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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
 Posted - 07/03/2008 : 19:55:08
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New Delhi: India’s payout to government employees just got bigger with a committee of bureaucrats set up to review the recommendations made earlier this year by the Sixth Pay Commission suggesting a Rs12,000 crore increase in a move that will likely buy the government some goodwill.
Pay commissions are set up to revise the salaries of Central government employees and the Sixth Pay Commission had asked for a payout of Rs30,621 crore this year (2008-09) including a raise of Rs12,561 crore—this will translate into an average salary hike of 40% for the 3.3 million employees of the Central government —and payment of arrears since January 2006. The new salaries came into effect from June.
The committee’s suggestion, shared with Mint by a government official familiar with the development who did not wish to be identified, translates into almost a 40% increase over the Rs30,621 crore. Of the additional Rs12,000 crore, half will go towards salary hikes and the rest towards arrears, and the biggest beneficiary of this proposed additional payment will be the Armed Forces that had expressed their disappointment with the initial recommendations of the pay commission which were submitted to the finance minister on 24 March.
The cabinet is expected to approve this raise in the next few weeks. The group that suggested the increase included representatives of the finance ministry and discussed the issue of salaries with employee organizations across government departments that had expressed their unhappiness with the initial recommendations. A government official, who asked not to be identified, said that the demands made by the Armed Forces, such as higher transportation allowances and improvement in the military service pay, have been addressed.
An officer in the railway ministry, who also did not wish to be identified, said his ministry had sought “relaxation of a norm which stipulated that matriculation would be a must for any government service”.
In India, matriculation refers to high-school education, and the railway ministry official said the department had told the group reviewing the pay commission’s recommendations that “there were many areas of work (artisans, carpenters and manual labourers)...where it would be difficult to find matriculates”. “We hope that the committee will take a favourable view,” added this officer. “The cabinet should take a decision on this (pay commission’s recommendation) very soon,” said another government official familiar with the developments who too did not wish to be identified.#8202;
The pay commission’s recommendation and the subsequent review are expected to earn the government the goodwill of government employees ahead of crucial polls to several states this year and to the Lok Sabha in 2009. The government has just implemented a Rs71,680 crore farm loan waiver that benefits around 43 million small and marginal farmers across rural India.
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2008 : 21:50:55
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Govt to discuss pay report at next Cabinet meeting
Font size: ASIANAGE 03 July, 2008 04:10:20
By MUKESH RANJAN
NEW DELHI
July 3: With high-powered Committee of Secretaries (CoS) headed by Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar handing over the Sixth Pay Commission report suggesting a few cosmetic changes, the government is now likely to consider it in the next meeting of the Union Cabinet.
Informing about this, a senior Union Cabinet minister on the condition of anonymity said, "In the next meeting of the Cabinet, the Pay Commission report would be discussed and hopefully a decision will be arrived at."
The CoS, even after reviewing the entire report and going through the grievances raised by various sections of the government employees, however failed to address all the concerns and instead it suggested hiving off the arrears by 18 months.
This means that instead of these to be computed from January 1, 2006, as suggested by the Pay Commission, the employees should get from July 1, 2007.
As per the report, a copy of which is with this newspaper, defence service personnel, paramilitary forces and other security personnel would, however, get flat increase of 15 per cent in their salary.
Interestingly, the report has also suggested increasing annual increment of four per cent of the basic and dearness allowance instead of 2.5.
Since there were widespread discontents among government employees with the original recommendations of the Pay Commission, the government had decided to constitute a high-powered CoS to review them.
The CoS, though looked into the demands of the armed forces for whom even defence minister A.K. Antony chipped in to persuade Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister P. Chidambaram and suggested something to soothe them, the concerns of other sections of the government employees, including that of police service personnel and group B and C staff, have been ignored.
The Indian Police Service (IPS) personnel have consistently been lobbying to become at par with Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officials. But their demands have been ignored.
Similarly, the CoS tried to address the salary slab anomalies by reducing it to only 15 category instead of 25 originally suggested to meet the demands of the group-B&C employees.
Sources in the government said, "Hopefully, the Union Cabinet, when it takes up the matter, will refer it to a GoM, headed by a senior minister."
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2008 : 21:59:02
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Govt may have to take loan to pay staff
SURAJ NANDREKAR
PANJIM, JULY 3 — Although Goa is a small State with a population of just around 14 lakh, it is second in the country to have the highest ratio of Government employees and the State soon will feel the pinch when the 6th Pay Commission recommendations are implemented.
According to information, among every 32 Goans there is one Government employee.
Only Sikkim with a population of 5,40,493, has a higher ratio than Goa of 1:23, sources in the Finance Department disclosed.
Other major States like Andhra (1:135), Bihar (1:180), Gujarat (1:250), MP (1:121), Maharashtra (1:140), Uttar Pradesh (1:239), WB (1:183), Karnataka (1:85), Kerala (1:90) and Orissa (1:88) have a far better ratio.
Sources further said that according to the 2005 census there are about 45,929 Government employees in State.
“The Government is already spending Rs 825 crore on the salaries annually apart from the Rs 175 crore in form of pensions,” sources said.
Moreover, the 6th Pay Commission will put an additional burden of Rs 300 crore annually on the exchequer, they added.
“…and if the recommendations are implemented from April 1, 2006 then there could be additional financial liability of Rs 500 crore,” sources claimed.
However, the sources were quick to add that these calculations have been done taking into consideration only 30 per cent rise and “we have learnt the increase is about 40 per cent.”
In view of the above the question that arises is will the State be able to sustain such huge expenditure?
The Annual Plan size of the State included in the Budget estimate 2008-09 is Rs 1750 crore, which includes borrowing of Rs 800 crore and plan grants of Rs 250 crore from Government of India while the State’s own resource included in the plan size is about Rs 700 crore.
Asked how the Government intends to pay the employees if the recommendations are accepted, as there is no provision made in the Budget estimate 2008-09 towards 6th Pay Commission liabilities, sources said “the Government may have to either curtail the annual plan size or increase taxes or take more loans”.
“If Government takes a loan to pay 6th Pay Commission liabilities then there will be additional annual financial liability of about Rs 72 crore towards interest payment,” sources asserted.
Sources stated that apart from the above expenditure the Goa Government Employees Association is demanding higher pay scales.
“If this is agreed, the additional financial liability will be about Rs 100 crore,” they claimed adding to overcome that the Government will have to put total halt on development work.”
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2008 : 19:54:03
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Ex-servicemen protest Pay Panel recommendations
New Delhi (PTI): Rejecting recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, nearly 200 ex-servicemen on Sunday staged a demonstration at Jantar-Mantar to protest against the "logically incorrect recommendations".
Alleging that the recommendations were insensitive to of their needs, members of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (ESM) demanded sanction of 'One-Rank-One Pension' which was recommended by a parliamentary committee but was rejected by the Sixth Pay Commission.
"The recommendations of Sixth Pay Commission are logically incorrect to the service conditions that prevail in the armed forces," a member of the ESM said.
The ESM has also written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A K Antony today to press its demands.
"We will intensify our movement as per the democratic means of protest available to us and continue our movement till all our demands are met," said a member of the Ex-Servicemen Commission, Maj Gen (retd) Satbir Singh.
The ESM also condemned the poor representation of government members at the funeral of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the 1971 war hero.
Participating in the protest wearing black arm bands, the ex-servicemen demanded constitution of a separate Pay Commission or Pay Review Board with statutory powers with serving and veteran members from defence services representing them.
The veterans demanded 'assured job' for the retired army personnel till the age of 60 at par with other government employees.
"Since 90 per cent of defence personnel should retire compulsorily retirement in between the age of 35 and 45, they should be provided with assured jobs and if this is not possible they should be given 75 per cent of their salary," said a member of the group.
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2008 : 21:20:25
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New promotion rule for IAS upsets cops
11 Jul 2008, 0342 hrs IST, Sachin Parashar,TNN
NEW DELHI: The DoPT notification, which reduces the eligibility period for promotion to the 'super time' scale for IAS officers from 16 to 14 years, has well and truly propelled IPS officers across the country on to the warpath.
The IPS Association has laid out its demands, including the abolition of the post of DIG to facilitate elevation to the rank of joint secretary in 14 years as is the case with IAS now, but the DoPT move has clearly led to bad blood between the two services.
That the decision has already been implemented in the states, even though it has not yet been ratified by Parliament, has only exacerbated the situation.
Even officers from other services are flabbergasted by the brazen manner in which rules have been flouted. ''The amendment favouring the IAS was brought forth even as for other services all service matters were kept pending by the government (read IAS) till the final decision on the Pay Commission. In utter disregard for the pay commission which was in session, DoPT bypassed it and amended the rules,'' said a senior IPS officer.
The eligibility for the super time pay scale was reduced by 2 years in the case of IAS officers to bring them on par with IPS and IFS officers who are eligible for the same pay scale in 14 years.
However, as IPS officers rightly state, the fact that there is only one super time pay scale for IAS officers (Rs 18,400-22,400) and two for the IPS and IFS (Rs 16,400-20,000 and Rs 18,400-22,400) was completely ignored.
IPS and IFS officers become eligible for the real ''super'' time scale (Rs 18,400-22,400) only after 18 years.
''Equating the scale of Rs 18,400-22,400 with Rs 16,400-20,000 only because both are called super time is highly illogical. The fact that IAS has only one super time scale and no scale corresponding to Rs 16,400-20,000 of the IPS and IFS was not made clear during the decision making process,'' said a highly placed IPS officer.
The presence of expenditure secretary Sushma Nath, who was secretary to the 6th pay commission, in the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) which is looking into the matter, according to the IPS, is farcical as she can't be expected to act against her own recommendations in the pay commission. There is only one IPS officer in the 13-member CoS.
Senior IPS officers say that ignoring the police can have adverse long-term implications for internal security. They cite the example of the Union home secretary who doesn't have enough experience with the home department and has hardly ever tackled insurgency.
''The point we are trying to make is that if there is a situation in the Naxalite-infested Bastar, only a person with security experience will know how to handle it. How can somebody based in Delhi with no first-hand experience of the problem handle it. We need an IPS officer for the post,'' said another senior IPS officer, giving the example
of then defence minister George Fernandes who sent bureaucrats to Siachen to have a first-hand experience of the conflict.
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/13/2008 : 04:42:59
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India’s rating may be downgraded,and the increased outgo in case the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations are implemented are the reasons
Pressure points
Risks like fiscal deficit, high inflation are mitigated by deep domestic markets
Subsidies to oil cos, loan waiver may put pressure on fiscal position
RBI may hike policy rates again
Mumbai, July 11 India’s sovereign credit ratings are under threat from factors such as rising fiscal deficit, rising inflation and widening current account deficits, said international rating agency Standard and Poor’s.
If these reasons last long, the ratings on India could be lowered to speculative grade, from the current stable grade, said a report issued by S&P.
The country’s credit profile has worsened in the past 12 months, but the upside and downside risks to its ‘BBB’ rating are currently balanced.
According to the report, risks like increasing fiscal deficit, high inflation and widening current account deficit are mitigated by India’s deep domestic markets, which allow it to finance large fiscal deficits without recourse to external funds, and by its strong external liquidity.
Subsidies to oil companies in the form of the Rs 94,600-crore worth oil bonds, the decision to waive farm loans worth Rs 71,000 crore, the 10-27 per cent reduction in the prices of complex fertilisers, and the increased outgo in case the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations are implemented are the reasons that will put pressure on the country’s fiscal position.
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/13/2008 : 19:31:44
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Govt fails to mollify armed forces over pay hike
13 Jul 2008, 0335 hrs IST, Rajat Pandit,TNN
NEW DELHI: Last-ditch attempts by the UPA government to mollify the fuming armed forces over the "paltry" hikes recommended for them by the 6th Pay Commission have failed to cut much ice.
Top sources say navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta, in his capacity as the chairman of the chiefs of staff committee (CoSC), has now written to defence minister A K Antony, cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekar and defence secretary Vijay Singh that the armed forces "still have some misgivings on certain issues".
This despite the empowered committee of secretaries (CoS), headed by Chandrashekar, suggesting nearly 15% hike in salaries of armed forces personnel over what has been recommended by the pay commission, along with doubling of the proposed Rs 1,000 Military Service Pay (MSP) for soldiers to Rs 2,000 per month.
In his letter, after detailed discussions with army chief General Deepak Kapoor and IAF chief Air Chief Marshal F H Major in the CoSC, Admiral Mehta stressed that some "important course corrections" were needed to "raise the satisfaction level" of the armed forces, which could be done at "minimal cost to the exchequer".
It was on June 26 that Antony had held yet another meeting with the three Service chiefs to resolve the grievances of the armed forces. But it did not seem to have worked.
The MSP, which as per the pay commission allocates Rs 6,000 per month to officers up to Brigadiers and only Rs 1,000 to jawans, NCOs and JCOs, remains a major bone of contention. Admiral Mehta's letter says the CoSC was "given to understand", at the June 26 meeting, that the MSP arrears would be paid with effect from January 2006. "However, it is now understood that is not so," it says. The demands connected to MSP are that arrears should be paid from January 2006; it should be raised to Rs 3,000 for PBOR (personnel below officer-rank); it should count for increments; and that "notional MSP should count for pre-January 2006 retirees towards calculation of their pensions".
The other demands raised in the letter are a common pay scale for PBOR, fixation of officers' pay, implementation of the one-rank-one-pension principle, compensation in lieu of quarters for PBOR, and removal of anomalies pertaining to middle-rung officers like Lt-Colonels, Colonels and Brigadiers, among others. Interestingly, the CoSC has also expressed "serious reservations" about commissioned officers "being equated" with Military Nursing Service officers, holding that this will create "functional imbalances" in military hospitals and "impact" patient care.
With anger simmering in the rank and file of armed forces over pay commission, the three chiefs of course do not want to be accused of "a sell-out" by the men they command. In the end, however, there is grudging acceptance that once presented with a fait accompli by the government, the armed forces will have to like it or lump it. "We are a highly-disciplined force. We cannot take to the streets like our civilian counterparts. But, pay commission after pay commission, the forces always end up being short-changed by the bureaucracy," said a Colonel.
Holding that they need to be "better compensated" for the high risks and turbulence of service life, the forces want their 'running pay bands' delinked from their civilian counterparts due to their slower promotion rate and shorter service period as compared to the latter.
rajat.pandit@timesgroup.com
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2008 : 19:57:26
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Committed to pay, the 6th Pay Commission Report
The sixth pay commission has raised many questions, public sector employees are unhappy with their pay and allowances being less as compared to private sector. It is reminiscent of the era when the private sector employees agitated for the same..
CJ: DEVENDRA LINGWAL , 18 hours ago Views:1644 Comments:3
SINCE DECADES, there has been altercations between the private and the government sector employees on the issues related to the pay comparisons. The recent agitations shown by the government employees over the inequality of pay and allowances as compared with the private sectors after the announcement of the Sixth Pay Commission Report reminiscent the era when the same agitations were seen from the private sector employees whose salaries were quite meagre as compared with those of the government employees.
There are two major tangible factors, which outbreak such agitations, one is that most of the government departments are lacking work and productivity, so the employees remain idle most of the time and hence cannot demand drastic hikes in their salary for the no work done by them. The second one being the lack of regular inter-departmental competitiveness, where an employee gets a chance to prove his/her skill based performance and hence deserves the right to excel by getting the promotion.
Lack of inter departmental competitiveness in the government sector for those who are willing to excel makes an employee’s skills obsolete and the then skilled employees are therefore not able to strive in the current private sector competitions. Hence such employees after putting up 15-20 years service don’t have any other option left with them except to continue with their present job and show their rage over their failure to get more.
The productivity-linked incentive/promotion, if introduced, will further aggravate the matters and the sycophants will flourish. Seniors will grade the performance of the junior ones, but who will grade the seniors who according to the junior employees extract most of the work from their juniors, which is in fact assigned to the seniors? In such situations, grading of the seniors performance by lower level should also be introduced to mark
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more >> proper justification.
The assent towards the flexible working hours for the working women in government sector will fuel the agitations. On one side in the men dominated world, the government is pressing hard for giving the gender based equality in every respect to the women section then why such favouritism (still treating women as weaker), aren’t the working men in possession of getting such favours?
The resultant factor of all these will be a breach in laws and an intensification of rampant corruption making the high salaried class heave a sigh of relief leaving behind the low salaried class puff for the money.
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2008 : 20:01:14
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Pay panel report stuck in political uncertainty
18 Jul 2008, 0310 hrs IST, Ashish Sinha,TNN
NEW DELHI: The government is not keen to announce the final shape in which recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission would be implemented before the political crisis that has gripped it is over.
Top government sources said only "final touches" remain to be given to the report of the committee of secretaries and it can be submitted to the Union Cabinet "any day".
But the government does not seem ready to announce it before next week, presuming that it sails through during the vote of confidence slated for July 22.
The committee headed by cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar was formed on the PM's orders after voices of protest surfaced from almost all quarters of the gigantic officialdom as well as police, paramilitary and defence forces, who were perhaps more vocal than the "civilian" staff. The pay panel submitted its report on March 24.
"The report has to go to the Cabinet for approval and it may ask for further clarifications. Most major meetings have been completed. The focus is now on getting all 10-12 secretaries together for a final round. We hope it will happen very soon," a source said. Earlier indications were that the review report would be ready by the first week of July and bulk of the task was actually completed within that time-frame. It is understood that a "fine tuning" exercise was also restarted as an afterthought.
Millions of government employees have been eagerly waiting for the implementation of the pay report, which top officials said was already "good news" in its original form. They indicated that there would be little changes for the "civilian" employees as the report has already recommended "decent salary hikes and an extremely satisfactory allowance system".
"Allowances were hiked by up to four times. A very realistic tuition and hostel allowance was introduced for the children of government servants," a source said, but indicated that there could be a change with regard to defence, police and paramilitary services.
The pay commission has proposed that the recommendations should be implemented with effect from January 1, 2006, and this would entail a huge cost to the exchequer. Given the current trends, sources said, the implementation of recommendations is also expected to contribute to the rising inflation. "The best policy for the government is definitely to wait and watch what shape the current political developments take. Obviously, speedy implementation would depend on the very survival of the government," they added.
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/20/2008 : 20:44:25
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Govt may not agree on performance incentives
20 Jul, 2008, 0100 hrs IST,Shantanu Nandan Sharma, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Performers in govt services may have to wait longer for getting incentives for their hard work. The Centre is unlikely to accept the 6th Pay Commission’s recommendations for providing better remuneration for high performers, sources close to the development told SundayET.
The high-level committee of secretaries, headed by cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar, found it difficult to devise a modality to differentiate 20% higher performers among group A officers who could have qualified to get 1% more annual increments if the pay panel’s recommendation is accepted.
A member of the committee said: “There were discussion on the issue of performance-linked increments. But it’s not feasible in a month or two to draw up a modality which can differentiate performing officers from non-performers. So, I don’t think, we will accept that recommendation.” The 12-member committee, which has been reviewing the pay panel report, comprises of secretaries of home, defence, revenue, expenditure and the member secretary of railway board. The committee may sit for a couple of more meetings before it sends the final report for the Cabinet approval.
Significantly, the pay commission recommended that 80% or more employees of high ranked (pay band 3) group A officers should be given a normal annual increment of 2.5% whereas “high performers, not exceeding 20% during a year, should be allowed increments at a higher rate of 3.5%.” It suggested the idea of better increments for high-performing government employees after it received a detailed report from IIM-Ahmedabad.
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/24/2008 : 19:44:29
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Durables cos likely to rely on dole-outs to beat inflation
24 Jul, 2008, 0148 hrs IST,Meghna Maiti, ET Bureau
MUMBAI: Consumer durables makers may be forced to offer discounts and freebies to woo consumers in the wake of inflationary trends, which have dampened buying sentiments, industry officials said. Already grappling with rising input costs and thinning profit margins, the industry is hoping that new models and fresh launches will entice consumers to showrooms. Currently, most of the companies seem hesitant to dole out usual discounts and freebies in a bid to protect margins.
We hope to receive a good response in terms of festive sales as consumers may have delayed purchases due to the prevailing economic sentiments.” Leading players are also banking on the proposed pay hike of the Sixth Pay Commission for government employees and the arrears from January 2006 to boost demand.
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/25/2008 : 21:45:21
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"The report has to go to the Cabinet for approval and it may ask for further clarifications. Most major meetings have been completed. The focus is now on getting all 10-12 secretaries together for a final round. We hope it will happen very soon," a source said. Earlier indications were that the review report would be ready by the first week of July and bulk of the task was actually completed within that time-frame. It is understood that a "fine tuning" exercise was also restarted as an afterthought.
Millions of government employees have been eagerly waiting for the implementation of the pay report, which top officials said was already "good news" in its original form. They indicated that there would be little changes for the "civilian" employees as the report has already recommended "decent salary hikes and an extremely satisfactory allowance system".
"Allowances were hiked by up to four times. A very realistic tuition and hostel allowance was introduced for the children of government servants," a source said, but indicated that there could be a change with regard to defence, police and paramilitary services.
The pay commission has proposed that the recommendations should be implemented with effect from January 1, 2006, and this would entail a huge cost to the exchequer. Given the current trends, sources said, the implementation of recommendations is also expected to contribute to the rising inflation. (c) 2008 The Times of India. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.tracking
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/28/2008 : 11:23:52
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Modifications on pay panel suggestions presented to PM
New Delhi (PTI): Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar on Monday made a presentation on modifications of 6th Pay Commission recommendations before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Although the details of the improvements, suggested by the high-level committee, were not known immediately, it is learnt that the committee informed the Prime Minister about the financial implications of the modifications.
The Government had earlier asked a committee of secretaries, headed by Chandrasekhar, to look into the recommendations made by Justice B N Srikrishna, who headed the 6th Pay Commission, on the salary structure of government employees following protests from different groups, especially personnel from the armed forces and IPS officers.
The pay commission has suggested an effective increase of 28 per cent in salaries of over four million central government employees.
The commission recommended implementation of the revised pay from January 1, 2006, which would impose an arrear payout burden of Rs 18,060 crore on the government.
The revised pays fixed the salary of Cabinet Secretary at Rs 90,000 a month and that for a Secretary at Rs 80,000 per month, while making Rs 6,660 as the minimum entry level salary.
Recommending a substantial increase in allowances and other benefits, the Commission also suggested a 40 per cent increase in pension and family pension.
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/28/2008 : 19:22:20
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DA correction to add to pay panel’s goodies
28 Jul, 2008, 0038 hrs IST,Deepshikha Sikarwar, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Sixth Pay Commission award for government officials is likely to be sweetened with an upward revision in the dearness allowance (DA) entitlement. The committee of secretaries (CoS) looking into the recommendations made by the Sixth Pay Commission has suggested a change in the DA calculations. This could result in additional benefit of Rs 300-3,000 a month to a government employee, depending on her level.
The CoS, headed by Cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekhar, is giving finishing touches to the report that is expected to be submitted soon. The report would then go to the Cabinet for approval. Government sources said the change has been suggested in the wake of an across-the-board protest by government employees against the way DA allowance was fixed.
The Fifth Pay Commission had recommended that the 50% DA payable in April 2004 be merged with basic pay. The dearness pay was to be counted as basic pay for all practical purposes, including for retirement benefit. Thus, logically, as on January 1, 2006, the recommended date of Sixth Pay Commission award, the 24% DA payable should have been on a salary that included the 50% DA that was merged with basic pay from April 2004.
In its calculation, however, instead of compounding the two DA components — 50% as on April 1, 2004 and 24% as on January 1, 2006 — the commission added them, yielding a figure of 74% composite DA. Consequently, while shifting to the concept of grade pay, the pay commission fixed the base salary as on January 1, 2006, at the basic pay drawn along with dearness allowance at the rate of 74%, and rounded it off to next multiple of 10. The anomaly resulted in a loss of roughly 7% to government employees.
To put it simply, if an employee had a basic salary of Rs 100 on April 1, 2004, according to the Fifth Pay Commission calculation, he would have a total salary of Rs 150 (including 50% DA). A 24% DA on that would increase his salary to Rs 186 — and not Rs 174 on January 1, 2006, used as the base for calculating Sixth Pay Commission award. The committee of secretaries is understood to have proposed that the anomaly be corrected and the DA be fixed at 86% and not 74%.
So, in case of a government employee in the Rs 2,550 pre-revised payscale, the revised pay in running pay band would become Rs 4,743 (increase of 86%) against Rs 4,440 (74% increase), a gain of over Rs 300. At the director level, in the payscale of Rs 18,300, the difference because of the change would be over Rs 2,000 a mo
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2008 : 19:42:44
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Pay panel award likely in August
JAYANTH JACOB
New Delhi, July 28: The government could announce the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission proposals as early as next month, highly placed sources said today.
A 13-member committee of secretaries, headed by cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar, screening the proposals is said to be “at the fag end” of the process. Over 3.3 million government employees are expecting a hike. The pay panel had submitted its report on March 24.
The committee screening the pay panel’s suggestions was formed at the insistence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following complaints from several quarters. Its report will be submitted to the cabinet.
The screening committee also includes the revenue and secretaries in the finance ministry, the home secretary, the defence secretary and the special secretary (internal security) in the home ministry. The secretaries of the departments of personnel and training, pension and pensioners’ welfare are also its members.
Work on the recommendations could have been wrapped up faster but the government’s focus has been diverted in the past few days to terror in the wake of the back-to-back serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. The preoccupation with the strikes could also delay social projects and reforms the Centre wants to push with greater vigour after winning the trust vote on July 22.
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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2008 : 19:36:20
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Pay panel review: All eyes now on PM
30 Jul 2008, 0317 hrs IST,TNN
NEW DELHI: Millions of central government employees, including those from defence and paramilitary forces, are eagerly waiting for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's response to the changes suggested by a high-level committee that examined the proposals of the 6th Pay Commission.
On Monday, the committee, headed by cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar and comprising secretaries of other key ministries, apprised the PM of the modifications made in the original recommendations, besides telling him about the financial burden that the implementation of the pay report would entail.
Top government sources, however, maintained that the changes were "only minor" as the original report was in itself a complete exercise and the hikes suggested were "already satisfactory".
They, however, indicated "some changes" in salaries and allowances of defence, paramilitary and police personnel. The review report is expected to be presented at the next meeting of the Union Cabinet and, if cleared, implemented thereafter. Sources said the entire exercise should not take "more than 10 days", provided the Cabinet does not call for clarifications.
The implementation of the report's key financial proposals is likely to further aggravate the inflationary pressure that is already impacting the economy adversely. According to the original report, submitted on March 24, the proposals are to be implemented with effect from January 2006 and the employees are anxiously waiting to receive the arrears of 31 months (till July), which should be a good amount at all levels.
The arrear payment burden itself would be over Rs 18,000 crore, but employee associations have argued that at the current salary levels, government servants are finding it hard to cope with rising prices.
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pay commission’s
