Customised Printing of "My Stamp"

Soon an individual or a corporate entity can get their photo or logo printed inside a postage stamp for Rs 12 lakh, the Department of Posts said, a move that is likely to help garner Rs 600 crore for the department.

The move is a step ahead in promoting philately in India. Earlier, India Post only allowed printing of photo or design next to postage stamp on a Rs 300 My Stamp sheet. Such  stamps were allowed for use in general postal mail.

“We have opened up customised printing of ‘My Stamp’ for individuals and corporates. Anyone can get his logo or photo printed inside the stamp for net cost of Rs 12 lakh. There will be 5,000 sheets comprising 60,000 postage stamps,” Sinha said.

My Stamp has so far been issued for Amazon India, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and proposals are pending from various entities.

India Post is eyeing a jump of about Rs 100 crore in turnover at Rs 141 crore from the philately segment this fiscal and Rs 60 crore from  ‘My Stamp’ initiative.

Source : http://www.newindianexpress.com

Inordinate delay in filing Appeals/SLP against Court Orders on service matters - Instructions regarding

To view DoPT OM dated 4th July 2016, please CLICK HERE. 

सातवें वेतन आयोग पर नवभारत टाईम्स की खबर: यूनियनों की हड़ताल वापसी के संकेत

सातवें वेतन आयोग में सुधार को लेकर यूनियन के हड़ताल वापसी के संकेत की खबर नवभारत टाईम्स ने प्रकाशित की है:-

केंद्रीय गृह, वित्त और रेल मंत्रियों के साथ सरकारी कर्मचारियों की विभिन्न यूनियनों की बैठक के बाद अब यह संकेत मिलने लगे हैं कि सरकारी कर्मचारी अपनी हड़ताल वापस ले लेंगे। रेलवे यूनियन भी अब हड़ताल पर न जाने के लिए सहमत हैं। अब ये यूनियन चाहती हैं कि केंद्रीय मंत्रियों के साथ हुई बैठक में जो वादा किया गया है, उसे लिखित में सार्वजनिक कर दिया जाए। इस बीच सरकार के प्रस्ताव के बाद सरकारी कर्मचारियों के संगठन एनजेसी की 6 जुलाई को बैठक बुलाई गई है।

मोदी थे गंभीर : सरकारी सूत्रों के मुताबिक केंद्र सरकार के कर्मचारियों की हड़ताल के नोटिस को खुद प्रधानमंत्री नरेन्द्र मोदी ने ही गंभीरता से लिया था। वह नहीं चाहते थे कि किसी तरह की हड़ताल हो। इसी वजह से उन्होंने बृहस्पतिवार को गृहमंत्री राजनाथ सिंह, वित्तमंत्री अरुण जेटली और रेलमंत्री सुरेश प्रभु को निर्देश दिए थे कि वे यूनियन प्रतिनिधियों से बातचीत करके इस मसले को सुलझाएं। दरअसल खुद प्रधानमंत्री 6 जुलाई से विदेश दौरे पर जा रहे हैं। ऐसे में वह चाहते थे कि उनके रवाना होने से पहले ही हड़ताल समाप्ति का ऐलान हो जाए।

केंद्रीय मंत्रियों से बातचीत : इन निर्देशों के बाद ही बृहस्पतिवार रात को यूनियन नेताओं की केंद्रीय मंत्रियों से बातचीत हुई थी। इस बातचीत के दौरान सरकार ने यूनियनों की न्यूनतम वेतन बढ़ाने की मांग को लेकर एक कमिटी के गठन का प्रस्ताव दिया है। यह कमिटी एक तय अवधि में रिपोर्ट देगी।

वार्ता की अच्छी पहल : इंडियन रेलवे की फेडरेशन के महासचिव और सरकारी कर्मचारियों की विभिन्न यूनियनों के संगठन के संयोजक शिवगोपाल मिश्र ने इस बैठक की बात स्वीकार करते हुए कहा है कि सरकार की ओर से बातचीत की अच्छी पहल हुई है। मंत्रियों ने इस बातचीत के जरिए माहौल बनाया है पर हड़ताल खत्म करने पर उन्होंने कहा कि 6 जुलाई को यूनियनों के संगठन की बैठक बुलाई गई है। इसमें हड़ताल पर अंतिम फैसला लिया जाएगा।

Staff Selection Commission to hold CGL examination online

The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has decided to conduct its flagship Combined Graduate Level Examination (CGLE) online to check malpractices and make the test more transparent.

Besides, the Commission has also changed the pattern of the examination and included descriptive portion (essay writing) in it for the first time.

Hundreds of students are selected through the CGLE every year for various mid-level central government jobs, including as Assistant in Intelligence Bureau and Inspector in Income Tax.

"It has been decided to conduct the CGLE through online mode rather than Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) based. It is a historic decision that will bring in more transparency in the examination process," SSC Chairman Ashim Khurana said.

He said a video walk through on the SSC's website has been put up to help the aspirants understand the new pattern.

About 38 lakh aspirants, who had already applied for CGLE 2016, will have to take the test under the new pattern which will be conducted in the next two months.

"A notice mentioning the changes in pattern of examination has been issued. The new online system will effectively put a check on any incident of leakage of exam paper or tampering with the examination process," Khurana told .

He said the Commission is getting positive feedback from the students across the country on the recently announced changes.

The decision to hold the CGLE online was endorsed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also, senior officials in Personnel Ministry said.

The SSC is one of the largest recruiting agencies in the country mandated to conduct eight exams. It will fill about 89,000 government posts this year alone from among about two crore applicants.

The Commission's flagship CGLE is for filling vacancies in 30 different services in the central government.

There will be no fresh application for CGLE 2016 and those who have already applied will have to take the exam on computer rather than OMR mode, which was prone to malpractices by tech-savvy syndicates, the officials said.

The computer-based examination will ensure greater confidentiality and faster processing of results, they said.

The SSC has for the first time been authorised to make recruitment for gazetted posts of Indian Audit and Accounts department.

As per the changed pattern, the CGLE will now be conducted in three tiers instead of two.

In phase I, there will be 100 questions as against 200 earlier. The aspirants will get 1.15 hours instead of two. There will be no change in tier II and two papers of 200 marks each would continue. Those who qualify in both tier I and II, will have to take tier III exam of 100 marks which will be descriptive in nature, the officials said.

They said the descriptive portion will help in checking candidates' comprehension and analytical skills. 

Source : The Times of India

RBI may soon allow interoperability of India Post's payment bank ATMs

India Post, the world's largest mail delivery network, is carving out a separate vertical to manage banking services, a move that will help it win RBI nod for interoperability of its ATMs with those of PSU banks. 

India Posts, which had last year won a licence to operate a payment bank, has not been able to move much on starting operations. 

"We wanted interoperability of the ATMs of Post Offices with other banks. RBI said we can allow it only if Post offices create a separate bank vertical because RBI has jurisdiction over only banks. The Postal department has taken a positive approach and created a separate vertical," a finance ministry official said. 

The vertical will be based out of Bengaluru. 

Interoperability will allow individuals to transfer money from their Post Office account to their accounts in any bank. Besides, the Post Office ATMs can be used for withdrawal of money from the bank accounts. 

The official, further, said the vertical will be created to operationalise the Post Bank licence and ultimately it would get merged suitably with the Post Bank. 

DoP has 28,000 departmental post offices and 1.50 lakh rural post offices across the country. 

The Postal Department is proactively setting up ATMs and micro ATMs in its rural post offices so as to tap its wide network for financial inclusion. 

"RBI said this separate vertical of the Postal department is open for banking regulation. The RBI is favourably considering the option to provide interoperability," the official said. 

"This will help in moving towards a less cash economy. Post Office has its branches even in the remotest areas where banking mitras or business correspondents cannot reach. Interoperability will allow leveraging the reach of Postal department," the official added. 

With the formal structure of Post Bank likely to take around a year and half, the government wants to kick start its operations in parts by first putting into use the ATMs of Post Offices. 

India Post plans to roll out 10,000 ATMs and 20,000 micro ATMs across the country by the end of this year. 

India Post payments bank will primarily target unbanked and under-banked customers in rural, semi-rural and remote areas, with a focus on providing simple deposit products and money remittance services. 

The Union Cabinet last month cleared a proposal to set up India Post payments bank with a corpus of Rs 800 crore. 

Payments banks can accept deposits (initially up to Rs 1 lakh per individual), offer Internet banking, facilitate money transfers and sell insurance and mutual funds by piggy-backing on existing retail or other networks. Besides, they can issue ATM/debit cards, but not credit cards. 

The Postal payments bank, which will be run by Chief Executive Officer, will be professionally managed and there will be a officials from Department of Posts, Department of Expenditure and Department of Economic Services etc on its board.

Source : The Economic Times

Central strike from July 11 likely to be deferred, Union is waiting Govt. assurance

The proposed indefinite strike of Central Govt. employees in protest of "negligible increase" of salary may be deferred for some time. National Joint Council of Action, the umbrella body of Central associations will decide the fate of strike on Tuesday. 

"They have fixed the minimum wage at a meagre Rs 18,000/- in the 7th Pay Commission. In the last Pay Commission, the basic pay was Rs 7,000/-. They multiplied it by 2.57 (fitment formula) and came to Rs 18,000/-. We are demanding 3.68 fitment formula," Shivgopal Mishra, General Secretary, All India Railway Men Federation and Convenor of National Joint Council of Action (NJCA), told IANS.

"As many as 33 lakh government employees, excluding the defence personnel, will go on strike if we do not get some kind of assurance from the government to reconsider the decision. The major contention is on the minimum wage, which we are demanding to be Rs 26,000/-," KKN Kutty, President of CCGE and general secretary of national coordination committee of pensioners association, told IANS.

"We had a meeting with a group of ministers, including the Home Minister (Rajnath Singh), Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley) and Railway Minister (Suresh Prabhu) on the evening of June 30. They said it will be considered and will be referred to some committee," said Mishra.

"We are waiting to hear back on this from the government by July 4 evening or July 5. In our meeting, it was only a verbal commitment. If the government gives us specific details like which committee will review, etc. then we will defer the strike. We have a meeting on July 5 to decide on the strike," Kutty said.

However while the fate of the strike is still unknown, a central government junior staffer on the condition of anonymity told IANS: "I don't think much will come out of the strike. The only thing the government might do is increase the allowances slightly, that's it."

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent body of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has also expressed its "dissatisfaction" at the 7th Pay Commission's recommendations.

"A huge gap has been created between the minimum and the maximum wage after the government approved the Seventh Pay Commission Report's recommendation," BMS general secretary Virjesh Upadhyay told IANS earlier.However, BMS is not expected to go on strike as it is not a part of the NJCA. The Union Cabinet has decided to constitute three separate committees, including one to look into the anomalies likely to arise out of enforcement of the commission's report.

Source : Business Standard

Inter Circle Rule 38 transfer case .....

Inter Circle Rule 38 transfer case of Shri B. H. Naik, Inspector Posts, Central Sub Division, Jalandhar (Punjab Circle) to Karnataka Circle was taken up by CHQ under No. CHQ/AIAIPASP/Tfr-38/PUN/1/2016 dated 26/2/2016 with Directorate and concerned circles. 

CPMG, Punjab Circle, Chandigarh 160017 has considered the request of the applicant for transfer from Punjab to Karnataka Circle and issued transfer order under memo No. STB/9-14/2011-III dated 1/7/2016. The official will be relieved after 20/7/2016 to Karnataka Circle. 

Government decides not to withhold appointment letters pending the verification of character and antecedents of the successful candidates

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

01-July-2016 16:38 IST

Government decides not to withhold appointment letters pending the verification of character and antecedents of the successful candidates 

The Government has decided that the issue of appointment letters need not be withheld pending the verification of character and antecedents of the successful candidates. The appointing authorities will issue provisional appointment letters after obtaining the attestation form and self declaration from the candidate. 

In the appointment letter, it will be clearly mentioned that in case character and antecedents of the candidate is found not verified or any false information is given by the candidate in his/her self-declaration, the provisional appointment will be cancelled forthwith and other criminal/legal action will also be taken, as a consequence. This decision aims to achieve the Government’s vision of ‘Minimum Government and Maximum Governance’ and deliver citizen-centric good governance.

As per existing provisions, the appointing authorities undertake an exercise of verification of character and antecedents of the successful candidates before issuing the formal appointment order. The Government has decided that now the verification of character and antecedents will be carried out, but the issue of appointment letters need not be withheld pending such verification. 

The necessary instructions in this regard have been issued to all Ministries/Departments and also brought to the notice of the State Governments/Administrators of Union Territories.

Token Dispenser Machine for effective queue management in savings bank operations in Ghaziabad HPO

In Ghaziabad Head Post Office a Token Dispenser Machine has been put in place for effective queue management in savings bank operations which functions on five counters in this office. 

Customers take a token from the Dispenser when they first come and then patiently wait (a good seating arrangement is also provided for the same) for their given token number to be displayed on LED screens placed on counters. 

This is a welcome initiative in effective customer management on the counters.

Govt. proposed to reconsider Minimum Wage and Fitment Formula

Latest Update – NJCA has issued a statement on 01.07.2016

Following is the statement released by National Joint Council of Action

"We are to inform you that the NJCA had a discussion with Government of India, i.e. 30.06.2016 over certain demands contained in our Charter of Demands.

In the meeting following Ministers were present:-

Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Home Minister

Shri Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Finance Minister

Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Hon’ble Railway Minister

Shri Manoj Sinha, Hon’ble MoSR

On behalf of the NJCA the following participated in the discussion:-

Shri Shiva Gopal Mishra, Convener NJCA

Shri M. Raghavaiah, Chairman NJCA

Shri K.K.N. Kutty, Member NJCA

Shri C.Srikumar, Member NJCA

The government has proposed to refer the issue of Minimum Wage and Fitment Formula to a committee for reconsideration.

The NJCA will await communication in this regard from the Government.

The NJCA will again meet on 6th July at 11:00 hrs, in JCM office, 13-C, Ferozshah Road, New Delhi, for taking appropriate decision."

Revision in Interest Rates of Small Savings Schemes (SB order 7/2016)

To view, please CLICK HERE. 

Creation of new Postal Circle named "Telengana Postal Circle" subsequent to the formation of Telengana State

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