One Rank One Pension – Veterans to Return Medals Across the Country

One Rank One Pension OROP – Veterans to Return Medals Across the Country

On 145th day of the protest at Jantar Mantar here and across the country, the armed forces veterans also decided to escalate, upgrade and intensify their agitation.

“As you are aware, OROP will be issued before Diwali,” this is what the Defence Minster told the reporters in Delhi today. However the veterans are in a different mode.

Armed forces veterans staging a protest here to press their demand for ‘One Rank, One Pension’ (OROP) scheme on Friday announced that they will return their medals across the country on November 9-10.

“We have unanimously decided to return our medals across India,” said Group Captain V.K. Gandhi, the general secretary of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement.

On 145th day of the protest at Jantar Mantar here and across the country, the armed forces veterans also decided to escalate, upgrade and intensify their agitation.

“The government is willing to provide us an OROP, which is full of discrepancies and is not as per its definition. To protest, all ex-servicemen with their medals will line up in discipline and dignified manner in each district across the nation on November 9-10,” Gandhi told reporters here.

“The district magistrate will collect the medals and if he doesn’t come to collect it, the medals will be left behind. The DMs will be requested to guard their medals. We would request them to send these medals either to Prime Minister Narendra Modi or to President Pranab Mukherjee,” he added.

The agitation of armed forces veterans continued even after the central government announced the OROP scheme on September 5.

The veterans have said what government announced is not OROP, but ‘One Rank, Five Pension’.

Source : The Indian Express

New Performance Appraisal Proforma for IT Officials on Cards

New Performance Appraisal Proforma for IT Officials on Cards

When asked how soon the new appraisal form is expected, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairperson Anita Kapur said, “This year’s review will be based on new proforma.”

New Delhi – Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the I-T department will introduce a system of online scrutiny of returns and modify the performance appraisal proforma of officials with a view to motivating them to pass correct orders and also check corruption.

Stating that the government is taking several steps to serve honest tax-payers, Modi said this year, 91 per cent of electronic returns were processed within 90 days as compared to 46 per cent last year.

“I have also instructed that the performance appraisal system for Income Tax Officers be changed. The appraisal should reflect, whether or not the officer’s orders and assessments have been upheld on appeal. This will deter corruption and also motivate officers to pass correct orders,” Modi said at the 6th Delhi Economic Conclave here.

The I-T department, he said, will move to a system where not only returns but also scrutiny is done without having to go to the tax office.

“Queries could be raised and answered online or by email. There should be a visible electronic trail of what is pending with whom, where, and for how long. This is being piloted in five big cities,” Modi said.

He said the electronic filing of returns now covers 85 per cent of all tax returns and this year the tax department has introduced e-verification using Aadhaar. Over four million taxpayers made use of this facility.

Earlier, electronic returns had to be followed by a paper verification which used to take weeks to get processed, Modi said.

“When fully implemented, these changes, namely online scrutiny, and changes in performance appraisal have transformative potential,” Modi added.

When asked how soon the new appraisal form is expected, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairperson Anita Kapur said, “This year’s review will be based on new proforma.”

She further said the tax department has launched pilot projects for five cities wherein the officers will send questionnaires online and get the response online.

Source: PTI – The Economic Times

Government to issue OROP notification before Diwali says Parrikar

Government to issue OROP notification before Diwali says Parrikar

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the official notification for OROP scheme will be issued before Diwali.

New Delhi: The official notification for One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme will be issued before Diwali, defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday said.

The announcement comes on a day when protesting ex- servicemen decided to step up their protests and return their medals across the country starting 9 November.

“As you are aware, it will be issued before Diwali,” Parrikar told reporters in New Delhi in reply to a question when the official notification on OROP will come out.

The government had on 5 September announced the OROP scheme for the veterans but an official notification was awaited.

The government has cited the Model Code of Conduct for the Bihar polls as the reason behind the delay. Even after government had announced OROP scheme, a section of the veterans had continued their protest citing seven lacunae, including annual equalisation, 2013-14 as the base year among others.

PTI