OFFICE BEARERS : PRESIDENT:C.NAGENDRAN-9443443054 SECRETARY :K.SIVAMOORTHY - 9994240223 TREASURER: C.KARTHIKA VICE PRESIDENT: 1.S.MOHAN 2.V.CHANDRASEKAR 3.V.RAVINDRAN 4.M.KUPPAMUTHU ASST SECRETARY: 1.M.EZHILARASAN 2.R.SARAVANAN 3.R.MURUGESWARI 4.P.GANESAN ASST TREASURER:S.HABEEB ORGANIZING SECRETARY:1.S.V.PARAMASIVAM 2.S.PANDIAN 3.M.RIKHASMOHAMED

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Tuesday 30 December 2014

WISHING ALL OFFICE BEARERS, MEMBERS, FRIENDS, OFFICERS, READERS ** A HAPPY NEW YEAR **


COPY OF MODEL CORPORATION ACT PROPOSED BY TASK FORCE IN OUR DEPARTMENT

Incentive to the staff performing International Money Transfer Service (IMTS) transactions in the Post Offices

ஏர் ஏசியா விமானம் கண்டுபிடிப்பு ; உடல்கள் கடலில் ...

சுமத்ரா : காணாமல் போன ஏர் ஏசியா விமானம் புறப்பட்ட இடத்தில் இருந்து 15 கி.மீட்டர் தொலைவில் ஜாவா கடலில் விழுந்து கிடந்தது கண்டு பிடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இந்த சோகத்தை சொல்லிக்கொள்ள வார்த்தைகள் ஏதுமில்லை என ஏர் ஏசியா தலைமை அதிகாரி தனது டுவிட்டரில் இரங்கல் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.
ஏர் ஏசியா கடலில் தான் விழுந்துள்ளது என்பது உறுதி செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது. கடலில் மிதக்கும் உடல்கள் தொடர்பான காட்சிகள் உள்ளூர் தொலைக்காட்சியில் ஒளிபரப்பப்பட்டு வருகிறது. இது வரை 40 உடல்கள் மீட்கப்பட்டுள்ளதாக இந்தோனேஷியா கடலோர காவல் படையினர் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர். இதனையடுத்து சுர்பையா விமான நிலையத்தில், பலியான பயணிகளின் உறவினர்கள் குவிந்துள்ளனர்

Sunday 28 December 2014

NFPE THENI DIVISION WISHING ALL THE BEST FOR TNSTC UNIONS


REVISION OF CASH HANDLING ALLOWANCE - LONG PENDING ITEM SETTLED IN JCM DC MEETING HELD ON 16.12.2014


கடந்த 16.12.2014  அன்று டெல்லியில் நடைபெற்ற JCM  இலாக்கா குழு கூட்டத்தில்  நீண்ட காலமாக  தீர்க்கப் படாமல்  நிலுவையில் இருந்த  'REVISION  OF SPM  CASH  HANDLING  ALLOWANCE '  என்ற  அஞ்சல் மூன்றின்  பிரச்சினை நமது பொதுச் செயலர்  தோழர். N . சுப்பிரமணியன் அவர்களின்  தீவிர முயற்சியால் அன்றைய தினமே  SPOT  ORDER  ஆக  கூட்டத்திலேயே பெறப்பட்டுள்ளது .  இது இலாக்காவில் இருந்து அனுப்பப் படும் முறைப்படியான உத்திரவு இல்லையெனினும் , உடன் முறையான உத்திரவு அளிக்கப்படும் என்பதற்கான உத்திரவாதத்தை எழுத்து மூலம்   கூட்டம்  நடக்கும்  நாளிலேயே பெறுவதென்பது  குறிப்பிடத்தகுந்த சிறப்பான  ஒரு செயலாகும்.  இதற்காக  தோழர். N .S . அவர்களுக்கு  நம் மாநிலச் சங்கத்தின்  பாராட்டுக்கள் !

குறிப்பாக இப்படி ஒரு அலவன்ஸ்  உண்டு என்பது கூட நம்மில் பெரும்பகுதி  தோழர்களுக்கு தெரியாது. நிறைய இடங்களில்  'C ' மற்றும் 'B ' CLASS  SPM  கள்  இதனைப் பெறுவதற்கு  மாதாந்திர CASH  HANDLING  தொகை எவ்வளவு என்று எடுத்து அதில் இருந்து ஒரு நாளைக்கு  AVERAGE  தொகை எவ்வளவு என்பதை கணக்கீடு செய்து  STATEMENT  ஆக அனுப்பி அதற்கு உரிய   CASH  HANDLING  ALLOWANCE  CLAIM  செய்வது இல்லை  என்பதே உண்மை.  ஏற்கனவே ரூ. 70/- மற்றும் ரூ.140/- இருந்த காலங்களில்கூட இதனை பல தோழர்கள் பெற்றது கிடையாது . 

இது போலத்தான் AGENCY  முறையில் நாம் செய்திடும் BUSINESS  VENTURE  வேலைகளுக்கு,  அதற்காக நம் இலாக்காவிற்கு அளிக்கப்படும் கமிசன் தொகையில் 25% அதில் வேலை செய்பவர்களுக்கு INCENTIVE  ஆகப் பெறமுடியும் என்பதும்  பலருக்கு தெரியாது. 

நாம் பலமுறை எடுத்துக் கூறியும் எவரும் CLAIM  செய்வதும்  இல்லை.  உரிய வேலைப் பளு கணக்கிடு வதற்கான  TIME  FACTOR  வழங்கப் படாத எந்த ஒரு  B.D. வேலைகளுக்கும் இந்த உத்திரவு பொருந்தும்.  இதற்கான  உத்திரவை ஏற்கனவே  DEPT  இல்  நம் சங்கத்தின் மூலம் போராடிப் பெற்றிருந்தும்  அது செயல்படுத்தப் படுவதில்லை என்று  நம் மாநிலச் செயலர்  RJCM  இல்  பிரச்சினையை எடுத்து அதன் மீது மீண்டும்  உத்திரவு பெற்று அதன் நகலை இதே வலைத்தளத்திலும் பிரசுரித்துள்ளார் என்பது உண்மை .

 உதாரணமாக  EB  BILL  பெறுவதில்  இலாக்காவுக்கு  ஒரு BILL  க்கு  ரூ. 10/- கமிசன் ஆக கொடுக்கப் பட்டால் , அதில் வேலை செய்பவர்களுக்கு  ரூ.2.50 INCENTIVE  ஆக CLAIM  செய்திட உரிமை உண்டு . SUPERVISOR  0.50 காசுகளும்  எழுத்தர்  ரூ.2.00 ம் என்ற விகிதத்தில் மொத்தம் எவ்வளவு BILL கள்  பெறப்பட்டதோ அதற்கான தொகை கணக்கீடு செய்து   மாதாந்திர BILL  CLAIM  செய்து  வாங்கிடலாம்.

நம்முடைய கோட்ட/ கிளைச் செயலர்கள்  நாம் பெற்ற இந்த உரிமைகளை அடிமட்ட ஊழியர்களுக்கு கொண்டு சென்று சேர்த்திட முயற்சி மேற் கொண்டிட வேண்டுகிறோம். இந்த செய்திகளை அனைத்து வலைத்தளங்களிலும் பகிர்ந்துகொண்டிட வேண்டுகிறோம்.

CASH  HANDLING  ALLOWANCE  SPOT  ORDER  நகலை கீழே பார்க்கவும் :-

Wednesday 17 December 2014

CIC recommends ordinary postal stamp as RTI fee instrument


NEW DELHI: People seeking information under RTI Act may now be able to use  postal stamps as application fee if a recommendation of the Central Information Commission is accepted by  the Centre.

Two Information Commissioners in two separate cases-- R K  Jain and Raghubir Singh-- have made a common recommendation to the Department of Personnel and Training for  implementing postal stamps as a mode of payment of RTI fee thus reducing hassles  of applicants.

RTI users now have to pay a fee of Rs 10 either in cash, bank demand draft or Indian Postal Order to get information.

Some authorities like Army and Indian air force refuse to accept  applications drawn in favour of Accounts Officer despite clear directives of the  Department of Personnel and Training causing hassles to applicants.

"The appellant has submitted that the postal department's recommendation for use  of ordinary postal stamps for payment of RTI fee is both practical and user  friendly. The Commission finds merit in the appellant's submissions and would  urge the DoPT to consider this at the earliest.

"In this connection it  is noted that the government of Tamil Nadu has already allowed payment of RTI  fee by affixing court fee stamps, Information Commissioner Basant Seth said in  the matter of activist R K Jain.

Agreeing with Seth, Information Commissioner Sridhar  Acharyulu also issued an exhaustive order on the issue recommending to DoPT  to avail the opportunity of giving New Year Gift to the citizens by permitting  and publicising the use of ordinary postal stamps for the payment of RTI fee. 

"Accepting postal stamps for RTI fee would resolve many difficulties in payment,  besides preventing wastage of public money in returning or rejecting the IPOs or  spending much larger amounts than Rs 10, for realising Rs 10, and avoidable  litigation," he said.

Acharyulu said returning the IPO to the appellant  involves writing a letter on a white paper, covering in an envelop, spending  public office's time which could have been used for some other productive work  besides spending Rs 25 or Rs 30 for speed post.

The case relates to applicant Raghubir Singh whose application was  rejected an year ago as it was not correctly drawn in the favour of authority  designated by the Directorate of Education, Government of Delhi.

"In all the public authority will be spending approximately Rs 35 to Rs 50. It  will also cause unnecessary expenditure for the appellant, who has already spend  Rs 20 to get a postal order for Rs 10. For returning and taking a different IPO  he has to spend again the same amount," Acharyulu said.

The  Commissioner said spending Rs 50 to reject the IPO worth Rs 10 on silly grounds  would amount to wastage of Rs 50 plus Rs 60.

"By accepting to deposit  the postal order of Rs 10, they would be preventing expenditure of Rs 60 and use Rs 10," he said.

He said it is a misuse of the power of PIO to reject to receive RTI  application and the fee amounting to harassment of the applicant.

"It  is also a kind of denial of information. Any kind of delay in furnishing of  information on such grounds, violates the letter and spirit of RTI Act on  several counts," he said.

Issuing a show cause notice for denying information, the Commissioner directed  all the PIOs of Public Authority to submit separate reports to this Commission  explaining how many IPOs they have rejected so far and what are the grounds of  rejection, from January 2014 to December 10, 2014, within 15 days from the date  of receipt of this order.

No increase in retirement age

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL,PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-2121
ANSWERED ON-11.12.2014

Increase in retirement age

2121. Shri Mahendra Singh Mahra

(a) whether Government has decided to increase the retirement age of Central Government employees from 60 years to 62 years, if not, by when such a decision is expected to be taken;

(b) whether such a decision would not result in reduction of employment opportunities to the educated youth of the country; and

(c) if so, the details of rationale for increasing the retirement age?

ANSWER

Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office. (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

(a): No, Sir.

(b) & (c): Do not arise.

Payment of salary in cash - option to DoP officials



Thursday 11 December 2014

Insurance bill gets nod, likely to be tabled in Rajya Sabha today

                                                         The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a clutch of decisions on the economic front and approved the Insurance (Amendment) Bill paving the introduction of the legislation in Parliament.

The bill seeks to raise the composite foreign investment cap in the sector to 49% from the existing 26% and is expected to have all the amendments approved by a select committee of Parliament. The bill is likely to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

The insurance Bill has been pending in Parliament for several years and its passage is expected to attract foreign capital while strengthening the sector. It has been identified as one of the key reforms by the Narendra Modi administration and the parliamentary approval to the bill is expected to add to the reform credentials.

"The bill is aimed at removing archaic and redundant provisions in the relevant legislations and to enable the insurance sector to work for the betterment of the insured with greater efficacy," a government statement said.

The cabinet also allowed public sector banks to raise capital to meet their additional capital requirements under BASEL-III by diluting government holding upto 52% in a phased manner.

Out of 27 PSBs, the government controls 22 through majority holding. In the remaining 5 banks, SBI holds majority stake. These 27 PSBs control 70% of total branches, deposits and credit in the Indian banking system. The government has regularly been infusing incremental capital in the state run banks.

The total support provided to PSBs towards capitalisation during the last four years stands at Rs.5 8,634 crore. The provision for the current year is at Rs. 11,200 crore and the total market cap of government shareholding as on May 20 stands at Rs.4,19,711 crore.

If the PSBs are permitted to bring down GOI holding to 52% in a phased manner, they can raise up to Rs 1,60,825 crore from the market. The budgetary support needed for 2015-19 would be Rs.78,895 crore only, which will maintain government holding at 52%. However, as the government is likely to receive an amount of Rs.34,500 crore from PSBs as dividend, the net outgo will only be Rs.44,395 crore, the official statement said.

While permitting banks to raise capital from the market, the banks would be advised to preserve the government holding at minimum 52% and increase the public shareholding in a phased manner through the issue of shares largely to retail investors.

The cabinet also approved continuing the interest subvention to public sector banks, private sector banks, regional rural banks (RRBs), cooperatives banks and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to enable them to provide short-term crop loans up to Rs 3 lakh to farmers at 7% during the year 2014-15.

"To provide additional interest subvention of 3% per annum to those farmers who repay on time, that is within one year of disbursement of their short-term crop loans taken during the year 2014-15," a government statement said.

The cabinet also approved providing relief to farmers affected by natural calamities, the interest subvention of 2% will continue to be available to banks for the first year on the restructured amount. Such restructured loans may attract normal rate of interest from the second year onwards as per the policy laid down by the RBI.

The government has since 2006-07 been subsidizing short-term crop loans to farmers in order to ensure the availability of crop loans to farmers for loans upto Rs 3 lakh at seven percent per annum.

Among other decisions, the Cabinet also cleared an amendment to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act to enable of leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha to be included in the panel to select Lokpal chairman and members. The amendment bill, which will now be brought before Parliament, will enable Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge to have a say in the selection process in the absence of a recognised Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Use email services with server in India, home ministry tells staff

Use email services with server in India, home ministry tells staff

NEW DELHI: Keeping in mind the current threat scenario in cyberspace, the Union home ministry has instructed its employees to use social media platforms judiciously even while making posts in their personal capacity, and use e-mail accounts connected to servers located in India, for official work involving transmission of public records. 

The internal circular, issued by a joint secretary-level officer of the home ministry, states that while employees are free to post responses in their personal capacity, while doing so, they must clearly identify themselves and desist from divulging any confidential information. Besides, the views of officials posting on social media should not be seen to represent "official view" unless they are so authorized. 

Also drawing attention to the fact that the servers of many popular social media platforms as well as email services are located outside India, the home ministry has instructed its staff to use an e-mail identity connected to a server located in India for any official work involving transmission of public records. "For this purpose, they may preferably take service of the National Informatics Centre (NIC)," suggests the circular dated December 5. 

The circular recalled how social media is increasingly being used in government for public engagements, for disseminating information, policy making, recruitments, generating awareness, education, etc. "Most of the social media platforms are based outside India and are not governed by Indian laws. It is very important to ensure that Public Records Act, 1993, and other applicable laws are complied with and adequate provisions for security are in place in view of current threat scenario in cyber space," it says.

Wednesday 10 December 2014

In a bid to reinvigorate the postal department by linking it with e-commerce, telecom minister is scheduled to meet heads of Amazon India and Flipkart this week.


NEW DELHI: In a bid to reinvigorate the postal department by linking it with booming e-commerce, IT and communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is scheduled to meet heads of Amazon India and Flipkart this week.

Amazon India vice-president and country manager Amit Agarwal and Monique Meche, vice president of Global Public Policy at Amazon are scheduled to meet Prasad tomorrow.

Flipkart co-founder and CEO Sachin Bansal is also expected to meet the minister on November 13, sources said.

They said the agenda of the meeting is to discuss the ways in which India Post, world's largest postal network, can be utilised by e-commerce players to deliver goods across the country.

Prasad, they said, is of the view that with its unparalleled rural reach, India Post would be best suited to offer delivery services to e-commerce players.

The government is also looking at using e-commerce to improve the efficiency of postmen, and contemplating ways to incentivise them for timely delivery of goods.

"The postmen are expected to get some reward for timely delivery of products, although its just an idea as of now," said a source.

India Post has over 1.55 lakh post offices of which more than 1.39 lakh are in the rural areas. On an average, a post office serves an area of 21.21 sq km and a population of 7,175 people.

According to market analysts, last-mile delivery of products ordered by online shoppers will figure as one of the major deciding factors for e-commerce firms like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon and so on.

These firms offer one-day delivery to their clients and the demand is expected further intensify as they are investing hugely in logistics to ramp up their delivery system.

The opportunity in back-end logistics for online shopping segment is estimated to be about Rs 3,500-4,000 crore, a major part of which is last mile delivery.

According to a joint study by consultancy firm PwC and industry body Assocham, the size of the e-retail industry is poised to touch USD 10-20 billion by 2017-2020 and e-commerce firms are expected to spend up to USD 1.9 billion by 2017-2020 on infrastructure, logistics and warehousing.

Amazon started booking parcels at one place with India Post in 2013 which has now expanded to five locations by October 2014.

NEW DELHI: Eyeing $9 billion business opportunity in booming e-commerce business, India Post, which has the biggest network and serves the last mile, is boosting its infrastructure for real-time tracking of parcels through satellites using a new technology.

The Postal Department will also soon start an SMS facility to inform customers about delivery status of their parcels.

India Post, which is already in tie-ups with e-commerce majors Amazon and Snapdeal, will also have security gadgets like CCTV and access control systems to ensure safety of articles.

Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in a meeting with officials in the Department of Posts has directed them to focus on opportunities in e-commerce and tune infrastructure to facilitate growth of the sector which has huge potential to bring investments and generate new jobs.

"The Minister has asked India Post to leverage is reach to provide special facilities to local weavers, craftsmen/women, painters and artists so that they also benefit from e-commerce," a ministry official told PTI. The Minister wanted their products to be picked up from their doorsteps and delivered to end-customers, the official added.

The official said that "postal department has started working on development of road transport network for parcel movement on majority routes with GPS facility. It is augmenting facility of secure area for parcels with access control and CCTV around it".

As per industry estimates shared by India Posts, e-commerce business in India was about $6 billion in value in 2012 and is expected to reach $76 billion by 2021.

The distribution, delivery or logistics constitutes approximately 12 per cent of the total e-commerce market accounting for about $9 billion by 2021.

India Post, which has world's largest postal network of 1.55 lakh post offices, has seen multifold rise in business since the time it entered in partnership with e-commerce companies.

Amazon started booking parcels at one place with India Post in 2013 which has now expanded to five locations by October 2014.

"Amazon shipped 7000 parcels in January this year. By October, number of article booked in a month by Amazon increased to about 85,000. Snapdeals send 2000-3000 parcels per day. Naaptol is giving about Rs 25 crore business to India Post per annum," the official said.

India Post is offering cash collection on delivery facility of product to 200 customers.

"Since December 2013 approximately India Post has collected Rs 280 crore as cash on delivery amount and paid to the e-commerce companies," the official said.

CONSOLIDATED INSTRUCTIONS ON SUSPENSION

Tuesday 9 December 2014

Can Retirement age 60 to 58 Solve Unemployment Problem

Can Retirement age 60 to 58 Solve Unemployment Problem






“The Financial Express”, one of the leading newspapers recently published a news article on the Central Government’s plan to reduce the retirement age of employees from 60 to 58. This news shocked the central government employees.


“Reducing the retirement age of central government employees from 60 to 58 will help to solve the unemployment problem in India?”

Reasons for decreasing the retirement age from 60 to 58:

The following reasons are attributed for decreasing the present age of retirement:

1) To create more employment opportunities for the youth

2) To increase the contribution of younger employees in the government sectors and

3) To compensate the loss accrued due to payment of allowances

Unemployment issue:

None can have any disagreement about the fact that employment opportunities should be provided for the unemployed. There are so many ways for solving the unemployment problem. They are:
1) Introducing new employment policies

2) Filling all the positions lying vacant and

3) Promoting self-employment by introducing new schemes and providing suitable facilities and many more ways can help to solve the problem of unemployment.

Increasing the retirement age from 60 to 62 for scientists:

In the Rajya Sabha, for a question raised on increasing the retirement age for scientists from 60 to 62 in written format, the response given was: “it is under consideration”.

The important reasons for increasing the retirement age for scientists are:

1) Their experience and expertise should benefit the younger generation and

2) The average life span has increased.

“Isn’t there a need to increase the retirement age of employees working in other fields?”

Allowance issue:

Extra allowance that has to be paid is cited as a reason for bringing down the retirement age of employees from 60 to 58. However, in reality, the pay commission is set up only once in 10 years and benefits the central government employees.

“In the long interval of 10 years, only these allowances help the employees to cope with inflation”.

In the past, the average service period of a central government employee was 30 to 40 years. Presently, as the age limit for appointment has been relaxed, the average service period has come down to 20 to 30 years. Due to this, an employee can only have 2 or 3 pay commissions in his service period.

In this situation, citing allowance as a reason for decreasing retirement age and altering the present allowance rates will adversely affect the economic condition of central government employees.

Average retirement age in the world:

The average retirement age of many nations is between 63 and 65. Comparatively speaking, even the age of 60 is obviously a very early age for retirement. In this context, we do not know whether the employees will accept 58 as the age of retirement.

Will early retirement solve the unemployment problem?

Employment for all is a very important. It is the duty of a nation to provide employment to all her youth and lead them in a better way. The hope and aspiration of every youth in this country is to get a good job. They do not expect the retirement age to be brought down from 60 to 58.

What is the responsibility of the Pay Commission?

For every ten years the central government employees has a salary revision. Though the formation of CPC (central pay commission) is delayed the benefits are being given to the employees every ten years without fail in the form of arrears. The fourth pay scale commission resolutions have been implemented from January 1986. From 1996 January salaries and pensions have been paid based on the fifth pay commission recommendations. The sixth pay commission recommendations are implemented from January 1st 2006.  Apart from these all the other has been implemented three years prior to the new CPC implementation date. In reality the fifth and sixth CPCs have recommended that the successive CPC should be announced after five years implementation of the present CPC recommendations. In this scenario, the demands have started from January 2011 itself for the seventh CPC. With increase in rates, living cost and other expenses employees have put their hopes on this new CPC. If we observe the pay scale commission’s recommendations till now there is three times increase in the average salaries.

This is sixth pay scale commission
From 2006 January 1st, the 6th pay commission recommendations have to be implemented. But the central government has appointed the 6th commission on October 5th, 2006. With Justice Sri Krishna as the chief and Ravindra Dholakia, J S Maadhur and Sushmanadh as members this CPC has been formed. By doing a study for one and half year on March 24th2008 they have given their report. This report with minor changes has been approved by the central government on 14th August, 2008. These recommendations have come into act from 1st January 2006 and in the 6th pay commission the employees’ salaries have been hiked 2.26 times.

The Responsibility of 7th Pay Commission
The role and responsibility of pay scale commission is really tough as their decisions influence the benefits of 80 lakhs employees and pensioners families. They have to keep in view the financial burden on the government and at the same time should also be able to satisfy the employees. So CPC takes into consideration the country’s economic condition, present salaries in the private and government sectors, state government salaries and also the necessities of employees before making any recommendations. It shall collect lot of information and analyze the condition so we cannot right away say how the 7th pay scale commission recommendations are going to be. But it is also true that with every CPC it is clear that the pay scales increases three times. So the employees can expect that they shall be given a hike in salaries on the same note.

History of Pay Commissions in India

The concept of constitution of Pay Commissions for revision of pay scales of Central Government employees is peculiar to India and no other country in the world is following this pattern of specified periodical revisions as an established mode of such revisions.

The Government of India constitutes, as a matter of convention, Pay Commissions every ten years to review and make recommendations on the wage structure of Central Government employees including Defence personnel and Railway employees and the Pensioners. The Pay Commission, depending on the terms of reference, shall examine various aspects such as pay and allowances, retirement and death benefits, conditions of service, promotion policy and such other related matters and submits its recommendations to the Government, who will take the final decision as to its implementation, which may be full or partial or amended of modified.  The Chairman and Members of the Pay Commission shall be nominated by the Government. The so far followed practice for constitution of the Pay Commission is at periodical intervals of 10 years as is seen from the constitution of such Commissions in the past. It is not mandatory for the Government to constitute the Pay Commission as is seen from the fact that inspite of the Employees’ demanding for constitution of Pay Commission during the year 2003, the Vajpayee government has turned down their demand.

Prior to the constitution of the First Pay Commission in 1946, the 1934 pay scales were continued.

First Pay Commission

The First Pay Commission was constituted in May 1946 under the Chairmanship of Sri Srinivasa Varadachariar. Taking inspiration from the Islington Commission Report of 1912 under the Chairmanship of Lord Islington, the concept of living wages meaning that in no case an employee’s wage be less than the living wage, was taken into consideration in formulating the recommendations of the First Pay Commission. The Commission has fixed Rs.55, of which Basic Pay was Rs.30 and DA Rs.25 as the minimum wage. The recommendations were accepted by the Government.

Second Pay Commission

The Second Pay Commission was set up in August 1957 under the Chairmanship of Justice Jagannath Das and the Commission took two years to finalize the report. One of the recommendations of the Commission was that the pay structure and working environment of the government employees should be crafted in such a way as to ensure efficient functioning of the system by recruiting persons with a minimum qualification, which was earlier not followed. The Commission recommended the minimum wage at Rs.80 (Basic Pay Rs.70 and DA Rs.10) per month and reduced the multiple numbers of pay scales.

Third Pay Commission

The Third Pay Commission was set up in April 1970 under the Chairmanship of Justice Raghuvir Dayal. It went beyond the idea of minimum subsistence and added three concepts of inclusiveness, comprehensibility and adequacy for pay structure to be sound in nature as to be attractive to the employees, which, the Commission felt that it would improve the efficiency of functioning of the Government machinery. It recommended the minimum wage at Rs.185 per month and the Government raised it to Rs.196. Pay fixation formula was made more liberal. The Commission gave its report in March 1973.

Fourth Pay Commission

The Fourth Pay Commission was constituted in March 1983 under the Chairmanship of Sri P.N.Singhal. It recommended for creating permanent machinery as part of the administration to undertake periodical review of pay and allowances of the employees. However, it was never implemented by the Government. It recommended for minimum wage of Rs.750. It took four years and submitted the report in three phases. The report was implemented with effect from 01.01.1986.

Fifth Pay Commission

The Fifth Pay Commission was set up in 1994 under the Chairmanship of Justice Ratnavel Pandian. The Commission recommended for fixing the minimum wage at Rs.2550 per month, to further reduce the number of pay scales from 51 to 34 and to slash the government workforce by about 30% with grant of salary hikes to the retained employees. It took 4 years for the Commission to submit its report. During this period, the Government of India was in take-off mode with the concept of LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation) in its economic reforms, for which it has to look to the World Bank and IMF and thus the World Bank has opened its mouth with criticism on the after effects of the Pay Commission recommendations on the Indian economy.

Sixth Pay Commission

Sixth Pay Commission was set up in July 2006 under the Chairmanship of Justice B.N.Srikrishna with a time frame of 18 months. While formulating pay scales with upward revision and fixing the minimum salary at entry level at Rs.6660 (Basic Pay Rs.4860 and Grade Pay Rs.1800) and maximum at Rs.80000 at Secretary level, the Commission mainly focussed on removing ambiguity in respect of the existing pay scales and, introducing the idea of ‘Pay Bands’, while reducing the number of pay scales. It recommended for removal of Group – D cadre.

Seventh Pay Commission

The Government of India constituted Seventh Pay Commission on September 25, 2013 and the recommendations of the Commission are likely to be implemented with effect from 1stJanuary 2016.While hailing the decision of the Government, the Employees’ Unions have demanded for implementation of the Commission’s recommendations to take effect from 1stJanuary 2011 in the same pattern as with the conventional periodical wage revisions for every 5 years in Public Sector Undertakings. The Commission shall study the structure of salaries of different cadres of the 50 lakh Central Government employees and 30 lakh Pensioners and recommend for upward revision of scales and allied service matters.Constitution of the Chairman and Members of the Commission shall be taken up in due course of time.

During the year 2008, the three wings of defence forces have requested the Central Government to rectify the discrepancies in the pay scales of defence personnel. They felt that since the Defence Forces are expected even to sacrifice their lives in their normal duties, there should be some variance in the pay scales of Civilian employees and Defence personnel.  Similarly, they demanded that the proviso of ‘one rank – one salary’ and ‘one rank – one pension’ should be implemented in the defence forces. After passing though different phases, in the year 2009, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh informed the Defence department that a special Pay Commission would be constituted for Defence Personnel  and a strong belief has emerged that a separate Pay Commission will be constituted in the background of the notification for 7th Pay Commission. But, the Chief of Air Staff has expressed in his current letter to the Defence Minister that there is no need for a separate Pay Commission for Defence Forces and that it would be enough if reasonable representation of the Defence cadres is provided in the 7th Pay Commission.

Comments

Constitution of the 7th Pay Commission is not devoid of any criticism. Media feels its timing of the constitution of the Pay Commission is so announced that it is a ‘caret and stick’mode of bait to the Government employees, including Defence personnel and Railway employees in the background of the approaching Lok Sabha elections next year and elections to the State Assemblies of 5 states in November this year.

Industry circles felt that there is every possibility of increased rate of inflation apart from the additional financial burden on the government with notification of 7th Pay Commission. ASSOCHAM Secretary General Mr. D.S.Rawat dubbed that if the Central Government substantially increases the salaries, the funds at the disposal of the Government would deplete and the pressure of inflation increases. He further stated that by the time the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission are implemented by January 2016, the financial burden in the implementation of the Food Security Act and Employment Guarantee Scheme would also increase. He questioned whether it is necessary for the Government to perennially go on fighting with Fiscal Deficit.  PHD Chamber of Commerce President Mr. Suman Jyothi Khaitan felt that the Government should concentrate on implementation of reforms for improving the financial segment and management of distribution sector and increasing the income status; and further felt that without providing the needed infrastructure and distribution sectors, economy would ultimately lead to severe inflation.