Amendments in the Central List of Other Backward Classes for 13 States and three Union Territories

The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for making amendments in the Central List of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in respect of 13 States (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) and three Union Territories (Chandigarh, Delhi and Puducherry) by way of inclusion / correction / deletion of castes/communities according to advices received from the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC). The amendments will notify 115 changes recommended by the NCBC.

The proposed changes will enable persons belonging to these castes/communities to avail benefits of reservation in government services and posts as well as in central educational institutions according to existing policy. They will also become eligible for benefit under various welfare schemes, scholarships, etc. being administered by the Central Government, which are at present available to persons belonging to the OBCs.

Background:

The NCBC was set up in pursuance to the Supreme Court judgement in the Indira Sawhney case. As per the NCBC Act 1993, Section 9 (“Functions of the Commission”) states that:-

i. The Commission shall examine requests for inclusion of any class of citizens as a backward class in the lists and hear complaints of over-inclusion or under-inclusion of any backward class in such lists and tender such advice to the Central Government as it deems appropriate and;

ii. The advice of the Commission shall ordinarily be binding upon the Central Government.”

The NCBC has been tendering advice to the Central Government from time to time. A total of 30 Notifications have been issued so far and till date, a total of 2343 “entries” (an “entry” means a caste, including its synonyms, sub-castes etc.) have been notified in the Central list of OBCs for 24 States and six Union Territories. The last such notification was issued on 08.12.2011. Since then, many more advices for inclusion/ deletion of castes/ communities and correction in the existing list of OBCs, have been received from the NCBC.

Source: PIB

Representation of minority communities-central government services

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL,PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS

LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 2157

ANSWERED ON 18.12.2013

REPRESENTATION OF MINORITY COMMUNITIES

2157 . Shri YASHVIR SINGH

NEERAJ SHEKHAR

Will the Minister of PERSONNEL,PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS be pleased to state:-

(a) whether 10.18% people from minority communities were employed in Central Government services in 2010-11;

(b) if so, the details thereof, departmentwise;

(c) whether the representation of minority communities in the Central Government jobs has decreased to 7.73% in 2012-13;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and

(e) the steps taken/proposed to be taken in this regard?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY)

(a) & (b): Available data received from 71 Ministries / Departments is enclosed as Statement – I.

(c): Received data from 70 Ministries / Departments is enclosed as Statement – II.

(d): As per information received from Ministries/ Departments for decline in recruitment of candidates from Minority communities are as under:-

1. The rise and fall in the recruitment of minorities community depends upon the number of applications received and the percentage of qualifying candidates of the minority community.

2. There is no reservation in recruitment for minorities.

3. Dependence on traditional/religious education.

4. Low literacy level and non-availability of suitable candidates.

5. Adequate number of minority community candidates do not qualify in the selection process i.e. PST/PET/Written Examination/Medical examination and candidate with low scoring in written examination do not find in the merit of selected candidates, etc.

(e): Instructions have been issued vide letter number 39016/2(s)/2009-Estt.(B) dated 17.09.2011 to all appointing authorities to scrupulously observe the following guidelines :-

(i) The composition of Selection Committees should be representative. It should be mandatory to have one member belonging to SC/ST and one member belonging to minority community in Selection Boards / Communities for making recruitment to 10 or more vacancies.

(ii) Where the number of vacancies against which selection is to be made is less than 10, efforts should be made to have the Scheduled Caste / Tribes officer and a Minority community officer included in such Communities / Boards.

(iii) Wide publicity should be given to all appointments in Government, public sector banks and financial institutions. Advertisements should be issued in the language(s) spoken by large number of people of the State / UTs, apart from English and Hindi. Further, for Group C level posts level posts, having only basic qualifying requirements, information about vacancies for recruitment should also be disseminated through schools and colleges in that area, in addition to normal channels.

(iv) Where there is concentration of minority community population in local areas, the vacancy circular in local language may be distributed in those areas by suitable arrangements. These instructions have been reiterated from time to time.

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Twelve lakh Central Government Employees will be on 48 hr. Strike on 12th and 13th Feb. 2014 -Press Statement Issued by Confedration

PRESS STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE CONFEDERATION

CONFEDERATION OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES & WORKERS.

CHQ: 1st Floor, North Avenue Post Office Building

New Delhi - 110001

E mail: confederation06@yahoo.co.in 

Website:confederationhq.blogspot.com.

Dated: 15th January, 2014.

PRESS NOTE

Twelve lakh Central Government Employees will be on 48 hr. Strike on 12th and 13th Feb. 2014 demanding settlement of 15 point Charter of Demands, the major issues being immediate wage revision and repealing the new contributory Pension Scheme by reintroducing the Statutory Defined Benefit Pension Scheme which was in vogue for more than a century.

The Government in September 2013 announced the setting up of VII-Central Pay Commission to effect Wage Revision from 1.01.2016. The employees have made it clear that prospective date of effect is not acceptable to them and the VII-CPC recommendations must of effective from 01.01.2014. The Government is yet to take a decision on the Terms of Reference of the VII-CPC viz, the merger of Dearness Allowance, composition of the VII-CPC with a labour representative, Interim Relief, the need to bring the Gramin Dak Sevalcs of Postal Department within the ambit of the CPC.etc.

The employees are agitated over the introduction of the New Pension Scheme, passing the PFRDA Bill in the last session of the Parliament, the denial to guarantee minimum pension and the provision of the new enactment to cover even the existing employees in the new contributory pension Scheme. The employees covered under the new pension scheme are apprehensive of having no pension at the end of their service career of 35 years for the return on their contributions is presently linked to the market.

The Confederation of the Central Government Employees and Workers in their National Executive Meeting held at New Delhi on 10th January, 2014 expressed their total dissatisfaction over the closure of JCM, the negotiating machinery and the consequent non-settlement of any of their demands in the last nine years. The introduction of contract labour system in carrying Governmental functions, the indiscriminate outsourcing, closure of many institutions, the total ban on creation of posts and recruitment have made regular employment inCentral Services impossible. The Confederation has therefore, decided to organise the two day strike on 12th and 13th February, 2014. The resolution adopted at the meeting of the National Executive (copy of which is enclosed), explains in detail the major issues.

M. Krishnan

 Secretary General

source-https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0rqvSYMJv2ISlFWRjctZU5raWc/edit?pli=1

Wife has right to know husband’s salary: CIC

New Delhi: Wives of government servants have a “right” to know salary particulars of their husbands and these details should also be made public by their offices as mandated under suo-moto disclosure clause of the RTI Act, the Central information Commission has held.

Information Commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu said every spouse has a right to information about the salary particulars of the other especially for the purpose of maintenance.

“More so, wife has a right to know the salary particulars of the husband, who is an employee of the public authority,” he said.

The commissioner further said that the details about a government employee’s salary is no third party information and these have to be voluntarily disclosed under Section 4(1)(b)(x) of the RTI Act.

He said the salary paid to the public authority is sourced from the tax paid by the people in general and it has to be disclosed mandatorily under the RTI section.

“The information about the salary of employee or an officer of the same public authority cannot be considered as a third party information… Public authorities cannot reject such RTI applications about salary under the pretext of the third party information,” he held.

Acharyulu warned the Home Department of Delhi government that such denial of information will be wrongful and could incur penalty. The warning was in context of an application filed by Jyoti Seherawat seeking salary slip of her husband who is employed at the Home (General) department.

The information was denied as her husband gave in written to the department that such an information should not be provided to anyone.

Source : PTI

TOWARDS A FINAL ACTION ON LDC & UDC GRADE PAY ISSUE…

TOWARDS A FINAL ACTION

WHY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF LDC & UDC SHOULD ASSEMBLE AT DELHI ON 9TH JANUARY 2014…?

This Association has been receiving opinion from LDC & UDCs of various Ministries of GOI in respect of upgradation of grade pay viz. (1) taking up of the LDC & UDC issue through political leaders including Sonia Gandhi (2) Challenge the present pay structure of LDC & UDC in the Principle bench of CAT. (3) Conducting pen-down strike to achieve the demand; and now we have a 4th opinion i.e. getting the grade pay of LDC & UDC upgraded through restructuring.

Payment of statutory dues, salary and wages in sick,loss making CPSEs

Press Information Bureau
Government of India

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved the proposal for providing non-plan budgetary support of Rs. 116.86 crore for liquidation of statutory dues (Provident Fund, Gratuity, Pension, Employees State Insurance and Bonus) and salary and wages from 01-04-2013 to 31-08-2013 in respect of eleven Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) under the Department of Heavy Industry, namely Hindustan Cables Ltd., HMT Machine Tools Ltd., HMT (Watches) Ltd., HMT (Chinar Watches) Ltd., Nagaland Pulp & Paper Co. Ltd., Triveni Structurals Ltd., Tungbhadra Steel Products Ltd., Nepa Ltd., HMT Bearings Ltd. Hindustan Photo Films Limited and Tyre Corporation of India Ltd.

Special allowances to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel deployed in difficult areas.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 833
ANSWERED ON 10.12.2013

DEPLOYMENT OF CRPF
833 . Shri R. THAMARAISELVAN
Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government has provided special allowances to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel deployed in difficult areas and engaged in counter insurgency operations in the country;

Guidelines for re employment of Ex-servicemen in Public Sector Banks/Financial services

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL,PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
RAJYA SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-848
ANSWERED ON-12.12.2013

Guidelines for re employment

848 . SHRI MAHENDRA SINGH MAHRA

   (a) whether Government of India has issued guidelines regarding prescribing maximum age limit for re-employment in SBI and other Public Sector Banks upto the age of 50 years in “Ex-servicemen (Re-employment in Central Civil Services and Posts) Rules, 1979;

Special compensation for families of defence martyrs

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
RAJYA SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-663

ANSWERED ON-11.12.2013

Special compensation for families of defence martyrs

663 .SHRIMATI AMBIKA SONI

   (a) the cadre-wise and year-wise number of defence personnel who lost their lives during various operations during the last three years;

Pay anomalies of Library Information Assistants

   A proposal was received from the Ministry of Culture for revision of Grade Pay of the post of Library & Information Assistant from Rs.4200 to Rs.4600. Since the 6th Central Pay Commission recommended for the Grade Pay of Rs.4200 in case of this post, it has not been found possible to go against the said recommendation.

   Above clarification was submitted by Fin Min in reply of undermentioned Rajya Sabha Question:-

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF  FINANCE
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-510
ANSWERED ON-10.12.2013

Pay anomalies of Library Information Assistants

   510 .    SHRI ANIL KUMAR SAHANI

   (a) whether Government has received representation regarding anomaly with respect to grade pay of the Library Information Assistants after implementation of Sixth Pay Commission.

Promotion of North-Eastern Region As Tourism Destinations

Press Information Bureau
Government of India

   The North Eastern Region (NER) of India, including the State of Sikkim, is a reservoir of rich natural resources & biodiversity and an amalgamation of different tribes and cultures. It is still a largely unexplored region having many tourism attractions in the form of wild life sanctuaries, adventure tourism assets, diverse cultural heritage, multifaceted fairs & festivals, world famous Buddhist Monasteries, etc. It, therefore, has great potential for both domestic and international tourism.

Functioning of Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS)

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 574

ANSWERED ON 09.12.2013

FUNCTIONING OF ECHS

574 . Shri KIRTI (JHA) AZAD

Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state:-

   (a) whether any service of the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) Polyclinics is being outsourced;

   (b) if so, the details thereof, service-wise;

Time Limit for Repayment of Educational Loans

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 428
ANSWERED ON 06.12.2013

 TIME LIMIT FOR REPAYMENT OF EDUCATIONAL LOANS

428 . Shri R. THAMARAISELVAN

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:-

   (a) the existing time limit fixed by the Government/Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for repayment of educational loans taken by students to pursue higher studies abroad;

Government Mechanisms to Maintain Transparency in Admission Process in Private Medical Colleges

Press Information Bureau
Government of India

Government Mechanisms to Maintain Transparency in Admission Process in Private Medical Colleges

   In order to streamline and also to make transparent the admission process, the MCI, with the previous approval of the Central Government, notified amendments to its Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 1997 introducing the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET). However, on the directions of the Supreme Court of India, NEET has been discontinued for the current academic year and presently, the matter is sub-judice.

Free Roaming Services

Press Information Bureau
Government of India

Free Roaming Services

            One of the objectives of the New Telecom Policy – 2012 is to work towards ‘one nation – free roaming’. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said that as per the provisions of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act, 1997 as amended from time to time, TRAI prescribes tariffs for telecommunication services in India. Taking into consideration the declared intent of the New Telecom Policy – 2012 for roaming charges, TRAI undertook a comprehensive consultation process to prescribe roaming charges. TRAI had decided not to mandate the implementation of a system in which the calling party pays for a national roaming call in view of  the high costs and operational complications involved and had also concluded that it may not be feasible to remove charges for the incoming call while on national roaming. Further, as a result of a comprehensive consultation process, TRAI issued 55th amendment to Telecom Tariff Order (TTO) 1999 on 17.06.2013, which came into effect from 01.07.2013. This amendment brought about the following changes in the tariff regime for national roaming service:

Reservation in Employment in Private Sector

Press Information Bureau
Government of India

Reservation in Employment in Private Sector

   A high level Coordination Committee under the Chairmanship of Principal Secretary to Prime Minister was constituted in October 2006, to carry forward the dialogue with the Industry on Affirmative Action, including reservation in Private Sector. The Coordination Committee is serviced by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. The Coordination Committee has been holding meetings with the apex Chambers from time to time. The Industry Associations viz. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have developed their respective Voluntary Code of Conduct (VCC) for member companies wherein stress has been laid on equal opportunities in employment for all sections of society, removing bias in employment to disadvantaged sections of society, increasing employability of socially disadvantaged sections through skill upgradation, continuous training and providing scholarships.

III Level JCM Meeting discussion points

INTUC
INDIAN NATIONAL DEFENCE WORKERS FEDERATIONES

JCM III LEVEL COUNCIL MEETING OF BOARD (14th MEETING OF 11th TERM) HELD ON
27th AND 28th NOVEMBER, 2013 AT KOLKATTA.

   The following issue were discussed and some of the progresses on the issues are given below for the information of all our affiliated unions.

   1. Ex-gratia payment of Rs.10 Iakhs to each family of the employees who lost lives while performing their bonafide duties has been cleared by M of D and sanction was issued by OFB for Rs. 3 crores in respect of 30 families.

   2. Necessary clarification was issued by Department of Defence Production on the entitlement of 30 days of Earned leave for Piece workers opted leave under Factories Act but a doubt arised to PC of Fys about the date of effect for which necessary clarification will be obtained from M of D to give effect from July 2008.

Key features of CBEC cadre review as cleared by cabinet

   The long awaited CBEC Cadre Restructring Proposal has been approved by Cabinet on 5th December 2013. Central Board of Excise and Customs, an arm of Finance Ministry that implements Indirect Tax Laws for collection of Central Excise Duty , Customs Duty and Service Tax in the country. With this CBEC Cadre Restructuring approval, the present total posts of 66608 will be augmented with additional 18067 posts.

   While full details of Cabinet approved CBEC Cadre Restructuring proposal is yet to be published officially, a sum-up of key points flashed in media is as follows The Indirect Tax wing of the Finance Ministry, consisting of Custom, Excise and Service Tax Department, will get over 18,000 new recruits.

   This is a part of cadre restructuring proposal of the Central Board of Excise and Custom (CBEC) as approved by the Cabinet on Thursday. The move is expected to help boost revenue collections, as additional posts will be created. “Indirect tax personal strength has not been expanded since 2002, while revenue target and collection are increasing every year which highlighted the need for restructuring,” a senior Government official told Business Line.

Education – A Necessary Tool for National Progress and Social Change, says President Pranab Mukherjee.

.   The President has said there should not be any confrontation between the environment considerations and development requirements. Inaugurating the National Day Education celebration and Jawaharlal Nehru National Science, Mathematics and Environment Exhibition (JNNSMEE) 2013, at Gangtok, Sikkim today, the President Shri Pranab Mukherjee said that it is high time that we redefine the concept of development in a wider prospective and try to find innovative ways on scientific knowledge and mathematical understanding to tackle them.

   Paying rich tribute to the first Education Minister of the country, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the President described him as a great visionary, freedom fighter, scholar and eminent educationist. He said it was Maulana Azad who had woven the fabric of a secular, liberal, modern and universal education system. Calling for promotion of innovation, he said it will be the determining factor of growth in the future. In a world marked by resource constraints growth will increasingly depend on technology upgradation. It is the innovation in Science and Technology which can lead to development of new products and processes which could act as a catalyst for growth. Describing education as a necessary tool for national progress, human empowerment and social change the President said the changes made in the education system including Right to education, implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abiyaan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abiyaan (RMSA) to strengthen the seconadry school system in the country and now launching of the Rashtriya Uttachar Shiksha Abiyaan (RUSA) will have far reaching positive implications.

Highlights of Employment and Unemployment situation in Cities and Towns in India (NSS 66th Round, July 2009- June 2010)

   These highlights are based on the eighth quinquennial survey on employment and unemployment conducted in the 66th round of NSS during July 2009 to June 2010. The survey was spread over 7,402 villages and 5,252 urban blocks covering 1, 00,957 households (59,129 in rural areas and 41,828 in urban areas) and enumerating 4, 59,784 persons (2, 81,327 in rural areas and 1, 78,457 in urban areas). Employment and unemployment were measured with three different approaches, viz. usual status with a reference period of one year, current weekly status with one week reference period and current daily status based on the daily activity pursued during each day of the reference week. Unless otherwise stated, usual status workers will mean all workers taking into consideration the usual principal and subsidiary status together. In this report, estimates of the employment and unemployment indicators are presented for each of the class 1 cities in India. The corresponding estimates are also presented for each State/UT for three size classes of towns, as per Population Census 2001, viz. class 1 cities (with population one million and above), class 2 towns (with population 50,000 to one million) and class 3 towns (with population less than 50,000).

   Some of the key findings of the 66th round of NSS survey on employment and unemployment conducted during July 2009 to June 2010 are stated below: