Download Central D.A. order wef 01.01.2019.

Dept. of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance released central D.A. order with effect from 01.01.2019.
"The undersigned is directed to refer to this Ministry's Office Memorandum No. 1/2/2018-E-II (B) dated 7" September, 2018 on the subject mentioned above and to say that the President is pleased to decide that the Dearness Allowance payable to Central Government employees shall be enhanced from the existing rate of 9% to 12% of the basic pay with effect from 1st January, 2019."
"The payment of arrears of Dearness Allowance (from January to March) shall not be made before the date of disbursement of salary of March, 2019"
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Bank bipartite hits roadblock

The 11th round of wage negotiations between United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has hit an impasse with two officers’ associations in the UFBU refusing to be a part of the deliberations, sources said.
The wage revision talks between the IBA and the UFBU had been under way since May 2017. The tenth round of negotiations, which concluded in May 2015 (for the period November 2012-17), had resulted in a 15% increase in wages.

When the UFBU sought to expedite a deal, the two officers’ associations — the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation and National Organisation of Bank Officers — decided not to participate in the talks saying the deal would be restricted only to those up to the rank of assistant general managers. The unions wanted the proposed wage pact to cover deputy general managers and general managers also, which was not acceptable to the IBA because those ranks comprised top executives that did not belong to any union.

Update on negotiation held on 21st February
Thursday, representatives of seven out of nine UFBU unions took part in the talks held in Mumbai. Since the two officers’ associations failed to send a representative for the talks, IBA restricted the discussions to workmen’s demands.
On wage revision for officers, the IBA said: “Whatever is finalised for the workmen unions, on the same basis, it will be extended and implemented for the officers also.”
If the two unions were not participating, talks would be restricted only to workmen unions, the IBA said.
The workmen unions said they would meet on March 1 to finalise their stand.
“We are negotiating for nearly 9.5 lakh workmen and officers. Officers above scale V are less than 1%. We hope to conclude the talks soon,” said C.H. Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees’ Association.

Minimum assured return under NPS? PFRDA working on it.

Pension fund regulator PFRDA is working on a minimum assured return scheme (MARS) for subscribers of the flagship social security programme -- National Pension System. 

NPS is a contributory retirement savings scheme and seeks to inculcate the habit of saving for old age among the citizens. 

NPS, having an asset under management (AUM) of Rs 2.91 lakh crore, had subscriber base of 1.21 at the end of January. 

The regulator is in the process of designing and developing MARS , according to a document of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). 

Some aspects, including what kind of guarantee -- absolute return guarantees or relative rate of return guarantees (sector and benchmark-based) -- can be reasonably provided by the pension funds with recommendation of suitable proposals, need to be examined, said the expression of interest (EOI) floated by it. 

EOI has been invited from actuarial firms to design, develop and recommend MARS under the National Pension System that can be implemented under NPS architecture. 

Source : Economic Times

Click here for EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) floated by PFRDA

Odisha hiked D.A. for employees and pensioners

Odisha government on Monday announced a Dearness Allowance (DA) hike of three percent for State government employees and pensioners.

Earlier on October last year, the State government had announced DA hike of two per cent for state government employees and pensioners.

It will be implemented with retrospective effect from January 1, 2019, said a release from the government.

A total of seven lakh people, including four lakh government employees and three lakh pensioners, would benefit from the decision, according to the release.

Rajasthan announces D.A./D.R for employees and pensioners

Rajasthan hiked dearness allowance by 3% for it's employees and pensioners with effect from 1st January 2019.

Arrears for January and February will be credited into the GPF A/C and to be paid in cash from March'19 onwards.

Those who are covered under NPS and pensioners will get the amount in cash.

Click here for the order for employees

Click here for the order for work charged employees

Click here for the order for pensioners

EPF interest rate hiked to 8.65%

Retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation

has decided to provide 8.65 per cent interest on PF deposits for 2018-19 against 8.55 per cent in the last year to its 6 crore subscribers, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said.

   All members of the Central Board of Trustees of EPFO at a meeting agreed to give a higher interest for subscribers for the current fiscal, the minister said further.

The proposal would now go to the finance ministry for approval, Gangwar said after the CBT meeting.

Earlier, highly placed sources had indicated that the interest on EPF deposits for this fiscal could be more than 8.55 per cent in view of impending general elections.

The Central Board of Trustees (CBT) headed by Labour Minister is the apex decision making body of the EPFO which finalises rate of interest on PF deposits for a financial year.

 The EPFO had provided a five-year low rate of interest of 8.55 per cent to its subscribers for 2017-18. The body had kept the interest rate at 8.65 per cent in 2016-17 and 8.8 per cent in 2015-16. It provided 8.75 per cent interest for 2013-14 as well as 2014-15. The rate of interest was 8.5 per cent in 2012-13.

-- PTI

Central D.A. wef 01.01.2019 approved

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval to the release of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees, and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. 1.1.2019 representing an increase of 3% over the existing rate of 9% of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise. This increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC). The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs. 9168.12 crore per annum and Rs. 10696.14 crore in the FY 2019-20 (for a period of 14 months from January 2019 to February, 2020).This will benefit about 48.41 lakh Central Government employees and 62.03 lakh pensioners.

UP govt employees call off strike

Lucknow, Feb 8 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government
employees called off their strike Friday hours after the Allahabad High Court declared the protest "illegal" and ordered it to initiate disciplinary action against them and their unions.

Senior leaders of the striking employees' union, Dinesh Chandra Sharma and Hari Kishore Tiwari, said in a statement Friday morning that the strike was being called off.

The court had Thursday prohibited the employees and unions from going on strike or inciting any employee. It had directed senior officials of various departments to record the employees' attendance and videograph their agitation.

A section of the state government employees had gone on strike Wednesday for restoration of an old pension scheme, prompting the government to invoke ESMA and ban the protest.

IBA raises wage hike offer to 10%, unions not happy

11th Bipartite Wage Settlement Status - Another round of Bipartite Talks was held on 2nd February in Mumbai between IBA and 5 Workman Unions. 
Issues which were discussed in the meeting 

 • Transportation of personal effects by train or road while on transfer from one station to another: Some improvements would be considered looking to entitlement of officers. 

• Increase in Breakage Allowance while on transportation of personal effects: agreed to increase the existing entitlement by 10% for both With Receipt Basis and Declaration Basis. 

• Festival Advance to employees – increase in quantum: Agreed to finalise it by discussion in the main negotiating committee and recommend to the Government. 

• Problems of Ex-servicemen employees in fitment, etc: Government guidelines from the Finance Ministry are being implemented. Circular with FAQ will be prepared and sent to all Banks for proper implementation of the Government guidelines. 

• Definition of family for coverage under Group Medical Insurance Policy – Any two of parents or parents-in-law to be covered: Matter will be taken up with United India Insurance Company. 

• Privilege Leave taken on sick grounds where sick leave is exhausted should not be counted as an occasion in the entitlement of 4 occasions in an year: Agreed. 

• Maternity Leave can be availed in combination and continuation of other kinds of leave: Agreed.

Budget 2019 : Income Tax rate unchanged !

No cheer for taxpayers. Tax rate unchanged. Only rebate u/s 87A increased to Rs 12500. 
Those whose total income is more than Rs 5 Lac will have to pay same amount of tax as earlier.
Standard Deduction increased to Rs 50,000.
Click here for the Finance Bill 2019