Exempt Defence Civilian Employees From New Pension Scheme – AIDTOA & CCGGOO

Exempt Defence Civilian Employees From New Pension Scheme – AIDTOA & CCGGOO

All India DRDO Technical Officers’ Association (AIDTOA) & Confederation of Central Government Gazetted Officers’ Organisations (CCGGOO) have represented both the Central Government and 7th Pay Commission to exempt the Defence civilian employees from New Pension Scheme.

We have represented to both previous NDA & UPA Governments to scrap NPS. Now we have requested the present Government to exempt the Defence civilian employees from New Pension Scheme at par with Armed Forces. Let’s be optimistic that present Central Government will exempt us. Let’s build pressure on the Govt. by ensuring that employees/officers who joined after 01/01/2004 send individual representations to the Cabinet Secretary through proper channel. Pl. forward this mail to our younger brothers & sisters who joined after 01/01/2014.

During the meeting with Chairman, 7th CPC we have categorically told that New Pension Scheme should be rescinded and scrapped. We requested that the CPC can intervene as 6th CPC had given recommendations that Defined Pension Scheme is better than NPS. We requested that the recommendations of 6th CPC should be applied to all entrants since 01/01/2004.

The extract from our memorandum to 7th CPC on NPS is given below for ready reference.

New Pension Scheme (NPS)

2.1 The contributory pension system brought in by the GOI through their notification dated 22.12.2003, now renamed as National Pension System under PFRDA Act, has been imposed on Government employees who entered service on or after 1.1.2004.

2.2 This is an illegal act in as much as the Supreme Court of India had held Pension as an enforceable inalienable fundamental right. Therefore it should be scrapped or at least not made applicable to Government employees. This has also divided the CG employees into two categories and therefore it is discriminatory in respect of persons who have entered service on or after 1.1.2004 who had been denied the statutory pension. Any discriminatory scheme is illegal and ultravires of Article 14 of the Constitution. On this count also the NPS cannot be made applicable to the Government employees.

2.3 The Centre for Economic Studies and Policy, Institute for Social & Economic Change, Bangalore in a Study of Terminal Benefits of the Central Government Employees sponsored by the VI CPC had also observed that Civil Services Pension is in the nature of a deferred wage. It is well known that the principle guiding the pay package of civil servants is one of intentionally spreading out the compensation over a long period of time, thereby the wages paid out during the course of the work tenure is kept low by design, and the pension payments made during the retirement phase compensate for the low working wages.

2.4 The above mentioned study under the heading “Arguments against pension reforms” states as follows:

“Deferred Wage: In the context of civil servant pension payments, it is argued that, the principle guiding the fixation of pay package is one of intentionally spreading out the compensation over a long period of time, whereby the wages paid out during the course of work tenure is kept low by design, and the pension payments made during the retirement phase compensate for the low working wages. The Supreme Court of India held that pension is neither a bounty nor a matter of grace depending upon the sweet will of the employer. It is not an ex-gratia payment, but a payment for past services rendered. It is a social welfare measure, rendering socio-economic justice to those who in the heyday of their life ceaselessly toiled for the employer on an assurance that in their old age, they would not be left in the lurch.”

“Larry Williams observes “Actually, civil service pensions, because they are not based on contributions, are best described as deferred wages. Civil servants accept a lower current wage in exchange for the promise of a pension in their old age. If this pension were contributory, they would insist on a higher wage and government would have to either increase taxes or borrow (issue debt) to pay it. The real cost of civil servants is thus much higher than recorded under the current system of cash accounting. A good reform would be to move to a system of accrual accounting setting up at least a notional fund to pay these deferred wages” (Larry Wilmore, 2004)” “Public and private sector pay differentials: A comparison of the public and private sector wages reveals that while the public sector wages for the lower grades compares well with that of the private sector, the salaries of the employees belonging to the higher grades are highly unfavourable to the public sector employees. The post-retirement benefits that the government employees are entitled to act as some incentive to retain them in government sector.”

2.5 The above study had submitted the following estimated pensionery outgo which tends to increase during the period from 2014-2038. It is only after 2043 that it starts declining and will be reduced to zero only in 2088. The table is given below:

                                    Table showing estimated pensionery outgo

Year	Employee Pension Payout (in Rs Crores)	Family PensionPay  Out (in Rs.Crores)	Total pension payout (in Rs.Crores)
2004	11300.69	2983.38	14284.07
2008	13532.84	3572.68	17105.52
2013	16549.07	4368.94	20918.02
2018	21862.54	5771.79	27634.33
2023	27723.68	7319.11	35042.80
2028	34076.27	8996.13	43072.41
2033	39321.68	10381.01	49702.69
2038	45164.50	11923.41	57087.90
2043	41747.23	11021.30	52768.53
2048	35011.92	9243.18	44255.10
2053	25405.44	6707.07	32112.51
2058	16303.15	4304.07	20607.22
2063	8179.51	2159.39	10838.90
2068	3159.88	834.19	3994.07
2073	800.68	211.34	1012.02
2078	110.26	29.17	139.43
2083	3.52	0.97	4.49
2088	0.00	0.00	0.00

2.6 The above study had also pointed out that expenditure on pensions of civil servants of high income OECD countries on an average is 2% of GDP (less than 1% in Ireland and more than 3.5% in Austria*)(* Source: OECD Social Expenditure Database). But in the 8 South Asian countries it is less than 1% of GDP (Source: World Bank Data base). However, in India between 1964-65 and 2004-05 on an average pension payments (Civil Service pension paid by Central Government) have constituted 0.51% share of GDP. The Pension liability would continue to increase and reach 0.54% level by 2014-15 and remain at that level till 2024-25 after which they would decline as a percentage of GDP according to the same study conducted by Dr.Gayatri at the instance of VI CPC. These figures argue themselves in favour of continuation of the Defined Benefit Pension Scheme for all Central Government employees instead of throwing a section of them to market based NPS. According to 2011 census 62.8% are in the age group of 15 to 60 and only 8.2% are above the age of 60.

2.7 From the above projection it is very clear that the benefit of NPS will commence only after 30 years i.e. in 2044. And during the period it will increase exponentially as because in addition to the Statutory pension liability the Government will be contributing to the NPS also @ 10% of annual salary bill of the CG Employees who have entered service on or after 1.1.2004.

2.8 The final conclusion of this study team has been as under:

“Mainly given the fact that the future liability although may be large in terms of the absolute size is not likely to last very long and does not constitute an alarmingly big share of the GDP which is also on the decline, it appears that pursuing the existing “Pay As you Go” to meet the liability would be an ideal solution.”

2.9 Applying this conclusion we may suggest that the NPS may not be made applicable to the Government employees and all those who had been covered under NPS may be reverted back to statutory pension scheme. The Government may be asked to study the experiences of this scheme in several other countries in the world. In Chile such a scheme has been reversed as because the return which the low paid employees got out of the annuity purchased was not as good as 50% of LPD but as low as 20% of LPD. The UK Government had to pay out of the exchequer large amount by way of subventions in order to ensure that that annuities purchased yield 50% of LPD as pension. It is well known that in USA where there were similar pension schemes dependent upon the market had collapsed during the financial melt down from 2008 onwards. It is estimated that more than 3.5 trillion $ worth of pension wealth was lost. The workers not only lost their pension but also their jobs. Our respectful submission is that taking into account the demographic considerations of India which is a country of young do not need any such market oriented pension scheme, particularly when the international experience is that such schemes had failed and our country can afford to pay pension to civil servants which stands at level of 1% of the GDP. We conclude by quoting the opinions of experts on the future of market dependent pension Scheme.

Mr Joseph Stiglitz (Chief economic advisor to former president of USA Bill Clinton, former vice-chairman and chief economic advisor, World Bank, Nobel Prize winner, Professor of economics, Columbia university) said that “Stock market does not guarantee returns. It does not even guarantee that the stock values will keep up with inflation. Privatization would not protect retirees against the social security systems insolvency. Argentina’s privatization of its pension system was at the centre of its fiscal woes”.

Mr Dean Baker (Co-director for centre for economic and policy research, Washington) said “Privatisation means that you would not have a guaranteed benefit that you have today. It would depend on how will your investments do or how well they have done at the point you retire. He quoted the collapse of NASDAQ and Enron. In Britain, Insurance companies could not honour their promises and the Government had to compensate with 8 billion pounds”.

The VII CPC officials said that they have requested the PFRDA Authority to furnish certain information on their working. On receipt of this information they may make certain further submission for the consideration of the Commission.

“The 7th Pay Commission is finding out if there are possibilities for differently-abled and women employees of the Central Government to work from home.”

According to sources, the 7th Pay Commission has sought for the opinion of the Department of Information and Technology regarding this option. The 7th Pay Commission has asked to study the possibilities of differently-abled and women workers to perform simple and specialized tasks from home and stay connected via the internet and other telecommunication tools.

The 7th Pay Commission has asked the Department of Information and Technology to identify such jobs for the less than 10,000 differently-abled workers who are currently employed by the Central Government.

 Flexi-time Working Hours options are being considered for the more than 3.5 lakh women who are employed by the Central Government.

Since it is impossible for both these segments of workers to work during night shifts, the 7th Pay Commission is looking for options to employ them in specialized monetary and supervisory works which could be performed from home. It is being said that the step will be of tremendous relief for employees who have to travel long distance to reach their offices, and for the employees who work in congested offices.

It can be inferred that the 7th Pay Commission is particular about giving priority to women and differently-abled workers. Sources say that the 7th Pay Commission believes that greater productivity could be expected from them.

It is a well-known fact that telecommuting and work-from-home options have become very popular in the private sectors and highly specialized tasks are sometimes performed this way. The 7th Pay Commission wants to bring in this work culture to the Central Government jobs too.

Meanwhile, news and updates about the 7th Pay Commission continue to flow into the news media. The Commission is very likely to submit its report to the Government by the end of December. Sources say that the final stage of preparing the report is now on.

Speculations about 35 percent salary hike, increasing the minimum pay to Rs.21,000, 4 MACP promotions, modernizing the CGHS medical facilities, and most importantly, about the retirement age, continue to surface. Readers are requested to not believe in any of them because all of them are mere figments of the writers’ imagination.

Sub: Discontinuation of interview for Junior Level Posts in the Government

Ref: DOP&T letter No. F. No.39020/09/2015-Estt (B) dated 27th October, 2015 to the Chief Secretaries of all the State Governments/Administrators of the Union Territories.

One day workshop scheduled to be conducted on 29.10.2015 at Civil Services Officers Institute (CSOI), New Delhi, for the Principal Secretaries of GAD of States/UTs, in connection with discontinuation of interview for Junior Level Posts in the Government, has been postponed to 16.11.2015.

“The government’s view is that the interviews should be discontinued for recruitment to junior level posts where personality or skill assessment is not absolutely required. The objective behind abolition of interviews for such posts is that it will curb corruption, ensure more objective selection in a transparent manner and substantially ease the problems of the poor and resourceless aspirants. This will not only enable giving more weightage to the merit but also supplement the government’s resolve for “Maximum Governance, Minimum Government”.

Several Group ‘B’ (Non-Gazetted) and Group ‘C’ (Non-Technical) posts in various Ministries/Departments and other organisations under Central Government have already been identified where the selections can be made through a competitive examination without conducting the interview.

The Chief Ministers of different States have been requested to involve the Public Service Commission and other recruiting agencies in their respective States where interview can be discontinued and selection can be done only through examination to achieve the goal of citizen-centric transparent governance.

Several decisions like abolition of attestation of certificates etc. were taken and introduced self-attestation of certificates, introduction of pension portal to abolish the requirement for a written life-certificate and decision to revisit and revise the pattern and syllabus of Civil Services Examination.

For a post for which an interview is not necessary to determine the capability of a candidate, the provision of interview sometimes leads to scope for manipulation, manoeuvrability and corruption. Therefore, barring such posts where an interview would help in testing special capabilities for a particular assignment, abolition of the provision of interview will not only be in larger public interest but would also offer a level playing field for even those of the candidates who lack resources and come from lower socio-economic strata.

The introduction of self-attestation of certificates eliminates inconvenience caused to the youth for going around seeking attestation of certificates from gazetted officers, etc.

A pilot exercise undertaken for three States of Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu had proved successful wherein, for the first time, an Induction training programme was introduced for the newly inducted State-level functionaries and the same practice is now being extended to other States as well. DoPT has taken a decision to revise and revisit the pattern and syllabus of IAS and other Civil Services Exam to offer a level playing opportunity for aspirants from different streams.

Subject:- Data on the representation of Other Backward Classes in Central Government Services – Meeting taken by the Parliamentary Committee of Welfare of Other Backward Classes held on 14.10.2015.

No.41034/5/2014-Estt. (Res.)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions 
Department of Personnel and Training
Establishment(Res.II) Section

North Block, New Delhi-110001
Dated the 20th October, 2015

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

The undersigned is directed to say that an online portal rrcps.nic.in already exists for uploading information on the representation of SCs, STs, OBCs and Persons with Disabilities. This information is obtained on annual basis as of 1st January of each year.

2. During the Sitting of the Parliamentary Committee of Welfare of Other Backward Classes held on 14.10.2015, Member Secretary of the National Commission for Backward Classes had pointed out to the Hon’ble Committee that in connection with formulation of a report on creamy layer, NCBC had requested all Departments/Ministries through Department of Personnel & Training to provide the information in a format prescribed by them, but the same was still awaited.

3. The Hon’ble Chairman and other Hon’ble Members of the Committee expressed dissatisfaction over low representation of OBCs in Central Government services and directed DoP&T to collect data sought by NCBC and submit to the Committee urgently.

4. It is, therefore, requested that the data, in the enclosed format, relating to appointment of OBCs in the Ministries/ Departments be provided by 30.10.2015 (by mail and also by letter/fax) . The data should also be provided in respect of the attached and subordinate offices under their administrative control, in the enclosed format.

5. The Hon’ble Committee has indicated that delay in submission of the information would be taken seriously by them.

6. In view of the directions of the Parliamentary Committee, the requisite information may be sent in this regard by 30.10.2015. If there are any genuine difficulties in providing the data within the prescribed time limit, the specific reasons for the delay and the likely date by which the same will be made available be informed to this Department.

7. This may please be treated as urgent.

(G.Srinivasan)
Deputy Secretary to the Government of India
Tele/Fax: 23093074.Email: g.sreenivasan@nic.in

Extension of CSD Canteen Facilities to retired Defence Civilians

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
DEFENCE ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT

NO. AN/VII/7063/CSD/Misc

Dated: 20.10.2015

To
All PCsDA/PCA(Fys) Kolkata, CsDA
(Through CGDA website)

Subject: Extension of CSD Canteen Facilities to retired Defence Civilians
Reference: This office letter of even No. dated 21.08.2015.

In continuation of the above, the following clarification on some of the common points raised in various representations received in this office is as under :

Sl.No	Common Points raised in the representations	Clarification
a)	Whether the retired employees of the Defence Accounts Department are eligible for the C.S.D Canteen facility as the orders from the DDGCS does not explicitly say so.	Yes. The retried employees of the Defence Accounts Department are eligible for C.S.D Canteen Facility.
b)	Whether the DAD Pensioners can get the application forms authenticated only from the office from which they have retired.	The authentication of the applicationforms may be carried out by the nearest Controller, under the jurisdiction, the pensioner is currently residing or theapplication is made. Also, the nominated Officers are directed to authenticate/countersign theapplication forms of any DAD pensioner, if the application is submitted to him/her. The authentication is to be carried out, based on submission of the documents as required by the Canteen authorities.
c)	What is termed as ‘Govt Order for Retirement?	The Part II. Office Order issued by the Controllers in respect of the retiringemployee will suffice the requirement.
d)	The said order does not speak about the eligibility of the Family Pensioners. Whether the same are eligible for the C.S.D Canteen Facilities?	The extension of CSD Canteen Facilities to the Family Pensioners is implied as the QMG branch letter dated 12.08.2015 does not make any distinction between the Retired Defence Civilian Employees and Family Pensioners. The term DAD Pensioners includes within its ambit the Family Pensioners also, as they are drawing pension authorized by PCDA(P) Allahabad.

MINISTRY OF FINANCE - CLAIMING OF MEDICAL EXPENDITURE FOR TAX PURPOSES MADE EASY 
One of the pillars of the of the taxation proposals included in the Finance Minister’s Budget Speech for 2015-16 was extension of benefits to the middle class. In this process, the Finance Minister announced extension of certain benefits in respect of medical treatment under section 80 DDB. This section allows a deduction for expenditure incurred on treatment of specified ailments.

Taking the process forward, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued a Notification vide S.O. No.2791 (E) on 12th October 2015 amending Rule 11DD. The amended Rule relaxes the condition of obtaining the certificate for claiming expenditure under section 80DDB in respect of specified ailments from a specialist working in a Government hospital. As per amended Rule 11DD, the prescription can be issued by any specialist mentioned in the amended Rule. Henceforth, it will not be mandatory to obtain a certificate from a specialist working in a Government hospital.

The Notification is available on the website of the Income Tax Department www.incometaxindia.gov.in . (PIB 14.10.2015)

All India DRDO Technical Officers’ Association (AIDTOA) protests against

 

Ø Non Settlement of any of the legitimate demands raised by Confederation of Central Government Gazetted Officers’ Organisations (CCGGOO) and  the JCM Staff Side, National Council by the Government.

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

 Ø Unwarranted intervention of the Finance Ministry in the independent functioning of the Pay Commission by issuing a statement asking the 7^th CPC to factor into its report the fiscal concern of the government and thereby to pressurise the Commission not to recommend wage rise on the basis of a sound and scientific formulation.

www.aidrdotoa.blogspot.com, www.ccggoo.blogspot.in

Email: aidrdotoa@gmail.com, ccggoo2002@gmail.com

 

　

　

　

　

Brief Note on JCM National Council Standing Committee Meeting held on 9th October 2015 at New Delhi.

Brief Note on JCM National Council Standing Committee Meeting held on 9th October 2015 at New Delhi.

The Standing Committee of the JCM National Council met on 9^th October, 2015.  As you are aware, earlier, the National JCA had decided to defer the strike action and organize a massive Dharna programme at Jantar Mantar on 19^th November, 2015 to register its strongest protest over the Government’s engineered delay in the submission of the 7^th CPC Report.   Later, the Finance Ministry has issued a statement asking the 7^th CPC to factor into its report the fiscal concern of the Government, which was an unwarranted interference in the independent functioning of the Commission and to pressurise the Commission not to recommend wage rise on the basis of a sound and scientific formulation. 

The Staff side on receipt of the invitation to have the meeting on 9^thOctober, decided to respond and convey to the Government their strong resentment over the virtual dilution of the negotiating forum as also the above concerns.  In the meeting the Staff side was informed that the Secretary Personnel would be meeting the Standing Committee soon and the meeting on 9^thwas in fact only a prelude to understand each other’s points of views. It was in the background the meeting was held on 9^th October, 2015. 

The leader and Secretary, Staff Side conveyed the unanimous decision of the National JCA as under to the Government.

(a)    The Standing Committee, as per procedure evolved, must be chaired by the Secretary Personnel.

 

(b)   The JCM Machinery’s functioning should not be diluted.

 

(c)    The promised meeting of the National Council has not taken place so far.

 

(d)   The minutes of the last two meetings of the National Anomaly Committee have not been formally issued.

 

(e)   ‘The Official side Secretary must convene a meeting of the Staff Side to iron out any difference in the draft minutes.’

 

(f)     Normally meetings are held after circulation of the ATS.  This has not been done.

 

(g)    The Official Side must convey the anguish of the employees over the delay in the submission of the report by the 7^th CPC which they rightly feel has been engineered by the Government.  They also pointed out that they are constrained to believe that the Govt. was unnecessarily interfering in the functioning of the Pay Commission.

We give hereunder a brief resume of the discussions held on the agenda items.

After the initial remarks made by the Staff Side all issues in the charter of demands were discussed.  There had been however, no final settlement on any issue as the meeting itself was not convened for that purpose.  The Staff Side stated that even the promises held out in the last meeting that the Departmental Council meeting would be held soon was not honoured. 

On the question of Pay revision related issues, viz. Interim relief, DA merger, inclusion of GDS etc . elaborate discussions were held.  It has come out clearly that on all these issues, the Finance Ministry has taken an nugatory Stand, even though the arguments put forth were extremely untenable.  It was pointed out by the Staff Side that the Interim relief and DA merger was denied on the specious plea of submission of the report in the stipulated time.  Having extended the time, the Govt. ought to have considered the grant of these two demands.  There had been a very elaborate discussion on the question of inclusion of the GDS within the purview of the 7^th CPC.  The Postal Department’s representatives narrated the efforts made by them to the Government for conceding this demands.  The Finance Ministry has stood firm and objected to the demand being agreed to.  The Staff Side has, in the given situation of the 7^th CPC having finalised its report, requested the Government to refer the matter to a Judicial Committee headed by the present Chairman, 7^th CPC as he has now been fully apprised of the functioning of various ministries and Departments of the Government through the interaction with the Staff and official sides.    No commitment was however made by the Government to the above suggestion.

On the question of induction of FDI in Railways, Corporatisation of Postal Department and Defence organisations, the representative of the Railway Ministry stated that they are constantly discussing the issues with the Railway Federations and was exploring the possibility of reaching an agreement.  In the case of corporatisation of the Postal Department, it was stated that the recommendations made by the Committee was discussed with the Federations and it has been agreed that except induction of  certain professionals at the managerial level to fine tune the functioning of the Department in the changed scenario, the Federations have been assured that no structural changes would be made without consulting them.  However, in the case of Defence, no discussions with the Federations have been held so far.

PFRDA.  The Staff Side pointed out the present scenario in the Government offices, where the number of employees and officers who are outside the ambit of the statutory pension scheme has grown and have reached in certain organisations to the extent of 25 to 30%.  These employees are extremely concerned of the new scheme and their anguish have been expressed in many forms.  The Unions would be compelled to take drastic action if the Government refuses to heed to their plea to effect a relook or revisit on the matter.  The representatives of the Railways pointed out that the Honourable Minister for Railways was convinced of the situation and that was the reason why he had written to the Finance Ministry that in the given situation of the Railway functioning, the new scheme would not only jeopardise the interest of the Railwaymen but also of the Railway Industry itself.

On the specific question raised by the Staff side in the last meeting in respect of resolving the issues of Medical Store Depot and the Printing and Stationery department,  the Staff Side stated that only the meeting of the Medical Store Depot was held and the issues have been resolved to some extent.  The Printing and Stationery Department has now sent a communication to the Staff Side fixing the meeting on 15^th October‘15. The general issues emanating from the policy of outsourcing and contractorisation was also discussed at length. 

JCM functioning had been the central point of discussions.  The Staff Side has pointed out that unless the Government makes up its mind that the machinery should be put on operation, no industrial peace would come in the functioning of the various departments of the Govt. of India.  The Staff side asked the Department of personnel to collect the information of the number of cases litigated in the courts by the Government employees in 1991 and 2015 and make a comparison to know the seriousness of the problem.

On compassionate ground appointments question, it was  stated by the Staff Side that despite advancing no cogent argument by the official side for retaining the 5% ceiling,  the Department of personnel does not want to make a relook into the matter.  The Staff Side pointed out that large number of applications were pending in various Departments, and the concerned department would not be able to clear them even after 20 years for want of the requisite vacancies.  They also pointed out that the decision of the Government to impose the 5% ceiling was amounting to a cruelty imposed on the family members of the Government servants who dies in harness.

The Labour Ministry representative was present at the meeting. The meeting did not discuss the merits and demerits of the labour reforms as the Trade Unions in the country has rightly concluded that it has been conceived to favour the corporate houses and to take away the existing privileges of the workers.  The point at issue, however, at the meeting was as to why the Labour Ministry did not cause a consultation with the Industrial Federations in the Government of India, for whom the Industrial Disputes Act is applicable. The Labour Ministry has assured to convene a meeting of the representatives of such organisations soon. 

The Labour Ministry representative also stated that the government has agreed to raise the bonus ceiling but it would not be appropriate for him to make a mention of the quantum as the Cabinet is yet to give its clearance.  The Government would be able to take a decision in the matter only after the Bihar elections are over.

The Staff Side explained the background of the demand for five promotions.  The reaction of the official side was that the matter must be appropriately discussed only after the 7th CPC report is made available.