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VII PAY COMMISSION MAY RECOMMEND FOR PERMANENT PAY PANEL.

The seventh Pay Commission is likely to recommend the government to form a permanent pay panel to give recommendations to the government from time to time on issues pertaining to pay structure of central government employees.

            The permanent pay panel would recommend regular salary hikes in keeping with the rate of inflation.

            The formation of the permanent pay panel would help raise the salaries and allowances of central government officials and employees, an official of the pay panel said.

            He added the permanent pay panel would recommend salary and allowance hikes in keeping with the rising inflation rate, which will be implemented by the government. “Then it will not be necessary to form a new commission during the next several years for central government employees.”

            However, the Seventh Pay Commission got one month extension to submit its recommendations.

            Accordingly it is expected to submit its report by the end of September. The time allotted for the commission ends this month.

The government appointed the Seventh Pay Commission on 28 February 2014 under chairman, Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur, with a time frame of 18 months to make its recommendations

            “There are some data points that are missing, which we hope to get by this month end. We are trying to submit the report by 20 September,” the official of the pay panel also said.

            The government’s salary bill will rise by 9.56% to Rs 1,00,619 crore with the implementation of the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, according to a statement tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on August 12.

            The recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, is likely to be implemented in April, next year. (Courtesy: Confederation)

NO PROGRESS IN TALKS WITH CENTRAL TRADE UNIONS AND GOVERNMENT ON 2 SEPTEMBER STIKE.

 

The meeting between the Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitely and the Central trade Union leaders did not make any headway since there was no concrete proposals from the government for settling the major demands raised by the CTUs. The talks will continue tomorrow.

The Central TU leaders called upon the workers to fully prepare for the strike since no concrete proposals have come from the government. Anyhow, they will attend the meeting tomorrow.

Make the 2nd September Strike a big success.

MADE IN CHINA, SOLD IN INDIA: THE NEW WAVE OF SMARTPHONE BRANDS.

Which is the top selling Chinese handset brand in India? Well, that’s tough to tell, because rankings change every other month. For the first two months of 2015, Gionee topped the charts, according to a shipment report by Infodrive, a firm that tracks export-import data. Come March, it was toppled by Lenovo, the world’s largest personal computer maker. By April, it was the turn of Xiaomi, which held the lead through May. But in June and July, Lenovo came in from behind to reclaim the top slot, with Gionee and Xiaomi close on to its heels.
Welcome to the dragon dance in the land of the Elephant. The first half of 2015 has seen a noholds-barred slugfest among the top three Chinese brands in the world’s second largest mobile handset market.
Over 26.5 million smartphones were shipped to India in the second quarter of 2015, up 44 per cent from 18.4 million units for the same period last year, according to International Data Corporation’s (IDC’s) Asia/Pacific quarterly mobile phone tracker released this month. Never mind who’s on top and who’s not. The Chinese brands collectively stole the show, trebling their shipments year on year and doubling them quarter-onquarter. Lenovo, Xiaomi, Huawei and Gionee alone accounted for 12 per cent of the total smartphone market, two times the share a year ago, says IDC.
“As China started to slow down, most vendors began looking at India as the next big growth market,” Kiranjeet Kaur, research manager with IDC’s Asia/Pacific mobile phone team, said in a press release. Kaur adds that the key to success of Chinese vendors has been popular flash sales through etailers such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon.
Flash sales a business model wherein a website offers a single product for sale for a limited period, which gets snapped up in a few seconds has surely been the game changer for Lenovo in India. From a mere 32,000 units shipped in the first quarter of 2013, the Chinese brand took a phenomenal leap to take its count to over 11,74,250 units in the second quarter of the current year, according to IDC.
“The product has to be a differentiator. Nobody is going to wait online for an average product,” says Bhaskar Choudhuri, marketing director of Lenovo India. Small wonder Lenovo, which had its first flash sale in India in January for the A6000 model, has become the largest selling Chinese handset brand in the country.
Though Choudhuri attributes the success to flash sales, he is quick to point out that the brand doesn’t believe in talking about its Chinese lineage. “We don’t consider ourselves to be a Chinese brand. We are a multinational brand,” he says.
In stark contrast, rival Gionee is proud to flaunt the ‘Made in China’ tag. Arvind R Vohra, CEO of Gionee India, says he has no qualms in talking about China parentage. “If somebody asks the name of your father, won’t you disclose it?” he asks.
Vohra believes that one shouldn’t look at monthly figures to judge leaders. “We had held on to the top slot for more than a year but not being online has led to a stumble in the rankings,” he says, adding that Gionee is changing its marketing strategy. The Chinese brand, while keeping its offline retail focus intact, will soon debut online. “We will reclaim our top position in India,” declares Vohra.
Marketing experts say that the new wave of Chinese brands in India is more aggressive than their predecessors who came a decade back but not in a Chinese avatar. “The first-gen players were shy of flaunting their roots and got re-branded once they landed on Indian shores,” says brand strategist Harish Bijoor.
But the second-gen entrants are proud of their parentage, he adds. However, Bijoor feels that the biggest challenge for these brands is to crack through the high-value segment of the market, where the likes of Samsung and Apple reign supreme. The real big, bruising battle is yet to begin.
(courtesy: The Economic Times)

PRIME MINISTER WANTS IMMEDIATE RESOLUTION ON CALL DROPS.

NEW DELHI: Expressing serious concerns over rising instances of call drops, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed officials to address the issue on an urgent basis.

Modi “asked officials as to what steps were being taken to address this problem, which, he said, directly affects the common man,” according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office issued on Tuesday.

The prime minister had raised the issue at a meeting held on Monday evening to review progress of digital infrastructure, rural infrastructure and connectivity sectors.

Modi also asked officials to ensure that the problems in voice connectivity do not extend to data connectivity in the future, the statement added.

Modi’s remarks come days after the telecom department pulled up telecom operators over the issue and asked them to spend more on network optimization. Telecom operators, though, have repeatedly maintained that the primary cause of growing incidence of call drops is their inability to get sites to install telecom towers. They blame the government for not doing enough to help set up the towers.

According to GSM industry association COAI, operators are unable to install more towers mainly due to radiation scare and rent seeking behaviour of the local government bodies.

On Tuesday, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad again urged telecom operators to do more to optimize their networks to improve the call drop situation.

“Whatever is necessary for policy, we will do, like installation of mobile towers on government buildings, speaking against radiation fears. So, what is required from the government, we will do,” Prasad told reporters. “I expect operators should also do what is required to reinforce their system, optimise their networks”.

Prasad has already sought ‘in-principle’ approval for allowing operators to set up towers in government buildings and has written to various chief ministers seeking their efforts in the area. The DoT has also sought the health ministry’s immediate intervention to enable mobile carriers to install cell towers in hospitals across India. Operators have also sought permission to install towers on defence land as well.

At the meeting on Monday, officials were directed to explore the possibility of leveraging existing resources, including railway and other communication infrastructure, to provide mobile connectivity in remote, unconnected areas.

Modi emphasized that the targets for digital infrastructure should be synchronized with those for the ‘Digital India’ initiative, the PMO said.

Arvind Panagariya, vice chairman of NITI Aayog, as also senior officials from PMO, NITI Aayog and ministries concerned attended the meeting.

(source: The Economic Times)

WAGE REVISION OF BSNL EMPLOYEES SO ALSO PENSION REVISION.

If the period for wage revision is taken as 10 years, as in the case of central Government Employees, the BSNL employees are due for wage revision in January 2017. If the demand of BSNLEU is accepted for 5 years, the wage revision is due from January 2012. For the executives in BSNL, pay revision depends upon the Pay Revision Committee to be appointed by the government. For the non-executives, it is through direct negotiations between the Management and the Recognised Unions.

Whatever be the position, it is high time that the wage negotiation starts. Last time it took about more than three years of hard negotiation and struggles including strikes to reach an agreement. (Of course, it was a very good wage revision). Even if the negotiation takes about one year, it is time to start the same. There need not be any delay in the matter.

Once the wage revision is implemented the pension also should be revised simultaneously.

REDUCTION OF RENT FOR STAFF QUARTERS FOR DOT & BSNL PENSIONERS.

Staff quarters were not allotted to retired employees, since the quarters  were not sufficient even to the working employees. However, during the last many years due to non-recruitment as also the comparison of HRA and the outside rent, many quarters are vacant. After much pressure from BSNLEU and AIBDPA, orders were issued for allotting quarters to retired employees also, where there are vacant quarters. But as per the orders they had to pay market rent, which is very high. The AIBDPA demand is that the retired persons also should be given quarters on the same criteria as that of regular employees and not market rent.

Com. VAN Namboodiri, Advisor, AIBDPA met Smt. Sujata Ray, Direct (HR), BSNL on 24th August 2015 and discussed the matter. The need for removing the market rent condition was pointed out by Com. Namboodiri. Director(HR) assured that the matter will be favourably considered by BSNL management

NALGONDA DISTRICT CONFERENCE HELD SUCCESSFULLY.

Nalgonda District Conference was held with good participation of pensioners on 23-08-2015 at United Teachers Federation office, Nalgonda. Com. V.Ch Nagaiah, District President controlled the proceedings. Com.Ramachandradu, Circle Secretary inaugurated the conference with a detailed speech covering all the issues of the pensioners. Com.Sathi Reddy of UTF and District Secretary of AIPRPA also addressed. Com.N.Sudarshan Reddy, District Secretary and Com. K. Ramachandram, Treasurer presented the report and accounts respectively and were adopted after discussion.

Office bearers were elected unanimously with the following important functionaries. Com. V.Ch Nagaiah (President) Com.N.Sudarshan Reddy (Secretary) and Com. K.Ramachandram (Treasurer)

SALARIED PERSONS CAN FILE INCOME TAX RETURNS TILL MARCH,2016.

 

A salaried person who can’t file his ITR for financial year 2014-15 by 31 August 2015 can file it by 31 March 2016, without attracting penalty for late filing.

This year, the deadline to file income tax returns (ITR) has been extended to 31 August from 31 July.

According to income tax rules, individual has to file his income tax return (ITR) for any financial year, before 31 July (31 August for financial year 2014-15) of the subsequent year.

As usual, there are many salaried persons who can’t meet the deadline this year, too. Of course, they also list the usual reasons for not filing returns on time: some can’t login to the Income-Tax portal; some has not received the Form 16; some are too busy with their career and life to notice the deadline.

“A lot of salaried persons have not received their Form 16 this year. The delay in issuance of Form 16 on the part of us was primarily because of changes in the process relating to preparation of the Form 16,” a DDO of a government office said.

If salaried person has a source of income apart from salary, such as income from fixed deposit interest, capital gains or rental income, and if the tax liability is more than Rs.10,000, then he should has paid advance tax by 31 March 2015. If he has not done this, then he has to pay the self-assessment tax and file the ITR by 31 August 2015.

If the net advance tax due is more than Rs.10,000 other than TDS, and salaried persons do not pay this on time, a penalty of 1% (simple interest) every month of the tax amount will be levied, under sections 234(B) and (C) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

The interest will be calculated till the end of the month in which he pays the tax. However, no penalty will be levied if he files return by 31 March 2016.

He can even file tax return by 31 March 2017. But the assessing officer can levy a penalty of Rs.5,000 under section 271F for not filing the return on time.

Source: The Sen Times

IT IS GREAT NEWS- BSNL GAVE HIGHEST NUMBER OF MOBILE CONNECTIONS IN JULY,2015

 

It is a great news that BSNL has given the highest number of mobile connections in the month of July 2015. BSNL has given 16 lakh mobile  connections in July, while Airtel has given 11.90 lakh connections  and Idea has given 10.25 lakh connections. It must be noted that BSNL gave only 8.6,lakh connections  in the month of May, and this increased to 11 lakh in June. Due to the phase 7 mobile network expansion, there is a general improvement  in BSNL’s quality  of service. Together with this, the ‘Roaming Free’ scheme, introduced by BSNL recently, has put the Company in a strong position, in it’s competition with the private operators. In the MNP front also, more number of customers of private companies have migrated to BSNL in the month of July, than the number of BSNL customers migrated to private companies. This is a healthy trend and we, the employees, have to put in our best efforts to maintain this trend.

(COURTESY: BSNLEU WEBSITE)

PRIVATE TELECOM COMPANIES WANT TOWERS IN DEFENCE LANDS.

Both the GSM and CDMA service providers have demanded that permission be granted to erect telecom towers in defence land so as to improve connectivity. The Modi government has already allowed telcos to set up towers on govt. lands and buildings, including hospitals, to improve mobile coverage.

The question that is to be considered is not only mobility but also the danger of the private companies including multi- nationals getting free entry in to defence areas, which are highly protected areas due to national security.