Government of West Bengal
Finance Department
Audit Branch
No. 7044-F(P) Kolkata, the 16th August,2012.
MEMORANDUM
In terms of rule 12 of the W.B.S.(ROPA) Rules, 2009 the arrears of pay to which a State Government employee is entitled to during the period from the 1st April, 2008 to 31st March, 2009 shall be paid in cash in three consecutive equal yearly instalments beginning from the year 2009-2010.
The current doctor-population ratio in the country is estimated to be around 1:2000. Though, there are no specific standards/norms which prescribes doctor-population ratio, the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage for India constituted by the Planning Commission in its report, has inter-alia recommended increase of availability of doctors to 1:1000 population.
There are various factors, including shortage of doctors, which impact the mortality rate in the country. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) have declined over the past few years. IMR has come down from 58 per 1000 live births in the year 2005 to 47 per 1000 live births in the year 2010. Similarly, MMR has also come down from 254 per lakh live births in 2004-06 to 212 per lakh live births in 2007-09.
The Government has already taken a large number of steps to address shortage of doctors, specialists and faculty in the country which include:
Accepting recommendations of Agrawal Pay Commission, the State Government has given Independence Day gift to government employees by revising rates of house rent allowance, free residential facility, conveyance allowance, vehicle/transport allowance, Reserved Area allowance and non-professional allowance. Besides, the State Government has also accepted the recommendation about calculation of pension as per Central Government’s index.
State Government employees will start getting benefit of revised rates of house rent allowance, concessional rate of rent of government quarters in Reserved Areas and non-commercial allowance with retrospective effects from November 1, 2011. Benefits of remaining recommendations will be given with effect from August 1, 2012. The State Government will bear an annual burden of Rs. 500 crore due to acceptance of these recommendations.
