Railway Union Members Oppose New Pension Scheme

Railway Union Members Oppose New Pension Scheme

New Delhi: Members of a railway union has opposed the new pension scheme (NPS) and demanded that the employees should be kept out of the ambit of the scheme.

All-India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF) General Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra said that the union has urged Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to raise the matter with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to ensure the government keeps railway employees out of the ambit of new pension scheme.

Apprising Prabhu about railwaymen’s work in most precarious and arduous conditions, Mishra said, “Many employees lay down their lives while working on duty to keep the nation on move and trains on the run, therefore, like Armed Forces, concept of New Pension Scheme may also be abolished from Railways.”

He said the National Pension System introduced from January 2004 has totally eroded the social security, and the staff appointed on or after this crucial date is always worried about their future.

AIRF also raised the issues of Seventh Pay Commission recommendations with Prabhu and sought redressal.

Describing the recommendations as “retrograde”, Mishra said the report is not in the interest of railway men.
He urged upon the Railway Minister to raise the matter with Ministry of Finance before accepting the report of Seventh Pay Commission.

PTI

AIRF has demanded Payment of Arrear of Productivity Linked Bonus paid to Railwaymen

AIRF has demanded Payment of Arrear of Productivity Linked Bonus paid to Railwaymen for the year 2014-15

Payment of Arrear of Productivity Linked Bonus to Railwaymen for the year 2014-15

The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Bandaru Dattatreya, on December 7, 2015. The Bill seeks to amend the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965. AIRF has demanded an Arrear on PLB for FY 2014-15.

Payment of Bonus

(Amendment) Bill 2015 has been passed by parliament

The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Bandaru Dattatreya, on December 7, 2015. The Bill seeks to amend the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965.

The Act provides for the annual payment of bonus to employees of certain establishments (including factories and establishments employing 20 or more persons). Under the Act, bonus is calculated on the basis of the employee’s salary and the profits of the establishment.

Employees eligible for bonus: The Act mandates payment of bonus to employees’ whose salary or wage is up to Rs 10,000 per month. The Bill seeks to increase this eligibility limit to Rs 21,000 per month.
Calculation of bonus: The Act provides that the bonus payable to an employee will be in proportion to his or her salary or wage. However, if an employee’s salary is more than Rs 3,500 per month, for the purposes of calculation of bonus, the salary will be assumed to be Rs 3,500 per month. The Bill seeks to raise this calculation ceiling to Rs 7,000 per month or the minimum wage notified for the employment under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (whichever is higher).

Source: AIRF

MACP on Promotional Hierarchy – Written reply in Parliament

MACP on Promotional Hierarchy – Written reply in Parliament

MACP on promotional grade

The employees including Group ‘C’ (which includes erstwhile Group ‘D’) are granted three financial upgradations under Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) Scheme in the next immediate Grade Pay hierarchy as per CCS(Revised Pay) Rules, 2008 on completion of 10, 20 and 30 years of regular service.

There have been instances where Tribunals and High Courts have directed to grant benefits under Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) Scheme in the promotional hierarchy. However, in such cases, the order of Court is specific to the applicant only.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Kamlesh Paswan in the Lok Sabha today.

No proposal to do away with the existing procedure of Submitting annual life certificate

No proposal to do away with the existing procedure of Submitting annual life certificate

Delay in giving pension benefits

There is no such proposal to do away with the existing procedure of Submitting annual life certificate by the pensioner to renew their pension payment.

Yes Madam. Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare has implemented an online system called ‘BHAVISHYA’ for retiring Central Government Civil employees. The system provides for on-line tracking of pension sanction and payment process. Tracking can be done by the individual as well as the administrative authorities for all actions preparatory to grant of pension and other retirement benefits. Facility also exists for tracking payment of subsequent monthly pension. This is in line with the priorities of Government to ensure transparency and accountability in systems and processes.

At present, Bhavishya is implemented in main Secretariat of 83 Ministries/Departments & 23 attached offices involving 794 DDOs. This Department has also given on-site training to all the Drawing Disbursing Officers/Head of Offices/Pay & Accounts Offices and the dealing hands of main Secretariat of all the Ministries/Department.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Satav Rajeev & others in the Lok Sabha today.

Key initiatives of the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT)

Key initiatives of the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT)

YEAR END 2015

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has taken various initiatives during the year 2015. These initiatives aim at working in the direction of larger public interest and to establish accountability and transparency.

In a landmark decision, the Government scrapped Interviews for recruitment to lower posts wherever it could be dispensed with. This was followed by the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr. Jitendra Singh writing D.O. letters to Chief Ministers of all States in September to take the lead in carrying forward this initiative with respect to State Government jobs.

The discontinuation of interviews will not only be in larger public interest but would also offer a level playing field and benefit youth hailing from the lower socio-economic strata. Interviews will be dispensed with for all Group C and Group D posts which are now reclassified as Group C posts. Interview would also be discontinued for non-gazetted posts of Group B category. The process of doing away with interview for these posts will be completed by 31.12.2015. In those cases pertaining to non-gazetted Group B posts and Group C & D posts, where Recruitment Rules specify the process of selection which includes conduct of interview, the Ministries/authorities concerned will take necessary steps to carry out the requisite amendment to the Recruitment Rules immediately. Necessary directions have also been issued to the Staff Selection Commission in this regard.

In a big relief to the common people, the DoPT discontinued the practice of submission of affidavit by the family members of deceased Government employees for the appointment on Compassionate grounds. Now they are required to submit self-declaration at the time of applying for compassionate appointment. It will ensure fast process of compassionate appointment and help family members of deceased Government employee immensely.

For the first time in the history of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Officers of 2013 batch of IAS were posted as Assistant Secretary in the Central Secretariat for a period of three months. Exposure to Central Government functioning will provide insight into policy formulation at the Centre to these officers. These officers left for their field posting with a macro picture of such policies which will help them in effective implementation of the schemes keeping citizen at the centre.

In another novel initiative, the DoPT has started Yoga camps for the Central Government employees and their dependents. The Yoga training sessions are conducted in 29 locations (26 Samaj Sadans of Grih Kalyan Kendra and 3 other places) in Delhi and 12 Samaj Sadans of Grih Kalyan Kendra outside Delhi. Approximately 1900 individuals are benefiting from this scheme per day. With this initiative, the employees would be able to de-stress themselves and also take control over various lifestyle diseases like obesity, hypertension, Hyperglycemias etc. The healthy & happy employees would be able to perform more effectively in their office work.

The Department has also started an innovative scheme for the training of the cutting edge level employees of the State Governments. In the first phase, masters trainers are being trained by the ATIs in collaboration with DoPT. These trainers will impart training to the field level employees. Emphasis of the training will be on citizen centricity. Pilot projects had been started in Maharashtra, J&K and Tamil Nadu. It has now been extended in other States. Training will bring an attitudinal change in these employees which in turn will result in increased citizen friendly environment in the field offices.

DOPT also exempted the parents of differently abled children from the mandatory transfers so that they can take proper care of their differently abled child. This move will ease the pain of these parents and ensure care and upbringing of these children.

A weekly one hour in-house training programme for its employees was started. Three modules of the training programme have been completed and the fourth module is currently running. The employees are imparted up-to-date information on various aspects of day to day work in the office. This gives an opportunity to the employees to clear their doubts and the input given in the session is found very useful for them in discharging their duty more accurately, efficiently and effectively. This has speeded up the rate of disposal of work and the ultimate beneficiary of the same are the citizens.

The scheme of interaction of Officers with School Students has been launched in which the Officers of Government of India visit Schools and share their experiences with the School Students. As a pilot, the Senior Officers of DoPT have visited Kendriya Vidyalayas in Delhi and interacted with the students. The interaction of Senior Officers with School Students will have a long lasting impact on their impressionable minds. They will also get a glimpse of the functioning of the Government.



PIB

Allotment of Government Accommodation to Artists

Allotment of Government Accommodation to Artists

Ministry of Culture

 
The allotment of Government Accommodation to the eminent artistes is governed by the guidelines contained in the Government of India, Ministry of Culture’s order No. F. 14-1/2008-Akademis dated 27.11.2008. The existing allottees were given accommodation with the approval of Competent Authority and were also granted extension from time to time. The last extension was granted up to 31.07.2014.

Any decision in the matter is taken with the approval of the competent authority. Going by the recommendations of the Selection Committee headed by Secretary (Culture) for allotment of Government residential accommodation, the proposal to revise the existing guidelines for allotment of Government accommodation to the artistes and also the option of either to roll over for one year or cancel the allotment have been sent to the Competent Authority, except in case of one artist in which cancellation of the allotment has been recommended.

This information was given by Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Dr. Mahesh Sharma in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

PIB