05/11/2016

1)Setting up of Departmental Anomaly Committee of Department of Posts.

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2)7th Pay Commission – Cabinet may nod this month – May Accept 7th cpc Recommendations – No Hike expected.

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3) Plan to open rail ticket counters in 50 post offices awaits nod

CHENNAI, November 5, 2016

Proposals to open Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters in about 50 post offices across the State is awaiting the nod from Southern Railway for nearly two years now.

The Postal Department began offering services to book railway tickets in post offices back in 2013. As of now, there are 34 such PRS counters in post offices across the State. Of this, eight are in the Chennai city region, including the post offices at IIT Madras, Shastri Bhavan.

Officials said the department tied with the Southern Railway to take the service to customers living in areas which do not have easy access to such facilities. However, proposals sent to the Southern Railway, during the course of past two years, are still pending.

Some of the significant proposals to open PRS counters are in Anna Road head post office, Chennai and Tiruchi Airport post office. “We identify places which are far away from the railway stations or other PRS booking centres,” said J.T. Venkateswarulu, postmaster general (mails and business development).

Nearly 1.35 lakh transactions, including cancellation of tickets, were carried out in the past six months. The Postal Department earned a revenue of nearly Rs. 21 lakh through the PRS counters during this period.

More counters would help customers, particularly in rural and semi urban areas who still prefer to book tickets through PRS counters, officials said.

Southern Railway officials said that, at present, PRS centres were functioning in 30 locations across Tamil Nadu. Some proposals for setting up PRS counters in post offices were pending as they were awaiting equipment. However, sources also said they were not keen on opening such PRS counters in more post offices, immediately, as it did not fetch much revenue to the Southern Railway, especially in urban areas.

With the increase of online booking through IRCTC, authorised agents and mobile applications, there were also queries from within the Railway administration about the need to open such booking counters, especially in spaces where revenue is not bound to be on the high side, sources said.

Anna Road head post office, the Chennai and Tiruchi Airport post offices are among the ones proposed

Source : http://www.thehindu.com

04/11/2016

1)The outcome of the 5th meeting  of the  committee on Allowances constituted to examine the recommendations of the 7th CPC regarding allowances .

     On 03/11/2016 the meeting was conducted under the Chair of Fiance secretary & secretary (expenditure). During the meeting India Post Chairman, Postal board, Member (P), DDG (Esst.) , DDG (P) &Director (Esst.) are present. From the staff side, 3 Federations Secretaries Generals have participated.

The Department of Posts submitted a proposal that the need for retaining the  following allowances.

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2)Dearness Allowance to C.G employees  M.O.F Order.

3)Government’s assurance on 7th CPC issues mainly relating to Minimum Wage & Multiplying Factor – reg.
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4)Now, you will get all PF, pension dues on or before retirement date on PM Narendra Modi push

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Income Tax 2016-17 – All Salaried Employees to declare deductions and savings under Form 12BB

Income Tax 2016-17 – All Salaried Employees to declare deductions and savings under Form 12BB

12BB – Download Form 12BB as a Word, Excel or PDF file- All Employees to file Declaration under Form 12BB to claim deduction for savings under Section 80 C, payment of house loan interest under Section 24, and HRA exemption under Section 10

The Finance Act, 2015 had introduced section 192(2D) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) wherein the person responsible for making payment of salary (employer) was obliged to collect the necessary evidence or proof in the prescribed form and manner to allow any claim for any deduction and/or tax saving investments. However, the relevant rules and form were yet to be prescribed. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has come out with the relevant rules1 and also prescribed the form i.e. Form 12BB, in which salaried employees would now be required to furnish evidence of claims and tax saving investments to the employer.

Till Finance Act 2016, there was no standard format for salaried employees for filing declaration with their employer to claim deduction for savings under Section 80 C, payment of house loan interest under Section 24, and HRA exemption under Section 10. In the absence of single declaration form, employees had to submit proof for each investment made in the year.

As a relief to employees and also to employer, Income Tax Department has introduced a new Form 12BB. This form, applicable from June 1, 2016, will act as a single entity that you can use to declare your to claim deduction for savings under Section 80 C, payment of house loan interest under Section 24, and HRA exemption under Section 10.

Deductions that can be declared under Form 12BB:

The standard Form 12BB is for all salaried Employees to claim tax deductions. You use can use it to claim deductions for leave travel allowance (LTA/LTC), house rent allowance (HRA), interest paid on home loans, and all other tax deductions pertaining to Chapter VI-A of the Income Tax Act.

House Rent Allowance (HRA):

With form 12BB, you can claim any HRA tax deductions under Section 10 (13A) of the Income Tax Act. Along with 12BB you will need to provide the relevant rent receipts for this deduction. You will also need to submit the name and address of the landlord. In the event the aggregate rent paid by you exceeds Rs 1 lakh, you will also need to submit the Permanent Account Number (PAN) of your landlord.

Amount claimed under Leave travel Concession (LTC)

With Form 12BB, you need to furnish amount and provide evidence of expenses made towards your travel. Unlike in the past, it is now mandatory to provide proof of all travel expenses in the form of receipts for your claim.

Interest on home loan under Section 24:

Earlier to claim deduction for interest paid on home loan, we have to submit interest certificate from the concerned bank. Now, in addtion to the same we will have to fill up Form 12BB to claim deductions under Section 24 of the Income Tax Act.

Savings / deductions under Chapter VI-A:

All tax deductions under Section 80C, Section 80CCC, and Section 80CCD, as well as other sections like 80E, 80G, and 80TTA come under Chapter VI-A of the IT Act. For deductions, fill up Form 12BB and provide details and proof of your investments and expenditures incurred related to the relevant section you are seeking deductions under.

03.11.2016

Postman Examination date is announced for Tamil Nadu Circle.

Tentative date of examination 11.12.2016

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7th Pay Commission: Fatter allowances awaits cabinet approval

New Delhi: Fatter allowances under the 7th Pay Commission recommendations, which has been finalized by the Committee on Allowances headed by Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa, awaits the approval of the Union Cabinet.

It may come up in the Cabinet meetings in this month, say sources in Finance Ministry.

The Cabinet meetings in this month is understood to approve the proposal of Committee on Allowances, which has been constituted to examine the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission on allowances other than dearness allowance for cabinet nod as the pay commission had recommended abolition of 51 allowances and subsuming 37 others out of 196 allowances. So, there was resentment among employees over suggestions to scrap some allowances.

The Committee on Allowances is to recommend to stick with the 7th Pay Commission's recommendations on allowances, said the Finance Ministry sources on Wednesday.

The ‘Committee on Allowances has already given final touch to its report. The committee met up with the deadline of four months given to it by the cabinet to submit the report, the Finance Ministry sources added.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) also directed the Finance Ministry to obtain report from the Committee on Allowances and to prepare cabinet note in this regard.

Allowances contribute 63 percent in the pay hike recommendation. When the allowance is not taken into consideration it will mean fewer amounts because the allowance which the commission proposed is very substantial. Accordingly, the central government employees get a little hike in pay now, so employees are pressing hard to issue it very shortly, said sources in PMO.

The Finance Ministry sources told that the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will soon place higher allowances note before the Cabinet for approval after receiving the Committee on Allowances report.

Until cabinet approval on the Committee on Allowances report, allowances are to be paid according to the existing rates under the existing pay structure, says an earlier official statement issued by the finance ministry.

02.11.2016.

போராட்டம் வாபஸ்

POSTAL JOINT COUNCIL OF ACTION

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES

FEDERATION OF NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANISATIONS

ALL INDIA POSTAL EMPLOYEES UNION – GRAMIN DAK SEVAKS

NATIONAL UNION OF GRAMIN DAK SEVAKS

NEW DELHI - 110001

No.PF-PJCA-12/2016                                                                              Dated : 01.11.2016

To,

            The Secretary,

            Department of Posts,

            Dak Bhawan, New Delhi-110 001

Sub: Withdrawal of the proposed indefinite hunger fast in front of Dak Bhawan from 3rd November, 2016 and two days strike on 9th & 10th November 2016

                                                

Sir,

            While expressing our sincere thanks to you and the Postal Board for taking positive action for settling the demand for bonus parity to Gramin Dak Sevaks, we would like to request your sympathetic and immediate intervention for implementing the Directorate orders for payment of revised wages to Casual, Part time Contingent employees working in the Postal Department with effect from 01.01.2006. 

      The Directorate has issued orders for payment of revised wages (6th CPC minimum) to casual labourers in the month of January 2015. Subsequently the queries raised by some Chief PMGs were also clarified by Directorate. Even though 21 (twenty-one) months are over, the Directorate orders are not yet implemented in some circles. We have already brought the case to your notice and the notice of the concerned Chief PMGs several times, but the issue still remains unsettled. Hence we were compelled to include this demand also as the second demand of the proposed indefinite fast in front of Dak Bhawan from 3rd November and two days strike on 9th & 10th November 2016.

         As you have assured us that the grievances of this poor and most downtrodden section of workers will be settled in a time-bound manner, we hereby inform you that we have decided to withdraw the proposed hunger fast from 3rd November and two days strike on 9th & 10th November 2016.

          We once again request you to issue strict instructions to all Chief PMGs to implement the Directorate orders in a time bound manner, say, before 30th November 2016.

        

              Thanking you in anticipation

                                                    Yours faithfully

                                                                                                                        

R. N. PARASHAR                                                                             D. THEAGARAJAN

Secretary General                                                                              Secretary General

      NFPE                                                                                                        FNPO

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                        

P. PANDURANGARAO                                                            P. U. MURALEEDHARAN

General Secretary                                                                              General Secretary

      AIPEU-GDS                                                                                             NUGDS

Copy to:

1.         The Director General, Department of Posts, Dak Bhawan, New Delhi-110001.

2.         The Member (P), Department of Posts, Dak Bhawan, New Delhi-110 001

3.         The Director (SR & Legal) Dak Bhawan, New Delhi-110 001

01/11/2016

 out come of the today meeting  on Allowances :

Today"s meeting was called for to appraise the staff side about the  proposals prepared by the department . The official side was  of the view to proposing abolition of some of the allowance so that most required allowances could be got  approved from 7^th CPC  Implementation Cell. In regard to OTA, there was some confusion from the Official Side that OTA was abolished by 5th, 6th and the  7th Pay Commission.  But it was informed by the staff side  that operative cadres are exempted from the purview of abolition by the previous pay commissions.

Further staff side  informed that we cannot change our earlier views at this stage. FNPO was represented by 1) S/Shri. O.P.Khanna  General secretary AIPAOA 2)  ShriBhagwan Finance secretary NAPE-C (P.III)  3) Davinder Kumar  AGS(R-III) 4) V.K.Mathur  Deputy G.S( P-IV)  5) Subhash Chaudhry ( P-IV)

01/11/2016

5TH MEETING OF COMMITTEE ON ALLOWANCES CONSTITUTED TO EXAMINE THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF 7TH CPC REGARDING ALLOWANCES

01/11/2016

The India Post Payments Bank is working on striking synergies with the Post Office Savings Bank of the Department of Posts to ensure that its customers don’t look elsewhere for parking deposits exceeding ₹1 lakh.

Aimed at creating a mechanism where balances in excess of ₹1 lakh stay within the postal system

MUMBAI, OCTOBER 30:  

The India Post Payments Bank is working on striking synergies with the Post Office Savings Bank of the Department of Posts to ensure that its customers don’t look elsewhere for parking deposits exceeding ₹1 lakh.

In view of the regulatory restriction that a payments bank can hold a maximum balance of ₹1lakh per individual customer, the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) is planning to create a mechanism whereby balances over this limit get automatically transferred to the Post Office Savings Bank (POSB). In this regard, the IPPB is closely examining a clause in the Reserve Bank of India’s payments bank guidelines whereby it can accept a large pool of money to be remitted to a number of accounts provided at the end of the day the balance does not exceed ₹1 lakh.

The IPPB and the POSB apparently want to make sure that as far as possible the customer’s money stays within the government-owned postal system. So, a customer opening a savings bank account with IPPB will be given the option to also open a linked POSB account. The IPPB has been set up under the Department of Posts (DoP) as a public limited company wholly owned by the government of India. The DoP received ‘in-principle’ RBI approval to set up payments bank in August 2015.

The POSB currently offers investment options, including savings bank account, recurring deposit account, time deposit, monthly income scheme, senior citizens savings scheme, and public provident fund, to small investors. These services are offered as an agency service for the Finance Ministry.

As per RBI guidelines, payments banks can accept demand deposits — current deposits and savings bank deposits from individuals, small businesses and other entities. They can neither accept fixed deposits and NRI deposits nor can they give loans.

The primary objective of a payment banks is to further the cause of financial inclusion by providing small savings accounts and payments/remittance services to migrant labour workforce, low-income households, small businesses, other unorganised sector entities and other users.

Among the reasons cited by banking industry experts for mainstream banks to pick up stakes in entities having ‘in-principle’ RBI approval to start payments banks are to provide their banking expertise, the opportunity to tap deposits exceeding ₹1 lakh, and cross-selling loans.

For example, Reliance Industries and State Bank of India have signed an agreement to set up a payments bank with equity contribution of 70 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. Kotak Mahindra Bank has acquired 19.90 per cent stake in Airtel Payments Bank.

SOURCE: THE HINDU Business line.

Today Directorate called for meeting with staff side to discuss on Allowances again.

IPPB operation through Postman

31/10/2016

Let us remember our ever beloved leader.

IPPB operation through Postman

India Post Payment bank gives the facility for its customers especially in rural areas to deposit or withdraw the money from their IPPB account without going to the IPPB branch. The Postman will operate the accounts with help of bio metric device at the door step of customers.

How does NREGA Payment work in IPPB using Biometric Device

The workers’ remuneration will be credited to their respective Aadhaar lined IPPB accounts. The beneficiary can withdraw the money using biometric device even without filling a withdrawal form.

What is Voice Banking Service in India Post Payment Bank (IPPB)

India Post Payment Bank (IPPB) gives the facility for its customers especially in rural areas to deposit or withdraw the money from their IPPB account without going to the IPPB branch. The Postman will operate the accounts with help of bio metric device at the door step of customers. Watch the two videos below for better understanding.

What is Voice Banking Service in India Post Payment Bank (IPPB)

Voice Banking Service is a mobile based banking service in which person can do banking operation with the help automated voice system. A person can transfer money between IPPB accounts through this system. The following video will show you clearly What is Voice Banking Service in India Post Payment Bank (IPPB) and how it works.

1)Global Panorama on Postal Financial Inclusion.

2)Boosting e-commerce: how-to guide for postal operators.

Click the above link to view publications of UPU.

30/10/2016

The Postal Department will go online in six months time.

In a customer-centric initiative, India Post will go paperless shortly implementing Core System Integrator (CSI) Project across different channels, levels and locations, according to its Vijayawada Region Postal Services Director E. Veerabhadra Rao.

Addressing the media here on Friday night, he said, “A pilot project is being implemented in Machilipatnam in this region to lay down a robust IT infrastructure, implement software applications. All services of the Postal Department will go online in six months time.” Customer Interaction Channels would provide services through call centre, web portal and mobile devices.

The CSI also provided for IT-based mail operations with improved article tracking and technology-driven logistics network. Finance & Accounts as also Human Resources Management would be done online under CSI, he added.

“India Post is fully geared up to offer banking services from new fiscal,” he said, adding that the Reserve Bank of India had in principle agreed to inter-portability of its Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) with those of PSU banks. “Some ticklish issues like addressing the complaints of the customers of each other are being looked into,” he added.

Customer Interaction Channels will provide services through call centre, web portal and mobile devices

Source: The Hindu

Crediting of enhanced Medical Allowance to the pensioners account by Banks: CPAO Order

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF FINANCE

DEPARTMENT OF EXPENDITURE

CENTRAL PENSION ACCOUNTING OFFICE

NEW DELHI-110066

CPAO/IT&Tech/Clarification/2016-17/ 13,Vol -VI /160

26.10.2016

Subject: Crediting of enhanced Medical Allowance to the pensioners account by Banks.

During the workshop for banks on monitoring the pensioners grievances through “Web Responsive Pensioners' Service" organised on 03.10.2016 a query was made on requirement of Special Seal Authority for crediting Medical Allowance at the enhanced rate based on orders issued by DP&PW from time to time. In this context, attention is invited to para 4.5.2 (copy of the extract attached) of Accounting and Operating Procedure for Central Pension Processing Centre of Authorised Banks for Pension Disbursement to Central Government (Civil) Pensioners issued in Feb, 2012 wherein it has been provided that CPPC should have direct access to the website of the Department of Pensions & Pensioners Welfare and Ministry of Home Affair, so that these are regularly browsed and orders on Dearness Relief issued by various Departments are acted upon immediately.

CPPCs of all the banks are advised to follow the same instructions for revising the Medical Allowance of the pensioners already drawing the same as and when the rate of Medical Allowance is enhanced by DP&PW without requiring for any Special Seal Authority from CPAO.

Encl: As above.

(Vijay Singh)

Sr. Accounts Officer (IT & Tech)

4.5. Roles and Responsibilities of CPPC as oversight agency

4.5.1. CPPC will receive Government orders and disseminate the same to all concerned agencies for necessary action.

4.5.2. The CPPC should have direct access to the websites of the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare, M/o Home Affairs and M/o Consumer Affairs so that these are regularly browsed and orders on Dearness Relief issued by various Departments are acted upon immediately.

4.5.3. The dues of the pensioner accruing with time, based on age must be automatically paid to the pensioner by the CPPC on provisional basis for a period of six months. This should be fully automated and exceptions watched for correction.

4.5.4. At the time of credit afforded at CPPC, a confirmation report must be generated and monitored to ensure that the pension/family pension etc. in respect of all pensioners of the CPPC have been credited. A monthly discrepancy report with respect to the total number of pensioners and those paid in the previous month may be reviewed regularly. Exceptions should be reviewed by the senior management of the bank to enable immediate rectification of any omissions.

4.5.5. CPPC software is required to have a grievance redressal module as detailed in Section 9.2 below.

4.5.6. CPPC may exercise oversight on quality of service to pensioners including services to the handicapped pensioners.

4.5.7. CPPCs may ensure that the responsibilities assigned to Home Branches are enforced so that the pensioners are not redirected to CPPC for redressal of grievances and information needs. Necessary performance measures and monitoring mechanisms, in co-ordination with the respective administrative structures to achieve the desired level of service delivery in Home Branches as well as CPPCs may be instituted by the bank.

4.6. Roles and Responsibilities of Home branches (pension account service branch)

Source: www.cpao.nic.in [Click to view/download]