7CPC - An unjustified pay hike ?

Today's TheHindu carries an article titled "An unjustified pay hike" !  This is written by one Sonalde Desai ( a fellow in INCAER ! ).

I've reproduced the article below.

It's quite surprising that such an article finds a space in TheHindu. Had it been done on a "true data"  yes.. we all would welcome the views.
This lady is totally mislead and she misleads the public with all erroneous data. Had she taken some effort to collect the right, current,  and correct data for analysis, she would have brought something valuable.

With a set of fake data, and fake analysis, she expresses her anger over the Government employees. It's quite unfortunate that such a stupid analysis could find the valuable spaces of The Hindu.

It's a well-known fact that there exists a very glaring and wide difference between the Private and Public Sector employees, in their salaries and other benefits. They are just so wide, this one finds pity of the Govt employees.  fact being this, the lady attempts to put it otherwise. What a pity ?

I request you all to read the article above and put your comments. 

Hints from 7CPC !

The grapevine, as usual, gives many "bits" quoting "sources".  Here are a few points in the air , on 7CPC.

7CPC is likely to recommend increase 40 percent salaries hike of central government employees on average
Flexi working hours and work from home  for women employees
Remote monitoring and supervising work being done by disabled and women central government employees by IT Dept.

Rs 20,000 as salary for those in the bottom grade and  max. of  Rs 180,000 for Secretary level officers. Pay parity ratio of mid-level tier officers will be maintained with the bottom grade.

Pay ratio of the pay of the bottom paid employees to the pay of the highest paid officials will come down to 1:9 from 1:12

Grade Pay system to continue .  Now. there are 15 grade pays from Rs 1,800 to Rs 12,000 for job level pay variance of its employees. 

Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) Scheme will continue.

7CPC is highly focused on “efficiency, technology, skills and Pay link with productivity.’
Revising the retirement age of employees may not happen 

Health insurance would be available for employees and pensioners till death.  The insured employees and pensioners will have to pay 50% of the premium from their salaries/ pensions and the remaining 50% premium may be paid by the Govt.

A bit more wiser now ?

It seems our Finance Ministers are a bit more wiser now !  Thank God they are learning the facts.

Minister of State for Finance, Mr.Jayant Sinha said yesterday :  

Implementation of OROP and increase in salary bill due to 7CPC will not strain government’s fiscal position, 
The government’s fiscal position is strong enough to bear the impact of OROP and implementation of 7CPC.
OROP is likely to result in an outgo of Rs 8,000-10,000 crore this fiscal. The 7CPC report in December is expected to recommend a hike in salary of Central government employees.
The Central government’s salary bill is projected to rise by 9.56% to Rs 1,00,619 crore in FY16 and the implementation of the 7CPC recommendations is expected to lead to a further rise in government expenditure.

Remembering him

Govt interfering 7CPC functioning

National Joint Council of Action (Railway, Defence & Confederation) to organize massive protest dharna at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on 19th November 2015 protesting Govt’s interference with 7th Pay Commission

To protest against :

*      Non-settlement of any of the legitimate demands raised by the JCM Staff Side, 

**   Causing engineered delay by the Govt in the submission of 7th CPC report by granting four months extension upto 31st December 2015, even when the Pay Commission was ready to submit its report within the stipulated time (28th August 2015).

*** Unwarranted intervention of the Finance Ministry in the independent functioning of the Pay Commission by asking them to factor into its report the fiscal concern of the government and thereby to pressurize the Commission not to recommend wage rise on the basis of a sound and scientific formulation.

Ravana vilaapam (Ravana's Cry)

These are the days of e-Commerce. Simply put it, you can buy and sell anything (yes anything !) online.
Today's Business Line, in its Advertising supplement (cat.a.list) carries a Cartoon. I am sure you would enjoy this. That's why I am copying the same here.

Smile please ...., if not, Laugh on .......

Re (Boot, Invent, Wire)

Don't you feel the title is interesting ?

Yes, certainly. Reboot Reinvent Rewire !!

This new book by Ashtosh Garg is very interesting. It is a must read for all Retirees and those getting retired. Infact, the book is not suitable only for  those who believe they will never retire !

You can order this book from Amazon, for Rs 162.  (Listed price is Rs.295 !)

7CPC faces challenges in Pay Gap

The 7CPC will have to consider the reduction in the disparity of pay ratio between its highest and lowest paid employees, because it determines the socialism view of the government and the higher number of central government employees are in the minimum pay slabs.

This report, appeared in GConnect.in is quite interesting. But this doesnot seem to be right. Is it that the 7CPC is thinking of the problem now ? No way !

I am sure they would have considered this issue on Day 1 of their work. And they must have worked around with a suitable method, to either reduce the ratio nominally or retain the ratio of 12 as such. 

This report  I feel, is some media person's guess work. If he wants more  points to write such reports, he can find many in the earlier posts in this Blog.

The highlights of the report are :

The 7CPC faces serious challenge in submitting its recommendations to the government before December 31st, for hiking salaries and allowances for central government employees as the employees’ unions question the controversial pay gap between top and bottom level government officials.

The 6CPC made a wide gap in pay between the top bureaucrats and the government employees at the bottom.

The 1CPC had recommended pay of the top bureaucrats 41 times higher than the government employees at the bottom level. ( Ratio of pay between lowest earning employees and top bureaucrats was 1:41 in 1947)

Subsequent pay commissions reduced the ratio of pay between lowest earning employees and top bureaucrats from 1:41 in 1947 to about 1:12 in 2006. 

Accordingly, the 7CPC will have to consider the reduction in the disparity of pay ratio between its highest and lowest paid employees, because it determines the socialism view of the government and the higher number of central government employees are in the minimum pay slabs.

The bureaucrats with high pay are generally happier, healthier and are better placed to lead a comfortable life compared to the lower earning employees.

The 7CPC can make recommendations on promoting pay fairness in the central government employees’ fraternity by tackling disparities between the lowest and the highest paid central government servants.

Best place to live !

?

OROP- Just at the door step !

The OROP  for retired military personnel will be implemented just after the Bihar elections, says the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar .

Google Doodle

There no Good News either from 7CPC or otherwise ! So, I thought this "Google Doodle" would make you smile !!

 

27th SCOVA meeting scheduled for 13-10-15

Letter No. F. No. 42/07/2015-P&PW(G) ,  Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare, dated 9-10-15 to Pensioner Associations.
The revised agenda of  27th SCOVA meeting scheduled for 13-10-15 includes :

Extension of the benefits of DoP&PW OM No.38/37108-P&PW(A) dated 28-1-2013 read with OM dated 30-7-2015 to pre-2006 Pensioners with less than 33 years.

Modification to the format of Life Certificate - Issue of acknowledgement to Pensioners submitting Life Certificate

Railways' mercy

Railways extends Berth Quota for Senior citizens, Females (above 45), and Pregnant Women.

Increases the lower-berth seat quota earmarked for them to four from the current two.  However,  this  will not be applicable in the AC three tier and AC two tier.

Your Digital Assets - They are very valuable

You would already have taken steps to ensure that your properties ( physical Assets, like land, buildings, cash, jewellery , vehicles, books, art objects, bank lockers, and other valuables) are inherited by the right individuals, after your life.  You might have already documented the transfer of assets to your successor(s).  You might also have documented a WILL by which you ensure how the the assets with you now are inherited to your wards or relatives. That's all fine.

But in case you did not do this, it's high time ... Please do it immediately.  ISROfef  had in many earlier posts/occasions hinted  at  the necessity of doing this and suggested you to do it IMMEDIATELY.

That's clearly on the uncertainties of  human life ! No one knows what will happen tomorrow (or even the next moment !).  Let things be very clear, logically and legally.

Succession of your assets by your wards/relatives is quite simple, if you do that yourself.   It becomes very very complex if you haven't done it  appropriately by you. Please don't leave  your successors in difficulties. You can make their life simple , if you plan and do the succession process well in advance. So please act immediately if not done already !!

That said, are you aware that you have many Digital Assets !  You, in these modern days, would certainly be having many Digital Assets. YES.... they are assets !  They require suitable succession.  Else you will lose very valuable assets.

Do you know what kind of assets you have in Digital form ?   Here is a probable list !!

e-mail ID IDs (with Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail and many others )
Blogs (with Blogger, WordPress, others)
Own web-sites (personal or Commercial )

Accounts with your Stock Broker(s)
Accounts with e-commerce sites (FlipKart Amazon, Ebay, ...)
Data/ Document storage with Google Drive (or other Cloud storages)

e-Vaults / e-Lockers

Collection of photos movies, videos, in Picasa, or others

Memberships in Social communities like FaceBook WhatsApp, and others.

The list could be long... It depends on what kind of personality you are, and your personal interests.  But believe me , they are all very precious ! Very valuable !!  And so Succession of these  assets is very very important.  How you do it is equally important.

Before closing this post,  I've two more points.

1.   Please read an article copied from BusinessLine, below.
2.   Did you put all your valuable records (like Registration Documents of your landed properties) in an e-locker ?

Most probably, you haven't  recognised the need for it, and so, didn't do it yet !  If done already, that's Great !   But in case you need some help (in doing the last point above), get in touch with ISROfef.  Please mail to isrofef@gmail.com

Hike in salary of MLAs

Are you aware, things are happening ! ?   Delhi MLAs are getting 400 % ...YES  400 % ...increase in salary !

How much do you think you will get a hike in your pension ?

If you get 40 % that will be a miracle !

If you get 20 % hike, .... you are lucky !

If you get 0 % hike ...ooomm ... that may not happen !

Let's hope for the best !!

7CPC will be mindful of Fiscal Concerns.

7CPC will be mindful of Fiscal Concerns.

The Finance Secretary told the press reporters in New Delhi that – “ We have communicated our concerns with regard to sustainability of public expenditure to Pay Commission. I am sure the members and chairman of the commission are aware of and will be sensitive to our concerns.” 

With this kind of  pressure on the Pay Commission, sure, there's not much hope in improvements ! Am I right ?

Interest rates down

Interest rates are lowered by 0.5 % (by RBI) and most of the Banks have lowered the rates by about 0.5%.  That's good for the borrowers.

But that's certainly NOT GOOD news for the depositors. Many Senior Citizens, with their retirement Corpus put in FDs with the Banks,  will feel the heat of it. Their income will come down ! That's a worrisome matter for those with their money deposited.

The interest rates are likely to come down further. So, be cautious.  Take necessary steps to protect your Funds, and try to maximise the returns.

Full parity - Another Court order

The following extract of a Court order  being self explanatory, is worthy to note. This reaffirms the case of  " Full Parity" in pension. Please read on ....

However, let me quote a few lines :

.....  " the fixation of pension will be subject to the provision that the revised pension , in no case shall be lower  than 50% of the minimum of pay in the payband and the grade pay thereon corresponding to the pre-revised pay scale from which the pensioner had retired." This would clearly mean that the pay of the retiree i.e. who retired before 1-1-2006 is to be brought corresponding to the revised pay-scale as per 6CPC and then it has to be ensured that the pension fixed is such that it is not lower than 50% of the minimum of the pay in the payband and the grade pay thereon. .....

{ Ref :  Pensioners' Advocate}

International Day for Senior Citizens

Today is Older Peoples Day,  the International Day for Senior Citizens.

ISROfef  wish to remind the "Young" and "Not so old"  about the TRUTH.

Today, it's me ! Tomorrow, it's YOU !  ഇന്ന് ഞാൻ , നാളെ നീ !

"  ഓർക്കുക, ഇന്നല്ലെങ്കിൽ നാളെ  നിങ്ങളും  വയോജനങ്ങളാണ്  "

ഇന്നത്തെ ചെറുപ്പക്കാർക്ക് ഒരു മുന്നറിയിപ്പ്.

ഒക്ടോബർ 1: വീണ്ടു ഒരു അന്താരാഷ്ട്ര വയോജന ദിനം കൂടി. 
ഇതു കാണുമ്പോൾ നിങ്ങൾ മനസിൽ ഓർത്തേക്കാം ,  ഇത് പ്രായമായവർക്കു വേണ്ടിയുള്ള ദിനാചരണമല്ലേ എന്ന്. 
പക്ഷേ മറക്കാതിരിക്കുക നിങ്ങളും വയസായിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുകയാണ്. ഇതൊക്കെ നിങ്ങള്ക്കും ബാധകമാണ്.




Google reminds everyone about "Older Peoples' Day" with this doodle !