Bonus Ceiling – NFIR writes to Railway Minister to remove of calculation ceiling for the purpose of payment of productivity Linked Bonus (PLB)

Bonus Ceiling – NFIR writes to Railway Minister to remove of calculation ceiling for the purpose of payment of productivity Linked Bonus (PLB)

Payment of Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) – Removal of Calculation Ceiling

NFIR

National Federation of Indian Railwaymen

3,Chelmsford Road, New Delhi – 110 055

No.1/10/Part IV

Dated 08/09/2015

Shri Suresh Prabhu,
Hon’ble Minister for Railways
Railway Bhavan,
New Delhi.

Respected Sir,

Sub: Payment of Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) – Removal of calculation ceiling – reg.

Ref: Item No.4 of 55 Point Charter of Demands of NFIR

Kind attention is invited to the announcement made by the Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment on 1st September 2015, conveyed through press Information Bureau, extract of item no.2 the subject reproduced below:-

For the purpose of bonus, the wage eligibility limit and calculation ceiling would be appropriately revised. It is proposed to revise the wage eligibility limit from Rs.10,000 to Rs.21,000 and calculation ceiling from Rs.3500 to Rs.7,000 or the minimum wage notified by the appropriate Government for that category of employment, whichever is higher, with the proposed revision of the minimum wages, the average calculation ceiling would be about Rs.10,000.

In the light of the Government’s announcement as mentioned above. NFIR requests the Hon’ble MR to kindly arrange to take action for removal of calculation ceiling for the purpose of payment of productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) to Railway employees. Incidentally it is mentioned that in the past, as and when the Government had revised the calculation ceiling, the Ministry of Railways have accordingly paid P.L. Bonus to employees.

Yours faithfully

sd/-

(Dr.M.Raghavaiah)

General Secretary

Source: NFIR

DA and DR from July to Dec 2015 – Cabinet Committee may approve tomorrow

DA and DR from July to Dec 2015 – Cabinet Committee may approve tomorrow

As per media news, the Cabinet committee in its meeting tomorrow is likely to approve an additional Dearness Allowance for Central Government employees due from July 2015.

The second installment of this year, from July to December 2015, an additional DA is finalized hike by 6% as per the calculations recommended by 6th CPC. Now the Central Government employees and pensioners are getting 113% DA and DR, after the declaration by the Cabinet Committee on DA, it will become 119%.

6 months of the All India Consumer Price Index (CPI-IW) from Jan to Jun 2015 is the key points to calculate DA and DR from July 2015, the below table describes the calculation clearly…

Govt favours discontinuing interview for appointment to various posts

Govt favours discontinuing interview for appointment to various posts

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has said that the Union Government is in favour of doing away with the practice of holding interviews for appointment to junior level posts.

Presiding over a meeting of Principal Secretaries of General Administration Department (GAD)/Personnel from different States and Union Territories here today, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) has initiated a serious exercise for identifying the posts for which interview for selection can be discontinued and a communique in this regard has been sent to various State Governments, State Public Service Commissions and Staff Selection Commission. He said that this follows the suggestion put forward by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that the government will soon identify all those posts, particularly at junior level like Group III & IV, where an interview is avoidable and will stop this practice. He said, for a post for which an interview is not necessary to determine the capability of a candidate, the provision of interview sometimes leads to scope for manipulation, manoeuvrability and corruption. Therefore, barring such posts where an interview would help in testing special capabilities for a particular assignment, abolition of the provision of interview will not only be in larger public interest but would also offer a level playing field for even those of the candidates who lack resources and come from lower socio-economic strata, he added.

Referring to some of the revolutionary decisions taken by the DoPT during the last 15 months of the present government, Dr Jitendra Singh made a special mention of the introduction of self-attestation of certificates. This, he said, not only eliminated inconvenience caused to the youth for going around to seek attestation of certificates from gazetted officers, etc., but also sent out a reassuring message that the present government has the capacity to trust the youth of this country. Similarly, he also referred to the Pension Department’s plans to finalise Pension Portal which would help in ending the practice of producing life certificates by a pensioner.

Dr Jitendra Singh also informed that a pilot exercise undertaken for three States of Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu had proved successful wherein, for the first time, an Induction training programme was introduced for the newly inducted State-level functionaries and the same practice is now being extended to other States as well. He also referred to a landmark decision by the DoPT to revise and revisit the pattern and syllabus of IAS and other Civil Services Exam to offer a level playing opportunity for aspirants from different streams.

The meeting was attended among others by Secretary, DoPT, Shri Sanjay Kothari, Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Shri Devendra Chaudhry and Establishment Officer, DoPT, Shri Rajiv Kumar.

Source: PIB News

CG Employees demand of date of effect from Jan 2014 is fully justified.

Central Government Employees demand of date of effect from Jan 2014 is fully justified.

Comrades,

Now the Government has announced the One Rank One Pension Scheme for Defence veterans. Its Highlights are as follows.

The benefit will be given with effect from 1st July, 2014. Arrears will be paid in four half-yearly instalments. All widows, including war widows, will be paid arrears in one instalment.

To begin with, OROP would be fixed on the basis of calendar year 2013. Pension will be re-fixed for all pensioners retiring in the same rank and with the same length of service as the average of minimum and maximum pension in 2013. Those drawing pensions above the average will be protected.

In future, the pension would be re-fixed every 5 years.

Now we should expect the 7th CPC report to be submitted in next three months( after Bihar Elections)

Now the Defence veterans are now having five years wage revision. The government has allowed Central Public Sector units to revise wages of all non-executive employees every five years instead of 10 years. Bank employees are having five years wage revision.

Why not Central Government employees have the same five years wage revision provided to others and have a permanent wage review body. Now our demand of Central Government employees by the staff side JCM for date of effect from Jan 2014 is fully justified by Government issuing orders for others for five years wage revision as in case of Defence veterans, Bank employees and Central Public Sector.

Comradely yours

(P.S.Prasad)

General Secretary

Source: http://karnatakacoc.blogspot.in/2015/09/central-government-employees-demand-of.html

Exempting Railway employees from the NPS and also consider ONE RANK ONE PENSION – NFIR

Exempting Railway employees from the NPS and also consider OROP – NFIR

NFIR

National Federation of Indian Railwaymen

3, CHELMSFORD ROAD,NEW DELHI – 110 055

Affiliated to:

Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC)

International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)

No.IV/NPS/PFRDA BILL

Dated: 06-09-2015

Shri Narendra Modi,
Hon’ble Prime Minister of India
South Block,
Raisina Hills,
New Delhi.

Respected Sir,
Sub: Uniform Pension Scheme to retiring Railways employees at par with ex-servicemen – reg.

At the outset, the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR) thanks the Government for conceding to the demand of ex-Servicemen for introduction of “One Rank – One Pension” for them.

In this connection, I would invite your kind attention to the case of Railway employees numbering over 1.3 million as placed below:-

The Railway employees have been subjected to injustice as a result of introduction of New Pension Scheme (which is a contributory pension scheme) with effect from 01/01/2004. Consequently, those employees who joined railways on and after 01-01-2004 are governed by the contributory pension scheme with present nomenclature “New Pension System”(NPS).

Presently, there are two sections of Rail Workforce – One governed by the Liberalized pension Scheme (applicable to pre 01-01-2004 appointees) and the other one governed by the contributory pension scheme i.e. NPS applicable to post 01.01.2004 appointees. Since 2004, NFIR has been pressing the Government of India and the Ministry of Railways to withdraw New Pension Scheme as the duties and responsibilities of Railway employees are very complex, Complicated and their working conditions are arduous as they perform duties at remote places, extremist infested areas, jungle areas, without any supply chain. Vast percentage of Railway employees cannot afford to have timely medicines, social life, schooling facilities etc.,

Pursuant to the discussions held with the Railway Ministry on our pending demand seeking abolition of New pension-Scheme in Railways, the then Railway Minister Shri Mallikarjun Kharge had agreed with the demand and accordingly he had sent a communication to the Finance Ministry on 29-03-2014 duly explaining the nature of duties of the Railway employees and seeking Government’s approval for exempting the Railway employees from the NPS whereby they can be governed by the Liberalized pension scheme. This issue is continued to remain unresolved.

For your kind appreciation, I mention here that according to the report of the Dr.Anil Kakodkar committee, Submitted to the Railway Ministry in the year 2012. the death rate of Railway employees in the courses of performing duties was much larger than the public. I quote below the figures given by the High Level Safety Review committee headed by Dr.Kakodkar.

	Killed	Injured
(a)    Railway employees	1600	8700
(b)   Passenger/ Public	1019	2110
(c)    Unmanned Level Crossing	723	690

The above position reveals that the Railway employees killed during the period 2007-08 to 2011 were 1600 while those injured on duty were 8700. This figure would convince that the duties of Railway employee cannot be treated as less arduous in comparison with the defence and para-military forces. Like armed forces, Railway employees are expected to remain at their place of posting even during periodic rest and they cannot afford to leave the headquarters and they perform duties under open sky facing inclement weather conditions and ensure running of trains round the clock.

It would therefore, be necessary to exempt Railway employees from the New Pension System (NPS).

2. Need to provide Uniform pension Scheme or One Rank – One Pension to Rail Workforce:

The Railway employees discharges their duties round the clock by shifts and over 85% staff work in remote places where no human life exists. Their duties are safety- oriented. The are facing continuous stress and strain in the course of performing. Train passing duties causing health hazards leading to pre-mature death, medical invalidation at a scale larger than the armed/Par-Military forces. The demand for introduction of Uniform Pension Scheme to Railway employees of the same rank regardless of their date of retirement deserve consideration like that of retiring armed personnel.

I therefore, request you to kindly see that the Government accords approval, exempting Railway employees from the New Pension System for the purpose of covering them under the Liberalized Pension Scheme. I also request that “One Rank – One Pension” Scheme i.e. uniform pension for Railway employees retiring in the same rank regardless of their retirement may kindly be approved by the Government, considering the fact that Railway personnel are serving the nation, transporting military hardware and the army to the borders and ensuring uninterrupted movement of rail transport services at all times round the clock in all weather conditions.

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-

(Dr.M.Raghavaiah)

General Secretary.

Source: NFIR