Monday, 30 September 2013

ADHOC BONUS ORDER-2013


Grant of Non-Productivity Linked Bonus (ad-hoc bonus) to Central Government Employees for the year 2012-13.

No.7/24/2007/E III (A)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Expenditure
E III (A) Branch

New Delhi,
the 27th September, 2013

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject : Grant of Non-Productivity Linked Bonus (ad-hoc bonus) to Central Government Employees for the year 2012-13.

The undersigned is directed to convey the sanction of the President to the grant of Non-Productivity Linked Bonus (Ad-hoc Bonus) equivalent to 30 days emoluments for the accounting year 2012-13 to the Central Government employees in Groups ‘C’ and ‘D’ and all non-gazetted employees in Group ‘B’ who are not covered by any Productivity Linked Bonus Scheme. The calculation ceiling for payment of ad-hoc Bonus under these orders shall continue to be monthly emoluments of Rs. 3500/-, as hitherto. The payment of ad-hoc Bonus under these orders will also be admissible to the eligible employees of Central Para Military Forces and Armed Forces. The orders will be deemed to be extended to the employees of Union Territory Administration which follow the Central Government pattern of emoluments and are not covered by any other bonus or ex-gratia scheme.

2. The benefit will be admissible subject to the following terms and conditions:

(i) Only those employees who were in service as on 31.3.2013 and have rendered at least six months of continuous service during the year 2012-13 will be eligible for payment under these orders. Pro-rata payment will be admissible to the eligible employees for period of continuous service during the year from six months to a full year, the eligibility period being taken in terms of number of months of service (rounded off to the nearest number of months).

(ii) The quantum of Non-PLB (ad-hoc bonus) will be worked out on the basis of average emoluments/calculation ceiling whichever is lower. To calculate Non-PLB (Ad-hoc bonus) for one day, the average emoluments in a year will be divided by 30.4 (average number of days in a month). This will thereafter be multiplied by the number of days of bonus granted. To illustrate, taking the calculation ceiling of monthly emoluments of Rs, 3500 (where actual average emoluments exceed Rs. 3500), Non-PLB (Ad-hoc Bonus) for thirty days would work out to Rs.3500×30/30.4 = Rs.3453.95 (rounded offto Rs.3454/-).

(iii) The casual labour who have worked in offices following a 6 days week for at least 240 days for each year for 3 years or more(206 days in each year for 3 years or more in the case of offices observIng 5 days week), will be eligible for this Non PLB (Ad-hoc Bonus) Payment. The amount of Non-PLB (ad-hoc bonus) payable will be (Rs.1200×30/30.4 i.e.Rs.1184.21(rounded off to Rs,1184/-). In cases where the actual emoluments fall below Rs.1200/- p.m., the amount will be calculated on actual monthly emoluments.

(iv) All payments under these orders will be rounded off to the nearest rupee.

(v) The clarificatory orders issued vide this Ministry’s OM No.F.14(10)-E. Coord/88 dated 4.10.1988, as amended from time to time, would hold good.

3. The expenditure on this account will be debitable to the respective Heads to which the pay and allowances of these employees are debited.

4. The expenditure incurred on account of Non-PLB (Ad-hoc Bonus) is to be met from within the sanctioned budge provision of concerned Ministries/Departments for the current year.

5. In so far as the persons serving in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department are concerned, these orders are issued in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

 sd/-
 (Amar Nath Singh)
 Deputy Secretary to the Govt of India

Saturday, 24 August 2013

Consumer Price Index – Government has planned to bring new series of CPI



Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India has decided to prepare a new series of Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers. For this purpose, Government has set up a Standing Tripartite Committee (STC) to advise the Government on issues pertaining to the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (New Series). The STC will go into details of various parameters that are taken into consideration for updation of the base year such as the weighting diagram, consumption basket, selection of centres, sample size of establishments for price collection etc.
Government has no specific information about the skilled/semi-skilled worker outsourced by the Central Government /State Governments through contractors not being paid as per the CPI. However, the Contract Labour Act, 1970 inter-alia, contains provisions for payment of wages to these category of workers. The contract workers are also entitled to receive minimum wages as notified by the appropriate Governments from time to time.
This information was given by Minister of State for Labour & Employment Shri Kodikunnil Suresh in the Lok Sabha in reply to a written question.
Source : PIB
Background of CPI-IW series:
The CPI-IW series on scientific lines was first introduced with base 1960=100 which was based on the results of Family Living Survey conducted in 1958-59 at 50 industrially important centres. The series was then, updated on base 1982=100 and a revision in 1999-2000 has further updated the base on 2001=100. The current series of CPI-IW  with base year 2001=100 covers 78 industrially important centers spread across the country.
Need for Base Updation:
The consumption pattern of the working class population undergoes change over a period of time and therefore, it becomes necessary that the consumption basket is updated from time to time to account for these changes and to maintain the representative character of the index. The need for frequent revision of base on account of fast changing consumption pattern of the target group has been recommended by International Labour Organisation, National Statistical Commission, National Commission on Labour and also Technical Advisory Committee on Statistics of Prices and Cost of Living. Also this recommendation was strongly reiterated by the Index Review Committee set up under the Chairmanship of Prof. Chadha which inter-alia stated that the intervening gap between the two series should not exceed 10 years. Labour Bureau accordingly, has proposed to revise the base year of the existing CPI-IW series 2001=100 to a more recent base year preferably, 2013-2014=100.
Scope and Coverage
The current series of CPI-IW with base 2001=100 was constructed on the basis of employment data in seven sectors namely, Registered Factories, Mining, Plantations, Ports & Docks, Public Motor Transport, Electricity Generation & Distribution Establishments and Railways sector. The current series comprises of a basket of about 370 items and 289 price collection markets spread across 78 centres of the country. In the existing series, the Working Class Family Income & Expenditure Survey was conducted during 1998-99 by the NSSO and a sample size of 41040 family budget schedules and 15960 house rent schedules (i.e. about a total of 57000 schedules) were canvassed from 78 industrially important centres of the country. The price collection work was done by the Labour Bureau and the main survey work of income & expenditure data collection was conducted by NSSO.
In line with the recommendations of Index Review Committee (IRC), the possibilities of extending the  scope of the new series to two more additional sectors i.e. Handloom and Construction sectors are being considered. However, Labour Bureau expects an increase in the number of centres from existing 78 centres to around 88-95 centres approximately. Consequently, the total number of family budget enquiry schedules and house rent schedules to be canvassed would increase to 70,000 schedules approximately.
Committees:
i)                    Standing Tripartite Committee
The Index Review Committee (IRC) headed by Prof. G.K. Chadha recommended for constitution of a Standing Tripartite Committee (STC) of all the stakeholders.  Accordingly Ministry of Labour & Employment constituted a Standing Tripartite Committee (STC) vide order No. Y-12011/5/2010-ESA(LB), dated 12th January, 2011.
The Terms of Reference of the STC formed are as follows:
            The Standing Tripartite Committee will
{i}       examine the various aspects of the base year revision of Consumer Price Index Number Series for Industrial Workers {CPI-IW} including the selection of Centres, sample size, sampling design, methodology for deriving the weighting diagram and linking factor;
{ii}      examine the method of price collection procedures and machinery of price collection;
{iii}     examine the centre specific weighting diagrams for all the centres, selection of base year, compilation of base year prices, trial indices; and
{iv}     consider any other relevant issue{s}/matter as may be necessary.
Secretarial assistance to the Standing Tripartite Committee will be provided by the Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour.  The Committee may also enlist the assistance of subject matter experts within and/or outside the Government and may co-opt members according to necessity

Meghdoot Post Card

 

India Post introduced Meghdoot Post Card on September 2, 2002. Meghdoot is priced at 25 paise that is half the cost of the regular post card. The writing space available on the address side of the regular post card is made available for advertising in multicolor in case of Meghdoot. The rate of the advertisement is Rs.2 per card and the minimum order for print is 100,000 cards. Meghdoot is printed by Security Printing Press at Hyderabad in sheets of 8 cards, although some have been supplied to post offices by the press in sheets of 4 and pairs of 2 cards.
Being a postal stationery article with an advertisement, its area of distribution is determined by the advertiser, as its design and copy. In addition to the post offices in the area of its distribution the Meghdoot is also made available in limited quantity of 2000 cards at select 8 philatelic bureaus that handle postal stationery, namely Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Mumbai.
Meghdoot literally means the cloud-messenger and is title of a play in Sanskrit penned by Kalidasa a few millenniums earlier. Meghdoot is also the name of an award that India Post presents for meritorious services to its employees annually.
The printing of Meghdoot were decentralized to Circle level on October 15, 2003 enabling India Post’s 23 postal circles to directly place their order on the press. However all other postal stationery articles with advertisements such as regular Post Card, Inland Letter Card, Aerogramme, and Envelopes continue to be printed by the order of the national Postal Directorate, New Delhi.