Fixation of pay in case of employees who seek transfer to a lower post under FR 15(a) - clarification regarding.

Copy of Dept of Personnel and Training Memo No F.No. 13/9/2009-Estt(Pay-I) dated 21.10.2009

The undersigned is directed to refer to instructions issued vide this Department's OM NO. 16/6/2001-Estt(Pay-I) dated 14.2.2006 on the above subject. It was clarified therein that on transfer to the lower post/scale under FR 15(a), the pay of a Government servant holding a post on regular basis will be fixed at a stage equal to the pay drawn by him in the higher grade. If no such stage is available, the pay will be fixed at the stage next below the pay drawn by him in the higher post and the difference may be granted as personal pay to be absorbed in future increments. If the maximum of the pay sc~le of the lower post is less than the pay drawn by him in the higher post, his pay may be restricted to the maximum under FR 22(a)(a)(3).

2. Consequent upon implementation of the revised pay structure comprising grade pays and running Pay Bands, w.e.f. 1.1.2006 in cases of appointment of Government servants to posts carrying lower Grade Pay under FR 15(a) on their own request, the pay in the pay band of the Government servant will be fixed at a stage equal to the pay in the pay band drawn by him prior to his appointment against the lower post. However, he will be granted grade pay of lower post. Further, in all cases, he will continue to draw his increments based on his pay in the pay band +grade pay (lower).

3. Where transfer to a lower post is made subject to certain terms and conditions then the pay may be fixed according to such terms and conditions.

4. In so far as persons serving in the Indian Audit & Accounts Department are concerned, these orders issue after consultation with the Comptroller & Auditor General of India.

4. This order takes effect from 1.1.2006.

For details click here to see the OM dated 21.10.2009

GRANT OF DEARNESS RELIEF TO CENTRAL GOVERNMENT PENSIONERS W.E.F. 1.7.2009 WHO ARE IN RECEIPT OF PROVISIONAL PENSION

Dept of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare Memo No F. No. 42/12/2009-P*PW(G) dated 22.10.2009

In the above mentioned OM , the Dearness Relief to those Central Government Pensioners who are in receipt of provisional pension or pension in the pre-revised scales of 5th CPC at the rate of 54% w.e.f. 1.7.2008 is encreased to @ 64% w.e.f. 1.1.2009.

For Details click here to see the Memo dated 22.10.2009

YET ANOTHER REMITTANCE FACILITY TO/FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES (EUROGIRO)

The India Post being a largest network providing various services for the people in the country. We have remittance facilities by various modes viz Money Order, eMoney Order and iMO (instant Money Order) within our country. For remittance from foreign countries we have Western Union Money Transfer and IFS. Now with tie-up with Eurogiro, Our Department proposed launch the service from 24.10.2009 for remittance from/to foreign countries.

Newsitem published in the Eurogiro is reproduced below for information:-

India Post joins the Eurogiro community

Please welcome India Post as a member in the Eurogiro community, and an expansion of the Eurogiro payment gateway into the country of India.

India Post plans to launch its remittance service via the Eurogiro network in October 2009. Across its vast network of post office branches, the Post will provide its customers with cash and account transfers for both incoming and outgoing payments.

Indians working abroad will now be able to send payments for either cash pickup at a postal branch, or request to send cash directly to their relatives at their doorstep. India Post will provide account-to-account international payments like the banks in India, and they also plan to provide an outbound payment service with Eurogiro members for cash receipt.

India Post is a 100% government-owned postal and financial institution, established over 150 years ago to promote postal services and small savings development in India. The strength of India Post lies in its vast network and the end-to-end rural reach it provides in retail and cash management.

The Post has a vast network of 155,035 post offices (as on 31st March 2008), and is the largest postal organisation in the world. As a result it has become a popular mechanism for last mile delivery of both private commercial and governmental services.

India Post as a retail outlet has been increasing in popularity. The rapidly changing Indian economic scenario - liberalization, globalization, and a widespread technological revolution –has given rise to the need for efficient delivery of a variety of services. The Post provides not only universal postal services, but it also serves as a useful channel for other socially significant schemes like small savings, payment of Pension, Postal Life Insurance, especially for rural India.

The Post Office Savings Bank is the oldest and largest banking institution in India. It has over 200 million savings accounts and provides deposit facilities at over 154,000 branches spread out throughout India. In addition to its current deposit based activities, it also distributes a number of investment options including mutual funds, pension funds and non-life insurance.

The country of India is the largest receiver of international remittances. The World Bank estimates that US $45 billion of remittances were received by India in 2008, compared to $27 billion in 2007. In its annual report of 2008-09, the RBI said the global economic downturn had not dampened the flow of remittances to India, owing to many factors such as depreciation of the rupee, hike in interest rate ceilings on NRI deposits and uncertainties in oil prices.

MICRO POSTAL LIFE INSURANCE WITHOUT HEALTH CHECK UP FOR RURAL PEOPLE

People living in rural parts of the country will soon be able to avail insurance cover without being subject to mandatory health check-ups as is the norm for life insurance policies.

The department of posts is set to launch a major micro life insurance policy which will no more require the insurees to disclose their present health condition or diseases at the time of buying the policy, a move aimed at expanding the coverage in rural India.

The proposed insurance scheme, which can be availed by economically weaker sections (EWS) of the society and particularly women, will provide a risk cover up to Rs 25,000, said an official in the ministry of communication and information technology. The aim is to cover around one-tenth of Indians and become one of the potent players in the Indian insurance sector by easing out the procedural formalities that precedes purchase of any life insurance scheme.

While the new scheme has been made customer friendly, the postal department will put in place system and process to address the issue of fake claims. To ensure that relaxation over disclosing the insuree’s health condition does not lead to wrong claims, the claimant has to file a death certificate issued by a government doctor on the deceased’s cause of death, the official said. If the medical report says that the insuree was suffering from any ailment that existed prior to the purchase of the insurance policy, the postal department has an option not to honour the insurance claim. The policy premium will vary according to the age of the insuree and the duration of the policy.

India Post expects to cover around 100 million Indians by the end of 2011 under the scheme, this policy is assumed to play a major role in attaining this objective. The move is a part of the initiative taken by India post to put a major thrust on its insurance services and have a strong presence in the insurance sector specially in rural areas,” the official added.

Eight million lives and a sum of Rs 40,000 crore have been insured, since the launch of rural postal life insurance scheme launched in 1995, under various policies offered by India Post under the rural postal life insurance. The department also plans to align its investment norms for life insurance policies to pump in part of its daily collections in revenue-generating instruments including stocks, a move which is likely to start from October 1, 2009.

With a huge presence in the country with around 1.55 lakh post offices, the postal department is slowly developing itself as a centre for distributing diversified services like National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), life insurance and financial solutions to its customers apart from its mail delivery system

Source : Economic Times

Department of Post Selected Accenture to Design and Develop New Information Technology Architecture and System

The Department of Post (DoP) has awarded a 45-month information technology (IT) modernization contract to Accenture (NYSE: ACN) to design a new enterprise IT architecture and migrate the DoP to a more efficient, reliable and user-friendly IT system.
Accenture also will advise DoP on the development of a wide-area network environment that helps connect all post offices on which various online services can run, and will study the feasibility of implementing an enterprise solution for the department’s core banking and advanced financial services.
“The technology enablers will help DoP transform itself by increasing operational performance and achieving efficiencies through “last mile” connectivity,” said Krishna G.V. Giri, who leads Accenture's Management Consulting practice within its Health & Public Service operating group in the Asia Pacific region. “Armed with greater speed, efficiency, and flexibility at DoP, the government will be much better positioned to share various social schemes, such as the Mahatma National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, with even the most remote citizens.”
Accenture’s work began in September with a business process re-engineering (BPR) exercise across key departments and core operations, such as mail operations, banking and advanced financial systems. Following the BPR exercise, Accenture will help select and monitor a vendor to enable the DoP to consolidate its technology infrastructure and applications.
The project is designed to help the DoP drive greater revenue and regain market share in different services and products, including bill payment, e-posts, life insurance, money transfer and banking.
According to Giri, DoP expects that the technology upgrade also will benefit citizens via speedier and more efficient banking and insurance services, track and trace abilities, and retail services. In addition, DoP will be able to compete effectively against local and international courier companies and increase revenue in the mail and logistics business.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With approximately 177,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$21.58 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2009. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

SMS TRACKER FOR EMO AND SPEED POST

Department has introduced facility to track the eMO and Speed Post Articles through SMS from 1.10.2009. The message format is given below for information:-

For EMO

EMO space eMOPNR_No or MO space eMOPNR_No to 55352

For Speed Post Artcle

SP space SpeedPostArticleNo or EMOS space SpeedPostArticleNo to 55352

For other details visit http://indiapost.gov.in

ORDERS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS OF GDS COMMITTEE RELEASED!!!

Directorate has issued orders for implementation of GDS Committee vide Memo No 6-1/2009-PE-III dated 9.10.2009 the memo is available in sahuliyat.com

HIGH LIGHTS OF GDS IMPLEMENTATION ORDERS

1.Fixation of TRCA in the revised TRCA

Basic TRCA as on 1.1.2006 + 5% increase as on 1.4.2004 multiplied by a factor of 1.74 and then adding 40% fitment as arrived at the 20th stage of pre-revised TRCA and fixation at next above the stage in the revised slab of Time Related Continuity Allowance.

TRCA to GDS engaged on or after 1.1.2006 shall be fixed at the minimum of the revised TRCA

2.Fitment table to GDS working as on 31.12.2005 is as below:-

Sl No	Category of GDS	Pre-revised TRCA	Revised TRCA	40% Fitment to be allowed
1.	GDS SPM	Rs 2125-50-3125	Rs 4575-85-7125	Rs 1250
2.	GDS BPM (75 points workload)	Rs 1280-35-1980	Rs 2745-50-4245	Rs 792
3.	GDS BPM (More than 75 points workload)	Rs 1600-40-2400	Rs 3660-70-5760	Rs 960
4.	GDS MD/SV (Workload upto 3 hrs 45 mts)	Rs 1375-25-2125	Rs 3330-60-5130	Rs 750
5.	GDS MD/SV (Workload more than 3 hrs 45 mts)	Rs 1740-30-2640	Rs 4220-75-6470	Rs 936
6.	GDS MC/Pkr/MM (Workload upto 3 hrs 45 Mts)	Rs 1220-20-1600	Rs 2870-50-4370	Rs 640
7.	GDS MC/Pkr-MM (workload more than 3 hrs 45 mts	Rs 1545-25-2020	Rs 3635-65-5585	Rs 808

3.    Annual Increase (Increment)

The fixation of TRCA will be done on 1.1.2006 and the next increase will be allowed after 12 months only.  Hence, the increment in the revised TRCA would be on 1.1.2007, 1.1.2008, 1.1.2009 and so on for all.

4. DA Rate

Same as for Central Government servants (Rate of DA from 1.7.2009 - 27%)

5. Revised rate of other allowances (effect from 9.10.2009)

Nature of Allowance	Existing allowance	Revised allowance
OMA for GDS SPM/BPM	Rs 50 p.m	Rs 100 p.m
FSC	Rs 10 for GDS SPM/BPM and Rs 5 for other GDS	Rs 25 for GDS SPM and Rs 10 for other GDS
Boat Allowance	Rs 10 per month	Actual charges subject to maximum of Rs 50 per month
Cash Conveyance Allowance	Rs 10 per occasion plus bus	Rs 50 per month
Cycle Maintenance Allowance	Rs 30 per month	Rs 60 per month (condition for minimum distance of 10 Kms withdrawn)
Combined duty Allowance for BPM	Rs 100 per month	Rs 500 p.m for each item of work separately. Rs 250 if the delivery is made at BO village only.  Rs 250 for exchanging of mails at Bus stand or at Railway Station
Allowances for combinationof dutyes of MD/Mail conveyance	Rs 75 per month	Rs 25 per day subject to maximum of Rs 625 per month
Compensation to MC who are detailed for excnage of mails	Rs 3 per hour subject to maximum of Rs 6 per day.	Rs 6 per hour subject to a maximum of Rs 12 per day.

6. Discharge Benefits.

Nature of Benefit	Present Benefits	Revised Benefits
Ex-Gratia Gratuity	Rs 18000 or 16.5 times of basic TRCA - Minimum service - 15 years	Rs 60,000 (existing conditions remain same)
Severance amount	Rs 30000 if completed 20 years of service. Rs 20,000 for  15 to 20 years of service	Rs 1500 for every completed year subject to maximum of Rs 60,000 (minimum eligiblity reduced to 10 years)

7.  Maternity Grant : Woman GDS will be provided Maternity Grant equivalent to 3 months TRCA with DA for the birth of two children out of the welfare fund of the Department.  (This will take effect from 9.10.2009)

8. Bonus Limit - Not revised.  The existing ceiling of Rs 2500 will be continued.

9. Insurance - Present EDGIS rate enhanced to Rs 50 per month with insurance cover of Rs 50,000.  (The revised subscription will be effectrive from the TRCA payable for January 2010)

10.Payment of arrears

The arrears will be paid in two instalments.  40% will be paid during this financial year and 60% will be paid in the next financial year.  The first instalment of arrears should be paid before 31.10.2009. Responsibility of fixation of TRCA in the new slab rests with Divisional Superintendent of Post Office/RMS Units. In other independent units like gazetted HOs, the fixation shall be done by the Sr PM/Chief PM.  The authorities should send the statement of fixation of TRCA all GDS to the drawal and disbursing officers.