Implementation of One Rank One Pension Scheme – Defence Minister replied in Parliament

Implementation of One Rank One Pension Scheme – Defence Minister replied in Parliament

Implementation of One Rank One Pension Scheme

The principle of One Rank One Pension for the Armed Forces has been accepted by the Government. The modalities for implementation have been discussed with various stakeholders and are presently under consideration of the Government. It will be implemented once the modalities are approved by the Government.

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Shri Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply to Shri Avinash Rai Khannain Rajya Sabha today.

Malpractices in Recruitment of Soldiers

Malpractices in Recruitment of Soldiers

From time to time Defence Civilian employees have been raising the demands that they should be granted Field Area allowance and Modified Field Area allowance as applicable to the service Personnel and for providing other allowances like Aeronautical Technical Allowance, Airworthiness Certificate Allowance, Flight Charge Certificate Allowance etc. at par with technical defence personnel. It has not been found feasible to accept these demands as the job requirements and service conditions of Service Personnel and Defence Civilian employees are totally different.

Complaints relating to alleged irregularities / malpractices in recruitment of soldiers have been received from time to time. In cases of complaints of involvement of touts, FIRs, where applicable, have been lodged. During the last three years (2012 to till date), three cases of involvement of Service Personnel were found. Court of Inquiry has been instituted in one case; preliminary investigation has been ordered in another case and in third, the CBI has registered a case.

Proactive measures have been taken on a continuous basis to streamline the recruitment process. These include deployment of vigilance teams, involving police and Government intelligence sources, introducing additional checks and balances in documentation procedure, online verification of documents where feasible, conducting awareness campaigns against falling prey to touts, in-house printing of Question Papers to obviate leakage.

This information was given by Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar in a written reply to Dr. T.N. Seemain Rajya Sabha today.

FDI in Defence Sector – Introduction of FDI in the defence sector

FDI in Defence Sector – Introduction of FDI in the defence sector

FDI in Defence Sector

The Government vide Press Note 7 of 2014 Series dated 26.08.2014 has notified revised FDI Policy in defence Sector, according to which FDI upto 49% is allowed in the sector through Government route and above 49% through approval of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on case-to-case basis, wherever it is likely to result in access to modern and state-of-the-art technology in the country. Further, FDI in Defence Sector is subject to obtaining Industrial Licence under the IDR Act, 1951.

The introduction of FDI in the defence sector will not pose any threat as some of the major conditions governing Licensing in Defence Sector are as follows:

(a) The management of the company / partnership firm owning the Industrial Licence should be in Indian hands with majority representation on the Board as well as the Chief Executive of the Company / partnership firm being Resident Indians. This condition is, however, not applicable to cases of foreign investment above 49%.

(b) Adequate safety and security procedures would need to be put in place by the licensee. The Indian Licensed Defence Companies (ILDC) shall comply with the security guidelines applicable to them as per security instructions / architectures prescribed in “Security Manual for Licence Defence Industries” available at www.ddpmod.gov.in based on their categorization. Some of the important guidelines of the Security Manual includes External Security Audit of the ILDCs by Intelligence Agencies once in two years and Cyber Security Audit by CERT-IN empanelled Auditors once every year.

(c) The licensable defence items as mentioned in the license, produced by the private manufacturers will be primarily sold to the Ministry of Defence. These items may also be sold to other Government entities under the control of the Ministry of Home Affairs, State Governments, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and other valid Defence Licensed Companies without prior approval of Department of Defence Production (DDP). However, for sale of the items to any other entity, the licensee shall take prior permission from DDP, Ministry of Defence.

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Shri Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply to Shri Naresh Agrawal in Rajya Sabha today.

National Commission for Ex-Servicemen – Setting up of Veterans Commission

National Commission for Ex-Servicemen – Setting up of Veterans Commission

Setting up of Veterans Commission

In pursuance of Hon’ble President’s statement made in the joint session of parliament on 9th June, 2014 regarding Government’s decision to appoint a Veteran Commission, the National Commission for Ex-Servicemen Bill, 2015 has been drafted in order to set up the National Commission for Ex-Servicemen. The comments of Department of Legislative Affairs have been obtained on the Bill and the follow-up action is being taken in accordance with the guidelines / procedure laid down for legislative proposals to set up such Bodies. No funds have been allocated for setting up of the Commission during the year 2014-15

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Shri Rao Inderjit Singhin a written reply to Shri Rajeev Chandrasekharin Rajya Sabha today.

IBA Official Minutes of meeting dated 23.02.2015 for 10th Bipartite Wage Revision – Bank Wage Revision from 01.11.2012

IBA Official Minutes of meeting dated 23.02.2015 for 10th Bipartite Wage Revision – Bank Wage Revision from 01.11.2012

Indian Banks’Association

Minutes of the discussions held on 23rd February 2015 between IBA representing 

Management of banks which are parties to the Bipartite settlement and 

Workmen Unions and Officers Associations on wage revision

Discussions were held between the Indian Banks’Association representing Managements of banks and the authorized representatives of Workmen Unions and Officers Associations on wage revision for officers in banks. After holding several rounds of discussions, the parties have mutually agreed as under:

1. The wage revision will be effective from 1.11.2012
2. The annual wage increase in salary and allowances @ 15% which works out to Rs.4725 crores on salary slip components.
3. The new scales will be constructed after merging dearness allowance corresponding 4440 points as on November 2011, which works out to 60.15% and adding a load factor of 2% on Basic pay plus Dearness Allowance as on 31st March 2012 amounting to around Rs.597 crores.
4. Distribution of annual wage increase between workmen unions and Officers Associations will be worked separately based on breakup of establishment expenses as on 31-3-2012.
5. Every second and fourth Saturday of the month will be a holiday and the other Saturdays will be full working days.
6. All other issues of the Managements and Unions/Associations discussed during the process of negotiation will be settled to the mutual satisfaction.
7. The parties will meet on mutually convenient dated to draw out a detailed Bipartite Settlement/Joint Note on the various issues on which consensus positions have been reached. The parties will endeavour to finalise the Bipartite Settlement/Joint Note within a period of ninety days from the date of this minutes.

Signed at Mumbai on 23rd February 2015

FOR MANAGEMENT	FOR OFFICER'S ASSOCIATIONS/ WORKMEN UNIONS
T M Bhasin	All India Bank Officer's Confederation
V R Iyer	All India bank Officers Association
Arundhati Bhattacharya	Indian National Bank Officers Congress
Rajeev Rishi	National Organisation of Bank Officers

Source Image by http://banknewskumar.blogspot.in/

MoU Signed Between Indian Army and State Bank of India on the Defence Salary Package

MoU Signed Between Indian Army and State Bank of India on the Defence Salary Package

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Defence

23-February-2015

MoU Signed Between Indian Army and State Bank of India

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Indian Army and State Bank of India (SBI) on the Defence Salary Package on 23 Feb 2015. The signing in ceremony was chaired by the Adjutant General, Lt Gen Rakesh Sharma and was attended by top dignitaries of SBI Bank, headed by Dr Vaidyan MG, Dy MD (Retail Strategy).

The first MoU between SBI and the Indian Army was signed in 2011 and was valid for a period of three years. The revised MoU is tailor-made to suit the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and families. A number of additional facilities have been incorporated in the revised MoU after concerted efforts spanning over a year.

The basic features of the MoU include a number of free / concessional services like free drafts, free cheque books, free funds transfers to any bank in India through RTGS / NEFT, free ATM cards etc. The provision also includes the Nepal Express Remittance Scheme which enables instant fund transfers to Nepal for the benefit of the Nepali Domicile Gorkha Soldiers serving in the Indian Army.

Additional improved features are linking of the Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) to the Savings account instead of the debit card, enhancement of the PAI amounts, enhancement of the exemption percentage of margin money for house and car loans and waiving off of the processing charges on the loans. The revised MoU will benefit almost 19.5 lakh pensioners and 10 lakh serving personnel who hold Pay or Pension accounts with SBI and also provide them an opportunity to access modern banking facilities.

Click here to see photos

Col Rohan Anand, SM

PRO (Army)

PIB

Second and fourth Saturdays to be bank holidays, Remaining Saturdays will be full working days

Second and fourth Saturdays will henceforth be holidays for banks. The remaining Saturdays in a month will be full working days.

This was one of the agreements arrived at the meeting of the Indian Banks' Association with associations of bank employees and staff in Mumbai on Monday.

The agreement, primarily settling the long pending negotiations over the wage revision, led to the United Forum of Banking Unions (UFBU) deferring its four day strike plan later this month.

"It is a balancing act," UFBU (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) Convenor VVSR Sarma told The Hindu about the agreement on the additional holidays. The influential body of the bank staffers was insisting that all Saturdays should be holidays.

By limiting it to two Saturdays and making other Saturdays full working day, the banks have ensured that the impact on the customers due to the additional holidays is less.

On the key wage revision component, Mr.Sarma said 15 per cent increase is what the IBA has agreed. The negotiations had hit a stalemate after the banks struck to 13 per cent, while the UFBU demanded 19 per cent. According to Mr.Sarma, the cost for the banks due to the 15 per cent hike that has been agreed works out to Rs.4,725 crore.

The agreement on the wage revision would be implemented with effect from November 1, 2012, he added.


Read at: The Hindu

Bank Employees to get 15% increase in wages – Strike from 25th Feb called off – 10th Bipartite Wage Settlement

Bank Employees to get 15% increase in wages – Strike from 25th Feb called off – 10th Bipartite Wage Settlement

 PSU bank employee unions withdraw strike call, settle wages: Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Employee unions of public sector banks today withdrew their strike call following an agreement with the management on 15 per cent wage hike.

"In today's talks, wage revision settled at 15 per cent with effect from November 2012," United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) Convener M V Murali said.

The bank unions had threatened to go on 4-day nation-wide strike from February 25 demanding 19 per cent hike in wages. The wage hike was due from November 2012.

At a meeting today in Mumbai, PSU banks employee unions and bank management, Indian Banks' Association (IBA), agreed on 15 per cent wage hike and entered into an agreement for it.

National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) Vice President Ashwini Rana said: "We are not happy as our expectation was that bank staff would get what was given to them last time -- 17.5 per cent increase in wages".

The bank employees will now also get holidays on two Saturdays in a month.

"Long pending demand of holiday on second and fourth Saturdays for the bank employees have also been reached," AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatachalam said.

Last week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had appealed to bank employee unions to call off their strike as talks were on for a revision of wages of employees.

The Minister said banks are already in negotiations with their unions and associations for wage settlement and "the bipartite negotiations in a cordial manner is the only available tool for settlement".

The wage revision of public sector bank employees has been due since November 2012.

Earlier, unions had deferred one-day strike scheduled for January 7 as IBA improved the wage hike offer to 12.5 per cent from 11 per cent earlier.

There are 27 public sector banks in the country with a combined employee strength of about 8 lakh. There are about 50,000 branches of these banks across the country.

Read at Economic Times