Congress Opposes Pay Commission Report, Wants More Benefits For Low Paid Employees

New Delhi: Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Maken said on Sunday that his party will fight for safeguard of central government employees interest as the Seventh Pay Commission has increased the salaries of higher grade officers by many folds, there will be no benefit for middle and lower level employees.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Ajay Maken

“The Congress party is with the central government employees in this matter”, he said.

He also said the Congress party will strongly oppose if the 125 percent increase in DA (Dearness Allowance), which will be due on 1 January, 2016, is not merged with the basic pay when the Central government implements the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission for central government employees.

While Maken recently raised the issue at an AICC briefing, he organised camps at R K Puram and Sadiq Nagar areas on Sunday.

Maken asserted the Congress party will spare no effort to protect the interests of the central government employees, who are its “eyes, ears and brains”, inside and outside Parliament.

Maken said the House Rent Allowance (HRA) has been reduced from the existing 30 per cent to 24 per cent, 20 to 16 per cent and 10 to 8 per cent.

He also said if there was “good” entry in the CR (Confidential Report) of the central government employees, they used to get MACP, but according to the Seventh Pay Panel recommendations, the government employees would get MACP only if there is a “very good” entry in their CRs.

More areas in Delhi where central government employees, live would be covered in the coming days, he said.

Maken believes this will help the party gain a foothold among the staff who constitute a significant percentage of city voters.

TST

Seventh Pay Commission Delights Pensioners, Dismayed Employees

New Delhi: This should cheer central government pensioners but central government employees are dismayed by what Seventh Pay Commission did report.

Seventh Pay Commission Chairman Justice A K Mathur

With the Seventh Pay Commission headed by Justice A K Mathur recommendations of the new pension rules, the pensioners can expect a higher pension packet from next year.

Retired employees from the central government service will get a 24 per cent increase in benefits, while the pay increase for central government employees is 16 per cent.

However, central government employees will get a boost in House Rent Allowance (HRA), which takes the hike in this segment to more than 100 per cent. The government will increase the House Rent Allowance from the date of implementation of the pay commission recommendations, not from January next year.

In such a situation, pensioners would be the biggest gainers from the pay commission award, which starts next year, January 1.

Older pensioners have an added reason to rejoice. The seventh Pay Commission recommended a virtual one rank one pension (OROP) structure for central government pensioners, bringing in parity between past and existing pensioners.

“The commission recommends a revised pension formulation for civil employees including Central armed police forces personnel as well as for defence personnel, who have retired before 01.01.2016. This formulation will bring about parity past pensioners and current retirees for the same length of service in the pay scale at the time of retirement,” the Seventh Pay Commission said in its report.

This formulation will bring about parity between past pensioners and current retirees for the same length of service in the pay scale at the time of retirement.

The past pensioners shall first be fixed in the new pay matrix which has been suggested in place of pay band and grade pay at which they retired, at the minimum of the corresponding level in the pay matrix. This amount shall then be raised to arrive at the notional pay of retirees, by adding number of increments he/she had earned in that level while in service at the rate of 3 per cent. Fifty percent of the total amount so arrived at shall be the new pension.

An alternative calculation will be carried out, which will be a multiple of 2.57 times of the current basic pension. The pensioner will get the higher of the two. However the sixth Pay Commission recommended for additional pension with advancing age.

The Seventh Pay Commission revised the maximum gratuity to Rs 20 lakh from the earlier Rs 10 lakh. It will be raised by 25 per cent whenever dearness allowance goes up by 50 per cent but Sixth Pay Commission increased to Rs 10 lakh from Rs 3.5 lakh.

The commission has introduced Health Insurance Scheme for pensioners as well as central government employees. Commission has also proposed that the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) be strengthened so that pensioners living in areas which do not have CGHS dispensaries get access to empanelled hospitals and receive treatment on a cashless basis.

TST

Govt to bring Bonus Act amendment bill

New Delhi, Nov 28, 2015, DHNS: Government will introduce a bill in the ongoing winter session to amend the Bonus Act, 1965, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Parliament on Friday. Replying to the two-day special debate to mark the Constitution Day and Dr BR Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary, Modi said: “We are going to bring an important bill in this House to amend Bonus Act. The Cabinet has already approved it. This is a very important bill for our workers. We are taking decisions and working for welfare of the labour class.” 

Bonus calculations :

The amendment bill seeks to enhance extent of coverage for payment of bonus from the existing wage limit of Rs 10,000 to Rs 21,000 per month as well as the calculation limit for payment of bonus from Rs 3,500 to Rs 7,000 per month.

The Union Cabinet had approved the amendment in the Payment of Bonus Act 1965 for the Industrial workers last month, making them eligible for the reward.

Source : http://www.deccanherald.com

Armed forces raise concerns in 7th Pay Commission with defence ministry

New Delhi: The armed forces have raised concerns over the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, including "shortcomings" in it, with the defence ministry, Navy chief Admiral RK Dhowan said today.

He said the Commission's report has been examined and effort is on to ensure that whatever they feel is "necessary" for the officers and men of Army, Navy and Air Force, is made available to them.

Admiral RK Dhowan. PTI

"Whatever we feel are the shortcomings are being taken up by the three services with the Ministry of Defence to see that whatever we feel is necessary for our men, our officers, our civilians, is made available to them," Dhowan said during his annual press conference in New Delhi.

He said that all issues of "concern" are being taken up with the ministry.

The Navy chief was replying to a question on the discontent in the armed forces, especially at the level of officers, on the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. Officers say that if the Pay Commission is implemented in the present form, it will position them much below their civilian counterparts in terms of salaries, facilities and status.

One of the main grudge that the armed forces have is with regard to risk-hardship matrix. The officers say that a soldier posted in Siachen Glacier, which has the highest degree of both risk and hardship, gets an allowance of Rs 31,500 per month.

In contrast, a civilian bureaucrat from the All India Services draws 30 percent of his salary as "hardship allowance" when posted anywhere outside the comfort zone.

Under the new scale, a senior IAS official posted in a city in North East will draw much more as "hardship allowance", compared to the Rs 31,500 per month drawn by military officers in Siachen.

PTI

SWR officers not happy with 7th pay commission

South Western Railway Promotee Officer’s Association (SWRPOA), Hubballi, has expressed disappointment over the recommendations of the seventh pay commission and has demanded consideration of some of its demands.

President of the association M. Sreedhar, general secretary Shaju A. Francis and other office-bearers submitted a memorandum to the general manager of South Western Railway Pradeep Kumar Saxena here on Wednesday urging him to forward their plea to the Railway Board for consideration.

In the submission, the officers said although the general impression is that salaries would go up substantially, the gross hike would be around 14 per cent in real terms.

SWRPOA would request the Railway Board to have the minimum pay recommended by the commission (Rs. 18,000) revised suitably and also have other pay levels revised accordingly, they have said.

They have said in the submission that the commission had not considered the long pending grievances of the promotee officers regarding parity in pay.

They have also pointed out that the commission’s recommendations related to seniority, recruitment including induction of Group-B officers into Group-A and other matters were not within the purview of the terms of the reference.

SWRPOA members also pointed out that the commission had not considered the Ministry of Railway’s recommendations about entry-level grade pay of Rs. 5,400 in Pay Band-II to promotee officers and placement of the junior administrative grade in Pay Band-IV.

They said that submission was made after discussing the pay commission recommendations in detail during the Annual General Body meeting of the association.

SOURCE - THE HINDU

Fix MPs’ salary at Re 1 more than Rs 2.50 lakh a month of cabinet secretary: SP leader

NEW DELHI: Some Rajya Sabha members on Wednesday demanded a "transparent mechanism" to fix their salaries and allowances, with one even suggesting their salary be fixed at Re 1 more than that of the Rs 2.50 lakh monthly salary recommended for the cabinet secretary by the 7th Central Pay Commission. 

Raising the matter as a point of order as soon as zero hour began in the morning, Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agrawal said the government had said it was constituting a "super committee" after media hype over the joint parliamentary panel's recommendation to double the pay and perks of lawmakers. 

While holding that the government could not set up a super committee over the joint parliamentary committee, Agrawal said, "It's not as if we are not affected by inflation. If people expect good conduct from us, there should be transparency with MPs as well. It will be appropriate if we get Re 1 more than what has been fixed for the cabinet secretary." 

JD(U) leader K C Tyagi joined Agrawal and said a "super committee" would be unconstitutional. "How can there be a committee to monitor a joint committee set up by Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman?" he said. 

Tyagi said though he was not against the 7th CPC recommendations, MPs should also get a fair deal. "It (CPC) has 169 types of privileges for central government employees... a hair-cutting allowance, a shoe-polishing allowance etc," he said. 

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien, however, did not allow any further discussion. "Who is telling you there can be a committee to monitor a parliamentary committee? Parliament is supreme, there cannot be such a committee... It is all your apprehension," he said.

7th pay commission: 7वें वेतन आयोग में मांग नहीं माने जाने से अफसर नाराज

केंद्रीय सातवें वेतन आयोग की रिपोर्ट में पदोन्नत अधिकारियों की अनदेखी किए जाने से रेलवे के अधिकारियों में भारी रोष है। इस संबंध में यहां आरडीएसओ में भारतीय रेलवे प्रोन्नत अधिकारी महासंघ की बैठक हुई। 

इसमें फैसला किया गया कि रेलवे के सभी क्षेत्रीय संगठन अगले सप्ताह रेल मंत्री और अध्यक्ष रेलवे बोर्ड को ज्ञापन भेजेंगे। इसके बावजूद उनकी मांगों पर सकारात्मक कार्यवाही नहीं हुई तो वे सभी इकाइयों पर धरना-प्रदर्शन कर रोष जताएंगे।

महासंघ के महासचिव रमन कुमार शर्मा और सलाहकार जितेंद्र सिंह, अमेष कुमार व आरपी तिवारी ने बताया कि वेतन आयोग की रिपोर्ट में पदोन्नत अधिकारियों की वरीयता संबंधी टिप्पणी गैरजरूरी है और यह आयोग के अधिकार क्षेत्र के बाहर है। अगर यह रिपोर्ट लागू की जाती है तो अधिकारियों का वेतन सभी कटौतियों के बाद बढ़ने के स्थान पर कम हो जाएगा। वहीं न्यूनतम वेतन 18,000 निर्धारित किया गया है, जो तर्कसंगत नहीं है।