Movement against corruption and demanding introduction of Lok pal Bill

The indefinite fast commenced by Shri Anna Hazare against corruption and for an effective mechanism that will act as a deterrent against corruption has touched the conscience of every Indian. It is quite heartening to note that people from all walks of life cutting across social and regional barriers are coming out in support of the cause espoused by Shri Hazare. The Confederation of Central Govt employees & workers extended its full support to the indefinite fast against corruption by Shri AnnaHazare. The Govt accepted the demands and finally issued notification to constitute a joint committee to prepare the draft Lok Pal Bill. The following is the notification issued in this regard

Government Issues Notification to Constitute a Joint Drafting Committee to Prepare Draft Lok Pal Bill

The Government of India has issued a Notification constituting a Joint Drafting Committee to prepare a draft of the Lok Pal Bill.

The Joint Drafting Committee shall consist of Five nominee Ministers of the Government of India and Five nominees of Shri Anna Hazare (including himself).

The five nominee Ministers of the Government of India are as under:-

(i) Shri Pranab Mukherjee,

Union Minister of Finance.

(ii) Shri P. Chidambaram,

Union Minister of Home Affairs.

(iii) Dr Veerappa Moily,

Union Minister of Law and Justice.

(iv) Shri Kapil Sibal,

Union Minister of Human Resource and Development and

Minister of Communication and Information Technology

(v) Shri Salman Khursheed,

Union Minister of Water Resources and

Minister of Minority Affairs

The five nominees of Shri Anna Hazare (including himself) are as under:-

(i) Shri Anna Hazare

(ii) Shri Justice N. Santosh Hedge

(iii) Shri Shanti Bhushan, Senior Advocate

(iv) Shri Prashant Bhushan, Advocate

(v) Shri Arvind Kejriwal.

The Chairperson of the Joint Drafting Committee shall be Shri Pranab Mukherjee.

The Co-Chairperson of the Joint Drafting Committee shall be Shri Shanti Bhushan.

The Convenor of the Join Drafting Committee shall be Dr M. Veerappa Moily.

The Joint Drafting Committee shall commence its work forthwith and evolve its own procedure to prepare the proposed legislation.

The Joint Drafting Committee shall complete its work latest by 30^th June, 2011.

Ministry of Law and Justice ( Legislative Department), Government of India

New Delhi, Friday, April 8, 2011/Chaitra 18, 1933

PFRDA Bill: The Reality Behind

Tapan Sen

THE Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority Bill 2011 (PFRDA Bill) is almost the same bill as was introduced in parliament in 2005, with minor changes.

When the 2005 bill was introduced, there had been murmur and opposition among the government employees as it had a direct bearing on the pension prospect of the central government employees who joined service on or after January 1, 2004 for whom the government already notified a new contributory pension scheme on December 22, 2003.

The new pension scheme notified in December 2003 envisaged a contribution of 10 per cent of wages by the employee with a matching contribution from the central government as employer, which together will form the pension account for the concerned employee. The fund will be managed and handled by fund managers appointed by the PFRDA, the employees will get pension by the end of their service life and the pension amount will be determined by the return on investment of his pension fund made by the appointed fund manager.

PARADIGM

SHIFT

Originally, government employees used to get pension at 50 per cent of the last pay drawn and the pension amount used to get revised with the changes in price indices. It was thus an assured amount. To get this system of assured pension system in place, the government employees had to forego their right to contributory provident fund, i.e., the employer’s matching contribution to the PF. In lieu of that surrender of right, assured pension was granted to them to be paid from the Consolidated Fund of India. This system of assured pensionary benefit is called the “benefit defined” pension system.

The new pension scheme brought about a paradigm shift in the entire concept of pension as a social security measure. Now the pension will be based on the “defined contribution,” meaning thereby that the pension amount will be governed by what the employee’s “pension fund account” can earn from investment in the market. The NPS does not ensure any assured amount of pension to an employee despite her or his life-long contribution to the own pension fund. Both the pension scheme notified by the government and the PFRDA bill (both 2005 and 2011) mentioned in clear terms that “There shall be no implicit or explicit assurance of benefits, market based guaranteed mechanism to be purchased by the subscriber” (Sec 20(2)(g) of the PFRDA Bill).

Can the market ever guarantee any assured return on investments? In the present day situation with extreme volatility in both the money market and the share market, the return on investment of public funds like pension funds is destined to be uncertain as well as low. Moreover, the fund managers appointed by the PFRDA will handle the fund not for charity but for their own profit. Hence whatever return on pension fund investment will reach the pensioner, will be the net amount after ensuring the profit of the fund managers. In the context of natural uncertainty of the market, fund managers are naturally expected to neutralise their risk first and then take care of the risk of the pensioners who actually supply capital to the fund managers through their life-time savings in pension fund. Therefore the PFRDA bill has paved the new regime of replacing assured pension by a pension system governed by the market forces playing with the employees’ life-time savings. Thus the PFRDA Bill and the pension system it enforces is an onslaught on the social security right of the government employees, a loot of their pension fund.

Efforts for investing a part of the provident fund accumulations of the workers in stock market are being made since long by the government but owing to resistance by the unions that could not be done as yet. The whole system of taking into consideration the opinion of the workers through their representatives in the matter of investment of their own fund in their social security corpus has been given a go bye in the new dispensation of PFRDA regime and the fund-managers and brokers will have the last say on how the employees’ savings will be invested.

DANGEROUS

DIMENSIONS

But the situation under which the PFRDA Bill 2011 has been put in place has opened another dangerous dimension. It is no more limited to the pension earnings of the central government employees alone or the state government employees in the states where state government also adopted the new pension scheme. The bill empowers the government to extend the ambit to all the existing pension schemes. But most alarmingly, through PFRDA Bill the government now plans to attract the savings of the 46 crore unorganised sector workers for investment in the stock market on the same scheme of market based uncertain returns.

The government has introduced new pension scheme, now named as “National Pension System” for unorganised sector workers. As per the scheme, which is now known as “Swavalamban” and being advertised a lot, the workers will have to contribute to pension fund a minimum of Rs 1,000 per year and maximum of Rs 12,000. After making a contribution for 30 years or so, at the age of 60 years, the worker will be eligible to get 60 per cent of his contribution as lump sum and a pension of not less than Rs 1,000 per month, provided rest of his fund can ensure such return from the market. If his fund earns less, then the portion of lump sum receipt after retirement will go down and if his/her entire fund(100 per cent of his contribution) fails to earn the minimum stipulated amount of pension (Rs 1,000) he/she has to make more contribution to be eligible for getting the minimum pension. To allure people towards this scheme, the government has announced that it will contribute Rs 1,000 per year for five years till 2015-16.

Already, the government has started making aggressive efforts to enroll workers in the so called Swavalamban scheme. Anganwadi workers who have been struggling since long for pensionary benefit are now being pressurised in many states to accept “Swavalamban” by the respective state governments.

How far the unorganised sector workers are going to be benefited by this scheme? As they do not have any pension benefit at present, it is but natural that a good section of them will be attracted towards the scheme. Will they get any assured pensionary benefit after making contribution for the scheme? No.

The scheme is silent if there would be a break in continuity of contribution which is but natural for the unorganised sector workers, frequently losing jobs and changing employment. What will happen if he contributes for five years thereafter for one year he fails to make contribution or after making contribution for say ten years becomes incapacitated to earn, say at his forty years of age and cannot continue contribution? Will he have to wait up to sixty years either to claim pension or lump sum payment? All these possibilities are not exceptional cases but a natural phenomenon in the life of the unorganised sector workers.

As per calculation, a worker after making a contribution for 30 years at the rate of Rs 100 per month (Rs 1200 per year) will accumulate Rs 1,49,035 which, if fully invested at 8 per cent return can ensure a monthly return of Rs 993 to him. Now as per the scheme, if he is to get the minimum stipulated pension amount of Rs 1000, he will neither get any thing as lump sum. And there is no guarantee whether the investment of his fund will continue to fetch him 8 per cent return at all point of time. If it does not earn 8 per cent in any year, what will happen to his pension earnings, the scheme is not clear about such happenings.

ACTUAL

GAMEPLAN

But one thing is amply clear. The new pension system will not ensure any secure pension amount for the unorganised workers despite his continuous contribution to pension fund. Pension amount will be governed by the return earned through investment in market. And the investment will not be merely in the form of credit at assured rate of interest but also in the form of equity market as time to time decided by the fund managers. And such type of investment can no way ensure assured return.

The whole gameplan is altogether different. The share market needs a continuous flow of liquidity to keep up its profits for the speculators and brokers to earn. Pension fund can be one such source for such liquidity as it belongs to none but the poor workers who can be risked for speculative purposes. In the name of providing pension to unorganised sector workers who do not have any social security benefits, the present scheme of Swavalamban has got a prospect of attracting crores of hapless workers to contribute for their old age security. It has a propensity to garner lakhs of crores of rupees from a market in which 46 crore unorganised sector workers will be the customers. Obligation for paying the pension will come after twenty or thirty years. The PFRDA Bill has already provided for the exit route for the fund managers and aggregators through section 20(2)(g) as quoted in the earlier paragraph and also by giving wide arbitrary powers to the PFRDA to decide. It has denied the trade unions to have their say on the investment and delivery of the benefit to the workers as is the practice in case of the Employees Provident Fund.

So far as the experiences of pension fund investment in the stock market in various countries in the world are concerned, on all occasions, workers’ money in pension funds was used to raise the temperature in the stock market to make the brokers and speculators gain and workers always lost in that exercise.

Therefore, it is no more a case of pension for a few crore workers in government sector whose rights and money is being looted. It a much bigger market of 46 crore unorganised sector workers who are being allured to pay for their old age security even by remaining half-fed having immense potential of garnering several thousands of crores for fuelling the stock market. Whether the poor contributors will really get old-age security is as uncertain as the stock market. But that question will arise after twenty years. Till that time the dacoity and plunder can go on and that is precisely the game plan of the speculator-captive government at the centre.

Pension will no more remain a secure social security; it will become a funding source for unscrupulous investors, both domestic and foreign, which will be used through speculative share market. In order to please the foreign pension fund operators in the USA, the government has kept the avenue fully open for FDI investment. With this bill, if passed, the hard earned money of crores of unorganised sector workers will be utilised for speculation. Can the working class and the country as a whole tolerate such open and shameless fraud in the name of social security of millions?

Courtesy: Peoples Democracy

Pension sector not yet ready for FDI: Interim regulator:

Much has been read into the government move to take foreign direct investment (FDI) out of the pension reforms Bill and keep it as an executive decision. But the pension sector is not yet ready for FDI, says interim sector regulator Yogesh Agarwal.

He told Business Standard that it might not be before 2-3 years that foreign investors would show some interests in the pension sector and a call on putting a cap on FDI would be taken at that moment of time only.

“First of all, the pension sector has to grow. Till now, I don’t see much interest from foreign investors in the sector,” Agarwal, who heads the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), said.

The PFRDA chairman said foreign investors would wait for the sector to expand and gain a critical mass. “Only then, interest (from foreign investors) will come,” he added.

Talking of FDI at this point of time, was really a theoretical exercise, he emphasized.

“When time comes, when expression of interest comes from foreign investors, we will take a view in conjunction with the Government of India as to how much FDI will be allowed,” Agarwal said.

To a query on whether there was any preliminary thinking to put the FDI cap on the sector, he said, “No... There is no need to take a call (on putting FDI cap on the pension sector) because there is no interest.”

Recommending on the earlier version of the PFRDA Bill, which lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in 2009, Parliament’s standing committee of finance had suggested the FDI cap in the sector might be in line with that in the insurance sector. Currently, 26 per cent FDI is allowed in private sector insurers. A Bill to raise this cap to 49 per cent is with the standing committee on finance.

A proposal to raise the cap in private insurance companies was made by then finance minister P Chidambaram in his speech for the Budget in 2004. It is yet to be implemented. So, the government decided to keep FDI issue out of the revised version of the PFRDA Bill, tabled in the Budget session of Parliament last month.

Explained Agarwal, “In drafting the Bill, we found that what should be the extent of FDI need not be put in the Bill. It is not a legislative issue. It is an executive decision, as to how much FDI will be allowed.’

He said this would make it easier for the government to decide on increasing or decreasing FDI percentage in the pension sector.

“All the government has to do is to make up its mind and issue an order,” he added.

PFRDA was established by the government on August 23, 2003, through an executive order. It is still an interim regulator and does not have statutory powers. The PFRDA Bill will give statutory powers to the regulator.

Meanwhile, the Union government had announced a new pension system (NPS) for its recruits who had joined from January 1, 2004. Since April 1, 2008, the pension contributions of central government employees under NPS are being invested by professional pension fund managers. As many as 27 state governments and Union Territories have also notified NPS.

NPS was also thrown open to all citizens of the country since 2009.

Besides, the government had announced a co-contributory pension scheme, called Swavalamban, for those in the unorganised sector. The government provides Rs 1,000 to every account a year for five years for those who joined the scheme during 2010-11 and 2011-12. The government expects two million subscribers to be there in this scheme by March 2012 from the current level of 500,000.

Source: Business Standard, April 4, 2011

Government Employees Protest PFRDA Bill

Through a statement issued from Kolkata on March 25, by its senior vice chairman Sukomal Sen, the All India State Government Employees’ Federation (AISGEF) has informed that on the day the federation organised in all the states of the country, right from Kashmir to Kerala, two-hour walkouts and demonstrations to condemn the introduction of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) bill and demand its withdrawal. Effigies of the bill were also burnt in some states.

The All India State Government Employees Federation and the Confederation of Central Government Employees had jointly called for these protest actions.

One recalls that on March 24 this year, the UPA government at the centre introduced the PFRDA bill with the support of main opposition party, the BJP, ignoring the strong protest registered by the Left parties. It was immediately after knowing about it that the state and central government employees launched the aforementioned two- hour walkout from their offices and conducted powerful demonstrations in front of their offices, condemning the anti-employee attitude of the UPA government and demanding immediate withdrawal of the bill.

It is reported that state government employees organised the programme with success in Tripura, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. Employees in Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal organised massive walkouts and demonstrations.

In Haryana, where the Sarva Karamchari Sangh had lent its support to the call for protest actions, about 20,000 employees belonging to the electricity corporation, municipalities and municipal corporations, teachers, irrigation, education, health, public health, urban development, forest department participated in such walkouts and demonstrations at 180 places of 21 districts of the state.

For this protest, the Sarva Karmachari Sangh leaders had toured through whole of the state to mobilise the employees for sustained programmes of action in the days to come. They brought out the pernicious impact of the bill on the existing pensionary benefits of the government employees and also exposed the real character of the BJP in detail.

During the campaign on this programme in all the states, AISGEF leaders and activists explained the political aspect of this issue. They convincingly placed before the employees the difference between the UPA-I government which, standing on the support of 61 Left MPs, was unable to commit any such mischief while the UPA-II government, taking the advantage of the weak position of the Left in parliament, desperately steamrolling all the harmful and anti-employee bill like the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill and the PFRDA bill, while the next to follow is more FDI in insurance industry.

The AISGEF’s contention is that it is due to the pressure exerted by the World Bank, IMF and finance capital in and out the country that the successive governments at the centre, headed by the NDA and the UPA, were trying to privatise the pension funds by placing it at the disposal of private fund managers and thereby paving way for investment of the astronomical pension fund amount in share market speculations. Despite the fact that international experience has proved the privatisation of pension as being beneficial neither to the employees nor to governments, such shameless attempts are being pursued continuously in the interest of private entrepreneurs.

Right from the early days of 2005, when the bill was first introduced in the parliament, MPs belonging to the Left parties in and the working class all over the country have been relentlessly fighting against the blatant attempts of the governments and that is why the bill could not be passed in the parliament. Yet the central government and many state governments are implementing the new pension scheme through administrative orders, without the sanction of parliament. Only the Left ruled the states, viz, West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala, have declared that they will not implement the new pension scheme for their employees.

The All India State Government Employees’ Federation and the Confederation of the Central Government Employees and Workers have decided to further intensify the struggle through direct the entire government employees and teachers in this country, numbering more than 80 lakhs, for withdrawal of the PFRDA bill and restoration of the existing Defined Benefit Pension Scheme to all the employees and teachers irrespective of their recruitment into the service. The AISGEF leaders have also urged the employees to get prepared for a prolonged and militant struggle so as to upturn the government’s anti-working class decision. They said the political balance has to be immediately changed to save the country’s interest.

CITU OPPOSES PFRDA BILL,

LABOUR LAW AMENDMENT

On the same day, March 25, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) expressed its strongly opposition to the introduction of the PFRDA Bill in parliament a day before. The CITU said the bill was part of the government’s neo-liberal pro-corporate agenda to change the concept of pension as “defined benefit” to the workers after retirement to a “defined contribution” by the workers. This makes a mockery of pension as a social security scheme, with the onus of funding and regulation of the scheme shifting from the government or employer to a regulator. The main objective is to divert the pension contribution by the workers to the share market and corporate equity funds.

This bill, initiated during the NDA regime, could not be pushed through because of the opposition by the working class outside the parliament and by the Left parties in the parliament. But the CITU is of the opinion that in a surreptitious manner the UPA government of the Congress party and its allies has kept the avenues open to the regulator for unlimited foreign investment in pension fund without requiring the parliament’s assent. This shows how the present government is in connivance with the major opposition party, the BJP, in surrendering to the pressure of the international finance capital.

The CITU has also strongly opposed the introduction of a labour law amendment bill proposing exemption from furnishing returns and maintaining registers by certain establishments. The bill, if passed, would exempt more than 80 per cent of existing establishments in the country, to ignore virtually all labour laws of the land, as they would not be required to maintain any records of workers working within their establishments. The CITU, along with other central trade union organisations, has been opposing this so called ‘labour reform’ bill which will usher a jungle law in the industry.

The CITU has calls upon the working class to intensify their ongoing struggle against the above legislations, so that the corporate captive government is forced to withdraw the above bills from the parliament.

Courtesy : Peoples Democracy

BLACK DAY - BUT IT HAPPENED

CPI(M) forces division over bill (PFRDA)

A day after a heated discussion took place in Parliament on the WikiLeaks disclosures published in The Hindu, it was business as usual in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. Speaker Meira Kumar went through the process of ‘Papers to be laid on the Table' and then got down to the legislative business, including the introduction of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011.

As soon as she called out Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena, standing for Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, to introduce the Bill, CPI (M) leader Basudeb Acharia stood up, opposing the introduction of the Bill and demanding a division, taking the Treasury Benches by surprise.

Only a handful of Ministers were present, including Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, along with his deputy V. Narayanasamy. Caught unawares, the treasury benches too wore a rather thin look, enough for the government to sense trouble. Both the Ministers went up to National Democratic Alliance working chairman L.K. Advani and Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, and talked to them. It became clear that the main Opposition BJP would come to the government's rescue.

Mr. Bansal cited Rule 72 on the government's legislative competence to introduce the Bill and sought to know the grounds on which Mr. Acharia was opposing it, but the CPI(M) leader refused to budge from his demand for division.

The Speaker ordered division when Mr. Acharia further pressed for it. “We are opposing the introduction of the bill. I am asking for division instead of a voice vote,” Mr. Acharia said.

Of the 159 members present in the 543-member House, 115 voted for introduction of the bill and 43 opposed it, while one abstained. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, several Ministers and Congress members were not present.

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Raghuvansh Prasad was heard saying that when the Speaker had already ordered division, it could not be rolled back.

The bill provides for the establishment of an authority to promote old-age income security by creating, developing and regulating pension funds and to protect the interests of subscribers to pension fund schemes.

- The Hindu, Dated – 25.03.2011

CABINET APPROVED 6% DA TO CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.

HIKE IN DEARNESS ALLOWANCE WILL BE 6% FROM JAN-2011 TO ALL CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

The Union Cabinet committee headed by Prime Minister today decided to increase the Dearness Allowance by 6% to Central Government employees.

Hike in the Dearness Allowance (DA) will be from 45% to 51% w.e.f.January 2011.

Release of additional installment of dearness allowance for this year to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief to Pensioners from Jan-2011 is to compensate the price hike of essential commodities.

The revised rates of Dearness Allowance from 1.1.2011 to 28.2.2011 may be paid in cash as arrears and for the month of March may be disbursed with the salary.

The enhancement of Dearness Allowance is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission.

Government has finally decided to implement the Performance Related Incentive Scheme (PRIS) recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission for all C.G. Emp.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has finally decided to implement the Performance Related Incentive Scheme (PRIS) recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission for all Central government employees. An announcement is expected in the next couple of days, government sources told The Hindu. Those government employees who make the cut will start earning their incentives in 2012.

A Committee of Secretaries (COS) chaired by Cabinet Secretary K. M. Chandrasekhar approved the broad contours of the PRIS on March 8, and asked the Department of Expenditure and Performance Management Division, Cabinet Secretariat, to work out guidelines to implement the scheme. Members of the COS included Finance Secretary Sushma Nath, who was also member-secretary of the Commission.

Any department, to qualify for financial incentives, will have to get a performance rating of 70 per cent or more on its Results-Framework Document (RFD) and implement a bio-metric access control system in its offices. As suggested by the Commission, the incentives will be initially paid out of cost savings made by the department in that fiscal year and hence there will be no additional burden on the exchequer for implementing the PRIS, government sources said. Initially, for every rupee saved by the department, it will allow to distribute up to 15 paise depending on its performance.

The PRIS will cover all employees of the department. While incentives paid to the Secretaries will depend entirely on departmental performance reflected in the RFD, incentives paid to Joint Secretaries will depend on a weighted average of their division’s performance and departmental performance. Incentives for junior employees will depend primarily on their individual performance.

However, all employees will need to go through a rigorous performance appraisal system consistent with the RFD evaluation methodology.

Indeed, incentives will start rolling out only after a department has prepared two rounds of robust RFDs, so as to truly capture departmental performance. Given that 2010-11 was the first year for implementation of 12-month RFDs, performance incentives will be paid from 2012-13 to employees who make the cut.

The decision to implement the PRIS comes in the wake of the Prime Minister’s Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System (PMES) for government departments that was approved in September 2009.

Interestingly, of the departments that have gone through the exercise, there have been some notable exceptions including the Ministries of Home, Finance, Defence, External Affairs, and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Objections

This has led to objections from officials of other Ministries: the feeling is that these key ministries and departments influence the work of other departments, and unless they, too, are brought under the scanner, the RFD will be redundant and unproductive.

The view from the Cabinet Secretariat is that the Prime Minister did not keep any department out of the ambit of the evaluation process, but it was felt that it would be better to implement it in phases for practical, operational reasons.

The original idea was to cover all 84 ministries and departments – it started with 59 departments in the last quarter of 2009-10, and currently covers 62 departments.

- The Hindu

CABINET OKAYS PFRDA BILL; MAY GO TO PARLIAMENT SOON

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) The Union Cabinet today approved a long-pending bill, which is aimed at giving statutory power to the pension regulator PFRDA, paving way for introduction of the same in the current session of Parliament.

The draft legislation is aimed at upgrading the status of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), which has been functioning for the past eight years without Parliamentary approval.

"It has been approved and is likely to be introduced in the current session," a minister said after the Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In the absence of statutory status, PFRDA was performing the role of the interim regulator.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had sought support of the Opposition, mainly the BJP, for passage of the key pending reform bills

Source: PTI

Appointment of agents and other agency functions – fresh instructions issued by MOF(DEA) regarding

SB ORDER NO. 03/2011

No.116-352009-SB

Government of India

Ministry of Communications & IT

Department of Posts

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi-110001, Dated: 11.03.2011

To

All Heads of Circles/Regions

Addl. Director General, APS, New Delhi.

Subject:- Appointment of agents and other agency functions – fresh instructions issued by MOF(DEA) regarding.

Sir / Madam,

The undersigned is directed to say that Min. of Finance (DEA) vide letter no. F.1/29/2010-NS.II dated 31.12.2010 has issued some instructions regarding appointment of agents and other agency functions. This office is also receiving some representations from Agents Associations regarding noncooperation by the postal staff and insistence on bringing RD schedules in CD format. All these matters have been considered in this office and fresh guidelines as given below are being issued which shall be applicable from the date of receipt of this letter:-

1. Whenever, it is noticed that in any post office, number of agents attached are more than the business potential which may cause heavy rush in that post office, appointing authority should immediately be informed to change the jurisdiction of some agents to alternative post offices.

2. All Divisional Heads will maintain a record of agents which are found involved in the fraudulent activities and inform the appointing authority immediately for cancellation of the agency. No business from such agents should thereafter be accepted. At the beginning of the year, a negative list containing details of such agents should be circulated to all post offices in the division and to the appointing authority. During the course of the year, any addition/deletion may be made and at the beginning of the next year, the list may be reviewed and issued afresh. If name of any agent whose agency is renewed is found in the negative list, no business from such agent should be accepted and matter should be reported to the appointing authority immediately.

3. SAS Agents were earlier authorized to handle cash up to Rs.50,000/- at a time. Now, this limit has been reduced to Rs.10,000/- at a time. If any depositor wants investment of more than Rs.10,000/- through SAS agent, he has to give cheque to the agent duly crossed and endorsed as per latest rules and procedures. However, the limit of issue of cash receipt books to SAS agents will remain Rs.50,000/- at a time.

4. No SAS/MPKBY/PPF agent shall be permitted to issue cheque from his own account on behalf of any depositor.

5. MOF(DEA) has prescribed a half yearly coordination meeting between District Magistrate and Divisional Head. All Divisional Heads may also take up the issues related to agents, such as, appointment, renewal and fraud cases at District level with appointing authority, whenever such issues arise.

6. The postal staff posted at the counters should co-operate with the agents bringing business. Postmaster should fix separate working hours for the acceptance of business from agents keeping in view the business potential of the office and wherever possible, may identify one full time separate counter for handling business of agents particularly in Head Post Offices.

7. This may kindly be brought to the notice of all post offices and administrative offices.

8. This issues with the approval of DDG(FS).

Yours faithfully,

Kawal Jit Singh)

Assistant Director (SB)

CGEPHIS - No time frame for introduction

Central Government Employees and Pensioners Health Insurance Scheme

The Central Government is contemplating introduction of a health insurance scheme for the central government employees and pensioners in consultation with other concerned Ministries/Departments. The proposal is to make this Scheme on voluntary cum contributory basis for serving employees & pensioners except for new joinees in respect of whom it is proposed to be on mandatory cum contributory basis. No time frame can be given at this stage for its introduction.

This information was given by Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Sh. Ghulam Nabi Azad in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today. (11.3.2011)

Raise income tax exemption limit to Rs 3 lakh: Survey

NEW DELHI: The government must increase the personal income tax exemption limit to at least Rs 3 lakh from Rs 1.6 lakh at present in the upcoming Budget for giving relief to taxpayers from high inflation, majority of CEOs surveyed by industry body Assocham has said.

"In view of the unprecedented inflation particularly the food inflation, the government must increase the personal income tax exemption limit from the existing Rs 1.6 lakh to at least Rs 3 lakh to give adequate relief to the larger sections of the society, added the majority of the CEOs," the pre-Budget survey said.

The Budget 2011-12 would be unveiled by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on February 28. At present, income up to Rs 1.6 lakh is exempted from tax for individuals. For women and senior citizens, the limit is Rs 1.9 lakh and Rs 2.4 lakh, respectively.

However, under the the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill which was introduced in Parliament last year, the I-T exemption limit is Rs 2 lakh. The DTC is expected to replace the 50-year old Income Tax Act from April, 2012.

The survey further said that due to continuous elevated inflation and high commodity prices across globe, there is a strong case for continuation of stimulus package so that the growth momentum is not spiked.

It was a pre-Budget expectations survey conducted under the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) with participation from its 1,000 CEOs. Inflation, particularly food inflation, has been a concern for both the government and the common man. For past the few months, food prices are at high levels.

The WPI inflation for December rose to 8.43 per cent, from 7.48 per cent in the previous month. Food inflation, based on wholesale prices, rose to 17.05 per cent for the week ended January 22, on account of escalating vegetable prices, particularly, onions. It was at 15.57 per cent in the previous week.

Around 84 per cent of the CEOs belonging to large, micro, small and medium enterprises polled in the survey held that stimulus package for textiles, gems & jewellery, construction and real estate, cement and steel, among others, should continue for the next fiscal.

Besides, majority of the CEOs also pressed for larger and faster disinvestment in public sector undertakings, proceeds of which should partly be to fund infrastructure augmentation in PPP projects to help India grow and achieve intended growth rate of close to 9 per cent in next 2-3 years.

Source: Economic Times

Issue of pensioner CGHS Cards to Central Government servants before retirement

The Extracts of MOH & FW OM No .37-1/2009-C & P/CGHS (P) dt. 23.02.2011 is reproduced hereunder

Government of India

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Department of Health & Family Welfare

Nirman Bhawan, Maulana Azad Road

New Delhi – 110108

No. 37-1/2009-C & P/CGHS (P) Dated – February 23, 2011

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Issue of pensioner CGHS Cards to Central Government servants before retirement

Central Government servants on their retirement from service are entitled to CGHS facility, if they retire from office Ministries/Departments/Offices covered by CGHS. For availing CGHS facility, if eligible, after retirement from service, pensioners are required to fill up the requisite form and deposit the appropriate amount lump sum amount equivalent to one year’s contribution for availing CGHS facility for one year (which can be extended on an annual basis on payment of the appropriate contribution as applicable at the time of renewal) or pay in lump sum equivalent to ten years contribution for availing CGHS facility with life-time validity). The process of issuing of pensioner CGHS cards starts only after the Government servant retires from service and only after the Pension Pay Order (PPO) and Last pay Certificate (LPC) are issued by the Ministry/Department/Office. The completion of the formalities takes two to three months, which puts pensioners in a problematic condition for getting treatment from the date on which they retire from service and the time when a pensioner CGHS card is issued to them.

2. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has received representations from retired Central Government servants and from officials due for retirement within the next few months with the request that the policy regarding issue of pensioner CGHS cards be simplified so that they are in a position to get the pensioner CGHS card a day after their retirement from service.

3. The matter has been examined by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in consultation with CGHS and it has been decided that the following course of action will be taken in respect of officials who are entitled to avail CGHS facility after his/her retirement from Government service:

(i) All Ministries/Department will, alongwith pension papers, give the application for issue of pensioner CGHS cards to the official three months before the due date for retirement of the official;

(ii) The official, if he/she is interested in availing CGHS facility after his/her retirement, will;

a. Fill up the form for issue of pensioner’s card;

b. Affix stamp sized photographs of the family members entitled to avail CGHS facility in the proforma for issue of pensioner’s card;

c. Enclose Demand Draft/Pay Orders for the appropriate amount with reference to his/her decision to get CGHS card with life-time validity (the amount will be equal to ten years contribution) or with validity for one year (the amount will be equal to one year’s contribution). For obtaining the card in Delhi, the Demand Draft/Pay Order will have to be made payable to “Pay & Accounts Officer (CGHS), payable at Delhi” and for obtaining card in a CGHS city outside Delhi, the Demand Draft/Pay Order will have to be made payable to “Additional Directorate or Joint Director (as the case may be) of the CGHS city, payable in that city”

(iii) The Ministry/Department will add a certificate of pay, grade pay, etc drawn by the applicant to the application form and also mention the entitlement of ward (Private ward/Semi-Private Ward/General Ward) at the time of retirement of the official;

(iv) The Ministry/Department will forward the application complete in all respects to the Additional Director in the concerned CGHS city after verifying the particulars furnished by the applicant six weeks before the date of retirement of the official;

(v) CGHS pensioner cell in the concerned CGHS city will initiate action to get the pensioner card prepared;

(vi) The validity of the pensioner card will start from a date after the last day of service of the officials;

(vii) If the beneficiary, while in service, has been issued plastic card, then the beneficiary identification number (Ben ID No.) will not be changed at the time of preparation of pensioner card and the same Ben ID number will be carried forward in the pensioner card;

(viii) The pensioner card will be handed over to the retired official only after the date o superannuation/retirement from service; and

(ix) Before the Pensioner CGHS card is issued to the beneficiary, the plastic CGHS cards issued to all the members of the family will be surrendered.

4. All Ministries/Departments are requested to give wide publicity to the contents of these instructions.

Sd/-

(R Ravi)

Director

(Tel 23063483)

EPFO decided 9.5 pc interest on PF and not to invest in stock markets

EPFO decided 9.5 pc interest on PF and not to invest in stock markets

EPFO for 9.5 pc interest on PF; not to invest in bourses

The EPFO on Tuesday stuck to its decision that about 4.71 crore subscribers of the pension fund should get one per cent increase in interest on their deposits for 2010-11, pegging the rate of interest at 9.5 per cent.

The Central Board of Trustees of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) also decided not to invest in stock markets.

After a two-hour meeting of the CBT, Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge expressed hope the finance ministry will shortly give its concurrence to the proposal.

"I hope that after we answered all clarifications, they (Finance Ministry) will approve it (9.5 per cent interest rate for 2010-11)," he told reporters on the finance ministry's reservation on 9.5 per cent recommended by the Central Board of Trustees of Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in September last.

"As far as 9.5 per cent interest (2010-11) is concerned, the Finance Ministry had sought some clarifications. Those clarifications have been sent by Labour Secretary to the Finance Ministry," Kharge added.

Downplaying the ongoing tussle between the two ministries over hiking the interest rates on PF deposits, Kharge said there was "no tussle between the two ministries over giving 9.5 per cent interest rate."

"These are just consultations between the two ministries. They had certain queries and when we satisfy them. They will definitely approve it," Labour Secretary P C Chaturvedi later explained.

Although CBT, which is headed by labour minister, had decided to give a higher return of 9.5 per cent on provident fund deposits for 2010-11, the Finance Ministry had expressed its opposition to the move.

Following discovery of Rs 1,731.57 crore in suspense account, the EPFO trustees favoured raising the rate of interest on provident fund deposits to 9.5 per cent for its 4.71 crore subscribers from 8.5 per cent which is being paid by EPFO since 2005-06.

The decision, however, did not find favour with the Finance Ministry which argued that there was no real surplus.

It said the surplus shown by the EPFO arose because all subscribers' accounts were not updated.

In a recent letter of 29th January, the Labour Ministry argued the EPFO is not asking for any government support for the extra returns to the salaried workers.

It is their money which has earned returns.

The Finance Ministry's objections were based on a report by Comptroller and Auditor General which suggested that there was no surplus with the EFFO's interest suspense account.

Source: DDI News