Call for State bandh on September 26

Pro-Kannada outfits burning an effigy in Mysuru on Tuesday.— PHOTO:M.A. SRIRRAM

Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha and other pro-Kannada organisations have reiterated their call for a Karnataka bandh on September 26 to protest the opposition to Kalasa-Banduri project by Goa and Maharashthra.

Leading a protest in the city on Tuesday, Vatal Nagaraj said that more than 900 pro-Kannada outfits in the State had extended their support to the bandh to express their outrage against the delay in implementing the project which will cater to the drinking water requirement of the people of Hubbali-Gadag region.

Movement of all vehicles from Karnataka to Goa will stop on September 26, said Mr. Nagaraj.

Source The Hindu

Posting of husband and wife at the same station – DoP&T

F.NO.28034/9/2009-Estt.(A)

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions

(Department of Personnel and Training)

North Block, New Delhi,

Dated the 30^th September, 2009.

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Posting of husband and wife at the same station.

*******

In view of the utmost importance attached to the enhancement of women’s status in all walks of life and to enable them to lead a normal family life as also to ensure the education and welfare of the children, guidelines were issued by DOP&T in O.M No. 28034/7/86-Estt.(A) dated 3.4.86 and No.28034/2/97-Estt.(A) dated 12.6.97 for posting of husband and wife who are in Government service, at the same station. Department had on 23.8.2004 issued instructions to all Mins. / Deptts. to follow the above guidelines in letter and spirit.

2. In the context of the need to make concerted efforts to increase representation of women in Central Government jobs, these guidelines have been reviewed to see whether the instructions could be made mandatory. It has been decided that when both spouses are in same Central Service or working in same Deptt. and if posts are available, they may mandatorily be posted at the same station. It is also necessary to make the provisions at Paras 3(iv) and (vi) of the O.M. dated 3.4.86 stronger as it is not always necessary that the service to which the spouse with longer service belongs has adequate number of posts and posting to the nearest station by either of the Department may become necessary.

3. On the basis of the 6th CPC Report, Govt. servants have already been allowed the facility of Child Care Leave which is admissible till the children attain 18 years of age. On similar lines, provisions of O.M. dated 12.6.97 have been amended.

4. The onsolidated guidelines will now be as follows:

(i) Where the spouses belong to the same All India Service or two of the All India Services, namely lAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service (Group ‘A’);
     The spouse may be transferred to the same cadre by providing for a cadre transfer of one spouse to the Cadre of the other spouse, on the request of the member of service subject to the member of service not being posted under this process to his/her home cadre. Postings within the Cadre will, of course, fall within the purview of the State Govt.

(ii) Where one spouse belongs to one of the All India Services and the other spouse belongs’ to one of the Central Services:-
     The cadre controlling authority of the Central Service may post the officer to the station or if there is no post in that station, to the State where the other spouse belonging to the All India service is posted.

(iii) Where the spouses belong to the same Central Service:
     The Cadre controlling authority may post the spouses to the same station.

(iv) Where the spouse belongs to one Central Service and the other spouse belongs to another Central Service:-
     The spouse with the longer service at a station may apply to his/her appropriate cadre controlling authority and the said authority may post the said officer to the station or if there is no post in that station to the nearest station where the post exists. In case that authority, after consideration of the request, is not in a position to accede to the request, on the basis of non-availability of vacant post, the spouse with lesser service may apply to the appropriate cadre authority accordingly, and that authority will consider such requests for posting the said officer to the station or if there is no post in that station to the nearest station where the post exists.

(v) Where one spouse belongs to an All India Service and the other spouse belongs to a Public Sector Undertaking:
     The spouse employed under the Public Sector Undertaking may apply to the competent authority and said authority may post the said officer to the station, or if there is no post under the PSU in that station, to the State where the other spouse is posted.

(vi) Where one spouse belongs to a Central Service and the other spouse belongs to a PSU:-
     The spouse employed under the PSU ‘may apply to the competent authority and the said authority may post the officer to the station or if there is no post under the PSU in that station, to the station nearest to the station where the other spouse is posted. If, however, the request cannot be granted because the PSU has no post in the said station, then the spouse belonging to the Central Service may apply to the appropriate cadre controlling authority and the said authority may post the said officer to the station or if there is no post in that station, to the station nearest to the station where the spouse employed under PSU is posted.

(vii) Where one spouse is employed under the Central Govt. and the other spouse is employed under the state Govt.:-
     The spouse employed under the Central Govt. may apply to the competent authority and the competent authority may post the said officer to the station or if there is no post in that station to the State where the other spouse is posted.

(viii) “The husband & wife, if working in the same Department and if the required level of post is available, should invariably be posted together in order to enable them to lead a normal family life and look after the welfare of their children especially till the children attain 18 years of age. This will not apply on appointment under the central Staffing Scheme. Where only wife is a Govt. servant, the above concessions would be applicable to the Govt. servant.

5. Complaints are sometimes received that even if posts are available in the station of posting of the spouse, the administrative authorities do not accommodate the employees citing administrative reasons. In all such cases, the cadre controlling authority should strive to post the employee at the station of the spouse and in case of inability to do so, specific reasons, therefor, may be communicated to the employee.

6. Although, normal channels of representations/complaints redressal mechanism exist in the Min. / Deptts., added safeguards to prevent noncompliance may be provided by ensuring that the complaints against nonadherence to the instructions are be decided by the authorities at least one level above the authorities which took the original decision when they are below the level of secretary to the Govt. of India/Head of the PSU concerned and all such representations are considered and disposed off in time bound manner.

7. Hindi version will follow.

(C.B.Paliwal)

Joint Secretary to the Govt. of India

Source AIAIPASP

4 ways to undo the ill effects of prolonged sitting

Modern lifestyles are becoming increasingly sedentary. We spend a great deal of our time sitting; be it sitting for long hours at work, sitting while traveling, sitting while watching TV or eating. But if you think that your hour long intensive workout at the gym or your morning jog will make up for your prolonged sitting, you are wrong! A recent study published in the journal Health Psychology Review has found that targeting physical activity and increasing the level of exercise doesn't make any great difference to reduce prolonged sitting. One should focus on decreasing their sitting time. Ask health experts and they will tell you how prolonged sitting kills like smoking. It has turned into a serious public health concern. According to WHO, low physical inactivity is the fourth-leading risk factor for death around the world. So what can be done?

Get up and move

If you are guilty of staying glued to your office seat for long hours, it's time you change your habit. Fitness guru Mickey Mehta shares, "It is extremely important to get up from your seat every two hours. Stand up, walk a little, take a deep breath and stretch backwards and touch your toes." Also stand up from your seat every 45 minutes and try working as you stand. Some of the Indian companies have sit-stand desks at work to facilitate that.

Stretch some more

Did you know you can stretch even while sitting on your desk? Try holding your stomach muscles for a few seconds when breathing in, then release when breathing out. Tilt your head left and right, front and back. Next sit erect in your chair and extend your left leg straight ahead of you. Hold the position for a few seconds and change the leg. If you don't feel too awkward, try front kicks and sidekicks too.

Eye relief

Working on a laptop or desktop for extended hours also impact your eyes adversely. So take a break every 45 minutes and look at an object in the distant for 10-15 seconds. This will relieve the stress in your eyes.

Work as a team

Encourage your team members to stretch with you or take a quick stroll with you. Turn by turn record sitting time and set goals for limiting sitting time. Sometimes these tricks fail when done in isolation but if followed at a team, they do wonders.

Source : The Times of India

DAKER SAAJ - STAMP EXHIBITION 2015, West Bengal State Level Philatelic Exhibition - 8th to 13th October 2015.

The 8th State Level Philatelic Exhibition of West Bengal Postal Circle “DAKER SAAJ - STAMP EXHIBITION - 2015” will be held at Kolkata from 8th to 13th October, 2015

Venue: Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata -700071.

Prospectus can be downloaded from:

http://indiapostwb.gov.in/docs/Prospectus_WBPEX.rtf

Source AIAIPASP

Microsoft Office 2016 is here: 9 top features

Office 2016 isn't just about new Microsoft Word and PowerPoint layouts. The new productivity suite has a ton of amazing new tricks and features that are designed to make your work (and play) a lot easier.

If you still think of Office as something you tinkered with to write terms papers back on Windows 95, well you're in for a treat. Download the new Office 2016 and you'll get access to tools that automatically separate important and unimportant emails, connect to your social media accounts to help you plan your weekend, and help you plan group trips and activities.

For the business user, there are a ton of new Office features that help you better communicate, collaborate and create. Here are nine of these features and how you can use them to improve your Office 2016 experience.

Skype integration

Microsoft has made cloud document collaboration possible (years and years after Google.) Now, you and a friend can edit a Microsoft Word document simultaneously without having to save and share the document via email.

Unfortunately, not all of our friends are tech-savvy (or task-oriented), and sometimes you just need to hop onto a call with them to explain things (or gossip). With Office 2016 you can jump onto a Skype call from within Microsoft Word and Outlook.

This means you'll never have to launch a second application to begin your video call. You can simply press a button, select a chat partner and start chatting, or, collaborating.

mart Lookup

You know how you can look up words in Microsoft Office to find out whether you're spelling them correctly? Now you can use a feature called Smart Lookup in Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook to find information on almost anything on the web.

You simply highlight a word or phrase, right-click and select Smart Lookup. A sidebar will open with search results that fit your criteria. Want to learn more about Alaskan Klee Kais? Just type in the phrase, highlight it, right click on Smart Lookup and boom, you'll get tons of information about these cuddly little puppies.

Yes, Apple has a similar feature in El Capitan. No, this isn't revolutionary. But, boy is this a useful tool, especially for people who create tons of content and don't have time to open and close separate apps for every query.

Wunderlist

This new/old app allows you to create interactive to-do lists that can be shared with family, friends and co-workers. Want to assign people tasks? Want to monitor everyone's progress? Wunderlist can help you get everything organized and tracked.

Is there a slacker among your group of friends that always forgets to do his/her tasks? Wunderlist sends reminders, allows you to comment on other people's tasks and set due dates, just in case you need to micromanage your pals.

Technically, Wunderlist was created in 2009, but Microsoft acquired the company in June and added it to Office 2016. So those of you who solely rely on Office apps to ensure productivity will be pleased to see this new tool added to your suite.

Planner

A similar, though unique, feature exists for enterprise Office users. Planner allows managers to create a dashboard for group tasks. Managers can assign projects, track progress and rearrange responsibilities directly from the dashboard.

Instead of your boss sending a group email telling everyone what their new assignments are, your boss can simply drag and drop a responsibility from your column to your colleague's.

The best part: You don't have to keep your eyes on the dashboard all day. Whenever someone makes a strategic change, group members receive a notification.

Sunrise Calendar

Want a calendar app that provides a bit more kick than your standard Outlook application? Microsoft has finally added its side project, Sunrise Calendar, to the Office suite.

With Sunrise, you can connect your calendar to applications like Facebook, Foursquare and TripIt to help you make plans. Every time one of your friends or colleagues enters an event into social media, Sunrise adds it to your calendar. So if you want to stay up to date on this week's concerts and films, just check Sunrise to see if anyone added an event to Facebook or Foursquare.

Sunrise was originally developed as an iPhone app in 2013. But Microsoft acquired the company in February and added the tool to the Office 2016 suite.

Tell Me

Simple Office tasks can sometimes be tedious. Hate bolding text? Hate formatting documents? With Tell Me you can simply enter a text command and Office will immediately locate and make the fix for you.

Want to change your font to Times New Roman? Enter "change font to Times New Roman" and click on the corresponding command in the Tell Me search bar.

It's been rumored that voice commands will be recognized by Tell Me, but it's immediately unclear if this feature will be available when Office 2016 goes live.

Office Lens

Similar to Adobe Cloud Connect, Office Lens lets you take a camera phone image of a document and then turn that image into an editable Office document.

Let's say you want to file a hotel receipt with your Accounts Payable department, but you don't want them to see that nightcap you accidentally charged to your room. You can take a photo of your receipt, run it through Office Lens, redact the line item you'd like to avoid showing and send the document to your company for processing.

You no longer need to scan items, save them to your PC and then make edits. You can just snap, edit and send.

Delve

Most companies create so much data that it's impossible to keep track of it all. Want to find a brilliant presentation one of your colleagues created at some point two years ago? Rather than search through thousands of emails in your inbox, you can access your company's Delve repository.

Available for enterprise Office clients, Delve is a hub for all Office documents and creations. Think of it as Pinterest for work.

You can organize each item based on subject matter, content type and date. You can search the hub to find relevant content that applies to the work you're doing. You can start a board to encourage your coworkers to share content that you might find useful.

Inbox Clutter

Our spam folders are amazing. They collect emails from retailers and businesses with whom we don't want to have any contact whatsoever. But what about that uncle you just can't stand? Or that annoying coworker who constantly asks you to go to lunch?

With Clutter for Outlook, your email usage signals whether or not emails should actually enter your inbox. For example: if you never, ever open your uncle's emails, Clutter will automatically send those incoming messages to a folder where they will land alongside your annoying coworker's lunch requests. You can access this folder anytime and move messages back to the normal old inbox.

If you're worried you'll miss something important, don't fret. Clutter sends you a weekly digest that tells you exactly what was hidden. You can then command Clutter to never pull in that type of content again.

Source :The Times of India

Misuse of IDs and Passwords in organizations - preventive vigilance measures

Source SAPost Blog

Advertisements issued by various Ministries/Departments/Organisations in regard to Special Recruitment Drive for filling up of vacancies for Persons with Disabilities - reg.

Click here to view

Source SAPost blog

Dearness Allowance from July-2015 Order issued by Finmin

Payment of Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees - Revised Rates effective from 1.7.2015 - Order issued by Finance Ministry

No. 1/3/2015-E-II (B)

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Expenditure

North Block New Delhi

Dated the 23rd September, 2015.

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Payment of Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees - Revised Rates effective from 1.7.2015.

The undersigned is directed to refer to this Ministry’s Office Memorandum No. 1/2/2015-13-11 (B) dated rot" April, 2015 on the subject mentioned above and to say that the President is pleased to decide that the Dearness Allowance payable to Central Government employees shall be enhanced from the existing rate of 113% to 119% with effect from 1st July, 2015.

2. The provisions contained in paras 3, 4 and 5 of this Ministry’s O.M. No. 1(3)/2008-E-II(B) dated 29th August, 2008 shall continue to be applicable while regulating Dearness Allowance under these orders.

3. The additional installment of Dearness Allowance payable under these orders shall be paid in cash to all Central Government employees.

4. These orders shall also apply to the civilian employees paid from the Defence Services Estimates and the expenditure will be chargeable to the relevant head of the Defence Services Estimates. In regard to Armed Forces personnel and Railway employees, separate Orders will be issued by the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Railways, respectively.

5. In so far as the employees working in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department are concerned these orders are issued with the concurrence of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

sd/-

(A. Bhattacharya)

Under Secretary to the Government of India

Click here to download order in English from Finmin Website
Click here to download order in Hindi from Finmin Website

Read more: http://www.staffnews.in/2015/09/dearness-allowance-from-july-2015-order.html#ixzz3mddMiiZa
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Fake 7th CPC Report and Pay Scale in Social Media: See how it is fake?

Three pages report titled "REPORTS OF THE SEVENTH PAY COMMISSION" "HIGHLIGHTS" spreading in Social Media. See the below picture click on picture to enlarge, the suspicious contents printed on this document, which are marked in red circle/rectangle. :-

• The starting para of the report states that "The 15 months tenure of the commission was till 01.01.2016" is wrong.
• In Second page under para "Education Allowance" a para number is given 4.2.60 is also suspicious.
• In Education Allowance point (i) states "Reimbursement of Tuition Fee" and point (ii) mentioned "Children Education Allowance" is also seems altered and illogical.  The amount shown in this para is funny.
• The last two point of second page is related to Ministry of Heavy Industries and seems the part of any CPSE report.
• The distance of two lines in  second page shows that cut-paste work has been done.
• Main thing is the stamp and signatures of 7th CPC member all signature-stamp containing "sd/-" means signed and a signature is not needed on "sd/-".  This shows the document is totally fake.
• The third page regarding pay structure is totally fake.  No need to mention 5th CPC Scale in 7th CPC Report.  The table shown in this page is also not well structured and the revised column consist the "Grade Pay" sub column of Pre-revised Scale.

Reproduction of such type of fake document is a serious matter and readers are advised to be alert on this.  The previous post of this website 7वें वेतन आयोग ने सिफारिशें केंद्र को सौंपी- दैनिक भास्कर का दावा   seems based on it.  And many other daily news paper/media speculate on this that Pay Commission will submit report soon.  The govt. has extended the term of 7th CPC for 4 months and time given to submit the report upto 31.12.2015.  It 7th CPC has any lengthy task and not likely to submit his report before two or three months.  However the notification of extension of 7th CPC term is also stipulates the commission may submit any part of report to govt.

Read more: http://www.staffnews.in/2015/09/fake-7th-cpc-report-and-pay-scale-in.html#ixzz3mdcfbig4
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Highlights of 7th Pay Commission Report Spreads on Social Media and Leading Websites

Highlights of 7th Pay Commission Report Spreads on Social Media and Leading Websites

Rumors on 7th Pay Commission Report – Highlights of the report spreads on Social Media and Leading Websites

Photograph of 7th Pay Commission’s Document Spreads like Wildfire on Social Media

“A copy of one of the important letter pertaining to the 7th Pay Commission surfaced in the social media yesterday.”

A crucial document containing the signatures of four members, including the chairman and secretary of the 7th Pay Commission was released on the Social Media, creating a buzz. The document, titled “Report of Seventh Central Pay Commission Highlights” contained the seal of the Central Government, stated that it would be submitted on September 1, 2015. The report showed three pages of the document. At the end of it, there were signatures, along with names and designations of four members of the Pay Commission, including the chairman and secretary.

The document also contained the recommendations of Revised Pay Scale Structure for all groups of Central Government employees. In addition to abolishing the Grade Pay Structure, the new minimum pay scale has been fixed at Rs.21,200. There is also indicated to provide a six percent annual increment.

There is brief information on HRA, CEA, Pay Fixation and Increment. There is no information about the person/s who had released the document. Most importantly, the information provided in the document is hard to believe.

The 7th Pay Commission was all set to submit its report to the Central Government towards the end of September, but the Centre has given it an extension of four more months. According to the government, the decision was made after the committee requested for additional time to prepare the final report.

For the past few weeks, the curiosity of Central Government employees about the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission has increased. This is reflected by the increased searches on the internet for any information on the new Pay Commission. They are eagerly reading up all kinds of reports, analysis, and comments on the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission on topics like new pay scale, promotions, and revised allowances. They are also expressing their opinions on such articles.

There is nothing wrong in writing articles about the 7th Pay Commission based on personal opinions and aspirations. But, there is nothing funny about producing a fake document and releasing it on the internet.

Source: http://www.cgstaffnews.in/

Celebration of World Post Day on 09.10.2015 and National Postal Week, 2015

Source:  AiAiPASP blog

Higher house rent allowance expected in 7th CPC report

Following article has been published in a popular website,"The Sen Times"  dated 14/9/2015.

"The Seventh Pay Commission is likely to propose to increaseHouse Rent Allowance (HRA) of central government employees, besides their basic salaries.

By giving House Rent Allowance hikes, the Pay Commission is likely to seek to encourage property owners to rent out their properties, reduce the shortage of dwellings and to provide ‘housing for all central government employees’.

Besides the basic salary, a large portion of central government employees’ salary is the House Rent Allowance; some changes will be made in that category this time.

Instead of the existing three areas for house rent, four are likely to be created. ‘X’ class cities Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune, where employees will get 40 percent of their basic salary asHouse Rent Allowance (HRA), increasing from the existing 30 percent.

Employees posted at ‘Y’ class cities covers near about 90 stations, will receive 30 percent of basic salary, instead of the existing 20 percent.

A new area will be opened for the district towns; the central government employees will get 20 percent of their basic salary as House Rent Allowance (HRA) there.

In other areas, the house rent allowance will be 10 percent of basic, which is the existing rate of House Rent Allowance(HRA) of ‘Z’ class cities.

The existing qualifying threshold of population for HRA classification is 50 lakh and above for X, 5-50 lakh for Y and below 5 lakh for Z class cities.

However, the central government’s salary bill will rise by 9.56% to Rs 1,00,619 crore with the implementation of therecommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, according to a statement tabled in Parliament by Union Finance

Minister Arun Jaitley on August 12."

Source : The Sen Times

Holiday on account of Bakrid will be observed on 24 9 2015 instead of 25 9 2015. Go through for clarification

Holiday on account of Bakrid will be observed on 24 9 2015 instead of 25 9 2015 

Kerala Postal Circle issued orders. Please see the copy of the order given below.

Useful Web portal : International Website for Postal

Universal Postal Union

UPU

United States Postal Service

USPS

Australia Post

Australia 

Canada Post

Canada

Denmark Post

Denmark

France Post

France

German Post

Germany 

Japan Post

Japan

New Zealand Post

New Zealand

Pakistan Post

Pakistan

Singapore Post

Singapore

Srilanka Post

Srilanka 

Fake news spreading about DA Merger and Retiring age

Order for Merger of 50% DA, Retirement age news.

Recently rumour mill went overdrive in social media with the following news that

1. Central Government decided to merge 50% DA with basic pay with effect from 1.1.2015. 

  

2. It went on to say that age of Retirement will be on completion of 33 Years of service or at the age of 58 Years whichever is earlier.

The 7th CPC is expected to submit its report shortly and due to Bihar elections the Central Government cannot take any policy decisions in this regard. Hence it is clarified that none of the above news are correct.

Source:  SaPost

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 - Submission of declaration of assets and liabilities by CSS officers for each year - reg.

Source : http://ccis.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D2/D02csd/Lokpal_Reminder_II0001.pdf

No restrictions on WhatsApp, Facebook? Modi government withdraws draft encryption policy

Following a public uproar over threat to privacy, the government today withdrew the draft encryption policy which made itmandatory for storage of all messages, including social media, for 90 days. 

"I personally feel that some of the expression used in the draft are giving rise to uncalled-for misgivings. Therefore, I have written to DeitY to withdraw that draft, rework it properly and thereafter put in the public domain," Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here. 

Generally, all modern messaging services like WhatsApp, Viber, Line, Google Chat, Yahoo Messenger and the like come with a high level of encryption and many a time, security agencies find it hard to intercept these messages. 

"Yesterday, it was brought to our notice that draft has been put in the public domain seeking comments. I wish to make it very clear that it is just a draft and not the view of the government. I have noted concerns expressed... by the public," Prasad said. 

As per the original draft, the new encryption policy proposes that every message a user sends -- be it through WhatsApp, SMS, e-mail or any such service -- must be mandatorily stored in plain text format for 90 days and made available on demand to security agencies. 

Prasad said the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promoted social media activism. 

"The right of articulation and freedom, we fully respect but at the same time, we need to acknowledge that cyber space transaction is rising enormously for individuals, businesses, the government and companies," Prasad said. 

The draft proposed legal action that could entail imprisonment for failure to store and produce on demand the encrypted message sent from any mobile device or computer. 

The draft, issued by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, was applicable on everyone, including government departments, academic institutions, citizens and for all kinds of communications -- be it official or personal. 

Besides, all service providers located within and outside India that use encryption technology must register themselves with the government, as per the draft. 

Prasad, however, maintained that there's need for an encryption policy which would apply to those who are involved in encrypting a messaging product "for a variety of reasons". 

The policy was proposed under section 84 A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 through an amendment in 2008.

Source :The Economic Times