Sixth CPC Report(xvi):Announcement Regarding Allowances

The Ministry Of Finance has on 29th August 2008 notified the rates of DA and other allowances which are admissible to Central Govt. Employees on basis of recommendations of the Sixth CPC. The details are available on the Ministry website. The revised rates for pension are also available on the same website along with the resolution containing Govt's approvals relating to benefits for the pensioners.

Sixth CPC:What is the latest

The decisions of the Govt. Of India on recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission (CPC) were notified on 29th August 2008 by the Department of Expenditure , Ministry Of Finance.

The recommendations which are modified include changes in Pay Bands PB-1 (now pushed higher at Rs.5200-20200), PB-2 (now increased to  Rs. 9300-34800) and PB-4 (now starting  lower at Rs.37400-67000)

Grade pay has been increased in several cases over the recommendations oF VIth CPC, the increase  ranges from Rs.500/- to Rs.1000/-,

A new grade is carved out of PB-4 which is to be designated as HAG (Rs.75500-80000/-).

Govt. have approved a multiplication factor of 1.86 (to be rounded off to next multiple of 10) for calculation of corresponding stage in the new scales and rate of annual increment is increased to 3% (4% for achievers) of the sum total of basic pay and Grade Pay.

The Group B Services OF Delhi & Andaman Nicobar Islands Civil & Police Services as well as the cadre of Section Officers in the Central Secretariat Service and Department of Posts shall be placed in PB-2 at induction stage and shall move to PB-3 after 4 years of regular service in Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- on non functional basis. Somewhat similar benefits have been approved for IAAD officers in whose case all posts of Section Officers , Asstt Accounts/Audit Officers  are to be merged into one .

The Gr, B Officers in Railways and the Audit/Accounts Officers in IAAD are to get grade pay of Rs.5400/-in PB-3 instead of PB-2 as recommended by the Commission.

Scientists in Space, Atomic Energy and Defence Research & Development Organisations have been given various benefits ranging from Rs.1000/- to 2000/- for recognition of good performance. 

The Govt's approval for revised pay-scales is to be implemented w.e.f 1st Jan. 2006. However the arrears for various allowances such as Transport Allowance,HRA shall be payable at the revised rates  from 1st Sept.08 only   . As announced earlier 40% of the arrears are payable in Fy 2008-09 and rest 60% in subsequent year.

For the Purpose of Calculation  Of Dearness Allowance the All India Consumer Price Index 2001 is to be adopted This index presently stands somewhere around 140 and was around 116 in 2006. (The approximate rate of DA payable was found on a Govt Officials' blog.)

Other major decisions concerning administrative reforms relate to approval Of Assured Career Progression Scheme (ACP) with provision for promotion after 10,20 and 30 years and setting up of Anomalies Committees to take care of grievance regarding unfair treatment  Cadre review and empanelment of Gr.A Services is to be updated in one year.

The CPMF Officers of the rank of Commandant and below are to be considered for payment of allowances comparable to Army while deployed in terrorism infested/difficult  areas. However the officers would be losing some personal privilege since the posts of personal attendants known as Suraksh Sahayak are to be abolished . The posts of Addl.DIG upgraded to DIG level  in CPMF shall continue to be manned by their Officers.

The Ministry of Finance has subsequently brought out Revised CCS Pay Rules  2008 for Central Govt. Employees which were followed with instructions Dt. 30th August 2008 which provide the tables for calculation of matching pay and Grade Pay and the methodology for calculation and payment of arrears. This we shall take up in subsequent posts.

Later.....Please see the latest post on this site for exact rates for DA and other allowances

 

 

So, finally the suspense over the Sixth CPC report is over!

SINGH seems to have again proved that he is the KING. After winning the confidence vote in the Parliament and having firmed up his grip on the Government PM Manmohan Singh managed to steer the Sixth Pay Commission Report through the Cabinet seemingly with  benefits for everyone. While detailed report on the final decisions is yet to trickle down, the first reports indicate that the matter was tackled in a humanitarian spirit and some harsh suggestions from FM Chidabaram were overruled (including the suggestion for locking up 60% of the arrears in the GPF till retirement).

At this hour when Central Para Military Forces are engaged in tough operations at more than one place in the country and the hardships involved are reportedly taking a heavy toll on the morale of the security forces , the decision to give benefits to Jawans over and above the recommendations of the Central Pay Commission (CPC) and a handsome Military Service Pay to officers was the most sensible  decision to be  taken by the Govt while considering the report.

Increase in annual increment rate to 3% (against 2.5% recommended by the CPC ) and a higher fitment benefit  is another decision which will take the sting out of one major criticism of the report and  shall be giving a reason for cheer to everyone.

The reshuffling of various categories of employees to Pay Bands higher than the ones recommended by the CPC would also take care of the wide ranging dissatisfaction in middle level officers who had complained about the benefits for top level functionaries being much higher than those of others. Special mention needs to be made about opening of the PB-4 for middle level officers- a move which shall ensure that PB-4 shall not be an exclusive domain for top civil servants .

One decision which may appear retrograde to progressive minded mangement experts however stands out. That decision is to discard the recommendation of the CPC for ending further  recruitments for the Gr.D category staff and upgrading the peons and khallasis to semi skilled Gr. C staff. The Govt. could not agree on that and so the humble relics of medieval ages shall hang around for a decade or so, till some Govt. understands the need for dispensing with this organ of governance.

For the Forest and Police Services there are a few benefits in addition to what the CPC had sought to give , such as the creation of Posts of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Director General Of Police for every State. But these have apparently not gone down too well and some officers gave vent to their frustration in media over the unfair deal which successive pay commissions have meted out to them.

The Indian Media as usual wants to paint the Pay Commission benefits  as monstrous assault on national economy.On the other hand there was a tough looking guy on the TV who used this opportunity for being projected in national media, for IAS bashing saying that all officers are unworthy of the service !

 

Sixth CPC Report:(xv) Recommendations Central Paramilitary Forces

The  recommendations concerning Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMFs) are covered under Ministry of Home Affairs  in Chapter 7.19 of the Sixth CPC report .The CPMFs comprise of the following 7 outfits.

Assam Rifles which originated as Cachar Levy in 1835 is presently having more than 63000 personnel (46 Battalion) .The force working under operational Control of Army guards Indo Myanamar border .

The Border Security Force (157 battalions) has been deployed on international borders since 1965 and also in anti insurgency operations.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)  created in 1969 has more than 1 Lakh personnel deployed for guarding Airports (54), PSU Establishments (269) and several Govt. Buildings (49) including North Block , Part of South Block and CGO complex. It also provides technical consultancy for security and related matters.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) (201 Battalions) having replaced Crown Representative Police of pre independence era is the oldest CPMF. The personnel from this force are engaged in major anti insurgency/ terrorism / militancy related operations in the country.

Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) assists in Disaster Management related work in Central & Western Himalayan Regions and also in providing security cover for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

National Security Guard (NSG)  tackles high risk security operations.The personnel are drawn from Army (as Special Action Group) and CPMFs (as Special Rangers Group). The NSG commandos provide security cover for VIPs and take charge of security on special occasions.  

Sashastra Sena Bal which started as Special Services Bureau (SSB) in 1963 is deployed along Indo Nepal & Bhutan border covering stretch of more than 1900 kms in 20 Districts.

The major demand from CPMFs for being given status of organized Group A Services has not been agreed to on the ground that these services do not fulfill the pre requisites for such declaration as fixed by MHA. In support of it’s recommendations  the Commission has pointed out that substantial number of posts in these forces including those in pay scale of 18400-22400 are filled up by drawing officers on deputation from IPS and also pointed out that many intermediate grades do not exist in the hierarchy of these organizations. The Sixth CPC has also reiterated it’s philosophy of avoiding creation of too many services.

Commission has also not agreed to creation of certain additional posts demanded by CPMFs for creating promotional avenues on the ground that there should also be functional justification for posts . It has  felt that the provision of ACPs and the system of Running Pay Bands would minimize the grievances of such nature.

On the positive side the Commission has recommended the merger of the post of Addl DIG with that of DIG (16400-200000) . It has recommend that all posts upto the rank of DIG and 50% posts in the grade of IG and equivalent should be filled by promotion from officers of CPMF.

The following pay structure has been recommended for non gazetted executive cadres of CPMFs.

Commission has also noted that except for CISF all CPMFs are not filling up posts of ASI in the executive cadre .This step being contrary to order Dt.10/10/97 is affecting the structural parity within the forces . It has suggested that all CPMFs should continue the post of ASI since this is a functional necessity.

Other recommendations made by the Commission  include payment of ration money at par with Armed Forces to existing beneficiaries and doubling of the rates for Detachment Allowance (without linkage to DA) . Rates of Kit Maintenance Allowance are proposed to be doubled with increase of 25% after every hike up to 50% in DA. The rates of Uniform Grant are recommended as Rs.13000/-(initial) and Rs.6000/- (renewal-every 3 yrs).

For taking care of housing needs, facility of Compensation in lieu of Quarters (CILQ) has been recommended for all personnel in SO grade also. Commission has also recommended a new Family Accommodation Allowance at the lowest rate of HRA payable to all CPMF personnel who do not qualify for benefit HRA or CILQ or rent free accommodation for reason of their stay in barracks. This will also be a DA linked Allowance.

Commission has rejected the demand of one month’s extra pay for CPMFs having benefit of 60 days earned leave in a year on the ground that the personnel  are already compensated by this 30 days extra leave.

Another major change suggested is for stopping further recruitments to the cadre of followers and absorbing the existing cadres to -1S pay band with the objective of converting them to Gr.C combatant staff  after suitable training. It has been suggested that all non essential jobs handled by followers should be outsourced.

Recommendations also suggest that the practice of attaching Constables (Suraksha Sahayaks) / combatants at the residence of Officers for attending to Telephone calls  or other such personal responsibilities should be stopped. If any cases of violations of these instructions are found, the salary of constables deployed should be recovered from the Officer concerned. The report states that if any posts are required for such personal tasks the appropriate sanction should be taken and the jobs should be outsourced.

 

                                                                                                                          

Sixth CPC Report :(xiv) Recommendations for medicos

Chapter 3.6 of the CPC Report covers organnised medical services namely Central Health Services (CHS), Indian Railways Medical Services and the Ordinance Factories Health Services as well as others including Army Medical  Corps and other Paramilitary Medical Corps.

CHS constituted in 1963 presently comprises of General Duty Medical Officers(3139),Teaching and Non  Specialists (638+780) & Health Specialists(078). There are 13 posts in Higher Administrative Grade.

In matter of promotion, presently ACP Scheme with two promotions at 12 and 24 years is in place for isolated posts. For CHS and other organized Services the Scheme of Dynamic Assured Career progression (DACP) is in place. DACP involves change of nomenclature at promotion stage and is considered more attractive as compared to scheme of ACP. The Sixth CPC has made a major recommendation of extending the DACP for other categories of doctors also. The doctors in other streams of Indian Medicine viz. Ayurveda, Yoga,Unani,Sidhaand Homeopathy shall also get similar benefit if the recommendations are accepted.

The rates of conveyance allowance payable to doctors have been doubled. These shall henceforth be as given below. One important recommendation is to link this allowance to Consumer Price Index and make the same  subject to annual revision as per he DA formula.

The pay for Junior residents (present scale: 9000 fixed or 9000-9550) and senior residents (present scale: 10325-10975) shall be fixed in pay band 3 (15600-39100) with grade pay of Rs.5400 and 6100 respectively . Benefits proposed for doctors  have also been recommended  to dental surgeons.

NPA payable to doctors is already discussed in the post on other allowances on this blog. Sixth CPC has rejected the demand made by Para Medics for simsilar allowance.

 

 

Sixth CPC Report (xiii):Engineering and Scientific Services

Chapter 3.4 of the CPC report deals with Engineering Services which are spread over several Ministries and hence the service conditions vary from one end of the spectrum to other. While considering the case of Engineering Services the Commission has noted that the demand pertaining to better accessibility to higher posts is substantially settled if the recommendations made in other chapters for opening of higher posts to officers from all services is accepted. Therefore any new recommendations have not been made in that regard.

Report has also not agreed to the demand for payment non practicing allowance (NPA) to engineers on pattern of medical services as well as the demand for field duty allowance on the ground that such demands have not been accepted for other services also. However a concession has been made in the rates of Designing and Planning Allowances payable to Engineers in Designing and Planning Wing. It has recommended for 100% increase in these allowances.

Some crucial recommendations pertain to Subordinate Engineering Services. For the posts open to diploma holders in direct recruitment, for members of subordinate engineering services (who were granted minimum pay scale of Rs.5000-8000 by the Vth CPC ) the VIth CPC has recommended PB-2 of Rs.8700-34800 with grade pay of Rs.4200/-. The grade pay admissible to posts where the direct recruitment prescribes qualification of degree in open recruitment the recommended grade pay is Rs.4600/- .  It is expected that this arrangement would settle certain cases where benefits of recommendations of Vth CPC were somehow not given. The above two cadres would provide feeder cadres for the PB-3 which corresponds to the entry grade posts corresponding to Group A services.

The Commission has not agreed to the demand for change in hierarchal structure of the Engineering cadres (on CPWD pattern) on the ground that the scheme for ACP recommended  in report will ensure mobility to higher pay bands on a continuous basis. The recommendations also include suggestion for abolishing the system of separate quotas in promotion posts for degree and diploma holders in future, since this has been found to be  creating imbalances in certain cases.

Scientific Services have been considered in course of discussions for respective Ministries. In Chapter 3.5 detailed discussions have been confined to Flexible Complementing Scheme (FCS) for Scientific Services . This scheme initially confined to certain Ministries and autonomous bodies carrying out research and developmental activities for persons with meritorious abilities provided for assured time bound upward mobility to distinguished scientists . Vth CPC had modified the Scheme and restricted it to Gr.A Scientific services in R&D organizations and excluded personnel posted in Secretariats of the Ministries. It had also laid down a comprehensive and fair mechanism for evaluation of personnel before promotion besides recommending certain residency period prior to promotion. These recommendations were accepted by the Govt. with several modifications and not extended to certain key scientific Departments.

The VIth CPC has recommended for continuation of existing scheme for FCS with the exception of Deptt. Of Atomic Energy, Space and DRDO where merit based promotion schemes in vogue may continue. It seeks to streamline the system of identifying genuine scientific organizations engaged in R&D activities and evolving of new technologies  for coverage under the scheme. The upper limit for promotion is recommended to grade pay of Rs.9000/-. However in case of Deptt. Of Atomic Energy, Space and DRDO it is fixed up to grade pay of Rs.11000/-. The performance assessments boards should be objective and independent comprising of majority of outsiders.

For scientists of proven merit the Commission wants the Departments to have sufficient autonomy in pay fixation and merit being given due weightage. It has suggested that contractual appointments for 3-5 years with option of joining regular Govt. Service may be offered at the time of renewal of contract. The Scheme of Performance based incentives should also be applicable in above mentioned cases.

IPL DLF T20 Final:And the crown goes to Rajasthan

The Patil stadium at Navi Mumbai packed to capacity for the grand finale of IPL      DLF T 20    league witnessed breathtaking acrobtics and captivating dance      numbers as part of fanfare for    more than an hour before the battle of Titans      started between Chenni Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR).

Partihv Patel and Vidyut opened for CSK after the Royals elected to field. The first run of the innings came when umpire Billy in his inimitable style gestured a wide off the second ball of the innings. Soon Shivmani’s drumbeats reverberated as Patel took a boundary of the fifth ball of the first over. The partnership had yielded 35 runs in first five overs despite the slow outfield.

After the departure of Vidyut at 39, Patel and Raina cruised smoothly till the end of 9th over when Kamran lapped up a difficult chance behind the wicket off Pathan leaving CSK at 60/2. Fall of Morkel at the score of 96 produced some anxious moments for the bowling side as Kaif collided with keeper Akmal who had already got his hands to the ball. The game remined suspended for a few minutes as two players stumbled to their feet . While Shane Warne deployed an assorted bowling package rotating the bowlers quickly , it was Yusuf Pathan who captured the opening three wickets.

Fireworks started with arrival of MS Dhoni the CSK captain as he slammed Warne over the boundary. At the end of 15th over CSK had notched up117/3. Raina departed at 128/4 when his personal score was just 7 short of 50. At the end of 18th over CSK still had a humble score of 139/4. Kapugedara struggled to give company to his captain but departed in the last over leaving the task to Badri Nath. Stands reverberated as the last over ended at 163/5, Dhoni remaining not out at 29. Bowling honours were shared between Sohail Tanvir, Shane Watson and Pathan. It was now over to Warne’s men.

Raj Royals opened with goan youngster Asnodkar and N Patel with modest 2 runs coming in the opening over. When at the end of third over Gony knocked out the stumps of Patel it was the first loss for the Royals team . Asnodkar added 28 swift runs of 20 balls (4 fours) .His departutre at the score of 41 was quickly followed by run out of Kamran by Ntini.

Thereafter a 61 run partnership between Watson and Yusuf carried the Royals past 100 till Murlitharan made shortwork of Watson knocking out the off stump leaving Rajasthan at 107/4. Murlidharan’s charm appeared to have deserted him for a while as Pathan anf Kaif lofted him over the boundary successively pushing the score to 139 before Dhoni took an easy catch to pack off the latter at 148/5. Newcomer Jadeja was out of next over and the game appeared to be heading towards a nail biting finish.CSK had by now slackened it’s fielding to a limit that could cost it the match.

Next over and a direct throw at bowler’s end by Raina sealed the fate of Pathan. Rajasthan needed just 18 runs of the last two overs.Balaji's last over got in progress .Victory was yet so near and yet so far both for Dhoni and Warne.3 balls left and only a sixer needed for victory.....With one ball to spare the scores were level at 163. Rajasthan batsman Sohail made the winning shot of the last ball and the stadium rose to thundering ovation as fireworks lit the night sky. The beleagured Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje  at last had something to cheer about.