The lack of clarity over taxation of arrears that government employees will receive following the implementation of the 6th Pay Commission recommendations has finally cleared. The tax on first installment will be deducted in the current fiscal and that on the second installment will be deducted next year when they receive the actual payment.
Confusion had arisen about the tax treatment of the pay arrears that central government employees are about to get as part of their latest wage revision. According to finance ministry sources, only the first installment of the arrears would be taxed this fiscal. The taxation, they would be akin to the tax treatment in 1997 when the fifth pay commission recommendation was implemented wherein the tax was deducted at the time of payment.
If the tax is deducted, employees who do not fall in the slab of 30% rate of income tax, would have to bear a surcharge, as their total income, including both installments would have been higher. As per the current income tax slab, income over Rs 2,50,000 attracts a tax rate of 30% and income above Rs 10,00,000 attracts a rate of 30% as also 10% surcharge.
The government had last month announced an average increase of 21% in the wages of its employees. It had decided to pay 40% arrears of their increased salaries this year and the rest next year to reduce the burden on the exchequer.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
States want Centre to bear 50 pc burden of pay revision
The VAT panel wants the Union Government to bear at least half of the financial burden that the states will have to bear following the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations.
"At least 50 per cent of the additional financial burden of the states as a result of the Centre's decision on the Sixth Central Pay Commission should be shared by the Central Government," Chairman of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on VAT Asim Dasgupta told reporters here today.
The pay panel's recommendation on pay revision of the Central Government employees is to be implemented from the current month itself.
Many states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu have also decided to go for pay revision of their employees.
However, in case of special category and north-eastern states, the VAT panel asked the Centre to bear the entire additional burden of the pay revision.
"At least 50 per cent of the additional financial burden of the states as a result of the Centre's decision on the Sixth Central Pay Commission should be shared by the Central Government," Chairman of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on VAT Asim Dasgupta told reporters here today.
The pay panel's recommendation on pay revision of the Central Government employees is to be implemented from the current month itself.
Many states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu have also decided to go for pay revision of their employees.
However, in case of special category and north-eastern states, the VAT panel asked the Centre to bear the entire additional burden of the pay revision.
Source P.T.I
Dasgupta said another option was that financial burden was fully accommodated by the Thirteenth Finance Commission, while assessing expenditure needs of the states.
He stressed the Commission should work on modalities, which would provide a more justified relief to the states.
Referring to the royalty on coal and other minerals, the VAT panel asked the Thirteenth Pay Commission to revise it frequently and wanted that the states were not denied their legitimate share on royalties on oil and power. PTI
Dasgupta said another option was that financial burden was fully accommodated by the Thirteenth Finance Commission, while assessing expenditure needs of the states.
He stressed the Commission should work on modalities, which would provide a more justified relief to the states.
Referring to the royalty on coal and other minerals, the VAT panel asked the Thirteenth Pay Commission to revise it frequently and wanted that the states were not denied their legitimate share on royalties on oil and power. PTI
Sixth Pay to be implemented in toto in M.P.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced here on Tuesday that the recommendations of Sixth Pay Commission would be implemented in toto in the state. Talking at the felicitation programme at the garden in front of the State Secretariat, he said that the state government is playing a big role for the development of the state and welfare of the people. The government will make them happy, and not frustrated, he said.
Chouhan said that Madhya Pradesh is rich in minerals and other resources. To make the state as one of the most progressed in the country the officers and employees have a great role to play. He has given oath to the assembled officers and employees to co-operate with the government for making it as one of the most progressed state.
The programme was organised on the 'Engineers Day'. On this occasion the chief minister announced that from next year onwards the state government would honour the engineer who does good work. Water Resources Minister Anoop Mishra who was special guest on the occasion said that Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the first chief minister to whom 15 lakh employees and officers trusts.
Convenor of the programme and organiser of the officers-employees joint action committee Shiv Singh Tomar stated that with the employee-friendly decisions the trust of the employees and officers in the chief minister has doubled.
Madhya Pradesh Diploma Engineers Association President Rajendra Singh Bhadoria in his welcome address has termed the decision of the chief minister as 'historic' and commended the chief minister for his generous attitude. State Employees Federation General Secretary Gyanprakash Tiwari also spoke on the occasion.
On this occasion the chief minister honoured as best regional unit of Diploma Engineers Association's Ujjain unit president Suresh Dwivedi, as best district unit (Damoh Unit)president KG Parashar and Association's office secretary DK Malviya for his special contribution. They have been given certificates.
At the outset the chief minister and other guests began the programme by lighting the traditional lamp. Rajendra Bhadoria, Shiv Singh Tomar and Gyanprakash Tiwari welcomed the chief minister with flower garlands. Statue of Swami Vivekanand was given to Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Anoop Mishra as memento.
The programme, organised on the birth anniversary of Padmashri Vishweshwarayya, office bearers of different employees organisations including Dr RK Chourasia, Ajay Shrivastava Neelu, Dr RL Singh, RP Upadhyaya, Ramnath Solanki, Narendra Khare, Rajendra Parashar, OP Gour, Dinesh Sharma, Sanjay Rathore, Satmani Sharma, Mohd Salim Qureshi, Rajkumar Patel, Kamal Gour, Sunil Saxena, RK Tiwsari, Arun Verma, Prakash Chandwani, RC Gupta, Dr DK Rai, Dr Nilesh Desai, Ajit Rai, Ashok Tyagi, Azim Khan, Brajendra Sharma, RS Kushwaha, Rakesh ?Walia, Rajesh Shrivastava, SK Maske, KSS Bais, PS Parihar, Sanjay Awasthi, Arun Dwivedi, Rajendra Shukla, Hemant Bahadur Singh Parihar, Chandrashekhar Vyas, Mohd Yunus Khan, GS Solanki, Baldev Chouragarhe, Surendra Kourav, Shailendra Sharma, BS Solanki, Shivpal Singh, Raman Bhatnagar, Devendra Bhadoria, JP Patel, S Karanjgaonkar, RK Vyas, RB Singh, Brajendra Sharma and Kailash Chandra Parashar have welcomed. Employees welfare council president Arvind Shrivastava and officers and employees in large number were present on the occasion.
Source : Central Cronicle - Bhopal.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Women in govt service to get 3 yrs' child care leave
This is one rule that could turn women in India Inc green with envy. The Centre has not only increased maternity leave for its employees to six months but has also cleared paid leave for two years to take care of children.
The order, effective from September 1, increases maternity leave of women employees from 135 days to a cool 180 days for each of their two children. From now on, women employees can take paid leave up to two years (730 days) during their career for "taking care" of their two children without affecting their seniority.
Even if a woman has only one child, she can take the two-year leave. Termed "child care leave", this will be besides the maternity break they are entitled to. The new rules came into force on September 1.
Adding to the bonanza, a woman employee can avail of child care leave in any combination till her two children are 18 years of age. In line with the Sixth Pay Commission proposals, the new leave regime for women means that during their stint with the government, they can avail paid leave of as much as three years, provided they do it only for two children.
The child care leave can be taken for any of reason, including "rearing" or "to look after any of their needs like examination, sickness etc". Women in the private sector are often hard-pressed for such leave beyond the maternity break (rarely beyond 90 days), besides the regular quota of earned, casual and medical leave.
"The new rule has come as a godsend. I can now devote time to my son when he needs it the most. The best part is I can take this leave till he is 18," said a director-level IAS officer. Contrast it with what a senior corporate executive said: "I attended office up to two days before my child was born. I had to save as much of my 90-day maternity leave so that I could devote time to my child later. The entire period is over now and I am back to work. I now leave my baby at my mother's house and come to office."
The government has notified that child care leave can also be availed in continuation of the six-month maternity break. It means that a woman employee deciding to have only one child can continue on paid leave for two-and-a-half years at a stretch.
Of course, she has the option of saving some of it for exigencies and, above all, she continues to enjoy her share of the regular leaves. The new regime will definitely make government jobs much more attractive not only for women but also for men as the couple would be assured that at least the mother would be with the child when needed. Semi-government establishments — like PSUs, banks, insurance companies — should be expected to adopt the new women-friendly system sooner or later.
The order, effective from September 1, increases maternity leave of women employees from 135 days to a cool 180 days for each of their two children. From now on, women employees can take paid leave up to two years (730 days) during their career for "taking care" of their two children without affecting their seniority.
Even if a woman has only one child, she can take the two-year leave. Termed "child care leave", this will be besides the maternity break they are entitled to. The new rules came into force on September 1.
Adding to the bonanza, a woman employee can avail of child care leave in any combination till her two children are 18 years of age. In line with the Sixth Pay Commission proposals, the new leave regime for women means that during their stint with the government, they can avail paid leave of as much as three years, provided they do it only for two children.
The child care leave can be taken for any of reason, including "rearing" or "to look after any of their needs like examination, sickness etc". Women in the private sector are often hard-pressed for such leave beyond the maternity break (rarely beyond 90 days), besides the regular quota of earned, casual and medical leave.
"The new rule has come as a godsend. I can now devote time to my son when he needs it the most. The best part is I can take this leave till he is 18," said a director-level IAS officer. Contrast it with what a senior corporate executive said: "I attended office up to two days before my child was born. I had to save as much of my 90-day maternity leave so that I could devote time to my child later. The entire period is over now and I am back to work. I now leave my baby at my mother's house and come to office."
The government has notified that child care leave can also be availed in continuation of the six-month maternity break. It means that a woman employee deciding to have only one child can continue on paid leave for two-and-a-half years at a stretch.
Of course, she has the option of saving some of it for exigencies and, above all, she continues to enjoy her share of the regular leaves. The new regime will definitely make government jobs much more attractive not only for women but also for men as the couple would be assured that at least the mother would be with the child when needed. Semi-government establishments — like PSUs, banks, insurance companies — should be expected to adopt the new women-friendly system sooner or later.
persmin.gov.in/WriteData/CircularNotification/ScanDocument/12011_04_2008-Estt.(Allow).pdf
Source : The Times of India.
UGC pay panel delay likely to hit UPA’s election plans
Much to the chagrin of the UPA government, the University Grants Commission’s pay review committee is unable to “estimate” how much more time it will require to finalise its recommendations. The committee headed by Professor G K Chadha was supposed to submit its report on September 5.
The HRD ministry has given it a month’s extension, but professor Chadha is unwilling to commit himself to a public deadline. The UPA government would like to wrap up the pay review before elections are announced.
College and university teachers are an important electoral constituency and the government would rather give them the expected pay hike in time so that it can reap electoral dividends.
However, the Chadha Committee does promise “radical” changes which will help the Indian higher education sector meet the socio-economic and cultural challenges in the era of globalisation, even as Professor Chadha is unwilling to commit a deadline.
He says that the committee will take “no longer than is necessary”. One of the reasons, the chairman has cited for the delay is that the committee is yet to reach at a consensus on three or four issues.
These include changes in the “layers” of the faculty at the college and university levels — the choice is to continue with the current gradation from lecturer to reader to professor or to introduce new levels. Professor Chadha said that should changes be introduced, suitable time scales will also have to be introduced.
Other unresolved issues include whether the UGC pay committee should replicate the central pay commission’s system for grade pay and pay bands, and the manner in which to resolve the anomalies of the previous committee’s — the Rastogi Committee — recommendations.
Another area that the committee members feel needs more attention is the manner in which stagnation of college and university professors can be addressed. At present, it seen that often college professors achieve the top of their scale and then continue to remain there without any possibilities of advancement.
Former IISc director Professor G Padmanaban, who is member of the committee, said that there was a strong view within the panel that no teacher should suffer from stagnation.
Now, the committee needs to work out a way to compensate these members of the teaching community, and to do so they will need to find parallels within the sixth pay commission’s recommendation.
In light of the vast higher education expansion plans of the government, the committee has suggested a uniform retirement age of 65 years across the country. At present, there is a “great discrepancy” in the retirement age that ranges for 55 to 65 years.
“We are in a situation when availability of teaching faculty is critical to the government’s plans. This issue can be addressed to some measure through a retirement age that is uniformly set across the entire higher education system,” Professor Chadha said.
Professor Chadha said that at the entry level the higher education sector is competing with the corporate sector and civil services for the best minds. “We need to offer an attractive package. While we can’t compete with the corporate sector it should be such that 10 years down the road, the academic has no regrets.”
Stating that the choice was clear, Professor Chadha said, “We can’t give the red carpet welcome but we can provide a decent living condition”. The effort to attract the best minds to join the academic circuit will include “unprecedented financial support” and improved research facilities.
The HRD ministry has given it a month’s extension, but professor Chadha is unwilling to commit himself to a public deadline. The UPA government would like to wrap up the pay review before elections are announced.
College and university teachers are an important electoral constituency and the government would rather give them the expected pay hike in time so that it can reap electoral dividends.
However, the Chadha Committee does promise “radical” changes which will help the Indian higher education sector meet the socio-economic and cultural challenges in the era of globalisation, even as Professor Chadha is unwilling to commit a deadline.
He says that the committee will take “no longer than is necessary”. One of the reasons, the chairman has cited for the delay is that the committee is yet to reach at a consensus on three or four issues.
These include changes in the “layers” of the faculty at the college and university levels — the choice is to continue with the current gradation from lecturer to reader to professor or to introduce new levels. Professor Chadha said that should changes be introduced, suitable time scales will also have to be introduced.
Other unresolved issues include whether the UGC pay committee should replicate the central pay commission’s system for grade pay and pay bands, and the manner in which to resolve the anomalies of the previous committee’s — the Rastogi Committee — recommendations.
Another area that the committee members feel needs more attention is the manner in which stagnation of college and university professors can be addressed. At present, it seen that often college professors achieve the top of their scale and then continue to remain there without any possibilities of advancement.
Former IISc director Professor G Padmanaban, who is member of the committee, said that there was a strong view within the panel that no teacher should suffer from stagnation.
Now, the committee needs to work out a way to compensate these members of the teaching community, and to do so they will need to find parallels within the sixth pay commission’s recommendation.
In light of the vast higher education expansion plans of the government, the committee has suggested a uniform retirement age of 65 years across the country. At present, there is a “great discrepancy” in the retirement age that ranges for 55 to 65 years.
“We are in a situation when availability of teaching faculty is critical to the government’s plans. This issue can be addressed to some measure through a retirement age that is uniformly set across the entire higher education system,” Professor Chadha said.
Professor Chadha said that at the entry level the higher education sector is competing with the corporate sector and civil services for the best minds. “We need to offer an attractive package. While we can’t compete with the corporate sector it should be such that 10 years down the road, the academic has no regrets.”
Stating that the choice was clear, Professor Chadha said, “We can’t give the red carpet welcome but we can provide a decent living condition”. The effort to attract the best minds to join the academic circuit will include “unprecedented financial support” and improved research facilities.
Source : The Economic Times
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