DA for central govt employees hiked to 80%

The Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared a proposal to increase the dearness allowance (DA) paid to 50 lakh central government employees and 30 lakh pensioners to 80%, a move that will cost the exchequer over Rs 8,600 crore.

The move, keenly awaited by employees, will be effective from January 1. DA is paid to offset the impact of inflation as government salaries and pensions are revised once a decade. So far, the government was paying DA of 72% since July 2012, although the proposal was cleared in September.

Taking into account the additional outgo for the January-March period, the total burden during the current financial year would be Rs 10,067 crore.

In line with the practice, the DA is merged with basic pay when it breaches the 50% cap. This helps employees get higher allowances as they are paid as proportion of the basic pay.

Dearness allowance from Jan 2013, will be declared only after the FM arrival..!

The decision on Dearness Allowance will be declared only after the Finance Minister’s arrival..?!

It is really surprising that, even after the month prescribed by 6CPC to announce the Dearness Allowance passed, the central government yet to decide the rate of dearness allowance to be paid to central government employees from January 2013. Almost all the central government employees news websites have written more than enough about the rate and timing of announcing the Dearness allowance payable to central government employees with effect from 1st January 2013.

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2,000 vacant sites of the Postal Department will be developed, says Minister Killi Kruparani

Lays foundation stone for new post office at Amudalavalasa

Going hi-tech:Union Minister of State for Communication and Technology Killi Kruparani speaking after laying foundation stone for the construction of a new post office at Amudalavalasa on Friday

Union Minister of State for Communication and Technology Killi Kruparani on Friday said that post offices in the country would have a new look with the use of advance technology in day-to-day operations. She said that upgradation of the post offices was being done under ‘Project Arrow’ programme. She laid foundation stone for the construction of new post office with Rs.2 crore at Amudalavalasa.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that 2,000 vacant sites of the postal department will be developed under the public-private- partnership mode.

Ms.Kruparani assured that Cash Transfer Scheme will also be implemented through postal department since more than five crore people were being paid their wages through post office under the MNREGA programme.

AP CPMG Viswapavan Pati said that the new building in Amudalavalasa will be constructed within one year with the availability funds allocated under 12th Five Year Plan. He hoped that it would benefit 149 branches which were covered under Amudalavalasa region. Congress MLC Peerukatla Viswaprasad, Amudalavalasa MLA Boddepalli Satyavati, DCC President Nartu Narendra Yadav and others hailed the initiaitive of the postal department saying that it was a highly respected organisation in the country. They congratulated the postal department for safeguarding valuable 1.45 acres of land from encroachment.

PCC Doctors’ Cell Convener K.Rammohana Rao, Congress leaders K.L. Prasad, Simma Rajasekhar, Mamidi Srikanth and others participated in the programme

Source: The Hindu

India Post, TCS to sign Rs 1,400 cr IT deal on Monday

NEW DELHI: IT major TCSBSE -1.63 % has bagged the Rs 1,400-crore project of India Post for computerising counter operations and the two parties will sign a pact on Monday, a top government official has said.

The project is divided into two parts --two years for implementation and five years of maintenance.

"We will sign agreement with TCS on Monday for computerising counter operations under core system integration of India Post. Around Rs 1,400 crore has been earmarked for the project," Department of Post Secretary P Gopinath told.

The government has approved Rs 4,909 crore for phase II of modernisation of post offices under which the department is gearing up for providing real time core banking services as well.

The Indian IT companies, which earn major part of their revenues from foreign markets especially the US and Europe, are betting big on the domestic government projects.

TCS had also bagged the mission mode e-governance project and Passport Seva Project from the MEA in October, 2008.

InfosysBSE -21.33 % has bagged a 700-crore project that would help India Post transform its banking and insurance operations cross 1,50,000 post offices in the country. The Department of Post has started deploying modern technology solution to develop core banking capability across post offices. As part of modernisation, it has set a deadline of March 31 to computerise all department post offices.

The IT modernisation project approved the Cabinet was divided in three parts: Pilot, Phase I and Phase II.

In phase 1, DoP has to roll out modern IT solution in six circles namely, Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

The project included computerisation of all post offices, core banking solutions including installation of 1000 ATMs, mail tracking, customer service call center and introducing eCommerce solution, handheld devices for post masters for update on services like mails, money order etc.

Some activities like installation of ATMs under Phase 1 are yet to be completed by the department.