DA MERGER LIKELY SOON

NEW DELHI: The government may increase and merge dearness allowance (DA) with basic pay with the Union Cabinet expected to include the proposal as part of the terms of reference of the 7th pay commission.
The move will facilitate announcement of interim relief to more than 50 lakh government employees and 30 lakh pensioners by the newly-constituted pay commission before the code of conduct for the Lok Sabha polls come into force.
Central government employees unions have been demanding that besides raising DA to 100%, the government should revise the pay and merge DA with basic pay, considering market inflation and price hike of essential commodities.
As per practice, DA is merged with basic pay when it breaches the 50% mark. DA merger helps employees as their other allowances are paid as a proportion of basic pay.
An official said if merger of 50% DA with basic pay was decided, it could lead to hike in salary by around 30-35%. He added that there were instances of announcing interim relief to employees apart from DA by a newly constituted pay commission prior to their implementation.
Merger of 50% DA with basic pay was done in the 5th pay commission, but the 6th commission did not recommended it.
The Centre is expected to announce next month a hike in dearness allowance by 10% which would make it 100% of basic pay. It will be the second double digit DA hike in a row as the government had announced a hike of 10% in September last year, effective from July 1, 2013.
An official said hike in DA will not be less than 10% and would be effective from January 1 this year. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ 

CONTEMPT PETITION IN CAT PB ARGUMENT CONTINUES

The contempt petition came up  before the principal bench of CAT PB today on 
19/02/2014. Both sides pleaded their views.
The court asked both parties to give their pleas in writing.The case is posted to 05/03/2014 for further hearing.

OROP- AN OLD WINE IN THE NEW BOTTLE

To sushmaswaraj@hotmail.com

Today at 9:56 AM 

Respected Madam,

 Mr.Chidambaram was misleading the Lok Saba when he told during his budget speech that one rank one pension has already been granted to Havildars & equivalent ranks of armed forces & needs to be done only in case of Sepoy , Naik , Major & above .
It is very far from truth. Maximum disparity exists between the pre &post 2006 Rank of sergeant(Havildar) of same group & length of service

Example;-

The minimum basic bay of an X group sergeant (Havildar) of air force with 15 years of service as per 6th CPC is 15500. Hence his present basic pension  as per 6th CPC is 7750(50% of 15500). Where as a pre -2006 sergeant(Havildar) of same group & length of service  now gets only a basic pension of 6374.

The relevant authority circular for the above calculation is attached herewith.

Kindly take up this matter in the Lok Saba during discussion on the finance bill  for the welfare of Ex-servicemen of this country.

May god bless you

With regards,

M.B.CHANDRAN MENON

• 2 Attachments

• IAF PAY
• 471.pdf
• (copy of mail send to leader of opposition)

ONE RANK ONE PENSION APPROVED FOR EX-SERVICEMEN

The Centre today announced that it has accepted the "one rank, one pension" principle for the forces as part of a 10 per cent hike in the defence budget, a decision that the ruling Congress hopes will win it the support of lakhs of soldiers ahead of the national election, due by May.
In his interim budget speech, Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced that the defence budget was being raised to Rs. 2,24,000 crore.
"Rs. 500 crore will be transferred in 2014-15 for implementing the one rank one pension decision," he added.
Under the "one rank, one pension" rule, retired soldiers of the same rank and length of service will receive the same pension, regardless of when they retire. Currently, pensioners who retired before 2006 receive less pension than their counterparts, even their juniors.
The mega announcement comes three days after Rahul Gandhi endorsed it after meeting a delegation of ex-servicemen last Friday.
This will be implemented prospectively in the financial year 2014-2015. 
http://www.ndtv.com/rank-one-pension 

Rahul Gandhi shows '' cape of good hope'' for Ex-servicemen voyager?? is it an island with OROP ?????????

New Delhi, Feb 14, 2014 DHNS:

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday lent his support to the long-standing demand of ex-servicemen for “one rank, one pension” (OROP).
“I am on your side. I understand your concerns. You give your life for the country, I will do all that I can to see that your demands are met,” Gandhi told various state delegations of ex-servicemen who met him.
The delegations from Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab met the Congress vice-president on Friday and pressed for implementation of OROP.

There are over two million defence pensioners who receive differential retirement benefits. All pre-2006 pensioners receive lesser pension than those who retired in the same rank later and even than those of junior rank.
A colonel who retired in 2003 gets Rs 26,150 as pension compared to Rs 34,000 drawn by a colonel who retired this year. BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had also reached out to them when he addressed a huge rally of ex-servicemen in Rewari last year with former Army Chief V K Singh joining him on the dais.
Gandhi assured the ex-servicemen that he would make all efforts to ensure that this long-standing demand is met at the earliest.

http://www.deccanherald.com

Defence forces to get special hearing from 7th pay panel

NEW DELHI: The armed forces are finally in for a special hearing, with the Centre likely to separately deal with issues pertaining to their service conditions and payment structures in the 7th Central Pay Commission. The Union government, however, has not accepted the demand for military representation on the pay panel.

The terms of reference for the 7th CPC, to be cleared by the Cabinet, will for the first time include a paragraph on the defence forces. It has come in response to intense lobbying by the defence ministry and the armed forces, with the latter for long complaining of a "raw deal" compared to their civilian counterparts in the fixation of salaries by the central panel.

According to the terms of reference, the pay panel will examine the salary structure and benefits, including retirement benefits, with "due emphasis on the aspects unique to these (military) personnel". The allowances could be reviewed in view of the hardships, both in terms of operations and frequent transfers, associated with military service.

The focus on the defence forces comes in the wake of the massive unrest triggered by the 6th CPC report which led to the three Service chiefs lodging serious complaints about the recommendations.

There is another plus for the defence forces, with Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur to chair the pay commission. He has been the chairman of the Armed Forces Tribunal and the government says he is conversant with the issues related to defence forces.

Thus, while keeping a representative of the defence forces has not been accepted on the grounds that it would lead to similar demand from other specialized services, the presence of the chair is sent to indirectly meet the demand.

While the pay panel is a populist move given the vast vote base that government employees make, the defence community of 14 lakh serving and 23 lakh retired military personnel itself swells into a sizeable - albeit diffused - vote bank of around 1.5 crore people if family members are also taken into account.

The government was rattled by the widespread anger in the armed forces in 2008-2009 when they complained that successive pay panels had failed to address their long-pending pay and pension "anomalies". Hundreds of ex-servicemen continue to protest by returning their medals even today over the failure of successive governments to implement the one-rank, one-pension principle despite it being promised by most parties in their manifestoes.

In June last year, defence minister A K Antony had written a frantic letter to PM Manmohan Singh to express alarm over the "growing discontentment" among the armed forces, which led to the constitution of a committee under cabinet secretary Ajit Kumar Seth to look into their grievances. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com 

Rahul Gandhi backs one rank, one pension demand

Around 3 million defence pensioners may finally see their long-standing demand of ‘one rank, one pension (OROP) fulfilled with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi reportedly backing the proposal.RahulGandhi will meet a delegation of ex-servicemen (ESM) on Friday to discuss the OROP issue, which could boost the Congress’ fortunes in an election year.
"He is taking personal interest in the OROP issue and there could be some forward movement,” a source said. The Congress vice-president will also address an ESM rally in Uttarakhand on February 22.
 The OROP will ensure that retired soldiers of the same rank and the same length of service receive the same pension, irrespective of their date of retirement. The scheme is estimated to cost Rs. 2,000 crore annually.
Currently, all pre-2006 (the year the 6th pay panel report became effective) pensioners receive lesser pension than not only their counterparts but also their juniors. For instance, a major general who retired in 1995 draws a basic pension of Rs. 30,350 but an officer retiring in the same rank after 2006 gets Rs. 38,500. Similarly, a colonel who retired in 2003 gets Rs. 26,150, compared to Rs. 34,000 drawn by a colonel who retired this year.
Gandhi’s now-famous interventions are seen to produce results, be it raising the cap on LPG cylinders from nine to 12 or junking a controversial ordinance shielding convicted lawmakers.
 The push for OROP, which will benefit about 600,000 widows, comes at a time when Gandhi has made a strong pitch for women’s empowerment.
 He also seems to have tapped into a potent source of discontent among defence pensioners.
“My pension is lesser than a colonel’s. It is humiliating. The ESM vote will go to the party that implements the OROP,” said Major General Satbir Singh (retd), who heads an ESM outfit. ESM groups claim they can influence at least three crore votes.
Decorated veterans have in the past returned their medals, gone on hunger strikes and signed petitions in blood to draw the government’s attention to the OROP issue.
The government had in 2009 declared that it had earmarked Rs. 2,200 crore annually to improve the pension of jawans, a step it described as “partial implementation” of the OROP that had benefitted 1.2 million pensioners.
http://www.hindustantimes.com