7th Pay Commission: Why government not to implement higher allowances?

7th Pay Commission: Why government not to implement higher allowances?

New Delhi: Despite all that has been said about the higher allowances under the 7th Pay Commission recommendations, an important issue for central government employees has now been strangely absent from the government agenda.

First, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had claimed it must implement after four months of the basic pay hike but it failed to come true.

More than 14 to 15 months have passed since the 7th pay commission report was submitted and seven months have elapsed since the union cabinet approved the 7th Pay Commission recommendations for salary hike of central government employees, but the they are still awaiting the higher allowances.

The government has given higher basic pay in August 2016 with arrears, effective from January 1, 2016 to its employees on the recommendations of the 7th pay commission but the hike in allowances other than dearness allowance referred to the 'Committee on Allowances' headed by the Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa for examination as the pay commission had recommended of abolishing 51 allowances and subsuming 37 others out of 196 allowances.

Accordingly, existing allowances are now paid to the central government employees according to the 6th Pay Commission recommendations until issuing of higher allowances notification.

Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa said in October 2016, "We are ready to submit our report, when the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley calls up."

But the government gave extension to the committee up to February 22, 2017 on the pretext of demonetisation and the government said that the cash crunch was the reason behind the delay in announcing higher allowances.

The announcement of assembly elections in five states has given an excuse for the government as it cannot announce pay hikes till the model code of conduct is in place up to March 8.

The government is using delaying tactics to save the government money to pay higher allowances without arrears from August 16.

The delay in implementation of the higher allowances has caused tremendous irritation and frustration among employees.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP may have to face a backlash in the assembly elections in the five states, two of which is ruled by the party either directly or in alliance. Thus, not properly implementing of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations would amount to strike to blow to the BJP in polls.

TST

Union Home Minister receives a cheque of Rs. One Crore for CRPF Welfare Fund

Union Home Minister receives a cheque of Rs. One Crore for CRPF Welfare Fund

The Managing Director of LG Electronics India, Mr. Kim Ki Wan handed over a cheque of Rupees One Crore to the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh here today towards contribution to the CRPF Welfare Fund, which is dedicated to the soldiers. Mr. Kim said the Company, in its 20th year of inception, salutes the spirit of Indian soldiers who courageously sacrifice their lives to protect the country.

The contribution is part of the #KarSalaam initiave, dedicated to Indian soldiers, launched by the Company prior to the Republic Day last month. The campaign invited the whole nation to come forward and send their wishes to the Indian Armed Forces. LG rolled out this campaign through radio, digital, outdoor and activities at shopping malls to capture the messages and wishes of the citizens of India for our soldiers. The company also engaged the people through social media platforms and encouraged them to share their wishes on the microsite www.karsalaam.in, where more than 1,93,000 wishes written by citizens of the country were collected from all across the country.

PIB

Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Improving Transparency and Accountability in Government through Effective Implementation of RTI Act Release of funds to YASHADA, Pune

Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Improving Transparency and Accountability in Government through Effective Implementation of RTI Act Release of funds to YASHADA, Pune

F.No.14/13/2016-IR
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievance & Pension
Department of Personnel & Training

North Block, New Delhi
Dated the 06th February, 2017

To
The Pay & Accounts Officer
Pay & Accounts Office
Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pension
Department of Personnel & Training

Lok Nayak Bhavan,
Khan Market, New Delhi

Subject: Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Improving Transparency and Accountability in Government through Effective Implementation of RTI Act Release of funds to YASHADA, Pune.

Sir,
I am directed to convey the sanction of the President to make a total payment of Rs.3,62,050/-
(Rupees Three lakhs sixty two thousand fifty only) to Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of  Development Administration, Pune towards Setting up of Help Line on RTI.

2. The details of sum, being released, alongwith the conditions attached thereto are furnished in the Annexure.

3. The expenditure of Rs.3,62,050/- will be met from the Major Head 2070 - Other Administrative Services, 41.01-Propagation of Right to Information Act, 41.01.31 - Grants-in-Aid under Demand No.64 for the year 2016-17.

4. The amount of Rs.3,62,050/- may be released electronically through RTGS as per the Bank details mentioned below. IDBI BANK, Account No. 062104000065663, IBC Code: IBKL0000062

5. This issues with the concurrence of Integrated Finance Division vide their CF No. 3126672 dated the 03.02.2017.

Yours faithfully,
(M.M Maurya)
Under Secretary to Government of India
Tel: 23040401

Annexure to Sanction Order No.14/13/2016-IR

Dated 06th February, 2017

The fund of Rs.3,62,050/- is subject to the following terms and conditions:

(i) This grant is released for the Setting up of Help Line on RTI;

RTI Activities	Amount (Rs.)
I. Awareness Generation for RTI Setting up of Help LineI. Computer System II. Sony PS3 Wireless and noise cancelling headsets III. Broadband Telephone Line IV. Stationery V. Furniture VI. Manpower (Honorarium Rs.165000/ month )(Dec, 2016- March, 2017) VII. Software VIII. Database and Storage IX. Miscellaneous Expenditure X. Administrative Charges @15% (on sub-total from point I to IX)	75,99013,446 30,000 12,000 15,000 33,000 90,000 20,000 25,390 47,224
Total	3,62,050

(ii) The General Financial Rules, 2005 should be followed while incurring the expenditure.

(iii) Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration, Pune should furnish to this
Department for record and audit, Utilization Certificate in GFR 19-A Form duly countersigned
by the Head of the Institute along with Achievement-cum-Performance Report as required
under Rule 212 of General Financial Rules, 2005.

(iv) The unutilized amount of grant, if any, may be surrendered to this Department by a Demand
Draft drawn in favour of "Under Secretary (Cash), DOPT payable at New Delhi.

(v) There should not be any overlap of activities under any other Scheme.

(M.M. Maurya)
Under Secretary to Government of India

Source: ccis.nic.in

Central government departments asked to inform the Cabinet Secretariat about agreements signed by them

Central government departments asked to inform the Cabinet Secretariat about agreements signed by them

New Delhi: All central government departments have been asked to inform the Cabinet Secretariat as soon as they sign any agreement and also get the nod from the Cabinet or its committee in a time-bound manner.

The directive came after it was noticed that certain ministries were informing the Cabinet Secretariat about accords signed with other stakeholders after the stipulated period of one month.

As per norms, any agreement related to culture and science and technology matters, not impacting the national security or India’s relations with other countries, which are duly approved by the Minister-in-Charge of the department concerned and the Minister of External Affairs, need to be circulated to the Cabinet for information.

“Ministries/departments are requested to send an intimation to this secretariat as soon as such agreements are entered into along with a copy of the signed agreement.

“Ministries/departments may also ensure that notes for information are forwarded to this secretariat well within the stipulated period of one month for timely consideration of such notes by the Cabinet/Cabinet Committee,” the Cabinet Secretariat said in an order.

Referring to its previous directive, it said that all the departments need to take ex-post facto approval on any decision already approved by the Prime Minister and on Memoranda of Understanding signed by them within a month.

In another order, the Cabinet Secretariat has asked all the secretaries to hold inter-ministerial consultations only with departments concerned with the matter and that too within the prescribed time limit of two weeks.

PTI

Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant Commandants) Examination, 2016 - Final Result declared

Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant Commandants) Examination, 2016 - Final Result declared

Based on the results of the Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant Commandants) Examination, 2016 held by UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION on 26th June, 2016 and the interviews for Personality Test held from 9th January to 2nd February 2017, the following is the list, in order of merit, of candidates who have been recommended for appointment to the posts of Assistant Commandants (Group A) in the Central Armed Police Forces viz. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

A total number of 189 candidates have been recommended for appointment as per the following break-up:-

GENERAL	OBC	SC	ST	Total
89 (Incl. 03 Ex-S)	52 (Incl. 04 Ex-S)	34	14	189

Appointments to the various services shall be made by the Government according to the number of vacancies available and subject to the candidates fulfilling all the prescribed eligibility conditions/provisions contained in the Rules for the Examination and verifications, wherever due, being completed satisfactorily. Allotment to various services shall be made according to the merit obtained and preference of services given by candidates.

The number of vacancies reported by the Govt. to be filled are as under:

Total Number of Vacancies
General	OBC	SC	ST	Total
C.R.P.F.	49	26	15	07	97
B.S.F	15	07	04	02	28
I.T.B.P.	17	04	06	01	28
S.S.B.	30	15	09	04	58
TOTAL	111	52	34	14	211*

*incl. 10% of total vacancies reserved for Ex-Servicemen

The candidature of 22 recommended candidates with following Roll Nos. is provisional:

0012728	0027660	0049596	0078286	0175432	0196991
0013184	0032667	0051588	0082329	0176808	0211625
0013583	0034117	0053510	0109297	0186662
0021366	0041625	0055124	0172407	0194114

In accordance with Rule 16 (4) and (5) of the Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant Commandants) Examination, 2016, the Commission is maintaining a consolidated Reserve List of candidates ranking in order of merit below the last recommended candidate under respective categories which are as under:

GENERAL	OBC	SC	ST	TOTAL
22	20	02	00	44

Union Public Service Commission has a ‘Facilitation Counter’ near Examination Hall Building in its Campus. Candidates may obtain any information /clarification regarding their Examination/recruitments on working days between 10:00 hours to 1700 hours in person or over Telephone Nos. 011-23385271/ 23381125. The result will also be available on the U.P.S.C. Website i.e. www.upsc.gov.in. However, marks are likely to be available on the website within 15 days from the date of declaration of Result.

Click here for full list
Source: PIB

Reserve Bank: Limit on Cash Withdrawals from SB Accounts raised to Rs.50, 000 per week

Reserve Bank: Limit on Cash Withdrawals from SB Accounts raised to Rs.50, 000 per week
Reserve Bank today announced that the cash withdrawal limits on savings bank account to be raised to Rs 50,000 per week from the existing limit of Rs.24,000 from Feb 20.

And also the limits on cash withdrawals from savings bank account would be removed from March 13.

Removal of limits on withdrawal of cash from Saving Bank Accounts

RBI/2016-17/224
DCM (Plg) 3107/10.27.00/2016-17

February 08, 2017

All Banks
Dear Madam / Sir,

Removal of limits on withdrawal of cash from Saving Bank Accounts
Please refer to our circular DCM (Plg) 2905/10.27.00/2016-17 dated January 30, 2017 on the captioned subject.

2. In the wake of withdrawal of Specified Bank Notes (SBNs) since November 09, 2016 Reserve Bank had placed certain limits on cash withdrawals from Savings / Current / Cash credit /Overdraft accounts and withdrawals through ATMs. On a review of the pace of remonetisation, Reserve Bank partially restored status quo ante by removing the restrictions on cash withdrawals from Current / Cash credit / Overdraft accounts and ATMs effective January 31, 2017 and February 01, 2017 respectively. However, the limits on cash withdrawal from Savings Bank accounts continued to be in place.

3. In line with the pace of remonetisation, it has now been decided to remove the restrictions on cash withdrawals from Saving Bank accounts (including accounts opened under PMJDY) in a two step process as under:

Effective February 20, 2017, the limits on cash withdrawals from the Savings Bank accounts will be enhanced to ? 50,000 per week (from the current limit of ? 24,000 per week); and

Effective March 13, 2017, there will be no limits on cash withdrawals from Savings Bank accounts.

4. Please acknowledge receipt.

Yours faithfully,
(P Vijaya Kumar)
Chief General Manager

Authority: www.rbi.org.in

Upgradation of Employment Exchanges

Upgradation of Employment Exchanges

As per information received from the States, at present 978 employment exchanges are functioning in the country.

The Ministry is implementing the National Career Service (NCS) Project as a plan scheme for transformation of the National Employment Service to provide a variety of employment related services like job matching, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, etc. These services are available online on the National Career Service Portal (www.ncs.gov.in) and supported by Call Centre/Helpdesk. The services under NCS are accessible from multiple delivery channels like NCS Portal, Employment Exchanges (Career Centres), Common Service Centre etc.

The NCS Project envisages setting up of 100 Model Career Centres (MCCs) in collaboration with States and other institutions to deliver employment services during the 12th Five Year Plan. The Government provides financial assistance to these centres upto Rs 50 lakh per centre based on the proposals and scheme guidelines. These model centres can be replicated by the States from their own resources. In addition, the NCS project has a component of interlinking of employment exchanges and provides part funding of upto Rs 8 lakhs per exchange to States for their upgradation. Based on the scheme guidelines and proposals received from the States, approvals have been accorded for release of funds to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

This information was given by Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment, in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

Source: PIB

CBDT issues Certificates of appreciation to nearly 3.74 lakh tax payers for their contribution towards Nation building

CBDT issues Certificates of appreciation to nearly 3.74 lakh tax payers for their contribution towards Nation building

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance

07-February-2017 20:26 IST

CBDT issues Certificates of appreciation to nearly 3.74 lakh tax payers for their contribution towards Nation building

In continuation of the initiative of the Government to acknowledge the contribution of tax payers by paying taxes towards nation building and promptness in filing of Income Tax Returns, CBDT has issued the third round of Certificates to nearly 3.74 Lakh tax payers. With this, the total number of certificates issued by CBDT now stands at approximately 23 Lakh.

Individual tax payers may take note that such certificates of appreciation are only sent by e-mail in various categories on the basis of the taxes paid by them for the Assessment Year 2016-17, where taxes have been paid in full, tax payers have no outstanding tax liabilities, the return is e-filed within the prescribed due date and verified through Digital Signature or Electronic Verification Code (EVC) or submission of signed ITR-V to CPC Bangalore. The categories for individual taxpayers are:

i. Platinum - Taxpayers who have contributed Rs 1 Crore and above as tax
ii. Gold - Taxpayers who have contributed between Rs 50 Lakh and Rs 1 Crore as tax
iii. Silver - Taxpayers who have contributed between Rs 10Lakh and Rs 50 Lakh as tax
iv. Bronze - Taxpayers who have contributed between Rs 1Lakh and Rs 10 Lakh as tax

Taxpayers are advised to verify and update their email address and mobile number on the e-filing website to receive electronic communication. It may be noted that taxpayers can provide upto two email and two mobile numbers in their profile. Therefore, it is strongly advised that taxpayers should provide their personal and regularly used Email and Mobile number as their primary email.

The CBDT urges taxpayers to e-file their returns in time and verify their return by submitting the Electronic Verification Code online or sending their ITR-V within the 120 day period so that they can be also acknowledged for their contribution.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to announce bi-monthly monetary policy review

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to announce bi-monthly monetary policy review

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to announce bi-monthly monetary policy review on Wednesday.
A lot of predictions have been done by the analysts and experts on whether the central bank should maintain a status quo or cut the interest rates.

In the last monthly policy, held on December 7, the central bank had kept key rates unchanged amid the then on-going demonetisation exercise, which had led the whole country in cash crisis. That time, the analysts were expecting a rate cut, but the RBI Governor Urjit Patel gave 'surprise' buy not reducing the rates.
A Reuters poll last week, conducted before the government presented its annual budget, showed 28 of 46 participants expected the RBI on Wednesday to cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.0%, its lowest since November 2010. Another two expected a 50 bps cut.

Here are the factors which will decide RBI's decision

Inflation

Consumer Price Inflation fell to a two-year low of 3.41% in December, which is below the RBI's end-March 2017 target of 5% and medium-term target of 4%.

The fall in inflation has given enough room for the RBI to cut the rates. Commenting on the expectation from the central bank, Rishi Mehra, Co-Founder and Director of Wishfin (earlier known as Deal4loans) said, "We are expecting a 25 basis points reduction in the key policy rate - the repo rate - to 6 % on February 8 when the Governor Urjit Patel will unveil his third policy review. Since the last RBI policy, the CPI inflation has been to the downside both in the month of November and December, giving possibilities of meeting the 5% March 2017 CPI target. Having said that, the RBI had made it quite clear that it will work towards the achievement of the consumer price index inflation."

Having similar view, HSBC in its report said, "We hold on to our expectation of a 25 basis points rate cut in February, but caution that this would likely bring the easing cycle to an end, given the pressures in the horizon implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) bill, rising oil prices, implementation of government employees housing allowance, and the challenging 4% CPI target for the medium term."

Moreover, Nomura in its report said, "On the monetary policy front, with the government sticking to fiscal consolidation and headline CPI likely to undershoot the RBI's March 2017 target of 5%, we are pencilling in a final 25 bps repo rate cut to 6% on February 8."

Raghu Kumar, Director, Upstox, said, "In our view, RBI is expected to cut repo rate by 0.25 per cent at its policy review on Wednesday. This rate cut would be supported by the modest CPI inflation, which is expected to undershoot the March 2017 target set by RBI and the continued fiscal consolidation attempted in the Union Budget for FY2018."

Demonetisation

In the last policy meet, some experts were expecting RBI to look at the rate cut amid the demonetisation exercise to get a clear picture of the whole exercise.

Today, Bank of America Merill Lynch said to reverse the impact of the demonetisation drive to growth prospects, the Reserve Bank will cut rates tomorrow as well as in the April policy review.

"We continue to expect the RBI-MPC (monetary policy committee) to cut the rates by 0.25%t and in April with demonetisation hurting growth," it said.

However, having the opposite view, Kavita Chacko, Senior Economist, said, "We do not expect a rate cut in this policy as the banks have already lowered interest rates following the inflow of deposits into the banking system following demonetisation."

Fiscal Deficit

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during his Union Budget 2017 speech stated that the fiscal deficit aim for the next fiscal would be 3.2% instead of 3.%. Analysts believe that disinvestment targets is key if the government has to achieve this fiscal deficit target.

"The better than feared deficit target and commitment to fiscal consolidation will keep hopes of a RBI rate cut alive," the Citigroup report said adding "the Budget reinforces our view of another 25 bps cut in repo rate".

In the very beginning of the year, the banks had slashed its marginal cost of funds based lending rate in the range of 90 basis points - 75 basis points across all maturities.

The banks' decision came in after they were flooded with liquidity post demonetisation. According to a Bloomberg report, this behaviour of banks has made it clear that they respond to liquidity triggers far more quickly than policy rate triggers.

So, for tomorrow like the analysts say it will be a "close call" for RBI on whether to hold the rates or reduce them.