NFIR: Revised entitlement of passes for Railway Employees

NFIR: Revised entitlement of passes for Railway Employees

NFIR
National Federation of Indian Railwaymen
3, CHELMSFORD ROAD, NEW DELHI – 110 055

Affiliated to :
Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC)
International Transport Workers Federation (ITF)

No.I/15/Part III

Dated: 03/12/2015

The Secretary (E),
Railway Board,
New Delhi

Dear Sir,

Sub: Revised entitlement of Passes for Railway employees – hardship caused to certain staff who became entitled for 1st Class Pass as per old norms-remedial action urged.

Ref: NFIR’s PNM Item No. 11/2013.

The subject matter was discussed in the special meeting held on 23/11/2015 in the chamber of ED/IR. During the meeting, the Official Side stated that Federation’s demand is not feasible of acceptance in view of revised entitlement communicated vide Board’s letter dated 6th January 2011. Federation has however did not agree with the view and said that those staff who could have become entitled for 1st Class Pass on the notional pay Rs. 5375 should not be denied the entitlement.

In this connection, NFIR re-iterates that when some of those staff whose notional pay touches Rs. 5375/- (provided they are in a scale the maximum of which is Rs. 70001- or above) are eligible for drawing lst Class Pass as per Board’s instructions dated 01/02/1999, denying the privilege on the plea of revised instructions is illogical. Such staff deserve to be allowed to avail 1st Class pass. The number of such cases may not be large.

NFIR, therefore, requests the Railway Board to kindly review and grant special dispensation for allowing 1st Class Pass in the cases where the notional pay reached Rs. 5375/- on and after 6tn January, 2011. A copy of the instructions issued may be endorsed to the Federation.

Yours Faithfully,
(Dr.M.Raghavaiah)
General Secretary

Copy to the General Secretaries of affiliated Unions of NFIR.
Media Centre/NFIR.
File No. II/50/Pt.2 & File No. 11/2013 (PNM).

Source: NFIR

Ministry of Railways revises Child Fare Rule

Ministry of Railways revises Child Fare Rule

New provision will come into effect from April, 2016

Ministry of Railways has decided to revise the child fare rule. Under the revised provision, full adult fare will be charged for children of age 5 years and under 12 years of age if for whom berth/seat (in reserved class) is sought at the time of reservation. However, in case berth/seat is not sought for the children of age 5 years and under 12 years of age at the time of reservation, then half of the adult fare shall continue to be charged subject to the minimum distance for charging.

Necessary changes shall be carried in the reservation form so that the passenger can indicate their option for requirement of full berth/seat for child or not.

There shall be no change in the rule for child fare of unreserved tickets i.e. fare for children of 5-12 years for unreserved tickets shall continue to be half of the adult fare subject to the minimum distance for charging.
Children under five years of age will continue to be carried free (without berth).

The revised child fare rule shall be applicable for travel from April, 2016 onwards. Exact date of commencement of this provision will be notified separately at a later date.

PIB

Government sets target to add one crore more Income Tax payers this year

Government sets target to add one crore more Income Tax payers this year

New Delhi: Government targets adding one crore new income tax payers in the current financial year, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said today.

“The government has set a target of adding one crore new Income tax payers during the financial year 2015-16. The said target has been further distributed among various field units of the Income Tax Department,” Sinha said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

Sinha said in this financial year over 2.4 crore income tax returns have been filed till October 31, 2015.
The respective figures for 2014-15 were 3.67 crore; 3.74 crore in 2013-14 and 3.27 crore in 2012-13.
The number of income tax payers in the income bracket of Rs 1 crore and below was 2.39 crore as of October 31, 2015. For 2014-15 it was 3.66 crore; 3.73 crore in 2013-14 and 3.26 crore in 2012-13, said the minister.

“The total net direct collection in the current financial year (up to October 2015) is Rs 3.44 lakh crore showing growth of 13.20 per cent as compared to the collection made during the corresponding period of the previous financial year,” he said.

Sinha said government has taken a number of steps to expand the income tax base.

These steps include developing strategies to identify and add new taxpayers; collection of information about high value transactions; improving compliance to TDS/TCS provisions; encouraging voluntary compliance through education, camps and seminars

PTI

Provision of E-Catering Facilities in Railways

Provision of E-Catering Facilities in Railways

In order to widen the range of food options available to passengers, E-catering services have been introduced, through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in trains without pantry car or Train Side Vending as well as on 45 designated stations from where passengers of originating/passing trains can avail of this facility. The details of stations selected for this purpose are as follows:-

Howrah, Sealdah, Guwahati, New Jalpaiguri, Patna, Bhubaneshwar, Visakhapatnam, Mughalsarai Junction (Jn.), Kanpur Central, Lucknow Jn., Varanasi, Jaipur, Bilaspur, Kharagpur, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Anand Vihar Terminal, Hazarat Nizamuddin, New Delhi, Delhi, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Secunderabad, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Ernakulam Jn., Kozhikkode, Madurai Jn., Thrisur, Tiruvananthapuram Central, Bangalore City, Yasvantpur, Nagpur, Pune, Agra Cantt., Gwalior, Jhansi, Bhopal, Ahmedabad Mumbai Central, Surat & Vadodara. IRCTC has tied up with renowned, reputed and established brands in the field of catering services so that the passengers can order good quality and hygienic food of their choice. Further, Janta Khana is also being made available through E-catering services.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

PIB

Defence Forces up in arms against 7th Pay Commission Report

Defence Forces up in arms against 7th Pay Commission Report

New Delhi: The Defence forces forces have raised their concerns with the defence ministry about the ‘shortcomings’ in the Seventh Pay Commission report, Indian Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan said on Thursday.

The navy chief, addressing the customary annual press conference in Delhi on the eve of Navy Day, was asked if there was discontent in the armed forces on the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission.
“Whatever we feel are the shortcomings are being taken up by the three services with the defence ministry to see that whatever we feel is necessary for our men, our officers, our civilians, is made available to them,” Admiral Dhowan said.

He said all issues of “concern” were being taken up with the ministry.

Officers of the armed forces feel the current Pay Commission’s recommendations were less rewarding.
Among the concerns was the way pension was calculated on the basis of the number of years served in a particular rank.

A senior official who did not want to be named said: “The rank of major general is equivalent to Joint Secretary. But an IAS officer becomes Joint Secretary sooner than an armed forces personnel would reach that rank. And the percentage of those who reach that rank in the forces is also less, which makes the system unfair.”

Another grudge is the risk-hardship matrix.

While a soldier posted at the Siachen Glacier gets an allowance of Rs.31,500 per month, a civilian bureaucrat draws 30 per cent of his salary as “hardship allowance”.

PTI

Despite 7th Pay Commission implementation, no worries on fiscal deficit: Jaitley

Despite 7th Pay Commission implementation, no worries on fiscal deficit: Jaitley

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said he was not worried about fiscal deficit and government would be able to meet its target despite additional outgo towards the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission.

He admitted however that the impact of implementing the pay commission’s recommendations, which will result in an additional annual burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore on exchequer, would last for two to three years.
“I am not particularly worried about the fiscal deficit target,” he said while replying to questions on the impact of the recommendations on public finances at the HT Leadership summit.

He further said that besides achieving the target, the government has also been able to improve the quality of fiscal deficit. The government proposes to bring down the fiscal deficit to 3.9 per cent of GDP in 2015-16, 3.5 per cent in 2016-17 and 3 per cent by 2017-18.

“If you achieve a fiscal deficit by either cutting down expenditure or withholding tax returns, then you may strictly have statistical figure, but the quality of the fiscal deficit will always be suspected…we have concentrated on the quality of the fiscal deficit and we will probably be able to maintain it,” he added.
As regards the impact of the Pay Commission award to central government employees, Jaitley said the normal rule is that the expenditure on salary and pension should be 2.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.

The ratio will deteriorate in the initial years with the implementation, he said.

However, “…as the base of the GDP increases, by the third or the fourth year, the spikes come down and (thereafter) you reasonably reach that 2.5 per cent figure back… These pressures will be for the next 2-3 years,” the minister added.




PTI