EDITORIAL --- POSTAL CRUSADER --- JANUARY-2017

REVIVE STRUGGLE

MAKE 15^th FEBRUARY ONE DAY STRIKE

A GRAND SUCCESS

            A period of more than six months is going to be passed after notification of 7^th Central Pay Commission’s Report and formation of various Committees to look in to the matters of allowances, advances, pension and new pension system. National Joint council of Action of all constituent organizations had given a call of indefinite Strike from 11^th Jul 2016. A group of ministers comprising Hon`ble S/Shri Raj Nath Singh, Home Minister, Arun Jaitely, Finance minister, Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister and Manoj Sinha State Minister Communication and Railway called on NJCA leaders and convened a meeting at the residence of Home Minister and after a detailed discussion it was decided that a high power committee will be constituted to look into the matters of revision of wages and fitment formula. But after their assurance no high power committee was formed and matter was simply given to anomaly Committee. Thus a very important issue was diluted. Now already more than 6 months period has elapsed. All the committees have to give their recommendations within 4 months.    Now 2 months period has been extended to these Committees.

            Now it is crystal clear that in this financial year government is not going to give anything to the employees.

            GDS Committee has also submitted its report to the Secretary (Posts) and Secretary (Post) has submitted this to Minister, Communication. Neither the copy of report has been given to the unions nor has it been published in website of the Department. We have protested on this strongly.

            In many of the region’s the revised wages and its arrear has  not been paid to the Casual Labourers.

            After implementation of demonetization postal employees have been suffering a lot. Now C.S.I.  is also going to be implemented in Postal Department which will further create more problems to staff.

            Though at the time of deferment of July -11 Strike, Confederation and NFPE was not convinced but for the sake of unity and keeping the assurance  given by the group of Ministers agreed to the decision of NJCA.

            But now seeing the attitude of Government, we cannot remain silent spectator. The formation of NFPE and Confederation has been laid on the earth of struggle.

            Keeping in view the all aspects and assessing the whole situation Confederation and NFPE decided to revive the struggle. A Series of programmes have been carried out during the period. The Parliament March conducted by Confederation and NFPE was a grand success despite all odds i.e. bad weather, cancellation of hundreds of trains and flights and Cyclone in Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh.

            In the Parliament March, the date of One Day Strike on 15^th February -2017 was declared by Confederation leadership which was approved unanimously by the members assembled in rally.

            The Federal Secretariat of NFPE held on 19.12.2016 at NFPE Office, North Avenue New Delhi has also endorsed the decision of strike unanimously.

            We cannot remain silent spectator in this situation. We have to protest the retrograde policies of Government of India which are against the interests of common workers and common people. We have to eradicate the psycho fear of Government from the minds of workers.

            Keeping in mind our original Mantra”Unity for struggle and struggle for unity”   we have to march forward on the path of struggle to defeat the anti working class policies of Government and we have to achieve our genuine and legitimate demands.

             NFPE calls upon the entirety of Postal , RMS and GDS employees to take all effective measurers to make the One Day Strike  on 15^th February -2017 a Grand Success.

Inquilab Zindabad

Working Class Zindabad

Confederation Zindabad

 NFPE Zindabad

Withdrawal of Legal Tender Character of existing Rs 500/- and Rs 1,000/- banknotes - SB Order No. 12/2016

Director (CBS)

Thu 29-12-2016 18:33

To:

All CPMG;

CPMG Telangana Circle;

Cc:

All Postal Divisions;

pande.alok@nic.in;

Director (Financial Services);

ADG (FS I);

adsb1dakbhawan@gmail.com;

ADG (CBS);

Respected Sir/Madam,

Kindly refer to SB order no. 12 dated 8.11.2016 and Gazette Notification No 10/3/2016-CY.1 dated 8th November 2016 issued by Government of India regarding accepting of WOS banknotes till close of 30th of December 2016. In this connection it is requested to kindly ensure that post offices will accept the WOS banknotes only upto 30th of December 2016.

With regards,

Sachin Kishore

Director (CBS), 

Sansad Marg,

Dak Bhavan

//copy//-POTOOLS

No jail term for holding demonetised notes; minimum fine to be Rs 10,000-

A day after approving an ordinance regarding punishment for those holding old notes in possession, government officials on Thursday clarified that keeping demonetised notes will not land you in jail, according to a PTI report. It also said that the minimum fine for holding old notes beyond March 31 will be Rs 10,000.

Earlier, the Cabinet approved the promulgation of an ordinance extinguishing the Reserve Bank of India's liability for cancelled Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes as the logical conclusion to the government's demonetisation initiative.

The ordinance expected to provide a limited window for depositing the cancelled notes at select RBI branches until March 31 and also prescribes a monetary penalty for anyone holding such currency in large quantities after the deadline.

The details of the ordinance that amends the RBI Act and completes the demonetisation exercise will be released when it receives presidential assent. The old notes can be deposited in banks until December 30.

While announcing demonetisation on November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would cease to be legal tender, this having been achieved through a notification. But experts felt extinguishing the liability completely needed a change in the law since every note issued by the central bank carries a promise that the bearer is entitled to the value printed on it. 

Of the Rs 15.4 lakh crore of currency that was scrapped, about Rs 14 lakh crore is estimated to have already been deposited in banks or exchanged.

//copy//-ET

Why Were Rs 1,000, Rs 500 Notes Demonetised, RBI Won't Give Reasons

NEW DELHI | PTITHU, 29 DEC 2016 17:30 IST

Fifty days after the government announced that these notes would cease to be legal tender, RBI feels that the reasons behind the announcement cannot be made public.

Why were Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes demonetised by the government? Fifty days after the government announced that these notes would cease to be legal tender, Reserve Bank of India feels that the reasons behind the sudden announcement cannot be made public.

The monetary policy regulator also refused to give any details about the time it will take to replenish the currency notes.

"The query is in the nature of seeking future date of an event which is not defined as information as per Section 2(f) of the RTI Act," RBI said in response to an RTI query. The Bankers' Bank refused to disclose reasons behind the demonetisation of about Rs 20 lakh crore of currency in the country citing Section 8(1)(a) of the Right to Information Act.

The section states, "Information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence."

Denying the information sought in the RTI application, the RBI did not give any reasons as to how exemption would apply in the given case as the decision was already taken and there was no way that disclosure of information would have fit in any of the reasons cited in section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act.

"The clause of public interest would apply where exemption clause applies on the information sought by an applicant. In the present case, the information sought does not attract any exemption clause," former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi told PTI.

He said law is very clear that when a public authority rejects to disclose an information it must give clear reasons as to how the exemption clause would apply in the given case. Recently, it had refused to allow access to minutes of meetings held to decide on the issue of demonetisation of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8.

Responding to an RTI application filed by activist Venkatesh Nayak, the Banker's Bank refused to disclose the minutes of the crucial meetings of Central Board of Directors on the issue of demonetisation citing section 8(1)(a) of the transparency law.

Nayak said he will appeal against the decision, adding, while confidentiality prior to the making of the demonetisation decision is understandable, continued secrecy after the implementation of the decision is difficult to understand when crores of Indians are facing difficulties due to the shortage of cash in the economy.

He said the refusal to disclose the minutes of the board meeting where the decision was taken is perplexing to say the very least. Former Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi also underlined that RBI has created an in-house "disclosure policy" which is against the letter and spirit of the RTI Act.

Gandhi has also filed a complaint before Central Information Commission against RBI for adopting the policy.

PTI

CONFEDERATION SERVED STRIKE NOTICE TO GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ON 28th DECEMBER 2016

No. Confdn/Strike/2016-19                                                      Dated - 28^th December 2016

To,

The Cabinet Secretary

Cabinet Secretariat

Government of India

Rashtrapati Bhawan

New Delhi – 110001

Sir,

This is to give notice that employees who are members of the affiliated organisations of the Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers will go on one-day strike on 15^th February 2017. The Charter of demands in pursuance of which the employees will embark upon the one-day strike action in enclosed.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

(M. Krishnan)

Secretary General

Mob: 09447068125

Email: mkrishnan6854@gmail.com

Encl: -  Charter of Demands

   

CHARTER OF DEMANDS

1. Settle the demands raised by NJCA regarding modifications of 7^th CPC recommendations as submitted in the memorandum to Cabinet Secretary on 10^th December 2015. (See Annexure-I). Honour the assurance given by the Group of Ministers to NJCA on 30^th June 2016 and 6^thJuly 2016, especially increase in minimum wage and fitment factor. Grant revised HRA at the existing percentage itself i.e. 30%, 20% and 10%. Accept the proposal of the staff side regarding Transport Allowance. Settle all anomalies arising out of implementation of 7^th CPC recommendations, in a time bound manner.

2. Implement option-I recommended by 7^th CPC and accepted by the Government regarding parity in pension of pre-2016 pensioners, without any further delay. Settle the pension related issues raised by NJCA against item 13 of its memorandum submitted to Cabinet Secretary on 10^th December 2015. (See Annexure-I).

3. Scrap PFRDA Act and New Pension System (NPS) and grant pension and Family Pension to all Central Government employees recruited after 01.01.2004, under CCS (Pension) Rules 1972.

4. Treat Gramin Dak Sewaks of Postal department as Civil Servants, and extend all benefits like pay, pension, allowances etc. of departmental employees to GDS. Publish GDS Committee report immediately.

5. Regularise all casual, contract, part-time, contingent and Daily rated mazdoors and grant equal pay and other benefits. Revise the wages as per 7^th CPC minimum pay.

6. No Downsizing, Privatisation, outsourcing and contractorisation of Government functions.

7.  Withdraw the arbitrary decision of the Government to enhance the bench mark for performance appraisal for promotion and financial upgradations under MACP from “GOOD” to VERY GOOD” and also decision to withhold annual increments in the case of those employees who are not able to meet the bench march either for MACP or for regular promotion within the first 20 years of service. Grant MACP pay fixation benefits on promotional hierarchy and not on pay-matrix hierarchy. Personnel promoted on the basis of examination should be treated as fresh entrants to the cadre for grant of MACP.

8.  Withdraw the draconian FR 56 (J) and Rule 48 of CCs (Pension) Rules 1972 which is being misused as a short cut as purity measure to punish and victimize the employees.

9.   Fill up all vacant posts including promotional posts in a time bound manner. Lift ban on creation of posts. Undertake cadre Review to access the requirement of employees and their cadre prospects. Modify recruitment rules of Group-‘C’ cadre and make recruitment on Reginal basis.

10.  Remove 5% ceiling on compassionate appointments and grant appointment in all deserving cases.

11.  Grant five promotions in the service carreer to all Central Govt. employees.

12.  Abolish and upgrade all Lower Division Clerks to Upper Division Clerks.

13.  Ensure parity in pay for all stenographers, Assistants, Ministerial Staff in subordinate offices and in all organized Accounts cadres with Central Secretariat staff by upgrading their pay scales. Grant pay scale of Drivers in Loksabha Secretariat to Drivers working in all other Central Government Departments.

14.  Reject the stipulation of 7^th CPC to reduce the salary to 80% for the second year of Child Care leave and retain the existing provision.

15.  Introduce Productivity Linked bonus in all department and continue the existing bi-lateral agreement on PLB wherever it exists.

16.  Ensure cashless medical treatment to all Central Government employees & Pensioners in all recognized Government and Private hospitals.

17.  Revision of Overtime Allowance (OTA) and Night Duty Allowance (NDA) w.e.f 01.01.2016 based on 7^th CPC pay scale.

18.  Revision of wages of Central Government employees in every five years.

19. Revive JCM functioning at all levels. Grant recognition to the unions/Associations under CCS (RSA) Rules 1993 within a time frame to facilitate effective JCM functioning.

20. Implementation of the Revised Pay structure in respect of employees and pensioners of autonomous bodies consequent on implementation of CCS (Revised Pay) Rules 2016 in respect of Central Government employees and pensioners w.e.f. 01.01.2016.

21. Implementation of the “equal pay for equal work” judgement of the Supreme Court in all departments of the Central Government.

//COPY//

Law Ministry rejects Finance move to link small savings to Aadhaar

Ahead of launching the demonetisation drive, the Finance Ministry had sought Law Ministry’s opinion whether Aadhaar submission could be made compulsory for small savings scheme.

The Law Ministry has turned down Finance Ministry’s proposal that a person investing in small savings schemes — these attract gross deposits of over Rs 2 lakh crore each year — be made to link the accounts to his or her Aadhaar number.

Ahead of launching the demonetisation drive, the Finance Ministry had sought Law Ministry’s opinion whether Aadhaar submission could be made compulsory for small savings schemes like Kisan Vikas Patra, Public Provident Fund, National Savings Certificate, Senior Citizen Saving Scheme and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.

The rationale put forth by Finance Ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) was that individuals evade scrutiny by parking cash below Rs 50,000 into multiple small savings accounts because such deposits (below Rs 50,000) do not seek permanent account number (PAN) details.

The Law Ministry turned down DEA’s proposal on October 4 saying such schemes cannot be notified as “service within the meaning of Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act” since small savings are serviced under the Public Account Fund of India and not the Consolidated Fund to which the Aadhaar Act applies.

Section 7 of the Act states that the government can ask an individual to furnish his Aadhaar number to establish his identity “as a condition for receipt of a subsidy, benefit or service for which the expenditure is incurred from, or the receipt therefrom forms part of, the Consolidated Fund of India”.

Not satisfied with the legal opinion, the DEA once again approached Law Ministry to reconsider the October 4 advice, saying that the fresh reasoning for bringing small savings under the Aadhaar ambit was that the “expenditure incurred to campaign for small savings scheme was derived from the Consolidated Fund”.

On December 14, Law Ministry reiterated its earlier opinion and directed that all transactions relating to these schemes should be accounted from the Public Account Fund as per the National Small Savings Fund (Custody & Investment) Rules.

Quoting a 2001 order of a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, the Law Ministry said “when a statute vests certain power in an authority to be exercised in a particular manner, the said authority has to exercise it only in the manner provided in the statute itself”.

In fiscal 2014-15, deposits in small savings schemes were Rs 289,080 crore while withdrawals were Rs 248,667 crore.

Source: Indian express.

TRAI Asks Reliance Jio to Explain How New Offer Doesn’t Violate Norms

DECEMBER 27, 2016

Telecom regulator TRAI has asked Reliance Jio to explain why extension of its free voice and data plan should not be seen as violation of existing regulations requiring promotional offers to be limited to 90 days.

TRAI shot off the letter after the Mukesh Ambani-led firm announced free data and voice calls for existing and new customers under the ‘Happy New Year offer’, days before the 90-day inaugural welcome plan ended on December 3.

In the December 20 letter, the regulator, which is in the process of examining the new plan by Reliance Jio, also asked why the offer of free data under the promotional scheme should not be treated as “predatory”.

When contacted, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) did not offer any comments on the issue.

Sources with direct knowledge of the development said the regulator in its letter had cited RJIL’s consumer base growing to 63 million as on December 18 to state that the company will become a significant market player in the broadband space shortly, may be by December-end.

Stating that the preliminary analysis relies on factors like average subscriber additions per day and free data being offered, TRAI is learnt to have asked RJIL to clarify as to “why the offer of free data under the promotional offer should not be treated as predatory.”

Another source said that in a meeting with TRAI, Jio has said that the latest Happy New Year offer is substantiatively different from the Jio Welcome Offer (that commenced on September 5) as in the initial offer it had provided 4GB of free data per day, and in the new offer the same was capped at 1GB under Fair Usage Policy.

Also, they contend, in the first offer there was no option of renewal or payment after the 4GB limit was exhausted, but in the new offer, one can recharge both data and the promised speed.

In terms of market dominance, Reliance Jio is six per cent of the installations in the country whereas the Competition Commission of India (CCI) norms specify 30 per cent threshold to trigger the ‘misuse of market dominance’ clause.

Sources said, TRAI has also asked Jio to give an estimated month-wise projection of the number of subscribers that are expected to be added till March 31, 2017.

Jio has been given five days to clarify on the issues raised by the regulator.

Jio first launched an inaugural free voice and data plan beginning September, and earlier this month extended the freebies till March 31, 2017.

On Friday, incumbent operator Bharti Airtel moved telecom dispute tribunal TDSAT against TRAI allowing Reliance Jio to continue free promotional offer beyond the stipulated 90 days, charging the regulator of being a “mute spectator” to violations.

In its 25-page petition before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), India’s largest private mobile services operator had asked the quasi-judicial body to direct TRAI to ensure that Jio does not provide its free voice and data plan beyond December 3.

TRAI said that Reliance Jio, through a letter on December 7, had informed it about another promotional offer – Happy New Year – that would be available to new consumers with effect from December 4, 2016 to March 3, 2017 and the benefits of which would be available till March 31, 2017.

Consumers availing the earlier promotional offers too would be migrated to the Happy New Year offer, TRAI has observed.

TRAI said that free voice calls, unlimited video calling, and free data, and free Jio apps among others, were offered without break under the various promotional offers by RJIL from September 5.

Therefore, TRAI said, preliminary examination of the new offer filed with it ‘prima facie’ reveals that except for minor change in the quantum of data being offered in the new offer, it seems to be an extension of the old promotional offer beyond 90 days.

//COPY//

AIPEU POSTMAN & MTS CENTRAL WORKING COMMITTEE MEETING - 26th & 27th December 2016 - THINDIVANAM (TAMILNADU CIRCLE)

  

  

.....

Seasonal & Festival Greetings :----