KNOW INDIAN POSTAL ORDER [IPO] INDIAN POSTAL ORDER

Of late RTI applicants are using Indian postal order [IPO] for paying filing fee and other charges. I append below few rules which will be useful to RTI users:
1. IPOs are available in denominations of Re. 0.50, 1, Rs. 2, 5, 7, 10, 20, 50 and 100/-.

2. Commission per IPO is Re1 to Rs.3 depending upon denomination. For Rs.10 IPO commission is Re.1/-.

3. Value of IPO can be increased by maximum Rs.3/- by affixing unused postal stamps not exceeding 4 on its face. Each stamp should not exceed Re1. Hence, say if you want to pay Rs.12 [and post office does not have denominations below Rs.10, you can buy IPO of Rs.10 and affix two postal stamps of Re.1 [ or 4 stamps of 50 paisa] each on its face. This way IPO will be for Rs.12. This facility of value addition is not applicable to IPO of Rs.100/-.

4. IPO is valid for 24 months from the last date of the month in which IPO is purchased from post office.

5. IPO older than 24 months as above can be revalidated for next 12 months by paying prescribed commission for that denomination of IPO in the form of postal stamps to be affixed on the reverse of IPO.

6. IPO older than 36 months from last day of the month of issue will be forfeited if presented for payment.

7. Purchaser can get refund of IPO within 6 months from last day of month of issue by surrendering original IPO and counterfoil. Purchaser can also get refund after expiry of 6 months from last day of month of issue but before 12 months from last day of month of issue of IPO provided he pays commission for renewal at prescribed rate by affixing stamps on the reverse of IPO to be refunded.

8. In case of loss of IPO, refund can be claimed by submitting counterfoil to Superintendent of Post Offices under whose jurisdiction issuing post office operates. However, refund of lost IPO will not be made before expiry of 36 months from last day of the month of issue of IPO. Claim for lost IPO should be made within 24 months from last day of month of issue. If counterfoil is not available, then number, date and post office of issue should be mentioned in the application for refund.

Empowered committee has constituted for 7th CPC to submit its final report

Sources in Finance Ministry  said the Empowered Committee of Secretaries under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha on the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations is expected to submit its report to cabinet by March end and it would be implemented in April.
Secretaries panel headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha on the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations is expected to submit its report to cabinet by March end.
The Implementation cell of Finance Ministry on the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations will be giving its inputs to Cabinet Secretary through Finance Secretary within week, they added.

Talking to our journalists, they said afterwards the cabinet would discuss it and then it would be placed for notification.

So about two month will be required to complete the process, they said. “We have already said that implementation of the Seventh pay commission recommendations is to be made in April, with retrospective effect from 1 January. However, central government employees will get hike salary from January and allowances will be made effective from the date of implementation”.

The Seventh Pay Commission, led by Justice A K Mathur, submitted the report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on November 19, 2015. The Empowered Committee of Secretaries is expected to bring slight changes to the commission’s recommendations so that the average increase in basic pay for all government employees will be in the region of 25-30%, while the Seventh Pay Commission recommended 14.27 per cent increase in basic pay, the lowest in 70 years.

The previous Sixth Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike in basic pay which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008 on recommendation the Empowered Committee of Secretaries headed by then cabinet Secretary.

The Empowered Committee of Secretaries is also likely to double such allowances and advances, which has been recommended for abolition by the Seventh Pay Commission.

The Implementation cell of Finance Ministry on the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations is going to give positive inputs on this matter to the Empowered Committee of Secretaries.

அனைவருக்கும் பொங்கல் நல்வாழ்த்துகள்

REQUEST BY POSTMASTERCADRE WEBSITE TO GIVE DUE CARE FOR COD ARTICLES

Dear Postmaster Cadre friends,

                 COD revenues are growing in our department day by day and Our entire good future is lying on e-Commerce. But in some offices delay is noticed by the shopping zone company and email request was given to our hon'ble communication minister to dispose the COD parcels with due care as per the norms of our department. The same has been submitted below for your kind information Postmaster cadre association is requesting necessary action in this regard please. 

Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad

Honourable Union Minister

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology

Government of India

NEW DELHI

Respected Sir,

Sub: India Post - TN & AP Circles -Business Parcel-COD - undue    delay in remittances

We request reference to our earlier letter dated 21st November 2015 addressed to your goodself.

We once again introduce ourselves as Shopping Zone India TV Pvt. Ltd., a home shopping TV channel company based in Chennai,catering to around 3 crore households in the four southern states. We are one of the first customers of India Post in South India, using the premium product of India Post viz., BP-COD. In Tamilnadu Circle our bookings are through Mylapore BPC, Chennai & RS Puram  BPC, Coimbatore & in A.P. Circle through Krishna Lanka BPC, Vijayawada. 

Currently, we dispatch about 1500 parcels everyday on BP-COD basis through India Post, to buyers in the four southern states. Theaverage daily COD value of parcels dispatched through India Post is about Rs. 30 lakhs per day or nearly Rs. 110 crores per year.   For the year 2014-15, we shipped a total of over 4 lakh articles  through IP BP-COD. Our total payment to India Post for its services in 2014-15 is about Rs. 7 Crores towards shipment charges and COD commission.

Further to our previous letter referred above, we regret to inform that we continue to face undue delay in receiving our COD proceeds for our bookings in Tamilnadu and A.P. Circles. This is seriously hurting our operations. We once again crave the urgent intervention of your goodself to resolve this issue. As on date, the total value of COD overdues for the parcels dispatched till 30^th November '15 is Rs. 1.79 Crores. The break-up booking office-wise is as under: -

For shipments made during -	Chennai Mylapore BPC	Coimbatore RS Puram BPC	Vijayawada Krishna Lanka BPC	Total (Rs. Lakhs)
Dec 13 to Dec '14	26.48	14.10	18.16	58.74
Jan' 15 to Nov '15	5.97	66.90	47.36	120.23
Overdues-till Nov'15	32.45	81.00	65.52	178.97

As may be noted from above, the COD amounts pending from December 2013 up to December 2014 alone is Rs. 0.59 Crores. The amounts due for shipments from Jan '15 to November '15, which also ought to have been cleared by date, is Rs. 1.20 Crores. The aggregate amount pending up to November '15 is hence Rs. 1.79 crores.Since maximum returns invariably occur within 1 month, this is equivalent to the amount pending remittance by India Post or in other words COD overdues.

As mentioned in our previous letter, we have been making repeated complaints to all the concerned authorities. However we regret to inform that the situation is not much different today, even after our previous communication to your goodself. Our grievances remain unresolved.

The overdues are still nearly Rs. 2 crores. Further there continues to be an addition of about Rs. 20 lakhs every month, to unresolved pending deliveries or COD overdues. Monthwise and destination circle-wise details are attached.

We once again submit the following for your kind consideration: -

           

1.    Our parcels are normally delivered by India Post within a week from date of shipment. This means that our COD proceeds should be remitted to us at least within 15 days of shipment (where the customer has taken delivery) or in the case of returns, we should get back the items within 15 days. But this has never been the case. We still have outstanding dating back to December 2013.

2.    We are told that these delays are mainly due to technical issues arising out of change in system from December 2013. However your goodself will appreciate that this should not result in affecting our entire business operation and should also not remain unsolved now for nearly 2 years.

3.    The overdues of nearly Rs. 2 crores is crippling our business.  The delay in receiving the COD proceeds has forced us to delay/stop payments to vendors and services. This has starting affecting our business including stoppage of goods from vendors.

The overdues are huge and we find the progress from the respective circles very slow. In order to continue the business and to overcome the cash crunch created due to non receipt of COD amounts, we request your goodself to personally intervene and issue appropriate instructions for remittance of the above COD overdues to us by the respective Circles on an urgent basis. The concerned CPMG/PMG of the booking circles/region may kindly be instructed to remit the pending COD proceeds to us and then subsequently reconcile internally the same with the destination post offices.

As earlier submitted, one year ago, we were despatching about 2000 articles in a day and our entire dispatch was through India Post. Currently, in spite of our total business increasing to nearly 5,000 articles per day, we have been forced to reduce dispatch through India Post to only about 1/3rd or about 1,500 articles. In other words we have been forced to make our own delivery arrangements for 2/3rd of our total business.

Your goodself may kindly note that we were one of the first in this sector to utilise the services of India Post for delivery of parcels to customers three years ago. Now, at a time when your Honorable Ministry has stepped up its initiative for India Post to partner with the E-commerce & Teleshopping industry for customer deliveries, we are saddened to look for other delivery alternatives.

We respectfully submit our above representation in the earnest hope that your goodself will look in to the matter and issue appropriate instructions for urgently resolving the pending COD remittance issue detailed above.

Thanking you

Yours faithfully

B.D. Ramesh Babu

Managing Director

Shopping Zone India TV Private Limited

Srinivasa Nagar, Kottivakkam (off OMR)

Chennai 600 096

Landline :  +91 44 4360 7300

H/P          :  +91 98400 25211

Email      :  rameshbabu@shoppingzoneindia.com

RAISING OF BONUS PAYMENT CEILING TO THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

Raising of Bonus Payment Ceiling to the Central Government Employees: National Council (Staff Side) (JCM) addressed to the Secretary Department of Expenditure, Government of India.

Ph.: 23382286

National Council (Staff Side)

Joint Consultative Machinery

For Central Government Employees

13-C, Ferozshah Road New Delhi – 110001

E Mail : nc.jcm.np@gmail.com 

Shiva Gopal Mishra

Secretary 

No. NC-JCM-2015/S.C 

January 11,2015 

The Secretary

Government of India

Department of Expenditure

North Block, New Delhi- 110 001 

Subject: – Raising of Bonus Payment Ceiling to the Central Government Employees. Reference: – The payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill 2015. 

Sir,

The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill 2015 was passed by both the houses of the Parliament. The amendment provides that the existing Ceiling limit of Bonus for 30 days Rs. 3,500/- is enhanced to Rs. 7,000/- for 30 days. This amendment will take effect from 01.04.2014 (A copy of the Bill passed in the Parliament is enclosed for your kind ready reference). 

You are aware that any change in Bonus Act would be an indicator while deciding the Payment of Bonus to the Central Government Employees. Accordingly, every time when Bonus Act is amended raising the payment ceiling limit, it is extended to Central Government Employees also. This issue was also raised by the Staff Side in the Standing Committee Meeting of National Council (JCM) held on 09th October, 2015. 

INDIA POST HAS DIVERSIFIED ONLINE BUT FACES OBSTACLES IN GETTING YOUTH TO OPT FOR SERVICES

Before the month ends, the Postal Department will have taken another step towards digitalisation of its services by introducing internet banking. But, it still has a long way to go before ensuring the digital generation is drawn to its services.

It has already taken several other measures, which are expected to be attractive to youngsters. Of the 2,340 post offices in the Chennai city region, 521 have been networked with core banking solutions so far. This would help customers operate their accounts or carry out transactions from any networked post office.

POSTAL DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS SUSPENDED FOR NOT DELIVERING SHRI.RAMVILAS PASWAN'S NEW YEAR CARDS

Three postal department officials, including the postmaster of the main post office of Hajipur have been suspended for non-delivery of New Year greeting cards send by Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan to the people of his Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency.

Acting on the complaint of LJP workers and others that greeting cards send by the Minister was found abandoned on the third floor of the district bar council building, Superintendent of Post Umesh Chand Prasad ordered suspension of the three officials.

Instructions regarding time limit for holding examinations / interviews from the date of advertisement for the post under direct recruitment - reg.

The entire recruitment process including and starting from advertisement, conducting written examination or holding of interview may be completed within six month - Instructions regarding time limit for holding examinations / interviews from the date of advertisement for the post under direct recruitment

F. No. Misc-14017/15/2015-Estt. (RR)

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, P.G. & Pensions

Department of Personnel & Training

North Block, New Delhi

Dated: 11.1.2016

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Instructions regarding time limit for holding examinations / interviews from the date of advertisement for the post under direct recruitment — reg.

The undersigned is directed to refer to the subject and to say that it has come to notice of this Department that there are instances of a long time lag between the date of advertisement for the vacancy and date of examination or interview. This delay may deny the opportunity to fresh candidates who become eligible during that period, while creating an atmosphere of uncertainty to candidates who have applied.

7th CPC and arrears to be paid by April 2016 or June 2016 !!!

New Delhi: After long wait, the new pay commission report has been submitted to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on November 19, which has increased new hopes among the central government employees that their pay will soon rise.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, Seventh Pay Commission award bill Rs 1,02,000 crore can be afforded.

A commendable initiative , the new Seventh Pay Commission award is timely and necessary for the 48 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners including dependents.

Government jobs in India have been less rewarding in terms of pay and perks. Apart from a sense of job security and perceived power, most of the employees have to struggle to make ends meet with the cost of living going up every year.

The central government is facing a shortage of around 7.3 lakh staff, the motive behind this move is to achieve a reduction of 10 percent in staff strength in five years, according to report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission.

So, Central government employees need to do more works so as to fill up the shortage of staff with their works, accordingly, they deserve a good pay raise.

However, since the submission of the the Seventh Pay Commission report, discussions hovered around its impact on a number of areas including inflation, budgetary allocation, efficiency of public services.

Economists have explained adequately why there will be no inflationary pressure on the economy due to injection of pay hike amount in next next budget and the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, Seventh Pay Commission award bill Rs 1,02,000 crore can be afforded.

The World Bank report also forecasts India will continue to be the bright spot of the global economy and is projected to grow at a robust 7.8% in fiscal 2016-17, more than a percentage point higher than China, despite pressure on the budget from a salary hike for central government employees and payment of One Rank One Pension. (OROP) .

Centre brings web tools to promote use of Hindi among employees

Central government has introduced web tools like audio-typing aid on computers and is working on making available Hindi classic literature digitally to promote use of the language among its employees, a top official today said.

“We have introduced e-tools to make learning and adaption of Hindi easier among central government employees. For their self-learning, we have also brought in audio-typing aid for their ease,” Secretary, Department of Official Language (Rajbhasha) Girish Shankar said.

The senior bureaucrat said this on the sidelines of a function to mark the 11th ‘World Hindi Day’ in the national capital.