By Khabrein.Info Correspondent,
New Delhi, Aug 27, 2008: The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief has criticized the Sixth Pay Commission and said that there was a need to create parity between civilian and military pay scale.
The criticism comes after several senior armed forces officials had welcomed the final Sixth pay Commission recommendations as accepted by the Union Cabinet on 14th August. Government had made several amendments to the original recommendations of the sixth pay commission to satisfy the demands of the armed forces.
Former armed forces chief General (Rtd) NC Vij had criticized the original Sixth pay recommendations calling it inadequate. In a letter written to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Sigh he had said, “ As a former chief, I feel morally duty-bound to bring this fact to the notice of the Hon'ble Prime Minister in my personal capacity. I take heart from the fact, that it is under your leadership, that, in my tenure, the government went for a major improvement in the 'operational posture by sanctioning South Western Command and 9 Corps HQs with full complements and also for some restoration of self esteem of the young officers through addressing their delayed promotions-cum-service conditions, by approving Part 1 of Ajay Vikram Singh Committee report'…If this had been followed up, through a balanced PCR and implementation of Part II of the 'AVS Report', things would have reasonably improved, but unfortunately the very opposite has happened.”
Stressing on the plight of army personnel he further said, “Sir, you yourself hail from a state, which has traditionally produced soldiers. You would have often wondered, as to why a supremely fit jawan/JCO who retires at the young age of 42-48, ages and grows old so fast. It is because he has no resources to fall back upon to ensure a decent living for his family after his early retirement. This problem gets further accentuated with the constraints of even poor farming conditions. Why should a soldier retire at this early age (other services serve upto 60 years) and why this man who has served the Nation so valiantly not be given a second career by way of 'lateral transfer', which alas will never come about”.
Now when everyone thought that armed forces grouse had been adequately addressed, IAF chief has asked the government to restore the parity in the pay scales of officers of the rank of Lieutenant Colonels and equivalent with their civilian and Coast Guard counterparts who have been awarded more emoluments by the Sixth Pay Commission.
Air Chief Marshal Fali H. Major in a letter addressed to Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Indian Navy chief says, “The finance ministry is introducing yet another anomaly by lowering the extant of parities of officers of the armed forces, of the Lt. Col. (and equivalent), by retaining them in pay band-3, while raising similarly placed civilian and paramilitary officers to pay band-4”.
IAF chief added that “It is reliably learnt that civilian and paramilitary officers in the extant pay scales S-24 (Rs.14,300-400-18,300) and S-25 (Rs.15,100-400-18,300) will be placed in pay band-4, whereas the same is being denied to the armed forces officers (Lt. Col. and equivalent) who were already in S-25”.
Earlier chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee and Navy Chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta had welcomed the government’s decision to consider the demands of the armed forces while granting the Sixth Pay Commission. He said that even as more details are awaited, prima-facie, all the concerns of the defence forces appear to have been suitably addressed.
The Navy chief had said, “Increase in Military Service Pay of PBORs and compensation for middle-rung officers are particularly heartening. The decision to credit arrears from January 01, 2006 is most welcome”.
Source: http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16190&Itemid=88&limit=1&limitstart=1
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Sixth pay commission: Websites
6th pay commission: Websites
1. Calculator based on 6th Pay commission recommendations.Sixth Pay Commission Calculator:
www.6pc.in
1. The Sixth Central Pay Commission submitted its Report to the Government on 24th March, 2008. The Report and main highlights can be viewed through this website india.gov.in/govt/paycommission.php
3. Staff Corner.com hwww.staffcorner.com
http://staffcorner.com/calc_mirror1.html
http://staffcorner.com/calc_mirror2.html
4.http://www.gconnect.in
5. http://www.khabrein.info
1. Calculator based on 6th Pay commission recommendations.Sixth Pay Commission Calculator:
www.6pc.in
1. The Sixth Central Pay Commission submitted its Report to the Government on 24th March, 2008. The Report and main highlights can be viewed through this website india.gov.in/govt/paycommission.php
3. Staff Corner.com hwww.staffcorner.com
http://staffcorner.com/calc_mirror1.html
http://staffcorner.com/calc_mirror2.html
4.http://www.gconnect.in
5. http://www.khabrein.info
Allowances as suggested by Sixth Pay Commission
New Delhi, Aug 27, 2008: Following are the list of allowances as suggested by Sixth Pay Commission:
4.1.3 The Fifth Central Pay Commission recommended uniform neutralization of DA at 100% to employees at all levels; conversion of DA into Dearness Pay each time the CPI increases by 50% over the base index with Dearness Pay counting for all purposes including retirement benefits; and Dearness Allowance including Dearness Pay being paid net of tax. The Commission did not favor the option of employing separate indices for each category of employee because of the sheer impracticality of the task and, therefore, recommended using the 12 monthly average of All India CPI (IW) with base 1982 for calculating DA.
• DA should be paid net of taxes on the same line asrecommended by the 5th CPC to make the concept of 100% neutralization somewhat meaningful. Determining the level of inflationmethodology 4.1.7 While considering the issue of the quantum of DA admissible, the Commission considered at length the procedure for estimation of inflation. Presently, inflation as determined by the AICPI (IW), is estimated using the Laspeyere’s Fixed base methodology. The inflation index using this methodology captures the cost of buying a basket of goods (fixed in the base year) at current prices relative to the cost of buying the same basket of goods at base year prices.
4.1.11 Presently, the estimation of DA for Central Government Employees is based on the movements in the AICPI (IW) (1982=100). The Fourth Central Pay Commission, while considering the issue of suitability of the AICPI, opined that the Government should examine whether a more suitable index could be prepared for Government employees taking into account their consumption pattern and other relevant factors. This recommendation was based on the view that the AICPI does not truly represent the consumption pattern of all central Government employees. On the other hand, the Fifth Central Pay Commission took the view that consumption patterns of Group A,B,C,D employees within Government are bound to be different due to different income levels and hence a suitable index based on consumption pattern for Government employees as recommended by the Fourth Central Pay Commission is likely to suffer from the same set of problems which the AICPI(IW) suffers. The Fifth Central Pay Commission opined that even though the option of employing separate indices for each category of employees did exist, it was devoid of merit because of the sheer impracticality of the task as well as needless suspicion such an arrangement was likely to arouse between various groups. Therefore, they recommended that the AICPI (IW) should continue to be the index used for calculating DA for Government employees.
4.1.15 The rate of dearness allowance is calculated in terms of the percentage increase in 12 monthly average of AICPI (base 1982) over the average index of 306.33, which was the reference base for the existing scales of pay recommended by the Fifth Central Pay Commission.
4.2.4 City Compensatory Allowance (CCA) is granted to Central Government employees to adjust the high cost of living in certain specified localities.
4.2.9 Special Compensatory Allowance (Hill Areas/Remote Locality/Border Area/Gandhinagar) - Special Compensatory Allowances are paid on account of exceptionally difficult local conditions in various places.
4.2.10 Hill Area allowance - It is granted to Central Government employees posted at Hill stations located at an altitude of 1000 Mtrs. or more above sea level. The rates of Special Compensatory (Hill Area) Allowance vary between Rs.40 to Rs.300 per month. 4.2.11 Special Compensatory (Remote Locality) Allowance - It is payable to the employees serving in specified remote localities at rates varying between Rs.40 to Rs.1300 per month.
4.2.17 Tribal Area Allowance – It is paid in certain Tribal Talukas and pockets in certain States and is payable at rates varying between Rs.40 to Rs.200 per month.
The rates of all the components of Daily Allowance shall automatically increase by 25% whenever the Dearness Allowance payable on the revised pay bands goes up by 50%.
4.2.44 Simultaneously, the existing condition which prohibits grant of Transport Allowance to the employees who have been provided with official accommodation within one Kilometer of the office should also be removed because this creates an artificial distinction between the employees living in private accommodation within one Kilometer of the office vis-à-vis those living within one Kilometer of the office in Government accommodation. Other conditions regulating the grant of this allowance shall remain unchanged. Physically disabled employees shall continue to draw this allowance at double the normal rates. This, however, will be further subject to the condition that Transport Allowance in the case of physically disabled employees shall, in no case, be less than Rs.1000 per month plus the applicable rate of dearness allowance. Employees in pay band PB-4 who are entitled to the use of official car for travel between residence and office may be given the option to draw transport allowance at a higher rate of Rs.7000 p.m. plus dearness allowance provided they give up the use of official car for travel between residence and office.
Non-Practicing
4.2.45 Presently, Doctors are given Non-Practicing Allowance (NPA) at the rate of 25% of the basic pay subject to the condition that NPA + basic pay + dearness pay does not exceed Rs.44,250. NPA is counted as pay for all service and pensionary benefits.
4.2.55 The Fifth CPC had recommended a high increase in the HRA of Metropolitan towns like Delhi & Mumbai in view of the inordinate increase in monthly rents for residential accommodation in the period upto 1995 in these cities. The Fifth CPC also persisted with the population criteria for classification of cities and towns and recommended creation of a new category of A-1 cities for cities having a population of 50 lakh and above.
Demands 4.2.56 The Commission has received many demands relating to payment of HRA. Most of the demands seek an increase in the rates of HRA especially in cities other than A-1. Demands have also been received for granting A-1 status to the cities of Bengaluru and Hyderabad. This demand was, however, conceded by the Government during the term of the Commission and Bengaluru and Hyderabad already stand classified as A-1 cities.
Risk Allowance 4.2.65 Risk Allowance is presently given to employees engaged in hazardous duties or whose work will have deleterious effect on
health over a period of time. Risk Allowance is also paid to
Sweepers and Safaiwalas engaged in cleaning of underground
drains, sewer lines as well as to the employees working in trenching
grounds and infectious diseases hospitals.
The Commission, recommends continuation of the five day week in the offices of the Central Government. Holiday policy 4.5.6 As regards the issue of holidays, there can be no rationale for observing a large number of closed holidays in the Government along with a five day week. It is also very true that in a secular nation, religious festivals should be treated as personal to each individual employee without the Government offices having to be closed on that account. Keeping in view the recommendations of
the Fifth Central Pay Commission in this regard, the Commission 270 recommends that, henceforth, the Government offices should remain closed only on the 3 National holidays. No other closed holidays should be allowed. To enable the Government employees the freedom to celebrate their festivals and other
occasions of special significance to them, the number of
Restricted Holidays available to an employee shall be increased
to 8 with the list of Restricted Holidays being suitably enlarged
to include all the erstwhile Gazetted Holidays therein.
4.7.2 Keeping in view the dual responsibilities borne by working
women and the increasing practical difficulties in balancing work
and family responsibilities, previous Pay Commissions made
recommendations for providing special facilities for women in terms
of provision of residential accommodation for single women,
provision of transport facilities, introduction of concepts such as
flexi-time and flexi-place on trial basis, options for working half
time during the period that children are young , etc. The provisions
made by the Central Government for women employees include age
relaxation for appointment in Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ posts, exemption
from educational qualifications for compassionate appointments to
widows of deceased Government employees, maternity and
paternity leave benefits, guidelines for provision of crèche facilities
as well as for posting of husband and wife at the same station.
Demands of the Staff Side
Recommendations 4.7.5 The Commission has studied the facilities provided in other
countries and taken into account the demands made in this regard.
It is the considered opinion of the Commission that adequate
facilities need to be provided to ensure that more women take up public employment and to enable them to balance the dual responsibilities of looking after children and work. In pursuance of this, the Commission makes the following recommendations: -
(i) The concept of staggered working hours needs to be introduced for women employees as it would give flexibility to employees to work either early or late depending on their requirements at the home front. Under this scheme, 11 AM to 4 PM will be core hours during which all women employees will necessarily need to be present in the office. They will, however, have the option of either coming upto one and a half hours earlier or
leaving upto two hours late depending upon the actual time
they have clocked in.
(ii) The concept of child care leave exists in countries like Japan & Netherlands where women employees are allowed leave to look after the needs of their children. A similar facility needs to be extended in Central Government as it will facilitate women employees to take care of their children at the time of need. All women employees having minor children may, therefore, be allowed total leave of upto two years (i.e. 730 days) for taking care of upto 2 children whether for rearing the children or looking after any of their needs like examination, sickness, etc. Child care leave should also be allowed for the third year as leave not due. However, no child care leave shall be given for a child who is eighteen years of age or older.
(iii) Although instructions exist in regard to setting up of daycare- centers/crèches in offices or major residential areas, most Departments have not created such facilities. The setting up of these crèches should be made mandatory in offices where the employees, male and female, have preschool or primary school going children. This will enable male employees also to keep their children in such crèches. These crèches could also be run on contributory basis so that appropriate standard of facilities is maintained.
(iv) Maternity leave of 135 days is presently permitted to women employees for two children. Further, leave up to a 279 period of one year can be availed of in continuation of maternity leave. Keeping in view the guidelines of Ministry of Health & FW which recommends nursing of children till the age of 6 months, the Commission recommends that maternity leave should be increased from 135 days at present to 180 days. Further, the period of leave which can be availed of in continuation of maternity leave should be increased to 2 years instead of one year at present.
Medical facilities for serving employees & pensioners
Introduction 4.11.1 Presently, serving Government employees paid from civil estimates other than those working in Railways and Delhi
Administration are covered under the Central Government Health
Scheme (CGHS) which is a compulsory scheme for all Central
Government employees residing within the area covered by the
CGHS Dispensaries. CGHS is a contributory scheme and the
Government employees have to contribute varying sums between
Rs.15 to Rs.150 p.m. for this facility. Pensioners/family pensioners
can also avail CGHS facilities on payment of registration fee. It is
not necessary for pensioners/family pensioners to be living in the
areas covered under the CGHS for joining it. Railways and Defence
have their own medical infrastructure and their
employees/pensioners are not covered under CGHS. Presently, the
coverage of CGHS is available in 24 cities. Central Government
employees living outside these cities are not covered under CGHS.
Employees and their family members living outside the CGHS
areas are entitled to reimbursement for medical attendance and
treatment under the Central Services (Medical Attendance) Rules
[CS(MA) Rules]. These CS (MA) Rules, however, are available
only to the serving Government employees and the pensioners are
not covered under these rules. Pensioners living in non-CGHS
areas are allowed a sum of Rs.100 p.m. for meeting their medical
expenditure that does not require hospitalization. The amount of
Rs.100 was recommended by the Fifth CPC and has remained
unchanged since then. Pensioners living in non-CGHS areas are,
however, eligible for reimbursement of expenditure incurred on
hospitalization in accordance with the prescribed rules.
Demands 4.11.2 Some associations of Government employees in their
submissions to the Commission have lamented the poor quality of
service available under CGHS and sought an alternative to it. The
Central Government pensioners living in non-CGHS areas and
their associations have demanded reimbursement of medical
expenditure under the CS (MA) Rules on par with what is available
to the serving employees. Substantial enhancement in the amount
Chapter 4.11
323
of medical allowance of Rs.100 presently payable to pensioners
living in non-CGHS areas has also been demanded.
Analysis and
recommendations
4.11.3 The Commission is aware that there is increasing pressure
on CGHS which sometimes results in less than satisfactory services
being provided to its beneficiaries. On the obverse, CGHS is
appreciated by a number of employees and most of the pensioners.
In fact, most of the pensioners associations, in their submissions to
the Commission, have requested continuance of CGHS facilities.
The need of the hour may, therefore, be to retain the existing
scheme of CGHS while simultaneously providing optional inpatient
facilities (IPD) through medical insurance. This will
provide an alternative to such of those employees/ pensioners who
are not satisfied or are not living in the areas covered by CGHS.
The Commission, therefore, recommends that the Government
should revise entitlements for treatment in IPD for CGHS card
holders so that private ward facilities are available at least to the
employees in PB-2 pay band. The Commission is not in favour of
extending CS(MA) Rules to the pensioners as not only it will
prove to be very costly (estimates given by the Government peg
it at Rs.1,820 crore p.a.) but will also suffer from problems
relating to submission of bills, its verification and subsequent
payment, etc. This will pose additional problems for the
pensioners claiming reimbursement and will generate additional
administrative work with attendant problems for the
Government. The Commission is of the view that an insurance
scheme should be devised for meeting the OPD needs as well. In
the interregnum, the Government should consider enhancing the
amount of medical allowance for pensioners living in non-CGHS
areas appropriately.
Health insurance for Government employees & pensioners
4.11.4 Availability of health service providers in the private sector
has increased discernibly in the recent past. Therefore, making
available the in-patient facilities through a set up outside CGHS is
now viable. CGHS, by way of referrals, is already using this both
private and Government network. CS (MA) Rules, in any case,
operate through a system of Authorized Medical Attendants
(AMA) where adequate number of Government Doctors is not
available. CS (MA) Rules also provide for a set of empanelled
hospitals where the concerned employees can take treatment. The
Commission was informed that the Government is in the final
stages of introducing a health insurance scheme for its employees
so as to provide them with wider facilities and quality health care
without directly burdening the Government with the
administrative responsibility of verifying bills and/or expanding
public sector medical infrastructure. The scheme being formulated
by the Government, however, had not been formalized till the time
of finalization of this Report. Accordingly, the Commission is
324
recommending a scheme of health insurance for Central
Government employees and pensioners in this Report.
Recommendations 4.11.5 The Commission, accordingly, recommends introduction
of a Health Insurance Scheme for Central Government
employees/pensioners as under :-
i) For the existing employees and pensioners, the Insurance
Scheme would be available on voluntary basis subject to
paying the prescribed contribution. Contributions should
be based on the actual premium paid. Group A, B and C
employees should contribute 30%, 25% and 20% of the
annual premium respectively with the Government
paying the remainder. This arrangement should be
reviewed periodically.
ii) The Health Insurance Scheme would be compulsory for
new Government employees who would be joining
service after the introduction of the Scheme. Similarly,
new retirees after the introduction of the Insurance
Scheme would be covered under the Scheme. The new
recruits and pensioners will consequently not be provided
CGHS / CS (MA) facilities. The new recruits and the new
retirees may be paid an appropriate amount for meeting
their OPD expenditure till the time an insurance scheme
for providing OPD facilities is devised.
iii) Serving employees and existing pensioners shall have the
option to opt out of CGHS and subscribe only to the
Insurance Scheme, thus making their own arrangements
for OPD needs. In such cases, they will not pay
contributions to the CGHS. On par with new recruits,
they will need to contribute only the amounts prescribed
for similarly placed class of employees/pensioners under
CGHS and may also be paid an appropriate amount for
their OPD expenditure till the time an insurance scheme
for providing OPD facilities is devised. The serving
employees in non-CGHS areas may also opt for Health
Insurance Scheme and subscribe to the same.
iv) All personnel of the Central Government including All
India Service officers, serving and retired, and others who
are covered under the existing CGHS and under CS (MA)
Rules may be offered the health insurance scheme on a
voluntary basis.
Railways &
Defence
(combatants)
4.11.6 The aforesaid scheme has been recommended for
Government employees paid from civil estimates other than those
working in Railways. However, Railways and Defence
(combatants), who are having their own medical infrastructure,
should also devise a similar scheme for their employees.
Tags: Sixth Pay Commission,6th Pay Commission,Sixth Pay Commission Latest News,Sixth Pay Commission News, 6th Pay Commission Latest news,Sixth Pay Commission Allowances,6th Pay Commission Allowances
Source: http://www.khabrein.info
4.1.3 The Fifth Central Pay Commission recommended uniform neutralization of DA at 100% to employees at all levels; conversion of DA into Dearness Pay each time the CPI increases by 50% over the base index with Dearness Pay counting for all purposes including retirement benefits; and Dearness Allowance including Dearness Pay being paid net of tax. The Commission did not favor the option of employing separate indices for each category of employee because of the sheer impracticality of the task and, therefore, recommended using the 12 monthly average of All India CPI (IW) with base 1982 for calculating DA.
• DA should be paid net of taxes on the same line asrecommended by the 5th CPC to make the concept of 100% neutralization somewhat meaningful. Determining the level of inflationmethodology 4.1.7 While considering the issue of the quantum of DA admissible, the Commission considered at length the procedure for estimation of inflation. Presently, inflation as determined by the AICPI (IW), is estimated using the Laspeyere’s Fixed base methodology. The inflation index using this methodology captures the cost of buying a basket of goods (fixed in the base year) at current prices relative to the cost of buying the same basket of goods at base year prices.
4.1.11 Presently, the estimation of DA for Central Government Employees is based on the movements in the AICPI (IW) (1982=100). The Fourth Central Pay Commission, while considering the issue of suitability of the AICPI, opined that the Government should examine whether a more suitable index could be prepared for Government employees taking into account their consumption pattern and other relevant factors. This recommendation was based on the view that the AICPI does not truly represent the consumption pattern of all central Government employees. On the other hand, the Fifth Central Pay Commission took the view that consumption patterns of Group A,B,C,D employees within Government are bound to be different due to different income levels and hence a suitable index based on consumption pattern for Government employees as recommended by the Fourth Central Pay Commission is likely to suffer from the same set of problems which the AICPI(IW) suffers. The Fifth Central Pay Commission opined that even though the option of employing separate indices for each category of employees did exist, it was devoid of merit because of the sheer impracticality of the task as well as needless suspicion such an arrangement was likely to arouse between various groups. Therefore, they recommended that the AICPI (IW) should continue to be the index used for calculating DA for Government employees.
4.1.15 The rate of dearness allowance is calculated in terms of the percentage increase in 12 monthly average of AICPI (base 1982) over the average index of 306.33, which was the reference base for the existing scales of pay recommended by the Fifth Central Pay Commission.
4.2.4 City Compensatory Allowance (CCA) is granted to Central Government employees to adjust the high cost of living in certain specified localities.
4.2.9 Special Compensatory Allowance (Hill Areas/Remote Locality/Border Area/Gandhinagar) - Special Compensatory Allowances are paid on account of exceptionally difficult local conditions in various places.
4.2.10 Hill Area allowance - It is granted to Central Government employees posted at Hill stations located at an altitude of 1000 Mtrs. or more above sea level. The rates of Special Compensatory (Hill Area) Allowance vary between Rs.40 to Rs.300 per month. 4.2.11 Special Compensatory (Remote Locality) Allowance - It is payable to the employees serving in specified remote localities at rates varying between Rs.40 to Rs.1300 per month.
4.2.17 Tribal Area Allowance – It is paid in certain Tribal Talukas and pockets in certain States and is payable at rates varying between Rs.40 to Rs.200 per month.
The rates of all the components of Daily Allowance shall automatically increase by 25% whenever the Dearness Allowance payable on the revised pay bands goes up by 50%.
4.2.44 Simultaneously, the existing condition which prohibits grant of Transport Allowance to the employees who have been provided with official accommodation within one Kilometer of the office should also be removed because this creates an artificial distinction between the employees living in private accommodation within one Kilometer of the office vis-à-vis those living within one Kilometer of the office in Government accommodation. Other conditions regulating the grant of this allowance shall remain unchanged. Physically disabled employees shall continue to draw this allowance at double the normal rates. This, however, will be further subject to the condition that Transport Allowance in the case of physically disabled employees shall, in no case, be less than Rs.1000 per month plus the applicable rate of dearness allowance. Employees in pay band PB-4 who are entitled to the use of official car for travel between residence and office may be given the option to draw transport allowance at a higher rate of Rs.7000 p.m. plus dearness allowance provided they give up the use of official car for travel between residence and office.
Non-Practicing
4.2.45 Presently, Doctors are given Non-Practicing Allowance (NPA) at the rate of 25% of the basic pay subject to the condition that NPA + basic pay + dearness pay does not exceed Rs.44,250. NPA is counted as pay for all service and pensionary benefits.
4.2.55 The Fifth CPC had recommended a high increase in the HRA of Metropolitan towns like Delhi & Mumbai in view of the inordinate increase in monthly rents for residential accommodation in the period upto 1995 in these cities. The Fifth CPC also persisted with the population criteria for classification of cities and towns and recommended creation of a new category of A-1 cities for cities having a population of 50 lakh and above.
Demands 4.2.56 The Commission has received many demands relating to payment of HRA. Most of the demands seek an increase in the rates of HRA especially in cities other than A-1. Demands have also been received for granting A-1 status to the cities of Bengaluru and Hyderabad. This demand was, however, conceded by the Government during the term of the Commission and Bengaluru and Hyderabad already stand classified as A-1 cities.
Risk Allowance 4.2.65 Risk Allowance is presently given to employees engaged in hazardous duties or whose work will have deleterious effect on
health over a period of time. Risk Allowance is also paid to
Sweepers and Safaiwalas engaged in cleaning of underground
drains, sewer lines as well as to the employees working in trenching
grounds and infectious diseases hospitals.
The Commission, recommends continuation of the five day week in the offices of the Central Government. Holiday policy 4.5.6 As regards the issue of holidays, there can be no rationale for observing a large number of closed holidays in the Government along with a five day week. It is also very true that in a secular nation, religious festivals should be treated as personal to each individual employee without the Government offices having to be closed on that account. Keeping in view the recommendations of
the Fifth Central Pay Commission in this regard, the Commission 270 recommends that, henceforth, the Government offices should remain closed only on the 3 National holidays. No other closed holidays should be allowed. To enable the Government employees the freedom to celebrate their festivals and other
occasions of special significance to them, the number of
Restricted Holidays available to an employee shall be increased
to 8 with the list of Restricted Holidays being suitably enlarged
to include all the erstwhile Gazetted Holidays therein.
4.7.2 Keeping in view the dual responsibilities borne by working
women and the increasing practical difficulties in balancing work
and family responsibilities, previous Pay Commissions made
recommendations for providing special facilities for women in terms
of provision of residential accommodation for single women,
provision of transport facilities, introduction of concepts such as
flexi-time and flexi-place on trial basis, options for working half
time during the period that children are young , etc. The provisions
made by the Central Government for women employees include age
relaxation for appointment in Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ posts, exemption
from educational qualifications for compassionate appointments to
widows of deceased Government employees, maternity and
paternity leave benefits, guidelines for provision of crèche facilities
as well as for posting of husband and wife at the same station.
Demands of the Staff Side
Recommendations 4.7.5 The Commission has studied the facilities provided in other
countries and taken into account the demands made in this regard.
It is the considered opinion of the Commission that adequate
facilities need to be provided to ensure that more women take up public employment and to enable them to balance the dual responsibilities of looking after children and work. In pursuance of this, the Commission makes the following recommendations: -
(i) The concept of staggered working hours needs to be introduced for women employees as it would give flexibility to employees to work either early or late depending on their requirements at the home front. Under this scheme, 11 AM to 4 PM will be core hours during which all women employees will necessarily need to be present in the office. They will, however, have the option of either coming upto one and a half hours earlier or
leaving upto two hours late depending upon the actual time
they have clocked in.
(ii) The concept of child care leave exists in countries like Japan & Netherlands where women employees are allowed leave to look after the needs of their children. A similar facility needs to be extended in Central Government as it will facilitate women employees to take care of their children at the time of need. All women employees having minor children may, therefore, be allowed total leave of upto two years (i.e. 730 days) for taking care of upto 2 children whether for rearing the children or looking after any of their needs like examination, sickness, etc. Child care leave should also be allowed for the third year as leave not due. However, no child care leave shall be given for a child who is eighteen years of age or older.
(iii) Although instructions exist in regard to setting up of daycare- centers/crèches in offices or major residential areas, most Departments have not created such facilities. The setting up of these crèches should be made mandatory in offices where the employees, male and female, have preschool or primary school going children. This will enable male employees also to keep their children in such crèches. These crèches could also be run on contributory basis so that appropriate standard of facilities is maintained.
(iv) Maternity leave of 135 days is presently permitted to women employees for two children. Further, leave up to a 279 period of one year can be availed of in continuation of maternity leave. Keeping in view the guidelines of Ministry of Health & FW which recommends nursing of children till the age of 6 months, the Commission recommends that maternity leave should be increased from 135 days at present to 180 days. Further, the period of leave which can be availed of in continuation of maternity leave should be increased to 2 years instead of one year at present.
Medical facilities for serving employees & pensioners
Introduction 4.11.1 Presently, serving Government employees paid from civil estimates other than those working in Railways and Delhi
Administration are covered under the Central Government Health
Scheme (CGHS) which is a compulsory scheme for all Central
Government employees residing within the area covered by the
CGHS Dispensaries. CGHS is a contributory scheme and the
Government employees have to contribute varying sums between
Rs.15 to Rs.150 p.m. for this facility. Pensioners/family pensioners
can also avail CGHS facilities on payment of registration fee. It is
not necessary for pensioners/family pensioners to be living in the
areas covered under the CGHS for joining it. Railways and Defence
have their own medical infrastructure and their
employees/pensioners are not covered under CGHS. Presently, the
coverage of CGHS is available in 24 cities. Central Government
employees living outside these cities are not covered under CGHS.
Employees and their family members living outside the CGHS
areas are entitled to reimbursement for medical attendance and
treatment under the Central Services (Medical Attendance) Rules
[CS(MA) Rules]. These CS (MA) Rules, however, are available
only to the serving Government employees and the pensioners are
not covered under these rules. Pensioners living in non-CGHS
areas are allowed a sum of Rs.100 p.m. for meeting their medical
expenditure that does not require hospitalization. The amount of
Rs.100 was recommended by the Fifth CPC and has remained
unchanged since then. Pensioners living in non-CGHS areas are,
however, eligible for reimbursement of expenditure incurred on
hospitalization in accordance with the prescribed rules.
Demands 4.11.2 Some associations of Government employees in their
submissions to the Commission have lamented the poor quality of
service available under CGHS and sought an alternative to it. The
Central Government pensioners living in non-CGHS areas and
their associations have demanded reimbursement of medical
expenditure under the CS (MA) Rules on par with what is available
to the serving employees. Substantial enhancement in the amount
Chapter 4.11
323
of medical allowance of Rs.100 presently payable to pensioners
living in non-CGHS areas has also been demanded.
Analysis and
recommendations
4.11.3 The Commission is aware that there is increasing pressure
on CGHS which sometimes results in less than satisfactory services
being provided to its beneficiaries. On the obverse, CGHS is
appreciated by a number of employees and most of the pensioners.
In fact, most of the pensioners associations, in their submissions to
the Commission, have requested continuance of CGHS facilities.
The need of the hour may, therefore, be to retain the existing
scheme of CGHS while simultaneously providing optional inpatient
facilities (IPD) through medical insurance. This will
provide an alternative to such of those employees/ pensioners who
are not satisfied or are not living in the areas covered by CGHS.
The Commission, therefore, recommends that the Government
should revise entitlements for treatment in IPD for CGHS card
holders so that private ward facilities are available at least to the
employees in PB-2 pay band. The Commission is not in favour of
extending CS(MA) Rules to the pensioners as not only it will
prove to be very costly (estimates given by the Government peg
it at Rs.1,820 crore p.a.) but will also suffer from problems
relating to submission of bills, its verification and subsequent
payment, etc. This will pose additional problems for the
pensioners claiming reimbursement and will generate additional
administrative work with attendant problems for the
Government. The Commission is of the view that an insurance
scheme should be devised for meeting the OPD needs as well. In
the interregnum, the Government should consider enhancing the
amount of medical allowance for pensioners living in non-CGHS
areas appropriately.
Health insurance for Government employees & pensioners
4.11.4 Availability of health service providers in the private sector
has increased discernibly in the recent past. Therefore, making
available the in-patient facilities through a set up outside CGHS is
now viable. CGHS, by way of referrals, is already using this both
private and Government network. CS (MA) Rules, in any case,
operate through a system of Authorized Medical Attendants
(AMA) where adequate number of Government Doctors is not
available. CS (MA) Rules also provide for a set of empanelled
hospitals where the concerned employees can take treatment. The
Commission was informed that the Government is in the final
stages of introducing a health insurance scheme for its employees
so as to provide them with wider facilities and quality health care
without directly burdening the Government with the
administrative responsibility of verifying bills and/or expanding
public sector medical infrastructure. The scheme being formulated
by the Government, however, had not been formalized till the time
of finalization of this Report. Accordingly, the Commission is
324
recommending a scheme of health insurance for Central
Government employees and pensioners in this Report.
Recommendations 4.11.5 The Commission, accordingly, recommends introduction
of a Health Insurance Scheme for Central Government
employees/pensioners as under :-
i) For the existing employees and pensioners, the Insurance
Scheme would be available on voluntary basis subject to
paying the prescribed contribution. Contributions should
be based on the actual premium paid. Group A, B and C
employees should contribute 30%, 25% and 20% of the
annual premium respectively with the Government
paying the remainder. This arrangement should be
reviewed periodically.
ii) The Health Insurance Scheme would be compulsory for
new Government employees who would be joining
service after the introduction of the Scheme. Similarly,
new retirees after the introduction of the Insurance
Scheme would be covered under the Scheme. The new
recruits and pensioners will consequently not be provided
CGHS / CS (MA) facilities. The new recruits and the new
retirees may be paid an appropriate amount for meeting
their OPD expenditure till the time an insurance scheme
for providing OPD facilities is devised.
iii) Serving employees and existing pensioners shall have the
option to opt out of CGHS and subscribe only to the
Insurance Scheme, thus making their own arrangements
for OPD needs. In such cases, they will not pay
contributions to the CGHS. On par with new recruits,
they will need to contribute only the amounts prescribed
for similarly placed class of employees/pensioners under
CGHS and may also be paid an appropriate amount for
their OPD expenditure till the time an insurance scheme
for providing OPD facilities is devised. The serving
employees in non-CGHS areas may also opt for Health
Insurance Scheme and subscribe to the same.
iv) All personnel of the Central Government including All
India Service officers, serving and retired, and others who
are covered under the existing CGHS and under CS (MA)
Rules may be offered the health insurance scheme on a
voluntary basis.
Railways &
Defence
(combatants)
4.11.6 The aforesaid scheme has been recommended for
Government employees paid from civil estimates other than those
working in Railways. However, Railways and Defence
(combatants), who are having their own medical infrastructure,
should also devise a similar scheme for their employees.
Tags: Sixth Pay Commission,6th Pay Commission,Sixth Pay Commission Latest News,Sixth Pay Commission News, 6th Pay Commission Latest news,Sixth Pay Commission Allowances,6th Pay Commission Allowances
Source: http://www.khabrein.info
Sixth Pay Commission: Whoever said the govt employees were ill-paid?
R Vaidyanathan/ DNA MONEY
The report of the Sixth Pay Commission has been accepted by the government with some generous addition. Various experts from the academia and media have given their verdict in its favour, saying the government babus are overworked and underpaid and deserve the hike. Some have even made bizarre observations such as a possible reduction in corruption following the hikes.
But it is one of the multitudes of myths in our society that the babus are ill-paid.
Most of the discussion on the emoluments of the government employees focuses on the senior level positions like that of Secretary etc. But more important is the positions at the lower end of the hierarchy.
There was an interesting news item sometime ago about there being over 11,000 applicants for just three posts of peons advertised by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission.
This is hardly surprising considering the lower the category of position in government the larger is the number of aspirants. The salary and perks in government are significantly higher than those of the private sector at the lower levels.
Reports suggest that post-implementation of the Pay Commission report, the lowest-level worker will get more than Rs 10,000 per month as pay.
In the private sector, a peon or similar-category position might fetch around Rs 3,000 or at best Rs 5,000.
An important consideration is the hours of work involved.
It is suggested that in many a private sector job people are paid Rs 20,000 or even Rs 30,000 at entry, while government babus slog a number of years to reach there.
But, such discussions do not take into account the fact that people with coveted private sector jobs, such as a software professional or investment banker, put in more than 70 hours per week. Even executives at lower levels can be seen slogging from 8 am to 8pm or 9 pm daily.
The situation is far worse in the non-corporate sector, wherein a clerk or accountant has to slog it out for half the government servant’s pay with double the number of hours and without adequate holidays.
Contrast this to a typical state secretariat or central government office. There is hardly 3-4 hours of work and that to for five days of the week. This works out to 25 hours per week at best.
How then can we compare the salaries between the government and the private sector?
The second issue is that of part-time businesses undertaken by government employees, often during working hours.
Many lower level employees have entrepreneurship and are involved in poultry, gas agency, retail stores, barber shops, chits or micro-financing at usurious rates etc. These alternate businesses provide flexi-incomes while the government job offers a fixed income stream. Employees such as corporation sweepers and electricity linemen commonly outsource their jobs to others and carry on other, more paying business. For a private sector employee, this would be unthinkable.
The third issue pertains to bribes, which is perhaps the most attractive part of a government job.
Raids by the Lokayuktha in Karnataka provide proof of unbelievable levels of corruption, with small-time commercial tax inspectors or police constables often found to possess assets worth crores of rupees, a substantial portion of it in cash.
Such corruption hurts the poor much more than the rich.
The India Corruption study 2007, brought out by the NGO Transparency International and Centre for Media Studies, found that about one-third of households below poverty line bribed officials to get a service from police to personnel in the public distribution system. The study found that nearly Rs 900 crore is paid as bribes by the poor.
For example, according to a recent report, in a government hospital in Bangalore, one has to pay Rs 300 for being shown a newborn baby boy and Rs 200 in case of a baby girl by the hospital employees. It is difficult to think such practices will cease with the pay hikes.
Hence, if we consider hourly pay, including bribes, government employees are an extremely pampered lot. So much so one could well question the need to pay them a fixed salary at all. Rather, they should be asked to share a portion of their extra income with the government. That would be a trend-setting move.
Source: http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14746566&cid=20742
The report of the Sixth Pay Commission has been accepted by the government with some generous addition. Various experts from the academia and media have given their verdict in its favour, saying the government babus are overworked and underpaid and deserve the hike. Some have even made bizarre observations such as a possible reduction in corruption following the hikes.
But it is one of the multitudes of myths in our society that the babus are ill-paid.
Most of the discussion on the emoluments of the government employees focuses on the senior level positions like that of Secretary etc. But more important is the positions at the lower end of the hierarchy.
There was an interesting news item sometime ago about there being over 11,000 applicants for just three posts of peons advertised by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission.
This is hardly surprising considering the lower the category of position in government the larger is the number of aspirants. The salary and perks in government are significantly higher than those of the private sector at the lower levels.
Reports suggest that post-implementation of the Pay Commission report, the lowest-level worker will get more than Rs 10,000 per month as pay.
In the private sector, a peon or similar-category position might fetch around Rs 3,000 or at best Rs 5,000.
An important consideration is the hours of work involved.
It is suggested that in many a private sector job people are paid Rs 20,000 or even Rs 30,000 at entry, while government babus slog a number of years to reach there.
But, such discussions do not take into account the fact that people with coveted private sector jobs, such as a software professional or investment banker, put in more than 70 hours per week. Even executives at lower levels can be seen slogging from 8 am to 8pm or 9 pm daily.
The situation is far worse in the non-corporate sector, wherein a clerk or accountant has to slog it out for half the government servant’s pay with double the number of hours and without adequate holidays.
Contrast this to a typical state secretariat or central government office. There is hardly 3-4 hours of work and that to for five days of the week. This works out to 25 hours per week at best.
How then can we compare the salaries between the government and the private sector?
The second issue is that of part-time businesses undertaken by government employees, often during working hours.
Many lower level employees have entrepreneurship and are involved in poultry, gas agency, retail stores, barber shops, chits or micro-financing at usurious rates etc. These alternate businesses provide flexi-incomes while the government job offers a fixed income stream. Employees such as corporation sweepers and electricity linemen commonly outsource their jobs to others and carry on other, more paying business. For a private sector employee, this would be unthinkable.
The third issue pertains to bribes, which is perhaps the most attractive part of a government job.
Raids by the Lokayuktha in Karnataka provide proof of unbelievable levels of corruption, with small-time commercial tax inspectors or police constables often found to possess assets worth crores of rupees, a substantial portion of it in cash.
Such corruption hurts the poor much more than the rich.
The India Corruption study 2007, brought out by the NGO Transparency International and Centre for Media Studies, found that about one-third of households below poverty line bribed officials to get a service from police to personnel in the public distribution system. The study found that nearly Rs 900 crore is paid as bribes by the poor.
For example, according to a recent report, in a government hospital in Bangalore, one has to pay Rs 300 for being shown a newborn baby boy and Rs 200 in case of a baby girl by the hospital employees. It is difficult to think such practices will cease with the pay hikes.
Hence, if we consider hourly pay, including bribes, government employees are an extremely pampered lot. So much so one could well question the need to pay them a fixed salary at all. Rather, they should be asked to share a portion of their extra income with the government. That would be a trend-setting move.
Source: http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14746566&cid=20742
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
JetLite may merge with Jet Airways this year
Mumbai: Jet Airways (India), the country’s largest private airline is likely to merge its wholly-owned subsidiary JetLite into Jet Airways in the current fiscal. Jet promoter Naresh Goyal is considering the merger to break even by the end of the current calendar year.
Jet Airways had acquired Air Sahara in 2007 and had rechristened it as JetLite, as a low-cost carrier. Jet Airways chief commercial officer Sudheer Raghavan told ET, “We are not ruling out the merger but haven’t finalised anything.”
It was learnt that Jet Airways wants to raise funds but bankers and financial institutions will put in money only if the business will be profitable and merged into a single entity.
Jet Airways, which has more than 25 per cent share of the Indian market, thinks it is difficult for low-cost carriers to remain in business with such low fares in current turbulent times.
An analyst with a brokerage firm said JetLite has a weak balance sheet and merging JetLite into Jet Airways would be a wise decision in the current scenario as carriers are looking for mechanisms to stay afloat. Moreover, as a full-fledged carrier and business class target, JetLite didn’t fit into Jet Airways long play strategy.
25/08/08 Mithun Roy/Economic Times
http://avindia.blogspot.com/
Jet Airways had acquired Air Sahara in 2007 and had rechristened it as JetLite, as a low-cost carrier. Jet Airways chief commercial officer Sudheer Raghavan told ET, “We are not ruling out the merger but haven’t finalised anything.”
It was learnt that Jet Airways wants to raise funds but bankers and financial institutions will put in money only if the business will be profitable and merged into a single entity.
Jet Airways, which has more than 25 per cent share of the Indian market, thinks it is difficult for low-cost carriers to remain in business with such low fares in current turbulent times.
An analyst with a brokerage firm said JetLite has a weak balance sheet and merging JetLite into Jet Airways would be a wise decision in the current scenario as carriers are looking for mechanisms to stay afloat. Moreover, as a full-fledged carrier and business class target, JetLite didn’t fit into Jet Airways long play strategy.
25/08/08 Mithun Roy/Economic Times
http://avindia.blogspot.com/
Air travel agents protest move to scrap commission
Chennai/Thiruvananthapuram: Air travel agents in Kerala are on the warpath against the decision of airline companies to scrap the commission offered by the latter to approved agents for ticket sales. The decision will come into effect from November 1.
“We are taking the first major step forward to stop the airline companies from making such a move by downing our shutters on Tuesday (tomorrow) from 9 am to 1 pm in the three districts – Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta,” KVKV Muraleedharan, general convener of the Travel-Tourism Coordination Forum, a body representing the travel, tourism and recruiting agents in Kerala’s southern districts, told Business Standard.
As part of the stir, sit-ins at the Air India offices in these three districts have been organised. Similar protests would be organised in other districts of the state following Tuesday’s shutdown.
Muraleedharan pointed out that the commission given by the airline companies to approved agents for ticket sales used to be 9 per cent in the 70s. However, the rates came down to 7 per cent in 1995 and now stands at 5 per cent.
26/08/08 Sanjeev Ramachandran/Business Standard
http://avindia.blogspot.com/
“We are taking the first major step forward to stop the airline companies from making such a move by downing our shutters on Tuesday (tomorrow) from 9 am to 1 pm in the three districts – Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta,” KVKV Muraleedharan, general convener of the Travel-Tourism Coordination Forum, a body representing the travel, tourism and recruiting agents in Kerala’s southern districts, told Business Standard.
As part of the stir, sit-ins at the Air India offices in these three districts have been organised. Similar protests would be organised in other districts of the state following Tuesday’s shutdown.
Muraleedharan pointed out that the commission given by the airline companies to approved agents for ticket sales used to be 9 per cent in the 70s. However, the rates came down to 7 per cent in 1995 and now stands at 5 per cent.
26/08/08 Sanjeev Ramachandran/Business Standard
http://avindia.blogspot.com/
Soon, choppers may ferry critical patients to AIIMS
New Delhi: In a first for India, the government is finalising plans to allow helicopters carrying critical patients to land on top of AIIMS’ trauma centre — that’s right under the flight path of IGI airport. Planes landing and taking off on the airport’s secondary runway pass at a height of 2,500 to 3,000 feet. Now aviation authorities are figuring out the height that choppers can be allowed up to for operating from the rooftop helipad so that the flying machines are always safely apart.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Airports Authority of India (AAI) are jointly working on this plan. ‘‘Aircraft flying over the trauma center are at a height of 2,500 to 3,000 feet. Choppers are likely to be allowed movement in range of 1,000-1,500 feet. An aircraft leaves its impact (like turbulence in air) behind it and not below. Similarly, chopper blades’ wind draft goes below. So we should be able to finalise the flight plans and operating procedures soon,’’ said a senior official.
Luckily, the AAI is cooperating and this will help in making this rooftop helipad operational soon. On the other hand, a helipad cleared in Mumbai for one of the biggest corporate houses has run into trouble following objections from the defence forces that the flight path of choppers would mean passing over some sensitive areas.
26/08/08 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
http://avindia.blogspot.com/
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Airports Authority of India (AAI) are jointly working on this plan. ‘‘Aircraft flying over the trauma center are at a height of 2,500 to 3,000 feet. Choppers are likely to be allowed movement in range of 1,000-1,500 feet. An aircraft leaves its impact (like turbulence in air) behind it and not below. Similarly, chopper blades’ wind draft goes below. So we should be able to finalise the flight plans and operating procedures soon,’’ said a senior official.
Luckily, the AAI is cooperating and this will help in making this rooftop helipad operational soon. On the other hand, a helipad cleared in Mumbai for one of the biggest corporate houses has run into trouble following objections from the defence forces that the flight path of choppers would mean passing over some sensitive areas.
26/08/08 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
http://avindia.blogspot.com/
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