Railway Minister asks Finance Minister to handhold railways through 7th Pay Commission burden

Railway Minister asks Finance Minister to handhold railways through 7th Pay Commission burden

New Delhi: Railways has sought a financial grant of about Rs. 32,000 crore from Finance Ministry to tide over the the impending impact of 7th Pay Commission recommendations on the public transporter.

In a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu cited the prevailing financial position of railways, efforts at cost cutting and possible gradual adjustment of fares and other non-tariff revenue measures to absorb the impact while requesting the exchequer’s help for implementation of the Commission recommendations.

“I would therefore earnestly request you to help the Ministry of Railways and handhold it for the implementation of Seventh Pay Commission recommendations,” the Railway Minister said in the letter.

“This may be done either through compensation of loss for coaching services (Rs 31,727 crore in 2013-14) or directly by virtue of a revenue grant, matching the amount of the Seventh Pay Commission’s liability placed upon railways for the next 3-4 years,” he said.

In a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu cited the prevailing financial position of railways, efforts at cost cutting and possible gradual adjustment of fares and other non-tariff revenue measures to absorb the impact while requesting the exchequer’s help for implementation of the Commission recommendations.

“I would therefore earnestly request you to help the Ministry of Railways and handhold it for the implementation of Seventh Pay Commission recommendations,” the Railway Minister said in the letter.

“This may be done either through compensation of loss for coaching services (Rs 31,727 crore in 2013-14) or directly by virtue of a revenue grant, matching the amount of the Seventh Pay Commission’s liability placed upon railways for the next 3-4 years,” he said.

Prabhu hoped that during this 3-4 years period, railways would be able to absorb the impact from their resources through gradual adjustment of fares and other non-tariff revenue measures.

However, Railway Minister has expressed his reservation about increasing the freight rate in the given scenario contending that it would have a “deleterious impact” on national economy.

He said, “In order to maintain these expenses at the current proportion – at 51.5 per cent of the gross receipts, the railway revenues will need to grow substantially by 40 per cent in 2016-17 which is well nigh impossible given the fact that till October 2015 growth was only 8.4 per cent.

“The first factor of freight earnings originating loading is demand driven and is largely not within the control of railways. The second factor that is freight rates, though is within railways competence, there is hardly any headroom available for increasing the same without affecting railways competitiveness adversely.”

He said, “Moreover, exercising this option will have a deleterious impact on the national economy as well as on critical sectors such as coal, cement, foodgrains.Prabhu hoped that during this 3-4 years period, railways would be able to absorb the impact from their resources through gradual adjustment of fares and other non-tariff revenue measures.

However, Railway Minister has expressed his reservation about increasing the freight rate in the given scenario contending that it would have a “deleterious impact” on national economy.

He said, “In order to maintain these expenses at the current proportion – at 51.5 per cent of the gross receipts, the railway revenues will need to grow substantially by 40 per cent in 2016-17 which is well nigh impossible given the fact that till October 2015 growth was only 8.4 per cent.

“The first factor of freight earnings originating loading is demand driven and is largely not within the control of railways. The second factor that is freight rates, though is within railways competence, there is hardly any headroom available for increasing the same without affecting railways competitiveness adversely.”

He said, “Moreover, exercising this option will have a deleterious impact on the national economy as well as on critical sectors such as coal, cement, foodgrains.”

According to the Pay Commission report, the annual financial impact on Railways will be approximately Rs 28,450 crore in addition to the normal growth which will require to be built into the Railway Budget 2016-17.

“Our initial assessment however is that this additional impact would be around Rs 30,031 cr over and above the normal assessed growth of Rs 10,816 cr,” Railway Minister stated.

Prabhu has pointed out that the Railways bear 35.6 per cent of the total pay and allowances of the government which is more than 1/3rd of the Pay Commission’s burden for serving staff would be borne by railways. “Further nearly 28 per cent of the pension impact of central government would be on the Railways,” the letter sent last week said.

Currently, pay and allowances and pension account for 51.5 per cent of the gross receipts of railways. With the financial impact of the Seventh Pay Commission, this will increase to 68 per cent of the gross receipts in 2016-17 at present level of growth.

Prabhu has also mentioned the details about the cost cutting measures in railways.

“While we have put in place serious cost cutting measures and are focusing on fuel management and lowering of staff intake, more than 2.3rd of the railway expenditure is inelastic – staff cost, pension, lease charges, maintenance of fixed assets.”

Prabhu has sent a detailed note along with the letter on the Railways financial position vis-a-vis impact of Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendation.

PTI

Year End Review: Highlights of Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare during 2015

Year End Review: Highlights of Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare during 2015 

Following are the highlights of the achievements of Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare during the year 2015:

Anubhav

‘Anubhav’ is a platform for retiring government employees to share their experience of working the Government and for showcasing commendable work done during service. It is envisaged that this would provide satisfaction to the retiring employees and also act as motivator for serving employees. Over time this will build up a wealth of useful suggestions. This would also provide an excellent opportunity to harness the resource of retiring employees for voluntary contribution to nation building post retirement.

The retiring employees may, voluntary, submit write-up along with the pension application form. Necessary amendments have been made to the checklist attached to Form 5 under Rule 59 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972. A webpage has been created which can be accessed from the website of the Department of Pension (persmin.nic.in/pension.asp).

The software application was demonstrated on 23.02.2015 and tested on the first lot of retirees during the pre-retirement counselling workshop (PRC) organized by the Department on 26.2.2015. To sensitize the Ministries /Departments, Awareness Workshops on ‘Anubhav’ have been organized by this Department on 24th March, 2015 and on 24th April, 2015 in New Delhi.


Bhavishya

Bhavishya is an online tracking system for pension sanction and payment. By keeping track of the progress of each pension case, it introduces transparency and accountability into the system thereby plugging delays. This benefits the retiring employees, pensioners and the administration equally.

The system allows online filing of application of pension by the retiring employees, encapsulates the Pension Rules required for processing pension cases and generates all forms and reports necessary for finalizing pension cases as well as needed for monitoring by the Departments.

Bhavishya is being implemented in main secretariat of 83 Ministries/Departments and 22 attached offices involving 792 Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDO) till December 30, 2015, which are in various stages of processing pension cases of 4759 retiring employees. This is being scaled up to cover all 9000 DDOs spread across the country.

In order to spread awareness of Bhavishya application the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare conducted an Awareness Workshop on ‘Bhavishya’ under the auspices of Hon’ble MOS (PP) on 26th November, 2015 in Plenary Hall, Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. The workshop was designed for Heads of Office/Drawing and Disbursing Officers of all ministries/departments including those of attached and subordinate offices located in Delhi. Around 1200 participant attended the Workshop.


Pensioners’ Portal

Pensioners’ Portal is the one stop solution for all information needs of the pensioners. The Portal also provides for registration of pensioners’ grievances through the Centralized Pension Grievance Registration and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS). During the year (upto 15.12.2015) 16683 grievances were received and 14354 were disposed, leaving a balance of 2329.


Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA)

A Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) functions under the Chairmanship of MOS (PP) to provide feedback on the implementation of policies/ programmes of this Department besides mobilizing voluntary effort to supplement the Government action. SCOVA meeting was held in October, 2015 which was attended by representatives of various Pensioners’ Associations and the Ministries/Departments.

PIB

RAILWAYS: Year End Review of Ministry of Railways for the Year 2015

RAILWAYS: Year End Review of Ministry of Railways for the Year 2015

Year End Review of Ministry of Railways for the Year 2015

RAILWAYS: YEAR END REIVEW 2015

PASSENGER AMENITIES, SERVICES AND DIGITAL INDIA INITIATIVES

• Provision of All India Security Helpline ‘182’

All India Security Helpline ‘182’ has been provided over Indian Railway to facilitate the travelling passenger. The service is very important public service and may play an important role in any emergency like crime against woman, onboard unlawful activity, train accidents, medical attention required fire etc.

• Provision of All India Passenger Helpline ‘138’

The All India Passenger Helpline ‘138’ has been provided as a public interface for quarries/complaints related to Medical Emergency, Cleanliness, Food & Catering, Coach Maintenance, Linen etc. (Except Security).

• Complaint Management System (COMS) Portal

For the help and assistance to bona fide railway passengers to give their feedback and also to register their complaints, Minister of Railways has launched Complaint Management System (COMS) portal on 02.03.2015 which consists of the following application

-          A mobile app based complaints and suggestion application (currently on the android platform)
–          A web based complaints ans suggestions application on URLwww.coms.indianrailways.gov.in
–          As sms based complaints and suggestion application on the number 9717630982

• E-Catering - 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.  IRCTC has set up a call centre with toll free no.   1800-1034-139, developed a website www.ecatering.irctc.co.in and also SMS facility to 139 as MEAL<PNR>  to take orders.

• Water Vending Machine: As a recent initiative, to ensure availability of clean drinking water at low cost to the passengers, a policy on Water Vending Machines (WVMs) has been notified on 16/06/2015. These WVMs are to be set up by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) at identified Railway stations.

• Pre-cooked Food  (ready to eat meals) – Railways have conducted trials for service of pre-cooked (ready-to-eat) meals of reputed brands on some trains. A policy guideline on “Ready to Eat Meals” has been issued to zonal railways on 30.01.2015.

• First workshop of all Food Safety Officer, Designated Officers & IRCTC Officers held in Kolkata to improve the standard of food safety in Indian Railways.

• Executive Lounge:    Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has introduced an Executive Lounge at New Delhi railway station.  The Executive Lounge provide value added services at a charge, offering facilities such as WiFi Internet, buffet services, wash and change, concierge services for pre-departure and post-arrival assistance to passengers.  IRCTC is in the process of setting up Executive Lounges at 48 more stations.

• Concierge Services:  Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has introduced concierge services (pick-up & drop and porter services), as Pilot Project at a few railway stations.  The stations are New Delhi, Mysore, Bhubaneswar, Howrah, Patna, Secunderabad, Jaipur, Tirupati, Ernakulam, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Lucknow Jn., Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Delhi Safdarjung, Anand Vihar Terminal, Delhi Cantt, Delhi Sarai Rohilla, Vijayawada, Guntur, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati Jn.

• Mid-Segment Tourist train:   Indian Railways in association with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has now introduced a mid-segment tourist train also.  The all inclusive round trip packages covers rail transportation in different air-conditioned classes, local transportation, guided tour for sightseeing in groups, variety of meals and hotel accommodation etc.  To begin with, a train on the circuit Delhi – Jaisalmer – Jaipur – Delhi commenced operation on 13.12.2015 while the second one on the circuit Delhi – Varanasi – Khajuraho – Agra – Delhi is scheduled to commence operation on 20.12.2015.

• New Trains : – Upto the month of November, 2015 112 new trains and 15 extension of trains and 5 increase in frequency have been implemented as announced in Railway Budget 2014-15.  No new train has been announced in Railway Budget 2015-16

• Augmentation : - Indian Railways also facilitates the passengers by augmenting the load of popular trains services by attaching extra coaches on permanent basis and thereby generating extra carrying capacity. During the year 2015-16 upto November 2015, Indian Railways attached 691 coaches thereby generating an additional capacity of 45605 berth/seats which also includes augmentation of 52 pairs of Mail/Express trains to 23/24 coaches during the Year 2015-16

• Special Trains : –          During peak seasons special trains are operated by Indian Railways to clear the extra rush of passengers. This year upto November to facilitate passengers, Indian Railways have run 23666 train trips in the Year 2015-16.
• Election Special :-       During election in the State of Bihar, 36 Special trains were made to run.
• Mela Special :  During Sinhastha Kumbh Mela – 2015 in order to cater the extra rush of passengers traffic, Board arranged additional rakes (of 236 coaches) and 32 cars of MEMU/DEMU rakes . During Mela period, 608 special were made run and 795 coaches were temporarily augmented. Besides, 789 GS coaches of regular train services were earmarked for the pilgrims.
• Non-Budget Trains :   Owing to heavy public demand and completion of gauge-conversion of some sections the 13 pair Non-Budget new trains have been introduced upto December 2015.
• Experimental Stoppage in trains : - During the current year  upto November, 2015, 146 stoppages have been provided in Mail/Express trains (in single) on an experimental basis.
• Computerised Parcel Management System implemented on New Delhi – Howrah, New Delhi – Mumbai, New Delhi – Chennai, Howrah-Chennai and Howrah-Mumbai route.
• Computerisation of Retiring Room booking launched at more than 480 locations.
• Paperless Unreserved Ticketing through Mobile Phone between Church Gate and Dahanu Road.
• Paperless Unreserved Ticketing through Mobile Phone between New Delhi –Palwal Section
• Destination Alerts to passengers through SMS for Rajdhani and Duronto trains.
• E-ticketing Portal in Hindi
• Currency Coin cum Card operated Automatic Ticket Vending Machines at New Delhi Railway Station.
• Currency-cum-coin-cum-card based Automatic Ticketing Vending Machines (ATVMs) commissioned over Central Railway, Easter Railway, Western Railway, Southern Railway, Northern Railway and South Central Railway.
• · Concession based ticketing including online ticketing for the physically challenged persons using Photo identity Card issued by the Railways.
• Lower berths to senior citizens :  With a view to facilitate senior citizens and female passengers when travelling alone, a combined reservation quota of two lower berths per coach in Sleeper class has been enhanced to four lower berths per coach is Sleeper class. Further w.e.f. 01.11.2015, the facility of booking tickets under senior citizen quota will be permitted even when two passengers eligible to book tickets under this quota intend to book.
• Staggering to Tatkal booking timings : - W.e.f. 15.06.2015, the timings for reservation under Tatkal scheme has been staggered and now it opens at 10.00 hours on the previous day of journey from train originating station. Also, all types of ticketing agents( YTSK, RTSAs, IRCTC agents, etc.) are debarred from booking tickets during first thirty minutes of opening of booking i.e. from 08.00 to 08.30 hours for general bookings, and from 10.00 to 10.30 hours and 11.00 to 11.30 hours for Tatkal booking in AC & non-AC classes respectively.
• Automatic refund of Confirmed / RAC e-tickets on cancellation of trains : Automatic refund of Confirmed /RAC e-tickets on cancellation of trains similar to waitlisted e-tickets is granted There is no requirement for cancellation/filing of TDR for refund of e-ticket in case of cancellation of trains.
• Introduction of Suvidha Trains : – Suvidha Trains have been introduced wherein the maximum Advance Reservation Period is 30 days while the minimum Advance Reservation Period is 10 days. Zonal Railways will decide the exact ARP of reach train within this limit.
• Opening of PRS counters beyond 2000 hours on week days and beyond 14.00 hours on Sundays : - Instructions were issued on 15.5.2014 wherein Zonal Railways were advised that subject to demand and availability of manpower, the PRS counters can be opened even beyond 20.00 hours on week days and beyond 14.00 hours on Sundays. This has facilitated the passengers in getting reserved tickets through PRS counters as per their convenience.
• Timings for advance reservation : - Time limits for booking reserved tickets was increased to 120 days w.e.f. 01.04.2015. This has facilitated the passengers to plan their journey well in advance.
• Change in timings of booking through internet : The timings of booking reserved tickets through internet have been changed and is now available daily from 00.30 hours to 23.45 hours.
• Fitment of dustbins in all coaches including non AC coaches.
• A special train on Gandhi Circuit covering places related to life and work of Mahatma Gandhi run.
• A kisan Yatra special train to help the farmers has also been run. Kisan Yatra special coaches have been operated from different parts.

The frequency of Maitree Express was increased from 3 to 4 per week and an additional AC Chair Car was added.

It has been decided to provide stainless steel mug with chain arrangement in Non-AC coaches also as being provided in AC coaches.

· It was decided to upgrade the specification and design of linen and curtains provided in AC coaches through consultancy with NIFT and accordingly an agreement was executed.

Commencement of provision of Braille signage on 3000 Coaches.

                        INFRASTRUCTURE AND MAKE IN INDIA INITIATIVE

• Provision of Optical Fibre Cable (OFC)
  1,098 Rkms OFC has been laid. Cumulatively, 48,818 Rkms (approx.) OFC has been commissioned over Indian Railways enabling high speed communication network.
• Provision of Video Conferencing System
  A new Video Conferencing System connecting Civil Engineering officials of Railway zones based on latest state of art technology has been commissioned in Board. This system has the provision of two concurrent Multi Part Conference of 60 participant of Railway Board & Zonal Railway having provision of simultaneous display of 24 participants of single screen.
• 2 locomotive factories at Madhepura and Marhowrah successfully bid after 7 years.
• Train sets for improving passenger comfort and reducing travel time ; EOI invited. 5 international bidders shortlisted for participation RFP.
• Rail Coach Factory at Kanchrapara – Fresh RFQ application have been called. Will be opened in December, 2015.
• Modern LHB Coach manufacturing facility Phase-1 commissioned at ICF Chennai. Indian Railways will shift 100% to 160 kmph fit LHB coaches in next 5 years. 
• ICF Chennai has developed first of its kind stainless steel 3 phase energy efficient AC-AC transmission 1600 HP DEMU train set. The first  air-conditioned DEMU   was manufactured this year by ICF.
• DLW Varanasi developed designs and manufactured 5500HP Diesel Locomotives. Moving towards Make in India – Design in India.
• Indian Railways signed an Assured Off Take Agreements (AOT) for manufacturing of 1200 wagons per annum and rehabilitation of 300 wagons per annum for a period of 10 years with SAIL-RITES Bengal Wagon Industry Pvt. Ltd. (SRBWIPL)  Kulti, West Bengal
• Traction Alternator Factory at Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh – The project aims to manufacture 100 traction alternators per annum of high horse power diesel locomotives which are currently being imported

FREIGHT

• Automotive rebate for Traditional Empty Flow Direction Traffic with a view to convert empty running of rakes into loaded one, automatic freight rebate scheme has been introduced from 25.6.2015 wherein all rakes loaded in notified empty flow direction are charged at Class – LR1 (Train load) and at Class-100 (Wagon load), subject to certain terms and conditions.
• Various proposals under different Railway schemes like Private Freight  Terminals (PFT), Special Freight Train Operator Scheme (SFTO), Automobile Freight Train Operator Scheme (AFTO), Liberalized Wagon Investment Scheme (LWIS), Wagon Leasing Scheme (WLS) have been finalized.
• Mobile Application for Freight Operations (PARICHAALAN)
• Heavy haul Initiative – The prototype of the 25T axle load BOXNS wagons has been made during Oct’15. The wagon will run at 100 kmph in loaded and empty condition with pay load to tare ratio of 4.1 as compared to conventional BOXNHL wagons, which have payload to tare ratio of about 3.6. These wagons will achieve increased throughput per week by 14.8%.

SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT, INNOVATION AND RESOURCE MOBILIZATION

Innovative Funding initiatives and non traditional sources of funding:

Many initiatives were taken to explore alternative sources of funding, besides the traditional GBS route. These are listed as follows:

a) An Memorandum of Understanding with LIC of India was signed on 11.3.2015 for committed long-term funding   to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh crore over 5 years for financing Railway projects.  First tranche of Rs 2000 cr has been received.

b) MOF approved issue of tax free bonds by IRFC amounting to Rs.6,000 crore during the FY 2015-16; the entire amount has been raised from the market.

c) World Bank was approached to explore the possibility of setting up a Railway Infrastructure Development Fund for raising resources for long term investment in Railways.   A detailed scope and options study has been commissioned by World Bank which is currently in progress.

d) World Bank loan of USD 650 million to finance Eastern DFC – Phase 3 (Khurja-Ludhiana & Khurja-Dadri section) has been negotiated as a direct loan to DFCCIL under Govt. of India guarantee.

e) IRFC’s proposal to raise a Syndicated Foreign Currency Loan of USD 400 million to re-finance an earlier ECB of the same amount, aimed at achieving a saving in debt service costs by about Rs.33 crore, has been agreed and backed by MOR.

Speedy Project Implementation and Execution:

Following steps were taken to improve project delivery by addressing the issues of fund availability and empowerment of field organization:

a) Identification of projects leading to throughput enhancement/network decongestion was done and these projects were prioritized for dedicated financing and targeted execution. These projects have been provided adequate funding to enable timely completion.

b) For prompt and speedy execution of Railway Projects, it was decided to delegate full powers to General Managers for acceptance of tenders. The powers to revise estimates have also been enhanced.

Policy Formulation:

a) The policy guidelines on station redevelopment on Swiss challenge mode, were finalized and issued.

b) Model Concession agreement for Customer Funded model was finalized and issued.

c) Model Agreement for EPC was finalized and issued.

Obtaining professional input from outside agencies:

a)A Working Group and an Advisory Body have been constituted to assist in suggesting modified accounting system.

b) Financial Services Cell headed by Adv (Finance) has been constituted in the Railways and services of SBICAPS are being engaged to obtain expert inputs.

c) An Advisory Board on Railway finances with members drawn from the highest echelons of financial world like SBI Chairman, MD & CEO/ IDFC Bank and Shri Raghav Bahl, Founder, The Quintillion Media Pvt. Ltd. has been constituted. Members have given valuable ideas and suggestions on diverse topics like investment strategies and accounting reform.

SAFETY

· Working towards ‘Zero Accident’ Mission.

· Train Protection Warning System (TPWS): TPWS is a safety Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system conforming to European Train Control System (ETCS) Level-1.  It eliminates accidents caused by human error of Signal Passing at Danger or over speeding by loco pilot. TPWS trials at 160 Kmph were successfully conducted during the year on Nizamuddin-Agra Cantt. Section after completion of requisite works. This section was also made signalling fit for speed potential of 160 Kmph by executing required signaling system upgradations during the year.

· Enhancement of Safety at Level Crossing Gates: 282 Level Crossing Gates have been interlocked with Signals to enhance safety.

· Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS): To overcome shortcomings of ACD system due to its dependence on GPS and for large scale deployment on Indian Railways, a cost effective indigenous safety system – Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) is being developed indigenously by RDSO in association with Indian Vendors.  This system is aimed at providing dual capability of preventing train accidents caused due to Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD) or non observance of speed restrictions by train drivers as well as preventing train collisions caused due to non-observance of rules in case of manual operations. RDSO has finalized the Specification after successful proof of concept trials.  Field work for Extended field trials of TCAS with 40 locos on 3 sub-sections in Lingamapalli-Vikarabad-Wadi-Bidar section, SCR (250 km) having RE/Non-RE, Single Line/Double Line Absolute Signalling section with diesel and electric locos are in advance stage of progress by RDSO & SCR.

Achievements of Road Safety Works (i.e.  Level Crossing & ROB/Subways)(from Jan, 2015 to Nov. 2015) : -

Elimination of Unmanned Level crossings by

Closure/Merger/Subways                               :           637
Manning                                                        :           271
Total                                                              :           908
Closure of Manned Level Crossings               :           312
Construction of Road Over Bridges               :           155
Construction of Subways                               :           699

Provision of Integrated Security System (ISS)

ISS at 5 stations namely Trivandrum, Mangalore & Ernakulum (SR), Triputi (SCR), Thane (CR) has been commissioned. In addition to that, CCTV system has been commissioned at 10 stations namely Miraj (CR), Bengaluru, Yesvantpur, Mysore(SWR), Bhubaneswar, Puri, Cuttack, Visakhapatnam (ECoR), Bhopal & Itarsi (WCR).  Cumulatively, ISS at 63 stations has been commissioned over Indian Railway. In addition to that, CCTV system has been cumulatively commissioned at 19 stations over Indian Railway.  CCTV surveillance system has been provided at 21 PRS/UTS locations.

· In the current year from 1st April to 10th December, 2015, consequential train accidents decreased from 105 to 81 in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year.

· During the current year from January to 10th December 2015, safety drives were launched by Board on prevention of cases of SPAD, prevention of accidents at unmanned level crossings, observance of rules and precautions during shunting, prevention of cases of fire in pantry cars, observance of rules for working of push trolleys, etc.

· One conference of Chief Safety Officers was organized for detailed discussions on various issues relating to safety and rules for train operations.

· High Level Safety Review Committee (HLSRC): HLSRC under the Chairmanship of Dr. Anil Kakodkar, former Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission submitted its report on 17.02.2012.  The HLSRC has made 106 recommendations covering the various aspects of Indian Railways.  All the recommendations have been examined by the Board.  Out of the 106 recommendations, 68 have been fully accepted and of which 22 have been fully implemented and 46 are under implementation. The remaining 38 recommendations are under active consideration in the Ministry of Railways for appropriate action in a phased manner.

· Proposal invited for installation of ‘Fracture Detection System’ to detect Rail/weld failures and prevent derailments.

· Provision of Fire extinguishers in Non Air-conditioned coaches. A initial sanction for provision
on 1000 coaches has been made and the railways and production units are in the process of provisioning the system.

· Provision of double acting AC compartment swing doors on coaches for faster evacuation of passengers in case of fire emergency.

· Provision of Automatic fire and smoke detection system for Non AC coaches for the first time.

· Provision of Fire suppression system in Pantry cars and Power cars as these are more fire prone than other passenger coaches.

ELECTRIFICATION AND SIGNALLING

· With a view to reduce the Nation’s dependence on imported petroleum based energy and to enhance energy security to the Country, as well as to make the Railway System more eco- friendly and to modernize the system, Indian Railways have been progressively electrifying its rail routes. 1479 route kilometers have been energized from January’ 2015 upto 15th December’ 2015.

· Provision of Route Relay / Panel / Electronic Interlocking along with Multi Aspect Color Light Signaling:  To increase efficiency and enhance Safety in train operations, modern Signalling system with Route Relay Interlocking (RRI)/ Panel Interlocking (PI)/ Electronic Interlocking (EI) along with Multi Aspect Colour Light Signalling (MACLS) in replacement of Over-aged Mechanical/Multi Cabin Signalling system has been provided at 299 stations.

· Automatic Block Signalling (ABS): To increase line capacity and reduce headway, Automatic Block Signalling has been commissioned on 141 Route Kms.

· LED Signals:  To improve reliability and visibility of signals, incandescent   filament signal lamps are being replaced by long life, highly durable LED signals.171 stations have been provided with LED signals.

GREEN INITIATIVES

· Railway has already provided Solar panel on roof top of coaches for train lighting system in 2 broad gauge coaches & 4 narrow gauge coaches plying on Pathankot-Joginder Nagar section in Kangra Valley and fourteen narrow gauge coaches plying on Kalka-Shimla section on trial basis.

· Setting up of Solar Plants : –  Tender document & policy guidelines for 50 MW solar plants at rooftop of Railways buildings issued. 10 Railways have issued tenders accordingly.

· Setting up of wind plant : –  Commissioned 25 MW wind mill power plant at Jaisalmer in October, 2015 which has already supplied 40 lakh units till now.

· 1000 MW solar power plants being set up over next 5 years; 10.5 MW already set up; in 2015-16, additional 6.5 MW will be set up ; PPP model finalized.

· Till Nov-2015, 7621 bio Toilets has been fitted in 2144 coaches. The cumulative fitment of Bio Toilets till date is 27800 Bio-Tanks in about 9200 coaches.

· An innovative Indian design of a Bio-Vac Toilets, a  Hybrid  of Vacuum Toilet and Bio-Toilet is working successfully  in one coach of GHY Rajdhani train. It has opened a new possibility to control  the problem of human waste falling from trains.

· Bio diesel: Use of bio diesel-B5 (i.e. 5% Bio-Diesel and 95% Diesel) was started on 5th June 2015 on World Environment Day. 11,000 KL of biodiesel has been ordered on 14 Zonal Railways.

· CNG DEMU: CNG DEMU power cars introduced on Northern Railway to make commuter trains environment and user friendly.

· Work of Water Recycling Plants (WRPs) at 10 coaching depots got sanctioned in Budget 2015-16. In addition, 32 stations have been identified for provision of WRP.

· To facilitate participation in Green India Mission (GIM), Railways has requested MoEFCC to issue guidelines to State Governments (beginning with Haryana & Punjab Govt.) for undertaking plantation on Railway land without affecting Railways’ requirement of cutting/felling of trees for its operational requirement.

HUMAN RESOURCE

—        In order to cope with the stress involved in the job and to have a disciplined life, Yoga training has been made mandatory in all training courses in Centralised Training Institutes, Zonal Railway Training Institutes, Multi-Disciplinary Training Centres, Main Training Centres and other Training Centres.

—        Instructions have been issued to start specialized programme on soft skills to frontline staff dealing with customers in an effort to give greater thrust towards customer satisfaction.

—        MOU has been signed with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) on 14th July, 2015 to make available separable railway infrastructure to MSDE and its authorised representatives to start skill training centres in rural and remote areas.

—        For rationalisation of man power across Indian Railways, one of the big four HR audit companies, Deloitte has been identified and entrusted with the task of studying the manpower rationalization of the Group A services.

· Modules on sensitization of Railway personnel on gender introduced in Centralised Training Institutes.

· Academic Service Agreement signed with Beijing Jiatang University, China for training of 100 Railway officers of various departments in Heavy Haul Technology.

· A Railway Chair known as ‘Chair on Sustainable Mobility’ set up at TERI University, New Delhi.

· In the current year of 2015-16, recruitment process is underway for about 48,500 Group ‘C’ posts with RRBs.  Out of these 48500 vacancies, panels for about 10800 RRB empanelled candidates have since been supplied and process for the remainder is on.

· In a quantum leap towards achieving greater transparency, objectivity and credibility, IT based recruitment system for Group ‘C’ posts has been initiated by the RRBs.  A Pilot Project of Computer Based (On-line) applications and examinations for 54 categories of Senior Section Engineers (SSEs), Junior Engineers (JEs) and Chemical and Metallurgical Assistants (CMA) has been completed successfully.

· Positive efforts have been made to reduce the time taken for recruiting Group ‘C’ category staff from open market.  In this process, Computer Based examination for SSE/JKE has been conducted within one month from the closing date of application.  This has been possible due to the initiative of calling of On-line (IT based) application.

· As a measure of transparency, question paper, answer sheet and answer keys for SSE/JE examination 2015 have been uplodaded on RRBs’ websites providing an opportunity to the candidates to view their performance and to submit any objection.  Candidates were also advised of this facility through individual emails/SMSs.

· In order to reach out to the employees directly, Hon’ble MR had desired to convey personal   Birthday wishes to every employee through SMS on mobile phone or letter.

. Railway Recruitment Cells, since their formation in 2005, are into the fourth cycle of conducting recruitment to posts in Grade Pay Rs.1800/-.  They have notified around 62000 vacancies in the year 2013 and are in the process of completion of the same without any untoward incidents. So far, panels of around 38000 persons have been published which includes panels of around 850 persons with disabilities.

CLEANLINESS

· Criterion for qualification of OBHS trains has been revised to include all important mail &express trains (excluding purely overnight trains) under the scheme. With revised criterion more than 1000 trains can now be covered under the OBHS scheme. As against 34 last year, 74 trains has been covered in the current year for Onboard  House-keeping.

· Advice sent to  ZRs on 23.04.2015 for taking up Special Intensive Cleaning drive at stations and being monitored. 11 ZRs have so far taken action at 226 stations  on this, covering important stations.
· 27 Charitable Institutions/Social Organizations were invited to take part in ‘Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ through Shramdan campaign.  16 Organizations have already launched their action in this regard.  One of the organizations viz. Sant Nirankari Charitable Foundation offered is undertaking this campaign at 45 major Stations of IR & KRCL.

· 2nd year of Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was launched w.e.f. 25.09.15 by involving railways staff at all levels as well as Charitable Institutions / Social organisations.  16 such organisations participated with railways in these efforts. The first theme based drive viz. “Sardar Patel United Clean India drive” was observed w.e.f 11.10.15 to 31.10.15 with special focus on Cleanliness and Sanitation of Stations & Trains.
· As a part of ‘SWACHCHH BHARAT ABHIYAAN’, the cleanliness activities monitored through the CCTV cameras of 18 stations duly connecting them in a network and extending the video stream to Divisional and Zonal Headquarters in SC Rly.

 RAILYATRI PAKHWADA

· The historical country wide massive public outreach event under the name “Railyatri/Upbhokta Pakhwada” (Passenger and customer Facilitation fortnight) organized all over Indian Railways from 26.05.2015 to 09.06.2015 concluded successfully.  This fortnight long programme was primarily directed towards improvement of passenger amenities and services, customer care, participation of passenger and railway staff in various activities and for creating awareness amongst the public about Railway’s initiatives and achievements.

· Some of the tangible outcomes of this historical passenger outreach effort of Indian Railways are as under:
1. 233 projects/works of passenger amenities and services ranging from escalators, foot over bridges, station buildings, reservation offices, new platforms, new train services etc. were commissioned/opened for the railway passengers at an approximate cost of Rs. 4000 crore.

2.  Work on 73 projects connected with passenger amenities and augmentation of network capacity was commenced costing approx. Rs. 550 crore.

3. Over 7000 Railway stations were inspected by railway officials and taken up for improvement in various passenger amenities.

4.  4000 road shows were undertaken by senior railway officers at railway station premises and in trains to interact with rail users, obtain their suggestions and taking feedback on the railway services provided.

5. Passenger outreach through railway officers and staff, unions, NGOs, scouts, guides, charitable organizations and through social media touched over 7 million passenger and public ( Face Book reach -5 million, Twitter Impressions- 1.3 million and .7 million passenger interactions at stations and in trains).

6. 7500 cleanliness and sanitation drives and inspections were undertaken at various stations, railway premises and colonies under ‘Swatch Bharat Abhiyan’ with the involvement of railway staff, passengers and NGOs.

7.  2700 catering services checks were undertaken in order to ensure quality of catering services and
standards of hygiene at various stations and in trains.

8.  4600 intensive ticket checking drives were launched to curb the menace of ticket less traveling and to prohibit the entry of antisocial elements.  These drives resulted in detection of 1.6 lakh cases and recovery of Rs. 9 crore of railway revenue.

9.  3000 inspections for improving punctuality of trains were undertaken during this period.

10.  1400 inspections were conducted to check the presence of antisocial elements, touts and other irregularities by teams of vigilance officers.

11.  Intensive safety awareness drives were launched on all Zonal Railways with focus on precautions to be taken by road users at unmanned level crossing gates.  8500 such inspections were conducted by railway officials.

12. 126 Skill Development Programmes were organized in various Railway Workshops and Production Units to impart training to 5500 persons.

13. MOUs were signed between Zonal Railways and 5 Railway PSUs for 10 identified railway stations for their participation in development of passenger amenities through CSR.

14.  1300 Medical and Health Camps were organized by the Zonal Railways at different locations which wereattended by 55000 persons both railway employees and their families and also members of public.

15.  22000 staff quarters were taken up for repairs and maintenance in 450 identified railway staff colonies.

16. 590 Yoga camps were organized and attended by 19000 persons.

17.  As an outreach effort 176 Press conferences were organized at Zonal HQs, divisional HQs State Capitals and District HQs.  Over 6700 news items were published.

SPORTS

· Indian Railway (5 Women & 1 Men) weightlifters represented India in the Commonwealth Youth, Junior & Senior Weightlifting Championship held at Pune from 11th to 15th November, 2015, the performance of Railways players is outstanding. All Railway players won medals in this Championship. Ms. Matsa Santoshi, Ms. Punam Yadav, Ms. Sanjita Chanu, Shri S. Satish Sivalingam won gold medals and Ms. S. Mirabai Chanu won silver medal, Ms. Minati Sethi won Bronze medal in their weight categories.

· 4 players in India’s Men Hockey team and 16 in Indian Women Hockey team probables for Rio Olympic Games 2016 are from Indian Railway Hockey.

· During January to December 2015, Indian Railway team won National titles in 15 disciplines and stood runners-up in 03. National titles in were for Aquatics (Men) -Water polo, Swimming, Aquatics (Women) – Diving, Cricket (Women), Kabaddi (Women), Bridge, Boxing (Women), Archery (Women), Powerlifting (Men & Women),Atheltics (Women), Hockey (Men & Women) Volleyball (Men & Women) and runners-up in were for Archery (Men), Aquatics (Men)- Diving, Kho-Kho.

· Following Railway players have been honored with National Sports Awards during January to December 2015:-

S.No.	Name	Game	Award	Rly.
i)	Shri Mandeep Jangra	Boxing	Arjuna Award	NR
ii)	Shri Manjeet Chhillar	Kabaddi	Arjuna Award	NR
iii)	Shri S. Sathish Kumar	Weightlifting	Arjuna Award	SR
iv)	Shri Bajrang	Wrestling	Arjuna Award	NR

MISCELLANEOUS

·        For the Financial Year 2014-15 PLB equivalent to 78 days wages has been paid to eligible railway employees as per Board’s letter No. E(P&A) II-2015/PLB-4 date 07.10.2015.  For the financial year 2015-2016 calculation of number of PLB days is yet to be done.

· E-procurement System was extended to 216 Depots/Divisions in the Zonal Railways. Sale of scrap is 100% computerised through E-auction.

· RPF rescued about 9,947 children.

· It was been decided to provide CCTV on coaches without infringement of privacy of women passengers as per specification developed by ICF and accordingly a work  of provision on 500 coaches including 100 sub urban coaches has been sanctioned.

· More than 100 Budget announcements implemented.

PIB

AICPIN for November 2015 – Expected DA from Jan 2016

AICPIN for November 2015 – Expected DA from Jan 2016

No. 5/1/2015-CPI
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT
LABOUR BUREAU

`CLEREMONT’, SHIMLA-171004
DATED: 31st December, 2015

Press Release

Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) – November, 2015

The All-India CPI-IW for November, 2015 increased by 1 point and pegged at 270 (two hundred and seventy). On 1-month percentage change, it increased by (+) 0.37 per cent between October and November, 2015 which was static between the same two months a year ago.

The maximum upward pressure to the change in current index came from Food group contributing (+) 0.64 percentage points to the total change. At item level, Wheat, Urd Dal, Mustard Oil, Eggs (Hen), Milk, Chillies-Dry, Garlic, Carrot, Lady’s Finger, Peas, Potato, Tomato, Tea (Readymade), Sugar, Flower/Flower Garlands, Tailoring Charges, etc. are responsible for the increase in index. However, this increase was restricted by Chillies Green, Onion, Brinjal, Cauliflower, Green Coriander Leaves, Methi, Radish, etc., putting downward pressure on the index.

The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly CPI-IW stood at 6.72 per cent for November, 2015 as compared to 6.32 per cent for the previous month and 4.12 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Similarly, the Food inflation stood at 7.86 per cent against 7.50 per cent of the previous month and 2.56 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year.

At centre level, Madurai reported the highest increase of 11 points followed by Tiruchirapally (9 points), Jalandhar, Puducherry and Salem (7points each) and Mundakkayam (6 points). Among others, 4 points rise was observed in 5 centres, 3 points in 7 centres, 2 points in 12 centres and 1 point in 10 centres. On the contrary, Jamshedpur, Tripura and Rangapara-Tezpur recorded a maximum decrease of 4 points each followed by Kolkata, Amritsar and Kodarma (3 points each). Among others, 2 points decrease was observed in 13 centres and 1 point in 8 centres. Rest of the 11 centres’ indices remained stationary.

The indices of 36 centres are above All India Index and other 41 centres’ indices are below national average. The index of Salem centre remained at par with all-India index.

The next issue of CPI-IW for the month of December, 2015 will be released on Friday, 29th January, 2016. The same will also be available on the office website www.labourbureaunew.gov.in.

sd/-
(SHYAM SINGH NEGI)
DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL

Authority: http://labourbureau.nic.in/

Anomaly in Pension Fixation as per Recommendations of 7th Pay Commission

Anomaly in Pension Fixation as per Recommendations of 7th Pay Commission

One of our regular reader Mr.Visvesvara M K has expressed his views about the calculation of pension for pre-20016 pensioners as per the 7th Pay Commission.

There is an anomaly in pension fixation of pre-2016 pensioners as per 7th CPC recommendations. The 7th CPC has offered two options.

Option I:
Pension calculated by multiplying pension fixed by VI CPC by a multiplying factor of 2.57.

Option II:
Notional pay to be determined by multiplying entry pay under appropriate e Grad Pay and Level taking into consideration number of increments earned in the pay scale from which one retires. 50 % of this notional pay is the pension w.e.f. 1-1-2016.
Whichever pension of Option I and Option II is higher is the pension.

ANOMALY:
If one gets a promotion to higher post in which he serves for less than one year there is no increment earned. 50% of this notional pay as per Pay Matrix of the VII CPC will be pension w.e.f. 1-1-2016 and this pension under Option II is always and always lower than the Pension under OPTION I. Thus, there is no choice for him.

SOLUTION:
It is common to observe that most of the pensioners retired on superannuation after serving in a higher post on promotion will be retiring within a year or so and the increments earned by them in that pay scale is nil or meager compared to the increments earned in the immediate lower pay scale from which he was promoted and this fact seems to have been given a goby. Pensioner who does not earn any increments in the pay scale on promotion which may be only an extension of the lower pay scale should have his increments earned in the lower pay scale counted for calculation of the notional pay which is a part and parcel of the pay scale to which he is promoted.
—————————————————————————————————
Mr.G R Murthy says…
Mr.Visheswara has pointed out that retirees usually serve for least no of years in promotion scale and no of increments earned are few compared to the increments earned in the prev. scale.I presume that the no of increments is calculated as the diff of pay drawn at the time of retirement and the minimum of the pay in that pay scale When a person gets promotion to a higher post his pay in the promoted pay scale is fixed higher at least by two increments so there is no danger of getting less pension than ones juniors. I think the pension varies with the retirement regime of pay commissions for the same number of years of service in the same grade Am I right in thinking so?

Revision of pension in r/o pre-2006 Commissioned Officers/JCOs/ORs pensioners/ Family pensioners

OFFICE OF THE PR. CONTROLLER OF DEFENCE ACCOUNTS (PENSIONS)
DRAUPADI GHAT, ALLAHABAD- 211014

Circular No. 551

Dated: 28.12.2015

Subject :- Revision of pension in r/o pre-2006 Commissioned Officers/JCOs/ORs pensioners/ Family pensioners.

Reference:- This office Circular No. 547 dated 11.09.2015.

Pension Disbursing Agencies are aware that as per this office Circular No. 547 dt.- 11.09.2015, Service/Family Pension in respect of JCOs/ORs are to be revised w.e.f. 01.01.2006 by the Pension Disbursing Agencies as per tables attached with circular. Specific tables for revision of Special Pension/Invalid Pension/ Service Element of Disability Pension in respect of Pre- 01.01.2006 PBORs retirees discharged with less than 15 years of qualifying service and Service Pension of TA personnel irrespective of their qualifying service have not been prepared as the Pension Disbursing Agencies would not be in a position to revise such cases. Hence, such cases shall be referred to the Pension Sanctioning Authorities by Pension Disbursing Agencies on enclosed Annexure to issue corrigendum PPOs in affected cases.

2. Similarly the DSC personnel who are receiving two pensions, one for regular Army Service and other for DSC Service, their pension for DSC Service shall not be revised. The pension for regular Army service shall be revised under these orders by the Pension Disbursing Agencies. A reference for revision of pension for DSC service will be sent to PCDA (P) on attached Annexure for issue of Corr. PPO. However, Pension of DSC pensioners receiving only one pension for DSC service shall be revised under these orders from attached Table of the Army personnel. DSC pensioners who were on clerical duty and other duty, their pension shall be revised by the attached table for group ‘Y’ and group ‘2’ respectively.

3. Maximum term of engagement for various ranks is mentioned in Appendix ‘X’ of this office important Circular No. 501 dated 17.01.2013. To maintain the uniformity in the tables, the rates have been shown up to the qualifying service of 28 years for each rank. The Service Pension may be revised only up to maximum term of engagement.

4. In Annexure ‘C’ for Navy attached with GOI, MOD letter dated 03.09.2015 circulated vide Circular No. 547, the Column Nos. have been typed erroneously as 2, 3, 5……, same may be treated as re-numbered from ‘1’ upward accordingly. Column No. 21 of Annexure ‘B’ (Air Force) of GOI, MOD letter dated 03.09.2015 circulated vide this office Circular No. 547 has erroneously been typed as ‘2021’, the same may be read as Column No. ‘21’ instead of ‘2021’. Further, in column 9 of Annexure ‘B’, the rate shown for the rank of CPL ‘Z’ against the qualifying service of 25.5 years has erroneously been typed as ‘Rs. 5151’, the same may be read as Rs. 4922 instead of Rs. 5151.

5. Similarly, equivalence of ranks across the three services has also been provided in Circular No. 501 dt- 17.01.2013 and Circular No. 512 dt- 26.06.2013. The rank of Chief Mechanician is equivalent to Chief Artificer. Therefore, the pension of Chief Mechanician shall be revised according to Chief Artificer. As per this office ibid circular, the rank of Mechanician IV is equivalent to Artificer IV. Therefore, the pension of Mechanician lV shall be revised equivalent to Artificer- IV.

6. Further, revision under these order may be done on the basis of rank last held and not for the rank for which pensioned as the same has already been clarified in Note below Annexure-Ill of Gol, MoD letter dated 11.11.2008 circulated vide this office Circular No. 397 dated 18.11.2008 (as amended from time to time).

7. All other terms and conditions shall remain unchanged.

8. This circular has been uploaded on this office website www.pcdapension.nic.in for dissemination across the all concerned.

(G.K. Baranwal)
Dy. CDA (Pensions)

Click to view the order
Authority : www.pcdapension.nic.in

MEMORANDUM OF DEMAND OF EX-SERVICEMEN (JCOs/NCOs/Ors)

MEMORANDUM OF DEMAND OF EX-SERVICEMEN (JCOs/NCOs/Ors)
TO THE PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA – MEMORANDUM OF DEMAND OF EX-SERVICEMEN (JCOs/NCOs/Ors)

Mr. Narendra Modi,
Honourable Prime Minister of India,
152-South Block,Raisina Hill,
New Delhi-110011

SUBJECT: MEMORANDUM OF DEMAND OF EX-SERVICEMEN (JCOs/NCOs/Ors)

Respected Sir,

We would like to thank our beloved Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi sir for his acknowledgement of sacrifices of the Sipahis, the Naiks and the Havaldars. When he mentioned us in his speech “80-90% militarymen are the personal below officer rank JCOs/NCOs/ORs. They are the very first person to face the enemy bullets and lay down their lives in the service to the mother nation. But as it is necessary to keep the forces young they have to leave the services at a very young age. After completing just 15-17 years in the armed forces.” We reiterate that Shri Narendra Modiji is the first ever prime minister who has openly acknowledged our services and sacrifices in line of performance of our duty to the nation.
At the same time, this is a pity and very sad moment for us the Sipahis, the Naiks and the Havaldars (JCOs/NCOs/Ors) that despite our selfless services to the nation we are relegated and sidelined by our own military leaders, ‘the commissioned officers’. We account for 95% to 97% of total strength of ex-servicemen of our country. All ex-servicemen organisations, every governement department of sainik welfare and sainik departmant political parties are headed by retired military officers hece the issues of JCO/NCO/Ors like their legitimate justifys, discrimination and poor economic condition due to meagre pay and allowances, less service pension these issues never reach properly to the governement and political parties. Even while serving we are totally dependent on officers and service headquerters. Which has resulted in exploitation of JCO/NCO and ORs as the high ranked officers, sitting in the defence headquerters had vasted interests and they were only taking care of their own cadre. After having plolonged discussions with retired JCOs/NCOs/ORs who reside in various parts of the country, the following demands are forwarded herewith for your kind consideration and taking appropriate action to implement our genuine demands with letter and spirit.

One Rank One Pension (OROP):

We are not accepting the ecurrent formula of OROP as it benefits only commissioned officers this formula is based on advices by officer centric organisations, who have actually hijacked the OROP – originally meant for the Jawans. 70% Jawans are compulsarily discharged from the forces between 35-40 years of age to keep the forces young. Jawans face much more difficulties in terms of non famiy stations being actualy deployed at Borders. OROP is scheme initially designed to compansate low pensions and difficulties in finding alternative re-employement in the middle age.

Whereas officers serve upto the age of 60 including re-employment. Officers work from tents behind which are air conditioned even in field areas. The officers are also highly paid with their minimum pension starting at Rs. 56000/- Per Month and going upto Rs. 100,000/- Per Month. However the officers have latched up to the idea of OROP and redefined it into a prestige issue where, ‘No officer will receive less pension than his Jounior’, irrespective of date of retirement. We the jawans condemn, deplore and totally reject this definition and strong arm tactics of officers. We aslo condemn all the members of officer feternity for continuesly publicly abusing the Prime Minister of our Country shri Naredra Modiji on various social media platforms like Facebook (OROP Ex Servicemen group, Mission OROP group) and Twitter. Also we stronly condem the IESM’s politicaly motivated on going hunger strike and Dharna at Jantar Mantar.

In the current formula the Jawans get a benefit of Rs. 500/- to Rs.1500/- pm, whereas officers get Rs. 20000/- to 40000/- pm in addition to their minimum pension of Rs. 56000/-. Under these scenarios officers demanding OROP is totally unethical, illegal and filled with sense of lust for more and more money.
In order to provide a decent enhancement to Jawans/JCOs pensions, we demand the following:
Equal Military Service Pay for Jawans/JCOs as paid to Officers

Restoration of 75% of last pay drawn as pension which was in vague till the year 1973. This was reduced to 50% and further brought down to 38%.

Equal widow (family) pension to be enhanced from Rs. 3500/- to Rs. 35000/- as currently paid to officer’s widows.

Equal disability pension to all ranks – without differentiating injuries on rank structure.

We the JCOs/NCOs/ORs are the justifyful owners of One rank one pension and the officers may be excluded from this purview, as unethical and illegal claim. The amounts saved thus may be utilised for betterment of widows and disabled jawans/JCOs and their kin’s welfere.

Provide Fixed Time promotion or Pay Up-gradation to Jawans at the same rate by upgrading his Pay to the 6th higher rank of Subedar in 14 years or earlier. The Havildars must be placed in PB 2 and every Jawan should be up-graded to the pay of Naik in 3 years, to the pay of Havildar in 6 years, to the pay of Naib Subedar in 10 years or earlier and to the pay of Subedar before 16 years. Those who are promoted to the JCO ranks must be placed in PB-3 and every Jawan (JCO, NCO & OR) must get the pay and pension of the next higher rank from which he is discharged/ retired.

Form a Cabinet Committee to study the Organizational and Pay/Pension structure of US Military and modernize our Military in the same order to bring up the status and confidence of the Jawans who have never failed in sacrificing their life for the nation.

Only the Jawans (JCO, NCO & OR) retire at an early age of 35 to 40 years and only the Jawans live away from their families in much harsher conditions than the Commissioned Officers. The Jawans also work as SEWADAR/SAHAYAK (personal house servants) of Commissioned Officers and their wives and children to keep them comfortable.

Place the Diploma Holders in same PB 2 after completion of training (as the Central Government Diploma Engineers are). As per 6 CPC report, the Military institutes award Diploma in Nursing and those diploma holder Nurses are commissioned as Officers and are placed in PB-3. The Diploma Civil Engineers were place in the Rank of Naib Subedar before 3rd CPC.

Control the PCDA and CDAs from modifying the government orders/letters and going against the Government’s polices designed to benefit the JCOs, NCOs and ORs. Several Jawans are not paid the pension of the LAST RANK from which they were discharged/retired before completing 10 months in that rank. This is in spite of the ruling from AFT and several Court Judgements which favoured the Jawans. Please instruct the PCDA/CDAs to pay the Pension of the Last Rank held from 5th CPC onwards.
Accommodation should be allotted by rainbow system every building and residential area should have officer’s and Jawans quarters. No separate accommodation area for officers as this move will bring in more camaraderie amongst men and officers. And in turn remove tag of untouchables from us Jawan’s foreheads. Same Roster of accommodation in terms of Officers and soldiers.

Huge gap of pay between officers and Jawans should be normalised as per Government Norms (Compare pay of officers in Public sector Banks and Clerks). This will also enable the Government to remove anomalities in terms of allotment of government married accommodation. By equalising Salaries of NCOs (havildar/Sargent/Petty officer) to that of a commissioned officer as it is in the Royal Navy of United Kingdom government will be able to extand accommodations specially made for and made by the officers to the Jawans.

Equal MSP for all members of armed forces. Military service pay should be equal for both the cadres
All the rules and regulations like REGS NAVY AND NAVY ACT 1957 are colonial laws (which you our beloved PM are already abolishing) are made to harass the soldiers. These rules and regulations are made by the British to rule this country. Divide and rule policy adopted by the British is still continued in the Indian Armed Forces. After Independence, no change has been made in these rules and regulations. Officers of the Indian Armed Forces are like British and they behaving with soldiers like their slaves. The soldiers became the puppets in the hand of all these officers. “Boss is always justify” phenomenon is going on in the defence forces. If any superior officer harass or abuse any soldier and the victim soldier complains against that officer, there is no legal action taken against the guilty officer, but if any soldier speaks against any officer then whole set of rules and regulations are referred. The false charges are framed against that soldiers and he may be thrown out of service by means of court martial.

Total Removal of colonial laws i.e. Navy Act 1957 REGS Navy as these laws and rule books were conceptulised by the earstwhile Royal Navy(Britishers) and are tilted in favor of officers. These colonial laws are one of the major reasons for present untouchable status of the Jawans. We the jawans of Indian Armed Forces need an Ambedkar a Gandhi to bring us out of these sewege dump created by using British system of divide and Rule. After Independence it is the Black Britishesers who are ruling the Soilders of India.

NO PROMOTION/NEVER PROMOTION POLICY FROM JAWAN CADRE TO OFFICER CADRE:

The Jawans: The Jawans aren’t actualy retiring but they are forced to leave the services. May be it is the government’s wish that they want the forces to be young. But than the Jawan should be given more opportunities to get promoted to officer’s ranks and to continue their services to the nation. Does any one citizen of this country think that only less than only 1% out of around 15 lakh soldiers are good enough to become officers? And the rest of us are useless and needed to be thrown into wilderness.

This is really strange that the same Integreted headquerters who have recommended timescale promotions instead of merit based promotions for the officer cadre is not at all promoting the Jawans to officer’s cadre even on merit and discarding them like a toilet paper, after completion of their initial contract of engegement of 15 -17-20 years.

No time scale promotions for soilders. A Corporal/Leading Seaman/Naik can only serve till 17 years. A Havildar can only serve the nation till 23 years of service. If a Jawan does not have a good Annual Confidentiol Report and is not promoted to next rank. He will be thrown out of the service once he has completed maximum years permissible in his rank. This policy is devised to keep the armed forces young. Agree! That we need fresh legs to protact the country. But why deserving jawans are not being promoted to the post of officer. In all central government and PSUs 50% of the posts are filled by pormotion. But in the armed forces they have this hugely biased Service Selection Board (SSB) interview system. The entire concept of SSB is currupt favourism and nepotism at all time high. Most members of SSB are defence offiers and no wonder that more than 70% of serving officers are reletives of defence offiers. We call is uncle colonel syndrome. Where they never promote even 1% soldiers to officer’s Ranks. This in turn results in 95% of Jawans of each batch leaving services after completion of their initial engagement.

The central government places its diploma engineers at Pay Band 2 with Rs.4200/- grade pay. Whereas military diploma holders are paid what the central govt. pays to its peons and safaiwala!!! 5200(Basic)+2000(gradepay)

The officers: All commissioned officers got pay and pension of Lt. Col rank for the rank of Major by placing htem in higher pay Band PB-4 on completion of 21 years service (time scale Promotion policy). The commissioned officers arranged to upgrade the Lt. Colonels from PB3 to PB 4 by nexus with ministry personnel and defence headquerters. Before every pay commission the officers start hue and cry about shortage of officers in armed forces.

RECRUITMENT IN THE INDIAN ARMED FORCES ARMY/NAVY/AIR FORCE

As our Prime Minister Shri MODI Sir has said, we have to keep the forces young. We request the prime minister to intervene in the biased internal promotional exams and the match fixing happening in Service Selection Board (SSB). How on earth can someone explain that majority of the current crop of officers are kins and relatives of serving/retired offiers

The Recruitment process in the Armed forces has to change. We cannot go on following british pattern. All recruitments should start from soldier level and from there deserving should be promoted to commissioned officer rank. Pay structure should be as it is followed by other developed countries like USA and UK in those countries the pay package of JCOs are higher than that of Major.

In the Central Government the Staff selection commission(SSC) is the authority which conducts interviews and written examinations of all the graduate level posts for initial selection and Promotion. The SSC (Staff selection commission) is an unbiased organisation of great stature in India. The SSC should be made the organisation which will conduct written tests and Interviews for selection and promotion all the posts (officers and Soldiers) in the Indian Armed Forces. The SSC conducts a Combined Graduate level examination (CGL) every year fot recruitment in all posts where minimum qualification is Graduation. Even departmental promotional exams are conducted by the SSC and has resulted in a selection system that is truly unbiased and trust worthy.

As we all know in Indian Navy and Indian Airforce initial joining quolification is 10+2 for officers and Sailors both. Recruitment and selection should be carried out by the Staff Selection Commission and not the internal biased bodies. Just as in CGL candidates qualifying will have to fill online option form to choose different posts

The officers have been spreading rumors about their strength in service and how so many officers are leaving the services. But this is a white Lie. If one checks the records of Jawan leaving the services one can find more than 90% of jawan are leaving the services on expiry of their initial engagement. (In case of Indian Navy that is 15 years). It is shocking that maximum numbers of Jawan are not ready to serve the Mother Nation once their initial Contract is over. I am sure that if equality, equal opportunities, respect will be provided. The Jawan will not leave the services in these many numbers.

EMPLOYMENT OF JAWANS:

Today in the times of Skill India of Shri Narendra Modi, the Jawan are still illtreated as un-skilled labourers. They are forced to do household chores of officers. This is sheer wastage of skilled manpower and this jawan who is hired to protect our Nation from enemies. He is paid salary for that from pockets of the taxpayers of our country. His skill, abilities, time and honor is wasted by this officer fraternity. Employement of Jawans for polishing booys of officers and washing dirty linans of their families in officer’s residences should be stopped forthwith. It is affacting morale of the jawans. A soldier’s prime duty is to fight War and protect the nation. To get the soilder to do menial houshold chores of officers and their families. The exchequer can save more than Rs 3600 Crores annualy just by completely abolishing Sewadari system prevelent in the forces. It is further requested that severe punishment and fine of Rs. 10,00,000/- be introduced for violation of this rule.

In Indian Armed Forces all technical jobs are done by sailors/Soilders/Airmen. Technical officers do Admin jobs. I don’t have any grudge for that. Administration must be done by the superiors. But they projected the technical people as cleaners and tool handlers where as in truth all the major equipment are maintained and repaired by the technical sailors. This made the CPC to down grade the people who were highly skilled.
The Soldiers/Sailors/Airmen who join the services in different trades. The mechanics who keep the fighter aircraft airworthy or the Indian Naval Warships Sea ready to be treated as fighter plane mechanic Marine Engine Mechanic not “scooter mechanic” that’s injustice. When that happens people would definitely come heavily saying “discrimination”.


SKILL INDIAN ARMED FORCES : UNIVERSITY OF NATIONAL DEFENCE

Skill, Knowledge and Exposure. In modern society, anyone who selects Armed Forces as a career is well informed and educated. However the Recruits who joins Indian Armed Forces as Jawans are catagorically denied chances and exposure to keep them below officer ranks. Instead of honing and developing leadership qualities in Jawans they are kept at bay and not allowed to take decisions. The officers should be directed to reinforce the confidence of a NCO / JCO. Middle level leadership in the Armed Forces should give adequate freedom to NCOs/ JCOs to perform their duties confidently.Competence comes with knowledge because experience alone does not make a man to grow to his full potential. A NCO / JCO should be given adequate opportunities to improve knowledge relevant to his service and trade. He should be encouraged to keep abreast with the younger generation by being open to new ideas. This would enhance his ability and confidence to work with subordinates. Even as a young jawan he should be exposed to take justify decisions in complex situations, as part of a detachment to carry out important tasks. This methodology will pave the way for developing his leadership qualities.
The officers of armed forces are so cunning and having malafied intensions and are responsible for the social stigma of the Jawan who are labeled as un-educated and un-skilled.

Once a soldier joins the Indian Armed forces he is inducted into a trade. Than he is trained at various defence training institutions. The training continues after posting also. These Training and educational courses are not recognised by any university. The certificates issued by various training establishements are so irrelevent and un-recognised in the private as well as the government sector as having no affiliation with any university or UGC. Thus after retirement a highly skilled soldier having 15-20 years disciplined militaray experience and exposure is treated at par with un-skilled labourer in civil world.

This is our top most demand that a new University of National Defence be established and all the courses and their curriculum run by defence establishments should be approved by and affiliated to the University of National Defence.

In modern armies the concept of having competent NCOs has survived; but the concept of JCO has met with moderate success. The systems being followed in some foreign armies are enumerated below :-

(a) The US Armed Forces. Comparing the United States (US) Army with Indian Armed Forces would be an inaccurate hypothesis. In the US Army the role of NCOs in combat is vital. As a young NCO, he is given responsibility equal to, if not more, than our JCOs. 3 The NCO would be assessed for this on various occasions (to reach this level in his unit /sub unit). His position is quite well defined in the organisation, alongwith his role, responsibilities and duties.4 The JCO like appointments in the US Armed forces are more at the formation and administrative level. The percentage of such appointments are very low in comparison to the Indian Armed Forces.

(b) Armed Forces of NATO Nations. Being a forerunner to the Indian Armed Forces, most of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) nations are still following the concept of JCO rank. Functioning and grooming aspects of their leaders below officer levels are very concisely explained in their tactical / operational doctrines.5 Studying these concepts indicate where we have failed in our Armed Forces.

(c) Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). SAF may be smaller in size; but, there are some aspects which we need to learn from them for betterment of our Armed Forces. In SAF the concept of JCO is given very less weightage. Induction of NCOs in SAF starts with a ‘Reasoning and Psychological Test’ at the age of 17 to 19 years. After selection they attend three years Graduation Programme in Defence Institutes. These NCOs, being backbone of SAF, become ‘Specialists’ or ‘Subject Matter Experts’ (SME) on completion of studies.6 These SMEs are young in age with high potential and are able to carry out all kind of tasks during operations and peace time. After 10 years of physical service SMEs are promoted to the rank of Warrant Officers (WOs) who are equivalent to our JCOs. On becoming WOs, they are mostly employed in administrative duties; unlike the Indian Armed Forces where a JCO is expected to lead a platoon in battle. This system in SAF ensures that an NCO is competent, intelligent and young to lead a platoon during operations.

MISUSE OF NON PUBLIC FUNDS (CSD CANTEEN FUNDS)

There are various welfare organisations in the Indian Armed forces for welfare of soldiers such as NGIS, CSD Canteens, NWWA, Canteens onboard Indian Naval Ships, and Gas Agencies etc. These orgnisations are registered with central government on the basis of “NO PROFIT NO LOSS” but superior officers are using this organisation for their personal benefits. There is no tax imposed on these organisations as these organizations are registered as welfare organisations. These organizations are earning huge profits and a large amount of money is being distributed among the officer’s messes and golf courses. The soldiers are looted by means of these welfare-organisations. Only internal audit of this organisations are being carried out and funds are siphoned to various officer welfare organisations for maintaining their party life. It is our demand that CAG Audit of all these so called Non Public funds should be carried out and should be made public. In its 75th report the Public Accounts committee (2012-13) (Fifteen Lok Sabha) has recommended that audit of the CSD Canteens should be carried out by the CAG.

The Officers have Big bash parties around the year All CSD Canteen profits are diverted to officer’s welfare funds and to add to that Big Liquor suppliers like Kingfisher and big CSD supplier companies like Nestle are asked To pay huge donations for organising events such as Navy Ball. I will give you a very recent example of a CSD canteen where kingfisher products were not available for three to four months. Reason?? Canteen officer asked kingfisher to pay up sponsorship money amounting to Rs. 500,00,000/-(Five Crore) for organising Navy Ball event. Kingfisher refused to pay up the amount. After three months of No-sell kingfisher policy the company budged and paid up around Rs. 400,00,000/- and their products were ordered and made available for sale at CSD liquor counter.

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN INDIAN ARMED FORCES

The Indian Armed Forces have a very painfully Racial and undemocratic tradition of having separate toilets for Officers. Separate kitchens and messes with better food amenities for officers. We the solders and the officers are in one service than why are they allowed to maintain so much difference. The officers have separate ques for them in all facilities like CSD Canteen, Military Hospitals. Even after retirement the same biased attitude and colonial rules continue. The officers have Exclusive recreational Clubs where the Soldiers are not allowed entry. These clubs are located on defence land and are run by profits earned from CSD canteens. There is a famous club in Colaba Mumbai-United Services Club they used to have a sign board outside their gates “SAILORS AND DOGS NOT ALLOWED INSIDE” The constitution of india gives Every indian Soildier equal justifys to Use all Public places. The officer’s residential areas are also made ‘OUT OF BOUND’ for the Jawans. Such policies create so much dissent among the Jawans and officers.

We should do away with all colonial practices. Instead Rainbow residential areas should be developed where kids of both the cadres will play togather. Unified Messes where everyone eats drinks and merry, same kitchen, same dining, same toilets, no separate ques. Each one of both the cadres is is the same VIP for the Forces. The officer freternity should remove their mentality of keeping distance from their fellow countrymen – the jawans. The jawan is no longer indian and they are no longer british. We all are Indians and we deserve EQUALITY, HUMANITY, COMPASSION, RESPECT, HUMAN justify.

There are hundreds of Jawans who die in harness in the line of duty but only officers are made Heroes by spreading propaganda of their martyrdom. There is discrimination in awarding Gallantry/Distinguished service medals. Take a look at medals awarded on 26 Jan 2014. Out of 273 Medals awarded to the Army on 26 Jan 2014, 231 gone in favor of officers, 11 to JCOs and 31 to NCOs ORs (The NCOs/ORs are the maximum number of casualty (the Martyrs)in action). The indian Army should learn lesson from American Army who justify in awarding Medals to JCOs/NCOs/ORs. These awards fly in the face when compared to the ratio od men and officers martyred in any operation.

It is our Humble request and one of our top most demand that in a democratic country like ours, all this special status and special treatment available to the officers and their families to be totally scrapped and all the exclusive Clubs of officers to be made public to the Jawan and their families. The colonial Laws and rule books have made the officers invincible to the rule of law. Their acts of cowardice are awarded with Gallantry awards. Let me give you an example of INS Kukri Which sank during 1971 Ind o Pak war on December 16 1971.

One Sailor Chanchal Singh Gill who served on board erstwhile INS Khukri has filled a petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court and raised some serious questions about Integrity of some naval officers who were supposed to save the frigate from the enemies. While driving home his point, the petitioner has contended that there are gross errors in the contents of a chapter titled ‘Sinking of INS Khukri’ in the book ‘Triumph to transition’ which is official history of the Indo-Pak 1971 war. The book is published by the directorate of Naval Operations. Gill, who was on duty on the night of December 9, 1971 when the pakistani submarine PNS Hangor hit INS Khukri, says there are glaring anomalies in the official records, which came to his notice in February 2004.

According to naval history, INS Khukri sank after it was hit by a single torpedo, even as INS maneuvered to deflect the attack. But Gill claims three torpedoes hit Khukri and, instead of counter attacking INS Kirpan fled the place. The petitioner urged for a comprehensive inquiry into the incident by a judicial commission, withdrawal of gallantry awards from those who allegedly showed cowardice (including officers and Commanding officer of INS Kirpan) and expose the Navy’s huge cover-up after the loss of INS Khukri and mandatory court marshal, which was not done at that time.

Source : http://ex-servicemenwelfare.blogspot.in/