NEWS ITEM -7th
PAY COMMISSION & others 06-02-2014 மலர் 48
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New Delhi: In a largesse
to government employees ahead of general elections
that are due by May, the
Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on Tuesday
formally constituted the Seventh Central Pay Commission.
The finance ministry had
approved constitution of the pay commission in September last year ahead of
state elections in five states.
While the constitution of
the commission promises significant increases in pay for government employees
during an election year, it could significantly increase the future fiscal
burden of the central and state governments.
Implementation of the
Sixth Pay Commission increased salaries by 21% resulting in an additional
annual outgo of nearly Rs.18,000 crore for the Union government, besides a pay
out of arrears of Rs.30,000 crore.
It will be headed by
Ashok Kumar Mathur, a retired Supreme Court judge and retired chairman of Armed
Forces Tribunal .
Rae, secretary in the
ministry of petroleum and natural gas, will be a full-time member of the
commission, while Rathin Roy, director of the National Institute of Public
Finance and Policy (NIPFP), will be a part-time member. Meena Agarwal, officer
on special duty in the department of expenditure, will be the secretary of the
commission.
It will revise the salary
structure of five million central government employees, including those in
defence and railways and about three million pensioners.
Vivek In a statement, the
finance ministry had said the average time taken by a pay commission to submit
its recommendations is about two years, and accordingly the next set of
recommendations is likely to be implemented from 1 January 2016.
Though the terms of
reference of the commission are yet to be notified, one of the appointed
officials of the commission, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the key
challenge is to make sure that government salaries reflect productivity and
performance within fiscal constraints.
The official said the
terms of reference of the commission are expected to be notified in a day or
two.
The inflationary
situation in the country has worsened since the implementation of the Sixth Pay
Commission, said N.R. Bhanumurthy, professor at the NIPFP. “Though it could be
coincidental, but in my view it would have got aggravated by the pay hikes
recommended by the commission.
With the background of
the impact of the Sixth Pay Commission on the fiscal and inflationary
situation, the Seventh Pay Commission really needs to follow a middle path of
trying to address both the fiscal concern and the rising cost of living,” he
said.
The Sixth Pay Commission,
headed by justice B.N. Srikrishna, was constituted on 5 October 2006. It
submitted its report on 24 March 2008, but its recommendations were implemented
retrospectively from 1 January 2006. The report led to a 6 percentage points
increase in dearness allowance for central government employees from 16% to
22%.
R. Srinivasan, general
secretary of the Indian National Defence Workers Federation, said the Seventh
Pay Commission needs to settle the anomalies that have arisen due to the
implementation of the previous pay commission such as the concept of pay band
instead of pay scales for the defence personnel. “We have demanded equality
between pay hikes for lower grade and higher grade employees and more specific
cadre progression. We have also asked to include one labour representative in
the commission,” he said.
The government is also believed to have
approved fixing minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month under the Employees'
Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS-95) run by retirement fund body Employees' Provident
Fund Organisation (EPFO). The government is also understood to have cleared
maximum basic wage ceiling of Rs 15,000 per month for deduction of Provident
Fund from existing Rs 6,500 per month for private sector workers, in general,
covered under schemes run by EPFO.
CDA of
CG Employees and Pensioners
According to an official source, the
preliminary assessment suggests that dearness allowance hike will not be less than
10 per cent and would be effective from January 1 this year.
He said the exact percentage hike in DA could be calculated only when the revised all India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) for December is released on February 28.
According to the provisional data released by government on January 31, the retail inflation for factory workers for the month of December stood at 9.13 per cent.
As per practice, the government uses CPI-IW data of the past 12 months to arrive at a quantum for the purpose of any DA hike. Thus, the retail inflation for industrial workers between January 1 to December 31, 2013 would be used to take a final call on the matter.
"It would be 10 per cent this time and would be announced in March," Confederation of Central Government Employees President K K N Kutty told PTI.
"Besides, raising DA to 100 per cent, the government should revise the pay and merge DA with basic pay", he said.
As per practice, the DA is merged with basic pay when it breaches the 50 per cent mark. DA merger helps employees as their other allowances are paid as a proportion of basic pay.
Kutty informed the central government employees would go on a two-day strike from February 12 and demand pay revision which would be possible through constituting the 7th Pay Commission. The government has announced setting up of the commission last year.
He said: "This DA hike won't help much as actual rise in the cost of living is about 300 per cent as on January 1, 2014. But they would pay us 100 per cent as DA."
He said the exact percentage hike in DA could be calculated only when the revised all India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) for December is released on February 28.
According to the provisional data released by government on January 31, the retail inflation for factory workers for the month of December stood at 9.13 per cent.
As per practice, the government uses CPI-IW data of the past 12 months to arrive at a quantum for the purpose of any DA hike. Thus, the retail inflation for industrial workers between January 1 to December 31, 2013 would be used to take a final call on the matter.
"It would be 10 per cent this time and would be announced in March," Confederation of Central Government Employees President K K N Kutty told PTI.
"Besides, raising DA to 100 per cent, the government should revise the pay and merge DA with basic pay", he said.
As per practice, the DA is merged with basic pay when it breaches the 50 per cent mark. DA merger helps employees as their other allowances are paid as a proportion of basic pay.
Kutty informed the central government employees would go on a two-day strike from February 12 and demand pay revision which would be possible through constituting the 7th Pay Commission. The government has announced setting up of the commission last year.
He said: "This DA hike won't help much as actual rise in the cost of living is about 300 per cent as on January 1, 2014. But they would pay us 100 per cent as DA."
Defence pensioners can now go online
HYDERABAD: Defence pensioners can now go
online to monitor their monthly pension statement, disbursement and other
related information pertaining to their pension status including pensioner
profile through the web portal "www.dpdopensioner.org", which was recently
launched by the Controller General of Defence Accounts ( CGDA) New Delhi.
According to a press release issued by the Defence Pensioners Disbursement Office (DPDO), Secunderabad, the newly launched online facility will benefit a large number of Defence pensioners across the country.
According to a press release issued by the Defence Pensioners Disbursement Office (DPDO), Secunderabad, the newly launched online facility will benefit a large number of Defence pensioners across the country.
'Govt
exploiting employees'
ALLAHABAD: A seminar was organised at the
campus of Jal Sansthan on Tuesday in, which several people and employees of the
organization participated. General Manager of Jal Sansthan RB Singh inaugurated
the seminar.
Speaking on the occasion, president of Jalkal Karamchari Kalyan Sewa Samiti Ram Singh observed that central and state governments are continuously pursuing capitalist and imperialist policies and are exploiting labourers and employees.
He further added that number of employees are continuously being reduced in most of the public sector undertakings and are taking recourse to outsourcing. This is being done to provide benefit to the industrial families and labour mafias.
Right from the lower rung of the employees upto the level of engineer, doctors are working on contract basis and their organizations are continuously exploiting them.
Kailash Agarwal expressed stressed on the need for making the struggle of the employees and the labour class more comprehensive.
Speaking on the occasion, president of Jalkal Karamchari Kalyan Sewa Samiti Ram Singh observed that central and state governments are continuously pursuing capitalist and imperialist policies and are exploiting labourers and employees.
He further added that number of employees are continuously being reduced in most of the public sector undertakings and are taking recourse to outsourcing. This is being done to provide benefit to the industrial families and labour mafias.
Right from the lower rung of the employees upto the level of engineer, doctors are working on contract basis and their organizations are continuously exploiting them.
Kailash Agarwal expressed stressed on the need for making the struggle of the employees and the labour class more comprehensive.
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