OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE OF RICT DEVICE:

Click below link to download RICT materials

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DETAILS

The introduction of Hand-held Device viz., Main Computing Device (MCD) with all its peripherals going to be used in Branch Post Offices is well presented for the information of GDS and all others.

This gives us preliminary information along with some theoretical knowledge (for unaware GDS) & practical knowledge (for those who are in good practice in some Circles/Divisions) over the MCD (Hand-held Device) and its usage in BOs.

First branch of India Post Payments Banks inaugurated - Video

Limits on Cash Withdrawal from Bank Accounts and ATMs- Restoration of status quo ante...

Promotion and postings of Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) officers of Indian Postal Service, Group 'A' to Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) of the Service and posting of an HAG officer of the Service 30-01-2017

To view, please  CLICK HERE.

CNBC News : Launch of IPPB at Raipur and Ranchi

Inauguration of IPPB Branches at Raipur & Ranchi through Video Conference on 30th January 2017

India Post Payments Bank To Launch Operations In Ranchi, Raipur

India Post is likely to launch the first two branches of its payments bank—India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)—in Ranchi and Raipur on a pilot basis, an official familiar with the plans told BloombergQuint. The two branches are likely to begin operations within a week.

Over the next couple of months, IPPB will be in a position to offer banks a network through which they can sell their products, said a second government official while speaking on the condition of anonymity. IPPB will also offer services through internet and mobile banking, and prepaid instruments like mobile wallets and debit cards, according to the website.

Payment banks are intended to offer deposit and remittance services to customers but are not allowed to lend directly. They can, however, cross-sell products by third party providers to their customers.

India Post has a wide network of 1,54,939 post offices, of which 1,39,222 post offices are located in rural areas. This network can be used by IPPB for selling third party products or for disbursal of subsidies, the second official quoted above said.

The Department of Posts was given an in-principle approval to launch a payments bank by the Reserve Bank of India on August 19, 2015. On being satisfied that the applicant has complied with the requisite conditions laid down by the regulator, a final licence is given. The process has now been completed for IPPB. 

The training of employees for the payments bank division is already underway and the government will soon appoint a chief for the India Post Payments Bank. Department of Investments and Public Asset Management’s Joint Secretary A.P. Singh has been appointed as the interim managing director and chief executive officer. IPPB has invited applications to fill around 1,060 vacancies across the entity.

The government is banking on IPPB to further its financial inclusion agenda. As part of his last Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the India Post Payments Bank will help spread banking into the hinterlands.

"The post office is an example of our identity. We have revived and rejuvenated our post offices. It is now linked with the poor and small persons. If any government representative gets the affection of a common man in India, it is the postman. Everyone loves the postman and the postman also loves everybody, but we never paid attention towards them. We have taken a step to convert our post offices into payments banks. Starting with this, the payments bank will spread the chain of banks in the villages across the country in one go."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (August 15, 2016)

Source : http://www.bloombergquint.com

Clarification regarding timely payment of GPF final payment to the retiring Government servant – regarding

REFLECTION OF THE RECURRENT LAPSES IN OBSERVING FINANCIAL DISCIPLINE IN THE ANNUAL PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT REPORT (APAR)

CSI Master Guide - Training Purpose only

To view, please CLICK HERE. 

Regarding payment of Allowances to PS Group "B" officers whose grade pay has been up graded from Rs.4800 to 5400.

To view, please CLICK HERE.

Transfer/ posting matter of Senior Manager/ Manager, Mail Motor Service (MMS) Group 'A'

To view, please CLICK HERE.

All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Amendment Rules, 2017.

To view, please CLICK HERE. 

Filing of Immoveable Property Returns under Rule 16(2) of AIS (Conduct) Rules, 1968.

To view, please CLICK HERE. 

GDS COMMITTEE REPORT - CHAPTERWISE AND ANNEXURE WISE DOWNLOAD LINK

Shri Kamalesh Chandra Committee submitted report on GDS system to the Department & Government on 24th November 2016.

The copy of the Report published in DoP website on 18-01-2017.

It contains 434 pages with 20 Chapters and 39 Annexures with some other pages. 

Downing loading of the Report Copy once at a time is more time taking and felt difficulty.

CHAPTER - 1 : EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & METHODOLOGIES (34 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 2 : NET WORK OF GDS POST OFFICES (12 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 3 : CATEGORIES OF GDS(10 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 4 : VIABILITY OF GDS POST OFFICES (21 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 5 : WORK LOAD ASSESSMENT (8 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 6 : RURAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING (22 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 7 : ACCESSIBILITY, VISIBILITY & INFRASTRUCTURE (10 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 8 : LEGAL STATUS OF GDS ( 7 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 9 : TERMS & CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT (13 PAGES)

CHAPTER 10 : RECOMMENDATIONS ON WAGE STRUCTURE & FIXATION OF WAGES OF GDSs (30 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 11: ALLOWANCES (15 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 12:PERFORMANCE RELATED INCENTIVE (7 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 13: EX GRATIA BONUS (5 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 14:METHODS OF ENGAGEMENT (11 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 15:CAREER PROGRESSION ( 6 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 16: LEAVE & SUBSTITUTE ARRANGEMENT (8 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 17:DISCIPLINARY RULES (7 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 18:SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEMES (14 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 19:WELFARE SCHEMES (10 PAGES)

CHAPTER - 20:FINANCIAL IMPLICATION ( 4 PAGES)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (3 PAGES)

The following Annexures contains Statistical tables, data collection and etc.,

ANNEXURE : 01 - 10 (37 PAGES)

ANNEXURES : 11 - 15 (41 PAGES)

ANNEXURES : 16 - 25 (31 PAGES)

ANNEXURES : 26 -30 (25 PAGES)

ANNEXURES : 31 - 39 ( 30 PAGES)

After going through the GDS Committee Report, the Committee observations and comments on GDS system and on GDS beside on the part of Department and Govt are so impressive and courageous.

In brief, the comments are extracted here :

1.   The GDSs working in the net work of GDS Post Offices are Ambassadors of Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications in the rural and remote areas of India……

2.   The Govt of India still holds the same position and has so far held that the Gramin Dak Sevaks are not departmental employees. They are outside the Civil Services of the Union and shall not claim to be at par with the Central Government Employees……

3.   Currently, a large number of well educated, talented and capable youths are joining GDS posts and strengthening the GDS system and this trend is likely to propel growth of the Department in the coming days……

4.   The Committee observed that in last several decades, the Department has not invested enough to strengthen the network of GDS Post Offices until recently……

5.   The quality of life of GDSs and their family’s needs to be improved by  harmonizing their wages and other emoluments in tune with present day’s needs and aspirations of young GDSs joining the workforce….

6.   The Committee also noted that a large number of them are totally dependent upon the emoluments received from the Department and has no other means of livelihood to supplement their income…….

7.   The Committee views that the demand of regularization of their services is due to better emoluments, reliability and security of regular government service. The Committee noted that GDSs are exploited at the hands of their local supervisors because of existing wage structure and their legal status. The administrative powers such as “put off duty” are exercised on frivolous charges and frequently used for exploitation rather than as remedial measures.

8.   The Department recognizes the engagement of GDSs as contractual, but the present method of engagement and disciplinary proceedings, job contents, risks and responsibilities are getting closer to the regular employees of the department….

9.   that there is tendency to withhold the legitimate demands of GDSs which are due to them, based on the apprehension that they will get closer to regular employees and their claim for regularization will be strengthened in the Court of Law, if such demands are allowed. The Committee finds this as unreasonable and counter productive for the Department. It also deprives them of living a happy life in the changed situation where financial dependence on GDS position is increasing day by day because of shrinking alternate means of livelihood…….

10. The Department has lost its tag of having the largest network for providing financial services to the customers by decelerating expansion of network based on the assumption that GDS post offices are loss making and adding to the overall deficit of the Department….

11.  The Committee observed that the ‘Rationalization of Postal Network Scheme’ has also not worked on the expected line….. the Committee supports the demand for presence of postal facility in the headquarters of each of 2.50 lakhs Gram Panchayats and revamping of PSSK and FO Schemes my making it more remunerative as opening of regular or GDS Post Office in each of such location may not be feasible….

12.    The GDS Post Offices, is around 45% of the total deficit (Net Expenditure – Revenue) of Rs.6258.60 crores and around 15% of the total expenditure of Rs.17894.58 crores in the Financial year 2014-15………..the Committee found that total expenditure on GDS system is far less than deficit of the Department.

13.  Future survival of the Department will largely depend on the successful management of GDS Post Offices, which effectively for its “soul”.. It would be difficult for the Department to survive without the soul…..

14. Tust of GDS network which enables the Department to deliver trustworthy services in each and every village of the country that can not be quantified in terms of revenue…

15.  The Committee observed that the Sub Post Masters of single handed Sub Post Offices do not encourage Branch Post Masters to increase their workload as it results into increase in the workload of Sub Post Offices which they are unable to handle properly due to lack of manpower……

16.  Sub Post Office by utilizing the services of capable and willing GDSs in the single handed sub post offices…..

17. the India Post Payment Bank which is going to be rolled out shortly will use the strengths of the GDS net work and experiences of more than 2.60 lakhs trustworthy Gramin Dak Sevaks serving in the Department of Posts….

18.   the GDS network can potentially wipe out the deficit (gap between the expenditure and revenue) of the Department and emerge as rural digital hubs for delivery of DBT and other postal, financial, remittance, third party and several e-services to the rural population and forming an integral part of fulfilling SABKA SAATH  SABKA VIKAS agenda of the Central Government.

Source: GDS Committee Report (Executive Summary)

GPF shall carry interest @ 8% from 01.01.2017

Instructions on sealed cover procedure - where Government servant has been acquitted but appeal is contemplated/pending - clarification regarding.

To view, please CLICK HERE. 

7th Central Pay Commission’s recommendations — revision of pay scales — amendment of Service Rules/Recruitment Rules

To view, please CLICK HERE. 

7th Central Pay Commission’s recommendations – amendment of Service Rules/Recruitment Rules

To view, please CLICK HERE. 

Grant of Transport Allowance at double the normal to deaf and dumb employees of Central Government – Finmin Orders

“Transport Allowance at double normal rates would be admissible to the ‘Hearing Impaired employees having loss of sixty decibels or more in the better ear in the conversation range of frequencies’ as per Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Fun Participation) Act, 1995”

No.20/2/2016-E-II(B)

Governmént of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Expenditure

North Block, New Delhi

Dated: 17.01.2017

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Grant of Transport Allowance at double the normal to deaf and dumb    employees of Central Government

In supersession of this Department O.M.No.21(2)/2011-E-II(B) dated 19.02.2014 regarding admissibility of Transport Allowance at double the normal rates to employees who are deaf and dumb. the undersigned is directed to say that the matter has been re-examined and it has been decided with the approval of Competent Authority that Transport Allowance at double the normal rates is admissible to Hearing Impaired employees also in addition to employees who are both deaf and dumb.

2. Transport Allowance at double normal rates would be admissible to the ‘Hearing Impaired employees having loss of sixty decibels or more in the better ear in the conversation range of frequencies’ as per Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Fun Participation) Act, 1995.

3. The admissibility of Transport Allowance at double the normal rates to above categories of employees is subject to recommendation of the Head of ENT Department of a Government Civil Hospital and fulfillment of other conditions applicable in respect of other disabilities mentioned in D/o Expenditure’s O.M. No. 19029/1/78-E-lV (B) dated 31st August, 1978 read with dated 29.08.2008.

4. In so far as the persons serving in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department are concerned, this order issues in consultation with the Comptroller And Auditor General of India.

5. These orders would be effective from 19.02.2014.

6.  Hindi version is attached.

(Nirmala Dev)

Deputy Secretary (EG)

Click to view the order

Summary of GDS report

Summary of GDS report 

1. The minimum working hours of GDS Post Offices and GDS is increased to 4 hours from 3 hours. 

2. The new working hours for GDS Post Offices will be 4 hours and 5 hours only.

3. The Level 1 GDS Post Offices/GDSs will have 4 hours as working hours and Level – 2 will have 5 hours as working hours.

4. The Point System for assessment of workload of BPMs has been abolished.

5. The new wage payment system is linked to revenue generation of GDS Post Offices. Under the new system, there will be no increase in wagess of BPMs from Level-1 to Level-2 on the basis of workload but the same will be increased based on achievement of prescribed revenue norms which is fixed at 100% for normal areas and 50% for special areas which presently have 15% anticipated income norms.

6. The GDS Post Offices not achieving the prescribed revenue norm within the given working hours will have to open GDS post offices for minimum of additional 30 minutes beyond the prescribed working hours.

7. The GDSs BPMs will be paid Revenue Linked Allowance @10% beyond Level 2 wage scale if they will be successful in achieving revenue beyond prescribed norms

8. The GDS Post Offices has been categorized into A,B,C and D categories based on the revenue generation norms. The GDS Post Office in A category will achieve 100% revenue. The Committee has recommended a set of actions for each category of GDS Post Offices.

9. The six approved categories of GDS are subsumed into two categories only. One category will be Branch Post Master and all other 5 categories of GDSs are subsumed into one multi tasking category.

10. The job profile of Multi Tasking GDS is expanded to include work such as Business Development and Marketing etc. Their jobs will no more be confined to their old designations. The Assistant BPM will assist BPMs for increasing revenue generation.

11. The GDSs working in the GDS Post Offices will be known as Assistant Branch Post Master (ABPMs) and those working in the Department Post Offices will be known as Dak Sevak (DS).

12. The minimum wage has been increased to Rs.10000/- per month and maximum to Rs.35,480/- per month.

13. The rate of annual increase is recommended as 3%.

14. A composite Allowance comprising of support for hiring accommodation for GDS Post Offices as well as mandatory residence, office maintenance, mobile and electricity usage charges etc. has been introduced for the first time.

15. Children Education Allowance @ Rs.6,000/- per Child per annum has been introduced for GDS.

16. Risk & Hardship Allowance @ Rs.500/- per month for GDSs working in the special areas has also been introduced.

17. A Financial upgradation has been introduced at 12 Years, 24 years and 36 Years of services in form of two advance additional annual increases.

18. The ceiling of ex-gratia gratuity has been increased from Rs.60,000 to Rs.5,00,000/-

19.The GDS contribution for service Discharge Benefit Scheme (SDBS) should be enhanced maximum up to 10% and minimum up to 3% of the basic wage per month, whereas the Department should contribute a fixed contribution of 3% of the basic wage of the GDSs.

20. The coverage of GDS Group Insurance Scheme has been enhanced from Rs.50,000/0 to Rs.5,00,000/-.

21. The contribution of Department in Circle Welfare Fund (CWF) has been increased from Rs.100/- per annum to Rs.300/- per annum.

22. The Scope of CWF is extended to cover immediate family members such as spouse; daughters, sons and dependent daughters in law in the scheme.

23. The Committee also recommended 10% hike in the prescribed limits of financial grants and assistance in the Circle Welfare Fund.

24. The Committee has recommended addition of Rs.10,000/- for purchase of Tablet/Mobile from the Circle Welfare Fund in the head ” Financial Assistance from Fund by way of loans with lower rate of interest (5%)”.

25. Provision of 26 weeks of Maternity Leave for women GDSs has been recommended.

26. The wages for the entire period of Maternity Leave is recommended to be paid from salary head from where wages of GDSs are paid.

27. The Committee has also recommended one week of Paternity Leave.

28. The Committee has recommended 5 days of emergency leave per annum Leave accumulation and encashment facility up to 180 days has been introduced.

29. Online system of engagement has been recommended.

30. The maximum age limit of 50 years for Direct Recruitment of GDSs has been abolished.

31.Minimum one year of GDS service will now be required for GDSs for Direct Recruitment into Departmental cadres such as MTS/Postman/Mail Guard.

32. Alternate livelihood condition for engagement of GDSs has been relaxed.

33. Voluntary Discharge Scheme has been recommended.

34. The Discharge age has been retained at 65 years.

35. The Limited Transfer Facility has been relaxed from 1 time to 3 Time for male GDSs. There will be no restriction on number of chances for transfer of women GDSs. The power for transfer has been delegated to the concerned Divisional head.

36. The ex-gratia payment during put off period should be revised to 35% from 25% of the wage and DA drawn immediately before put off.

37. The committee has recommended preferring transfer before put off duty.

38. The compassionate Engagement of GDS has been relaxed to give benefits to eligible dependents in all cases of death of GDS while in service.

GDS Committee Report

 To view GDS Committee Report Part 1 please Click Here 

To view GDS Committee Report Part 2 please Click Here

To view GDS Committee Report Part 3 please Click Here

To view GDS Committee Report Part 4 please Click Here.

CHQ News - LDCE : Inspector Posts for the year 2015-16 ..... updates

LDCE for promotion to the cadre of Inspector Posts (66.66%) departmental quota for the year 2015-16 was held on 22 and 23-10-2016 for 189 vacancies (OC-155, SC-26 and ST-8).

The provisional key of the question papers was already published by the Department on India Post website and representation thereon if any was called for from candidates till 6-1-2017.

It is learnt that department is examining the representations received from candidates and thereafter final key will be again published on India Post website for the information to all concerned.

Transforming Department of Posts

Short Note: 

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a type of data-carrying technique for high-performance telecommunications networks that directs data from one networknode to the next based on short path labels rather than long network addresses, avoiding complex lookups in a routing table.

Central Civil Services (Leave Travel Concession) Rules, 1988 - Relaxation to travel by private airlines to visit Jammu and Kashmir.

To view, complete order please CLICK HERE. 

Revision of Provisional pension sanctioned under Rule 69 of the CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972.

To view, please CLICK HERE. 

Single Sign On-CSI-FSI Integration Process

From: DDG (Technology)

Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2016 5:24 PM

To: All CPMG

Cc: ADG (CSI); Director (Technology)

Subject: Single Sign On-CSI-FSI Integration Process

Respected Madam/ Sir,

As you are aware the pilot (I) rollout of CSI has been successfully completed in Mysuru Division, Karnataka. As part of the CSI project,each employee has been provided with an employee code which will be used as a login ID.

The counter-staff now has multiple log-in credentials viz; CSI log-in, Finacle log-in and McCamish log-in. This system is not only cumbersome, time taking but also not very secure from the point of view of authentication of financial transactions.

In view of the above points it has been decided that there shall be only one log-in credentials per user for all applications. The CSI shall provide the Single Sign On (SSO) solution for this functionality. . The SSO solution shall ensure that each employee having the CSI log-in credentials should be able to access Finacle and McCamish. The SSO shall have verification and authentication system to make it a secure system. This would help the Employees as they will not have to handle multiple log-in credentials. It will be beneficial for the Department and the public as every financial transaction shall be authenticated. The chances of frauds and embezzlements using others’ log-in credentials will reduce drastically thus making the system more reliable and secure.

It is required that each employee’s ID provided by CBS and PLI is mapped with the one provided by the CSI. This activity is essential to avoid any operational difficulties once the SSO is rolled out.  In order to do this mapping the M/s TCS has provided a portal along with the log-in credentials for each division. The CBS User-id and PLI user-id along with the mobile number and Aadhar number are to be filled in for all employees on this portal. Some data is pre-populated including mobile number and adhaar number for officials who have already shared these details.

In case of addition of new employees whose names might not be reflecting on the portal, it is requested to follow the procedure of getting their AD user created for them. Once their AD users are created the portal shall automatically be updated and their names shall reflect on it.

It is requested that due-diligence may be followed in this activity as SSO shall become extremely important for smooth functioning of the Post Offices. The link of the portal is given below:

 https://digitization.indiapost.gov.in/FacilityMapping/csiemplogin.jsp

The log-in credentials is attached to this mail. It is requested to complete this activity by 1st December, 2016.

Yours Sincerely,

​ Ashish Kumar

Deputy Director General (Technology)

Ph:9650660777
Dak Bhawan,Sansad Marg,

New Delhi-110001 

Extension of scope of grant of Dearness Relief to Central Government pensioners who are in receipt of provisional pension or pension in the pre-revised scale of 5th CPC w.e.f. 01/07/2012.

To view, please CLICK HERE. 

Govt. modified date of effect of enhanced CGHS contribution

Consequent to revision in the pay structure of Central Govt. employees, CGHS contribution was decided to be enhanced from 01.01.2017 at the following rate :

Sr. No.	Level in the Pay Matrix	Contribution per month (Rs)
1	Level 1 to 5	250
2	Level 6	450
3	Level: 7 to 11	650
4	Level 12 and above	1000

Click here to view the O.M. for change in other entitlements.

Govt. changed the date of effect of enhancement of CGHS contribution as 1st February 2017 instead of 01.01.2017 as notified earlier.

Click here for the modification notification

Redeployment of posts from GDS Committee to PBI Division.

To view, lease CLICK HERE. 

Government employees need not file asset details under Lokpal for now

New Delhi: The Centre has extended indefinitely the deadline to file details of assets and liabilities by central government employees under a mandatory provision of Lokpal Act. A new format and fresh set of rules are being finalised by the government in this regard. The last date for filing such details was 31 December. 

“There is no requirement for filing of declarations of assets and liabilities by public servants now. The government is in the process of finalising a fresh set of rules. The said rules will be notified in due course to prescribe the form, manner and timelines for filing of declaration of assets and liabilities by the public servants under the revised provision of the said (Lokpal) Act. “All public servants will henceforth be required to file the declarations as may be prescribed by the fresh set of rules,” an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said. 

There are about 50.68 lakh central government employees. As per rules, notified under the Lokpal Act, every public servant shall file declaration annually pertaining to his assets and liabilities as on 31 March every year or on or before 31 July of that year. 

For 2014, the last date for filing returns was 15 September. It was first extended till December, then till 30 April 2015 and third extension was up to 15 October. The date was again extended to 15 April 2016 and then 31 July for filing of the returns. The last date was further extended till 31 December after Parliament had passed a bill to amend the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013. 

The declarations under the Lokpal law are in addition to similar ones filed by the employees under various services rules. The DoPT had last year also issued an order bringing NGOs receiving more than Rs one crore in government grants and donations above Rs10 lakh from abroad under the ambit of the Lokpal. The order had mandated filing of returns of the assets and liabilities by such organisations and their executives—director, manager, secretary or any other officer.

Source :  http://www.livemint.com/

Corrigendum to the order Dtd: 30.12.16 regarding posting of Postal Service Group 'B' officers within Postal Directorate.

To view, please CLICK HERE. 

Transfer policy for officers of Indian Postal Service(IPoS), Group 'A' (Junior Time Scale, Senior Time Scale, Junior Administrative Grade and Senior Administrative grade).

To view,please CLICK HERE. 

CHQ News - Grant of honorarium to IP/ASPs/PS Gr. B/Gr. A Officers deployed during demonetization drive of currency notes at post offices - reg

No. CHQ/AIAIASP/Demonetization c. notes/2017               Dated :   13/1/2017

To,

Shri B. V. Sudhakar,

Secretary (Posts),

Department of Posts, 

Dak Bhavan, Sansad Marg, 

New Delhi 110 001. 

Subject: Grant of honorarium to IP/ASPs/PS Gr. B/Gr. A Officers deployed during demonetization drive of currency notes at post offices - reg

Respected Sir,

IP/ASP Association intend to bring to your kind notice that Postal fraternity stood rock solid with the Government and worked round the clock for the success of demonetization drive from 9-11-2016 to 30-12-2016. Most of the IPs/ASPs/PS Gr. B and Gr. A officers have worked relentlessly on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and during extended duty hours up till midnight on all working days without any excuse or leave, apart from carrying out their routine work. Thus, our Department contributed the most in the successful demonetization drive and consequently got high-quality appreciation from PMO.

It is pertinent to mention here that the bank authorities has recognized efforts of their staff and come out with a benevolent idea of rewarding them by granting/paying honorarium/incentive @ Rs 3000/- per employee involved in the drive. They have also been granted special leave for the extra work attended by them. Our staffs involved in this successful drive also deserve similar appreciation and similar incentive/honorarium purely as a matter of reward for their relentless service.

It is therefore requested to kindly look into the issue and consider grant of honorarium/incentive to IP/ASPs and other postal staff involved in the demonetization drive so that our employees feel themselves at par with bank officials. This Association expect a positive reply in this regard which will definitely motivate our cadre officers and the postal staff for such additional work.

Hoping for a positive action and line in reply is requested.       

Yours sincerely,

Sd/- 

(Vilas Ingale)

General Secretary 

Central Government Employees to get Rs.9000/- minimum pension: Jitendra Singh

New Delhi: The minimum pension has been increased to Rs9,000 per person besides a two-fold hike in ex-gratia amount for central government employees, union minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday. 

Addressing the 29th meeting of the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (Scova) in the city, he said almost 88% of pension accounts have been seeded to Aadhaar. There are about 50-55 lakh pensioners in the country, said Singh, minister of state in Prime Minister’s office. 

He further said that minimum pension has been increased to Rs9,000 per person and ex-gratia amount has been increased from Rs10-15 lakh to Rs25-35 lakh, as per a release issued by personnel ministry. 

The Scova meeting is organised by the Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoP&PW). Singh said there is a need to put in place an institutionalised mechanism to make good use of the knowledge, experience and efforts of the retired employees which can help in the value addition to the current scenario. 

He said the retired employees are a healthy and productive workforce for India and we need to streamline and channelise their energies in a productive direction. “We should learn from the pensioners’ experience,” said Singh. The minister also said that the DoP&PW should be reoriented in such a way that pensioners become a part of nation building process. 

Many issues related to pensioners were discussed threadbare, such as revision of Pension Payment Orders of Pre-2006 pensioners, health insurance scheme for pensioners including those residing in non-Central Government Health Service (CGHS) area and special higher family pension for widows of the war disabled invalidated out of service, etc. The meeting was attended by the member of pensioners associations and senior officers of the important departments of the central government.

Directorate placed purchase order for supply of 1700 pass book printers