Govt Launches 23 New Schemes Under Digital India Mission; India Post Payment Bank, ePayment Portal & More

If the Governance under Atal Bihari Vajpayee is remembered for laying foundation of massive infrastructural projects, mainly in terms of highways; then the current PM Modi led Government would be remembered for laying foundation of massive Digital India platform in the country.

In one of the biggest push for Digital India mission, Government has launched 23 new programs aiming to empower Indians with Internet and Technology.

These new schemes have been devised to cater to four main objectives of Digital India: digital infrastructure, digital empowerment, on-demand government services and promotion of industry as a whole.

While inaugurating the new programs, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked all states to emulate these visionary programs, and empower the nation.

He said, “The basic objective should be to scale, because unless services are taken to the masses, digital inclusion will not succeed as asymmetry of information leads to asymmetry of opportunity..”

Top 5 schemes launched in this new push for Digital India:

1) National Centre of Geo-Informatics: With a budget of Rs 98.28 crore for three years, Govt. will develop an enhanced, advanced National Centre of Geo-Informatics. This GIS platform would be a hub of location based analytics and decision support system for planning public services across the nation. It would act as an independent division of Media Lab Asia, an organisation of DietY.

2) Payment Bank by India Post: By March 2017, India Post will launch their own Payment Bank across India. In this project, some of the biggest financial institutions such as World Bank and Barclays have shown interest to become a partner.

3) Data Centre for NIC at Bhuwaneshwara: A new 40,000 square feet Data Centre would be launched in Bhuwaneshwara for National Informatics Centre (NIC); which would be fully cloud-enabled. A budget of Rs 189 crore has been allocated for the same.

4) Special Manpower Development Program for Chips to System Design: With a budget outlay of 99.72 crore spread over 5 years, DEiTY has launched Special Manpower Development Program for Chips to System Design. This scheme will enable development of 50,000 specialized professionals in the area of VLSI and creation of 10 cluster projects for development of systems would be launched, to make India a super power electronics manufacturing and chip design industry.

5) PayOnline: National ePayment Gateway: A unique, one of its kind national ePayment gateway has been planned, using which every Indian citizen can easily make payments for all Government based transactions, ecommerce payments and other such related tasks. Collaboration with 67 banks has been envisioned for the same.

Other major projects include online labs for students for teaching science, Information Security and Awareness Programs, a renewed and more agile Software and Technology Parks (STPI) across the nation, Text to Speech technology for deeper penetration of Internet and Mobile across India and more.

Here are all the 23 new schemes announced by the Government under Digital India mission:

• Inauguration of Wi-Fi hotspots at Har ki Pauri, Haridwar and Dargah Sharif, Ajmer;
• Announcement of Pan India Free Incoming Roaming Facility for MTNL Customers from new year.
• Launch of Post-Terminals (Rural ICT – RICT) – handing over Post Terminals to rural Post Masters.
• Launch of National Centre of Geo-Informatics
• Launch of e-Payment Portal
• Launch of Olabs for Schools
• Launch of Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) Phase-II
• All India BPO Promotion Scheme
• North East Business Process Outsourcing Promotion Scheme
• Transfer of Technology for “ICT Centre on Tactile Graphics” at IIT Delhi
• Announcement of Setting up of NIC Data Centre at Bhubaneswar
• Initiating empanelment for private cloud Services providers
• Digital Locker Mobile App
• Transfer of Text To Speech Technology in 9 Indian Languages
• Digital India Newsletter – English || 7 Digital India Newsletter – Hindi
• Special Manpower Development Program for Chips to System Design
• Launch of ISEA phase 2 programme
• Announcement of Setting up of New STPI Centres
• ToT “ICT Centre on Tactile Graphics” at IIT Delhi ( PH)
• ToT Digital Programmable Hearing Aid (DPHA)
• Cyber Security
• Mobile Towers in Naxalite areas (LWE) in Madhya Pradesh
• Dedication of 10 lakh connections with Next Generation Network (NGN) capacity.

Source POTools

Right to health is a human right: Himachal High Court

In a landmark judgment, the Himachal Pradesh High Court Wednesday directed the central government to provide full medical benefits, including reimbursements of medical emergencies, to employees post-retirement.

A Division Bench comprising Justices Rajiv Sharma and Sureshwar Thakur passed the orders while dismissing an appeal filed by the central government, challenging an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in favour of Shankar Lal Sharma who underwent heart surgery post-retirment and incurred an expenditure of Rs 1.80 lakh – which the government declined to reimburse.

In a 101-page order handed down by Justice Sharma, the court ruled that right to health is a human right and questioned as how could the government, a principal employer, abdicate the responsibility of taking care of the health of its retired employees.

Denial of reimbursements of medical expenses amounts to violation of rights of the employee, the court added. The order observed that “a socialist state, as the Preamble depicts, is the basic structure of the Constitution of India “.

“Similarly, the welfare state is the basic feature of the Constitution. There is a difference between basic structure and basic features of the Constitution. The action of the Union of India not to reimburse the medical bills to the respondent (Shankar Lal Sharma) and also not giving option to him and similarly situate persons residing in a city not covered under CGHS is illegal, arbitrary, capricious, discriminatory, thus, violative of Articles 14, 16 and 21 of the Constitution of India.”

Using the legal maxim Salus populi suprema lex esto, the bench said “the health of the people should be supreme law.” The order further reads: “A serving employee, who enjoys benefits under the CS(MA) Rules, 1944, cannot be left high and dry immediately after retirement for want of medical care. His medical issues are required to be looked into with more sensitivity, compassion and sympathy. His genuine requirements for medical treatment cannot be permitted to be buried in the labyrinth of red tapism.

The court further held that it was the prime responsibility of the state to protect the health and vigour of retired government officials, this being their fundamental right under Article 21, read with Articles 39(3), 41, 43, 48-A of the Constitution.

Source : http://indianexpress.com/

India Post to Flourish with Modern Technology; World is Looking to It

Over the years, India Post has seen a large chunk of its business—both in postage stamps and parcels—disappear as people opted for the convenience offered by courier service companies. Now, as it gets ready to launch its payment bank by March 2017, the monolith is taking steps to become a truly digital organisation. That is critical for its future survival.

India Post’s prospects seem to have got a boost with the payments bank licence it got in August 2015—at least 23 agencies have approached it to join hands for the venture. Much of the change at India Post over the next few months will be technology-driven.

As a first step, 12,000 of its 1.55 lakh post offices have been now made core-banking enabled. That number should double, to almost 25,000, by March 2016. By then, it also plans to have 1,000 ATMs in place. Hooking up the major post offices to one network along with ATMs will help the postal department provide the flexibility that public sector banks already offer to customers.

The next step on the digital highway for India Post is to provide 1.3 lakh global positioning system (GPS) enabled hand-held devices to postmasters across the country by March 2017. These devices will facilitate biometric authentication of social security beneficiaries at the time of pay-out, reducing leakages.

Since the majority of these devices will be deployed in small towns and rural India, it will help India Post to cash in on the rising demand for e-commerce services in those regions. Already, the postal department has a distinct rural advantage since close to 90% (1.39 lakh) of the total post offices in the country are in rural India. Yet, India Post has not yet taken advantage of its huge hinterland presence.

During 2014-15, cash-on-delivery from e-commerce services earned India Post Rs 980 crore. As more devices are deployed over the next few months, the earnings from the delivery of goods for e-commerce companies in smaller towns and villages would rise substantially, apart from providing a greater degree of confidence to consumers. The increased earnings from rural India could add cheer to India Post.

Source Post Bank Of India

Amendment Of Rules Regarding Quoting Of PAN For Specified Transactions To Come Into Force From 01.01.16

Amendment of Rules regarding quoting of PAN for specified transactions to come into force from 1st January, 2016 

The Government is committed to curbing the circulation of black money and widening of tax base. To collect information of certain types of transactions from third parties in a non-intrusive manner, it is mandatory under Rule 114B of the Income-tax Rules to quote PAN where the transactions exceed a specified limit. In case of transactions of sale or purchase of goods and services, PAN will be required to be quoted, irrespective of the mode of payment if the transaction exceeds Rs. two lakhs. 

To bring a balance between burden of compliance on legitimate transactions and the need to capture information relating to transactions of higher value, the Government has amended Rule 114B to enhance the monetary limits of certain transactions which require quoting of PAN. 

The changes made to the Rules have been notified through S.O. No. 3545(E) dated 30th December, 2015. These changes will take effect from 1st January, 2016. 

The Notification is available on the website of the Department www.incometaxindia.gov.in.

A chart highlighting the key changes to Rule 114B of the Income-tax Act is attached.

Sl.	NATURE OF TRANSACTION	MANDATORY QUOTING OF PAN (RULE 114B)
		Existing requirement	New requirement
1.	Immovable property	Sale/ purchase valued at Rs.5  lakh or more	i.       Sale/ purchase exceeding Rs.10 lakh; ii.     Properties valued by Stamp Valuation authority at amount exceeding Rs.10 lakh will also need PAN.
2	Motor vehicle (other than two wheeler)	All sales/purchases	No change
3.	Time deposit	Time deposit exceeding Rs.50,000/- with a banking company	i.      Deposits with Co-op banks, Post Office, Nidhi, NBFC companies will also need PAN; ii.    Deposits aggregating to more than   Rs.5 lakh   during the year will also need PAN
4.	Deposit with Post Office Savings Bank	Exceeding Rs.50,000/-	Discontinued
5.	Sale or purchase of securities	Contract for sale/purchase of a value exceeding Rs.1 lakh	No change
6.	Opening an account (other than time deposit) with a banking company.	All new accounts.	i. Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account excluded (no PAN requirement for opening these accounts); ii. Co-operative banks also to comply
7.	Installation of telephone/ cellphone connections	All instances	Discontinued
8.	Hotel/restaurant bill(s)	Exceeding Rs.25,000/- at any one time (by any mode of payment)	Cash payment exceeding Rs.50,000/-.
9.	Cash purchase of bank drafts/ pay orders/ banker's cheques	Amount aggregating to Rs.50,000/- or more during any one day	Exceeding Rs.50,000/- on any one day.
10.	Cash deposit with banking company	Cash aggregating to Rs.50,000/- or more during any one day	Cash deposit exceeding Rs.50,000/- in a day.
11.	Foreign travel	Cash payment in connection with foreign travel  of an amount exceeding Rs.25,000/- at any one time (including fare, payment to travel agent, purchase of forex)	Cash payment in connection with foreign travel or purchase of foreign currency of an amount exceeding Rs.50,000/- at any one time (including fare, payment to travel agent)
12.	Credit card	Application to banking company/ any other company/institution for credit card	No change. Co-operative banks also to comply.
13.	Mutual fund units	Payment of Rs.50,000/- or more for purchase	Payment exceeding Rs.50,000/- for purchase.
14.	Shares of company	Payment of Rs.50,000/-  or more to a company for acquiring its shares	i.      Opening a demat account; ii.    Purchase or sale of shares of an unlisted company for an amount exceeding Rs.1 lakh per transaction.
15.	Debentures/ bonds	Payment of Rs.50,000/- or more to a company/ institution for acquiring its debentures/ bonds	Payment exceeding Rs.50,000/-.
16.	RBI bonds	Payment of Rs.50,000/-or more to RBI for acquiring its bonds	Payment exceeding Rs.50,000/-.
17.	Life insurance premium	Payment of Rs.50,000/- or more in a year as premium  to an insurer	Payment exceeding Rs.50,000/- in a year.
18.	Purchase of jewellery/bullion	Payment of Rs.5 lakh or more at any one time or against a bill	Deleted and merged with next item in this table
19.	Purchases or sales of goods or services	No requirement	Purchase/ sale of any goods or services exceeding Rs.2 lakh per transaction.
20.	Cash cards/ prepaid instruments issued under Payment & Settlement Act	No requirement	Cash payment aggregating to more than Rs.50,000 in a year.

Click Here

Source SA Post blog

1.5 percent extra growth needed to grant wage hikes: Jaitley

The government is ready to have a dialogue with the trade unions on wage increases, but the country needs to grow by an extra 1-1.5 percent so that it can sustain wage hike and other benefits given to workers and the poor, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday.

"Our GDP growth of 7.5 percent is at a time when the world is experiencing global slowdown. We need to increase our growth rate. We have to at least increase it by 1-1.5 percent," he said at a felicitation function organised by the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh.

"In the coming year, there would be a burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore of Seventh Pay Commission, OROP (one rank, one pension) burden is also there. That burden can be sustained only when there is increase in economic activity. Because of increased economic activity, government revenue and resources will go up," the finance minister said.

Noting that wages or bonus can only be increased when the government and private sector have the required resources, Jaitley said the minimum wages of labour should, at the least, be respectable and allow for inflation.

He asked the BJP-affiliated BMS to support the growth-oriented policies of the government, which will, in turn, take care of all their reasonable demands.

Read at: Business Standard

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Happy New Year 2016 - Hopeful Year And New Year Celb at RMS

.

Wishing you All 

a New Year 2016 

filled with 

Increment, Arrears & Promotions 

alongwith 

Happiness, 

Peace, & Prosperity.  

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CENTRAL DA JANUARY 2016 FOR GOVT EMPLOYEES-AICPIN NOVEMBER RELEASED

No. 5/1/2015-CPI

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT

LABOUR BUREAU

`CLEREMONT’, SHIMLA-171004

DATED: 31st December, 2015

Press Release

Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) – November, 2015

The All-India CPI-IW for November, 2015 increased by 1 point and pegged at 270 (two hundred and seventy). On 1-month percentage change, it increased by (+) 0.37 per cent between October and November, 2015 which was static between the same two months a year ago.

The maximum upward pressure to the change in current index came from Food group contributing (+) 0.64 percentage points to the total change. At item level, Wheat, Urd Dal, Mustard Oil, Eggs (Hen), Milk, Chillies-Dry, Garlic, Carrot, Lady’s Finger, Peas, Potato, Tomato, Tea (Readymade), Sugar, Flower/Flower Garlands, Tailoring Charges, etc. are responsible for the increase in index. However, this increase was restricted by Chillies Green, Onion, Brinjal, Cauliflower, Green Coriander Leaves, Methi, Radish, etc., putting downward pressure on the index.

The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly CPI-IW stood at 6.72 per cent for November, 2015 as compared to 6.32 per cent for the previous month and 4.12 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Similarly, the Food inflation stood at 7.86 per cent against 7.50 per cent of the previous month and 2.56 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year.
At centre level, Madurai reported the highest increase of 11 points followed by Tiruchirapally (9 points), Jalandhar, Puducherry and Salem (7points each) and Mundakkayam (6 points). Among others, 4 points rise was observed in 5 centres, 3 points in 7 centres, 2 points in 12 centres and 1 point in 10 centres. On the contrary, Jamshedpur, Tripura and Rangapara-Tezpur recorded a maximum decrease of 4 points each followed by Kolkata, Amritsar and Kodarma (3 points each). Among others, 2 points decrease was observed in 13 centres and 1 point in 8 centres. Rest of the 11 centres’ indices remained stationary.

The indices of 36 centres are above All India Index and other 41 centres’ indices are below national average. The index of Salem centre remained at par with all-India index.

The next issue of CPI-IW for the month of December, 2015 will be released on Friday, 29th January, 2016. The same will also be available on the office website www.labourbureaunew.gov.in.

sd/-

(SHYAM SINGH NEGI)

DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL

Source: http://labourbureau.nic.in/Press_Note_CPI_IW_NOV_2015_EH.pdf

Distance and E-Learning Programs for Central Government Employees

No Interviews For Govt Jobs From Jan 1; Skill Test May Continue: DoPT

Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh

New Delhi: All central government ministries and their Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) were today told to dispense with the requirement of interviews for selections at junior level posts within next two days, however, they may continue with skill or physical test.

The timeliness set regarding completing the process of the discontinuation of interview by December 31, 2015 has to be adhered to strictly, a communique sent by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to secretaries of all central government ministries said.

From January 1, 2016, there will be no recruitment with interview at the junior level posts in government of India ministries, departments, attached and subordinate offices, autonomous bodies and PSUs.

“All the advertisement for future vacancies will be without the interview as part of the recruitment process,” it said.

The decision to discontinue interview for recruitments is for all Group C and non-gazetted posts of Group ‘B’ category and all such equivalent posts, the DoPT said.

“It is also clarified that as skill test or physical test is different from interview, they may continue. However, these tests will only be of qualifying nature. Assessment will not be done on the basis of marks for such tests,” it said.

In case of specific posts where the ministry or department wants to continue undertaking interview as a process of recruitment, a detailed proposal seeking exemption will have to be sent to the DoPT with the approval of the minister or minister-in-charge.

The ministries have been asked to send a consolidated report to the DoPT by January 7 in this regard.

“Report so to be furnished with the approval of the minister or minister-in-charge shall include the details of the name and number of posts where the interview is discontinued and posts for which the exemption has been sought within the purview of the administrative ministries or departments,” the order said.

Similarly, the Department of Public enterprises has also asked all ministries to advise PSUs under their administrative control to adopt a revised mechanism of recruitment for the non-executive level posts by dispensing with the practice of interview.

CLICK HERE for the copy of  No.39020/01/2013-Estt (B)-Part. dtd.29-12-2015

PTI

Source SAPost

Payment Of Bonus (Amendment) Bill 2015

THE PAYMENT OF BONUS (AMENDMENT) BILL2015