, 2016 increased by 1 point and pegged at 268 (two hundred and sixty eight). On 1-month percentage change, it increased by (+) 0.37 per cent between February, 2016 and March, 2016 when compared with the increase of (+) 0.40 per cent between the same two months a year ago.

The All-India CPI-IW for February, 2016 decreased by 2 points and pegged at 267 (two hundred and sixty seven). 

Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) – January, 2016

The All-India CPI-IW for January, 2016 remained stationary at 269 (two hundred and sixty nine). On 1-month percentage change, it remained static between December, 2015 and January, 2016 when compared with the rise of 0.40 per cent between the same two months a year ago.

NJCA has decided to defer strike date to 11th July, 2016 due to elections in five states

National Joint Council of Action
4, State Entry Road, New Delhi – 110055

No.NJC/2016/7th CPC

March 7, 2016

To
All Constituents of NJCA

Dear Comrade,
The NJCA met today and reviewed the discussion in the meeting of Empowered Committee of Secretaries presided by the Cabinet Secretary on 1st March 2016 where-in the Cabinet Secretary had requested for more time to arrive at conclusions on the charter of demands raised by the Staff Side.

The meeting also considered the situation in the aftermath of the coming into effect of the Code of Conduct with the declaration of election schedule in 5 State Assemblies and the fact that there will be polling on 11th April 2016 in West Bengal and Assam.

The meeting, therefore, came to the conclusion that it will not be feasible for us to stick to the date of strike as 11th April 2016. Considering the fact that as per section 22 of the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947 with regard to the validity of the strike notice which is not more than six weeks from the date of serving the strike notice, it was also felt that we may have to revisit the issue of serving the notice for strike afresh.

Considering all the above aspects, the meeting took the following decisions”

1. The indefinite strike shall commence from 6 am on 11th July 2016

2. The strike Notice would be served on 9th June 2016.

3. Massive demonstrations shall be held in all work place on 11th March 2016 in support of the charter of demands and strike decision.

4. The decision of the NJCA would be communicated to the Cabinet Secretary.

Detailed mobilization programmes would be given later on.

With greetings

Yours faithfully,
(Shiva Gopal Mishra)
Convener

Budget Allocation for 7th CPC Pay and Pension Hike is true

What was initially seen as a scoop that exposed the attempt of Indian Budget 2016 to understate Deficit Numbers was later confirmed to be not true thanks to Livemint’s study on Budget Allocation for 7th Pay Commission recommended increase in pay and pension of Central Government Employees and Pensioners

Bloomberg business which is a TV and internet media had reported that an Amount equivalent to US$ 15 Billion which is to be paid to CG Employees and Pensioners as result of implementation of 7th Pay Commission report in the year 2016-17, has not been taken in to account in the Budget 2016-17.

Boomberg reported this News with much hype and titled it as : “Missing: $15 billion lost somewhere in India’s 1,500-page budget” .

Click here to read Bloomberg report on 7th Pay Commission and Budget 2016

In response to this, Livemint has now come up with a comparison study on budget allocation for pay and allowances Central Government employees in 2015-16 and 2016-17

A Bloomberg report on Wednesday titled “Missing: $15 billion lost somewhere in India’s 1,500-page budget” raised a red flag on the Indian government’s balancing of its books in Budget 2016. It pointed out how the globalfinancial data provider and other analysts were unable to locate the numbers allocated for implementing the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission (SPC), which doles out the once-in-10-years pay hike given to central government employees. The allusion was the government may have understated this payout—and, by extension, its deficit.

Livemint’s study on funds allocated for 7th pay commission pay hike is as follows

“We tried to locate those “missing” numbers in the same budget documents. First, we need to know how much it will cost the government to implement the SPC recommendations. The estimate for 2016-17 by the SPC is a 24% increase in payouts to government employees, or Rs.102,100 crore (around $15 billion).

The first place to look for is under non-plan expenditure, and a table titled “Estimated strength of establishment and provision thereof”. This details how many employees are there in 56 government departments (excluding defence) and how much the government has budgeted to pay their salaries: an increase ofRs.65,690 crore in 2016-17. Thus, we have accounted for around 65% of SPC’s impact.

The second place to look for is pensions, the details of which are again provided under non-plan expenditure. This shows the government has budgeted for an increase of Rs.37,066 crore.”

Thus, the total increase in salary and pension bill in 2016-17 is Rs.102,756 crore. However, there is one rider. The pension liabilities include increased outgo on account of implementing the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.

Implementing OROP is estimated to cost the government Rs.7,500 crore. Deducting this amount means the government has budgeted Rs.95,256 crore to meet SPC recommendations. In other words, the net shortfall in budget estimates on account of implementing the SPC is Rs.6,844 crore.

What’s “missing” is $1 billion and not $15 billion.”