NJCA has decided to defer strike date to 11th July, 2016 due to elections in five states

NJCA has decided to defer strike date to 11th July, 2016 due to elections in five states

National Joint Council of Action

4, State Entry Road, New Delhi – 110055

No.NJC/2016/7th CPC

March 7, 2016

To

All Constituents of NJCA

Dear Comrade,

The NJCA met today and reviewed the discussion in the meeting of Empowered Committee of Secretaries presided by the Cabinet Secretary on 1st March 2016 where-in the Cabinet Secretary had requested for more time to arrive at conclusions on the charter of demands raised by the Staff Side.

The meeting also considered the situation in the aftermath of the coming into effect of the Code of Conduct with the declaration of election schedule in 5 State Assemblies and the fact that there will be polling on 11th April 2016 in West Bengal and Assam.

The meeting, therefore, came to the conclusion that it will not be feasible for us to stick to the date of strike as 11th April 2016. Considering the fact that as per section 22 of the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947 with regard to the validity of the strike notice which is not more than six weeks from the date of serving the strike notice, it was also felt that we may have to revisit the issue of serving the notice for strike afresh.

Considering all the above aspects, the meeting took the following decisions”

I. The indefinite strike shall commence from 6 am on 11th July 2016

2. The strike Notice would be served on 9th June 2016.

3. Massive demonstrations shall be held in all work place on 11th March 2016 in support of the charter of demands and strike decision.

4. The decision of the NJCA would be communicated to the Cabinet Secretary.

Detailed mobilization programmes would be given later on.

With greetings

Yours faithfully,

(Shiva Gopal Mishra)

Convener

Source: www.ncjcmstaffside.com

NFIR writes to PM to withdraw of Budget proposal to levy Income Tax on Provident Fund

NFIR writes to PM to withdraw of Budget proposal to levy Income Tax on Provident Fund

Serious resentment among employees against Budget proposal to levy Income Tax on withdrawal of 60% of provident Fund

NFIR

National Federation of Indian Railwaymen

3, CHELMSFORD ROAD, NEW DELHI – 110 055

Dated: 05/03/2016

Shri Narendra Modiji

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India,

152, South Block,

Raisina Hill

New Delhi – 110011

Sub: Serious resentment among employees against Budget proposal to levy Income Tax on withdrawal of 60% of provident Fund – reg.

The employees in general and Rail Workforce in particular are extremely unhappy over the Budget proposal presented by the Hon’ble Finance Minister to impose Income Tax on 60% of Provident Fund withdrawals. This proposal if enforced would cause harm to the workers at their fag end of service on superannuation.

Hon’ble Prime Minister may please appreciate that the employee withdraws his/her legitimate Provident Fund for meeting the requirements of Children Education, Construction of house or for the purpose of performing marriages of children. Levying Income Tax on these

withdrawals that too when the Provident Fund amount is recognized to be the property of the worker, would be unethical. The employees are deeply disappointed over the Budget proposal to impose Income Tax on P.F. withdrawal.

NFIR, therefore appeals to the Hon’ble Prime Minister to kindly intervene and see that the above proposal is reconsidered and withdrawn in the interest of industrial peace in the Country.

Yours sincerely,

sd/-

(Dr.M.Raghavaiah)

General Secretary

Source: NFIR

Centre decides to withdraw tax on Provident Fund

Centre decides to withdraw tax on Provident Fund

News have surfaced that the Prime Minister has instructed the Finance Minister to put a hold on the proposed plan to impose taxes on PF withdrawals. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to make an official announcement in this regard shortly.

Employee unions all over the country have been vehemently opposing the proposed tax on the withdrawals made on the most important savings of a worker, from the moment the announcement was made. Most employees depend on their provident fund savings to meet some of the most important expenses of their lives, like medical, marriages, building a house, etc. The decision to impose tax on these withdrawals was condemned by all.

Jaitley had announced a tax on 60 percent of the Employee Provident Fund, and Public Provident Fund. The government has now said that they had planned to impose tax only on the PF Interest. But, there was strong opposition for this too. Demands were made to withdraw this tax.

According to information available, Jaitley had informed at the meeting of the MPs that the Prime Minister will have to decide on this. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has recommended the Finance Minister to stop the tax on the PF withdrawals, and to conduct a thorough study on this. Arun Jaitley is expected to take the required action after consulting with the officials of his ministry. The Prime Minister’s intervention has restored the peace of mind of more than 60 lakh Government employees.

7th Pay Commission expressed its regret about transition from OPS to NPS

7th Pay Commission expressed its regret about transition from OPS to NPS

7th Pay Commission expressed its regret about transition from Old Pension Scheme to New Pension Scheme in its report.

2004-2011 Entrants : Government employees who have joined service between 2004 and 2011 have suffered due to delay in finalizing the structure of the NPS and the issue of detailed instructions. Although they have made regular contributions, in many cases, this money and/or counterpart contributions were not deployed in the market. In the case of AIS officers, some states are yet  to release counterpart contributions or pay interest on delayed contributions. This has led to a situation where the accumulated corpus even after 11 years of service could be meagre. It is necessary that this situation which arose during the transition from OPS to NPS be addressed.

The Commission therefore recommends that Central Governments and State Governments should, in a time bound manner, ensure that all the due contribution along with compounded interest, where contributions have been delayed, be deposited in the accounts of the beneficiaries. Advisories should be issued to the State Governments to deposit amounts, if not already done, in respect of NPS beneficiaries belonging to All India Services.

Many Association have pointed out that unlike the facility under GPF, it is not possible to make withdrawals under NPS, even to meet obligatory social expenditure. This forces employees towards increased indebtedness as they have to borrow from elsewhere.

The Commission notes that under the NPS Tier-I account, a subscriber is permitted to make partial withdrawal of twenty five percent of the contributions made to his/her individual pension account for certain specified purposes. Such withdrawals are permitted a maximum of three times during the entire tenure of subscription and a period of at least five years should have elapsed between two such withdrawals.

The Commission further notes that there exists a voluntary Tier-II account. Under this account, a subscriber can, at any time, withdraw the accumulated wealth either in full or part and there is no limit on such withdrawals provided the account has sufficient balance of accumulated pension wealth to cover the amount being withdrawn. However, the Tier-II account is yet to be made operational. The Commission therefore recommends that PFRDA should take steps to make the Tier-II accounts operational as early as possible to enable the NPS subscribers the facility of withdrawals from their accounts in case of requirement.

Transparency under NPS : Many associations and individuals have complained that the information relating to the NPS is inadequate, resulting in high degree of uncertainty in the minds of contributors about post-retirement benefits. The Commission noted that PFRDA sends a communication to every participant each month with the current pension wealth and the latest contribution that has been credited. The Commission recommends that focused efforts be made to capture email addresses and mobile numbers of subscribers so that seamless communication is ensured for all subscribers. The Commission recommends that consultation with stakeholders should also be held periodically in different parts of the country.

The Commission notes that no department of Government of India is taking ownership of the NPS. The Commission recommends that a Committee consisting of Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Secretary, Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare and Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances may be constituted to review the progress of implementation of NPS. The Commission also recommends that steps should be taken for establishment of an Ombudsman for redressing individual grievances relating to NPS.

Tax Treatment under the NPS : NPS is under the Exempt–Exempt – Tax (EET) regime while the General Provident Fund under the OPS is under Exempt–Exempt–Exempt (EEE) dispensation. Under the NPS, while the contributions and the accumulations are tax-exempt, withdrawals are taxable. As such, this is an inferior tax treatment when compared to other pension programmes such as General Provident Fund, Contributory Provident Fund, Employees Provident Fund and Public Provident Fund wherein contributions, accumulations and withdrawals are tax-exempt.

The Commission feels that tax neutrality should be ensured across various avenues for long term savings for post retirement incomes so that the employees covered by NPS are not at a disadvantage. The Commission therefore recommends that withdrawals under the NPS should be tax-exempt to place NPS at par with other pension schemes. The Commission also recommends that the service tax levied at the time of annuity purchase by NPS subscribers should be exempted.

Outcome of meeting with Cabinet Secretary held on 01-03-2016 – Confederation

Outcome of meeting with Cabinet Secretary – Confederation

MEETING WITH CABINET SECRETARY

———-Empowered Committee of Secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary has held first round of discussion with JCM National Council Standing Committee members on strike Charter of demands on 1st March 2016. Staff Side explained the justification of each and every demand and conveyed the large scale resentment among the Central Government Employees to the Cabinet Secretary . Cabinet Secretary has not made any commitment on any demand. He informed that this is only a preliminary interaction with the Staff Side.

Com. M. Raghavaiyya Leader Staff Side, Com. Shiva Gopal Mishra Secretary Staff Side and other Standing Committee members attended.

Confederation was represented by Coms. KKN Kutty , M. Krishnan & M.S. Raja .

Meeting commenced at 0645 P.M. & ended at 0845 P.M.

M. Krishnan 

Secretary General Confederation.

Source: Confederation