PAN linked with Aadhar ? Check it now and link it, if not done already

 As per CBDT circular F. No. 370142/14/22-TPL dated on 30th March 2022, every person who has been allotted a PAN as on 1st July 2017 and is eligible to obtain Aadhaar number is required to link PAN with AADHAAR on or before 31st March, 2022. Taxpayers who failed to do so are liable to pay a fee of Rs. 500 till 30th June, 2022 and thereafter a fee of Rs. 1000 will be applicable before submission of PAN-AADHAAR linkage request .

Check your PAN / Aadhar linkage status here

If it is not linked, you have to pay Rs 1000/- as current applicable fee.

Bengal employees to observe pen down strike, Govt takes staff stand

 

Various organisations of Bengal government employees have announced a two-day pen-down on Monday and Tuesday.

The West Bengal government has issued an order saying its employees will face action if they go ahead with the pen-down or cease work agitation on February 20 and 21 demanding dearness allowance (DA) at par with central government employees.

Click here for the order

The order was issued by finance secretary Manoj Pant on Saturday.

A bureaucrat said on condition of anonymity that people will lose their salary and their absence will be treated as a break in service. The employees will be issued show-cause notice and will face disciplinary action for failing to furnish any satisfactory explanation, the bureaucrat added.

The employees will not be granted leave on these two days unless they are hospitalised or there is a death in the family, which are treated as emergency situations.

Various organisations of state government employees and school and college teachers have been carrying out agitations since January on this issue.

Karnataka to implement seventh pay commission soon

 Karnataka Chief Minister Besavaraj Bommai said the 7th Pay Commission report would be submitted by a committee headed by former chief secretary Sudhakar Rao regarding the revision of the salaries of state government employees.

Earmarks Rs 6,000 Crore

After presenting the State Budget for FY 2023-24, the chief minister said any additional amount required for the implementation will be provided in the supplementary budget.

He further added that the reports of the 7th pay commission will be implemented from FY 2023-24.

“Whether the committee presents its interim or final report, the state government will take immediate action. Since the grants have been reserved in the budget, there will be no problem with the implementation,” he said.

West Bengal hikes 3% D.A. from March

The West Bengal government has hiked the dearness allowance for state employees - including teachers and pensioners - by 3%. The announcement was made by Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya as the state government presented a ₹3.39-lakh crore budget for 2023-24. 

DA is hiked by 3 per cent. It will be implemented from March.

Central government employees might also soon get to hear good news as their DA hike could also be around the corner. Last year, the Centre had announced a 3 per cent DA hike for its employees in January and then a 4 per cent hike effective July 2022. After the second hike, the DA stands at 38 per cent. Dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) are revised twice a year, effective January 1 and July 1 every year.

Bank Bipartite : Charter of Demands

 Broad Summary of Charter of Demands

1. Wage revision should take into account risk, responsibility, accountability and transferability of officers. Improved Basic Pay commensurate with Central Government Officers, RBI officers & LICI Officers.
2. The base date for calculation of quantum hike of ensuing settlement to be based on establishment expenditure as on 30.09.2022 as against present practice of 31st March of the year of wage revision due.
3. Revision of improvement in pay scales by merger of DA up to 01.08.2022.
4. Special Allowance, with DA as on 31.10.2022, to be merged with the existing Basic Pay.
5. Revised DA formula with provision for automatic merger with Basic Pay (as that of Central Government) and improvement in Compensation against price rise.
6. All existing Stagnation Increments up to Scale V should be converted to regular increment after one year from reaching maximum of the respective present scales. This shall also remove present anomaly in fitment on promotion.
7. Date of sanction of annual increments should be on 1st January and 1st July every year.

Bank Bipartite : Ministry asks Banks to start talk

 The Finance Ministry has asked public sector banks to begin negotiations for the next round of wage revision for employees, due from November 1, 2022.

“They may initiate the process of negotiations for the next revision,” the Department of Financial Services (DFS) said in a letter to the Chairman of State Bank of India and MDs and CEOs of public sector banks.

Wage revision in PSU banks has always been a tedious and time-consuming process with bank managements and unions engaging in tough negotiations. The All-India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) has already called a strike on January 30 and 31 for implementing various demands, including wage revision, five -day week and reversion to the old pension scheme.

Reverting to Old Pension Scheme may be dangerous for states fiscal burden : Centre cautioned

Following article is published in Business Standard (Link at the bottom)

It is to be noted that the governments of five states -- Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh -- have informed the Centre about their decision to revert to the old pension scheme.

PM Narendra Modi during his Rajya Sabha address on Thursday warned the states of the economic crises in neighbouring nations. In a possible mention of the Old Pension Scheme, which has been readopted by some of the states recently, PM Modi said political parties should be thoughtful about its steps and shouldn't be toying with the future of the country's children. He said the states should be financially disciplined. 

"We, in our policies, have kept national progress in mind and have also addressed the regional aspirations," PM Modi said on Thursday while replying to the ‘motion of thanks’ debate on President Droupadi Murmu’s address in Rajya Sabha. “The perfect combination of national progress and regional aspiration has been visible in our policy,” he added.  

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Bhagwat Karad, Minister of State for Finance, said as per RBI's report titled 'State Finances: A Study of Budget of 2022-23', the annual saving in fiscal resources that reversion to the old pension scheme entails is short-lived. 

He said that by postponing the current expenses to the future, states risk the accumulation of unfunded pension liabilities in the coming years.  

"The state governments of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh have informed the central government/Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority about their decision to restart Old Pension Scheme for their state government employees," Karad said in his reply. 

He added that there is no provision under the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Act vide which the accumulated corpus of the subscribers, viz governments' and employees' contribution towards NPS along with accruals, can be refunded and deposited back to the state government. 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) too had cautioned states against reverting to the Dearness Allowance-linked old pension scheme, which was in place till 2004. The central bank said that it will add to the fiscal burden of states in the coming years. 

The old pension scheme was first discontinued by the BJP-led NDA government in December 2003. The new pension scheme was adopted on April 1, 2004. 

Source : Business Standard

Five State Govt. reverted from NPS to OPS

 The finance ministry on Monday said governments of five states -- Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh -- have informed the Centre about their decision to revert to the old pension scheme.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, minister of state for finance Bhagwat Karad said as per RBI's report titled 'State Finances: A Study of Budget of 2022-23', the annual saving in fiscal resources that reversion to the old pension scheme entails is short-lived. West Bengal did not join the NPS till now.

By postponing the current expenses to the future, states risk the accumulation of unfunded pension liabilities in the coming years.

Employees associations have been demanding scrapping of NPS and reverting to Old Pension Scheme since long. Old Pension Scheme is a Defined Benefit Pension System where pension is determined on last pay of the employee where NPS. In the other hand, NPS is basically a system where employee and employer both contributes to build a corpus, which will take care of the pension by form of annuity.

 

Central Govt. employees and pensioners to get 4% D.A./D.R from January 2023

 The DA hike will be effective from January 1, 2023. The central government is likely to raise dearness allowance (DA) for its over one crore employees and pensioners by four percentage points to 42 per cent from the existing 38 per cent as per the agreed formula for the purpose.

The All-India CPI-IW for December, 2022 decreased by 0.2 points and stood at 132.3 (one thirty two point three) points as per the press release by Labour Bureau. Now, DA/DR from January, 2023 has been confirmed with this release.  This month CPI-IW is showing 4% increase in DA/DR from January, 2023 i.r.o. Central Govt Employees and Pensioners and be at 42% in 7th CPC DA/DR.  All expectations regarding future DA/DR ends here with this release. Hence 42% DA/DR from Jan, 2023 is confirm and may be approved by the Union Cabinet in March, 2023.

Dearness Allowance /Dearness Relief from Jan, 2023 Issue of All-India CPI-IW for December, 2022 table by Staffnews.in
Increase/ Decrease Index	Month	Base Year 2016 = 100	Base Year 2001 = 100	Total of 12 Months	Twelve monthly Average	% increase over 115.76 for 6CPC DA	% increase over 261.42 for 7CPC DA	6CPC DA announced or will be announced	7CPC DA announced or will be announced
	DA/DR from July, 2022							212%	38%
0.7	Jul,22	129.9	374	4361	363.42	213.94%	39.02%
0.3	Aug,22	130.2	375	4382	365.17	215.45%	39.69%
1.1	Sep,22	131.3	378	4405	367.08	217.11%	40.42%
1.2	Oct,22	132.5	382	4427	368.92	218.69%	41.12%
0	Nov,22	132.5	382	4447	370.58	220.13%	41.76%
-0.2	Dec,22	132.3	381	4467	372.25	221.57%	42.40%
	Possible DA/DR from Jan, 2023							221%	42%

Source : Staffnews.in