Right to Fight ? Not right to strike !

The regular  POLL POURI  column in BusinessLine  had this poll last day.

Are Central Govt staff  justified  in threatening to go on strike over the PayPanel recommendatios ?

25 % respondents answered  YES.

73 %  answered  NO  !

2 % Can't say .

Did you compute your 7CPC revised pension ?

Some of you would certainly have already computed  your revised pension.  OK .. fine ...  you did it on the basis of what the Govt approved on 29th June.  But you also know that this will change in the next 4 months (hopefully !). You also hope that an upward revision will take place.

If you say you haven't computed your revised pension,  well ..... you must be wearing a mask  !   

In any case, if you want some assistance in computing your revised pension and  pension arrears, you may take the help of the gConnect pension Calculator.  But a word of Caution. In certain cases, like fixing higher level on promotion etc...,  the computation may not yield  accurate results.

This is what the Govt said :
" The general recommendations of the Commission on pension and related benefits have been approved by the Cabinet. Both the options recommended by the Commission as regards pension revision have been accepted subject to feasibility of their implementation. Revision of pension using the second option based on fitment factor of 2.57 shall be implemented immediately. A Committee is being constituted to address the implementation issues anticipated in the first formulation. The first formulation may be made applicable if its implementation is found feasible after examination by proposed Committee which is to submit its Report within 4 months.”

Indefenite strike from 11th July - Fire fighting on !

The NJAC (representing all Govt employees) had met the senior Govt Ministers, Sri. Jaitly, Sri. Rajnath Singh, and Sri. Suresh Prabhu, yesterday. They gave an assurance that the demands ( increasing the min pay and revision of fitment formula ) will be  referred to a Committee.


While Committee is formed for reconsidering Minimum Wage and Fitment Formula, NJCA decided to proceed with Strike from 11th July 2016

NJAC also hit on the false propaganda by the Media terming the "bonanza".

Who is happy about this 7CPC ?

It seems no one !

What the opposition says about 7CPC implementation :

Congress party said the hike was insignificant. "The Sixth Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike in salaries and allowances but the then Congress government doubled it to 40 per cent. The 7th Pay Commission recommended a hike of 14.29 per cent and Modi government merely raised it to a pittance of 15 per cent."

"The people's dreams of achche din were shattered. "Huge let down for government employees - lowest ever salary hike in last 70 years - their dreams for 'Achchey Din' are over now," .

The Left, which has been demanding better wages for the workforce - and specially the lower rung of government officers, has decided to take up the matter in the upcoming Parliament session beginning mid-July.

Why did Govt not increase the Minimum Pay ?

The 7CPC recommended a minimum pay of   18000.  But the CoS recommended a minimum pay of  23000. But the Govt did not accept it. Why ?

Ofcourse, we all know that when the minimum pay is increased, the financial outgo ( for both salaries and pensions ) would proportionately increase. But that alone is not the reason, I believe !

Is it not the first attempt to delink  Pensions from Salary structure ??  
Well, this is what comes to my mind. I'll explain it later !!

Justice A K Mathur now says

Business Line today carries an interview ( by Bloomberg Tv) with Justice A K Mathur, Chairman of 7CPC. Some of the interesting points related to Pension he says are :

This is a great boost to pensioners  ... OROP to all civilians implemented.

The Govt gives away the  money, but takes back over 20 %  (as taxes).


It's better you read the whole BusinessLine article. Read below .....

Are the heavens falling ?

7CPC recommendations are accepted by the Govt, but with many actions pending.  The media and the public are responding sharply to the Govt decisions. I am not referring to the Govt employees and pensioners (who are the prime beneficiaries ).

The Media is quite funny ! Many reports they project show the Govt employees and Pensioners in very bad light. It's as if they are getting something undeserving. As if they are looting the Govt exchequer !

I must tell one such comment.
Today morning, in local Aakashvaani, one  young Congress MLA was saying that the " Government is taking from the beggars' bowl and putting into the golden platter " ( പിച്ചക്കാരന്റെ ചട്ടിയിൽ കയ്യിട്ടുവാരി  സ്വർണ തളികയിൽ ഇട്ടു കൊടുക്കുന്നു) . I wonder , what this guy understood on the whole matter ! At the same time , he forgot what his Neta  Dr. Manmohan Singh did in 2008 (6CPC) . Did he loot the beggars  while implementing 6CPC ?
I think it's better we don't comment or respond to such immature politicians.


However, there are certainly very positive evaluations. Let me quote The Hindu today.
In the Editorial, they say, "A fillip to growth, and may be inflation".......  The implementation of 7CPC recommendations will impart fillip to the consumption demand and economic growth.......  However, there are some risks from the increased salary and pension outgo. ....  Finance Ministr is confident that the budget deficit will be contained within the 3.5 percent of GDP this year. But how this will be achieved is yet to be clear."

That's understandable, ofcourse.

Some of the individual comments too ..
It is shocking that despite hefty hike in pay and allowances, there is dissatisfaction .....
It is unfortunate that Govt employees are unhappy ...
Do Central and State Govt staff deserve such a huge hike ? ...

There are certain favorable comments too.

The calculation arrived - 23.5 % hike in pay - is distorted.....  As the revision comes after 10 years, The rise is meagre.
This is not atall a huge hike ...
and so on .....