Postal dept. ties up with online retailers-- PRESS NEWS

Don’t be surprised if your neighborhood postman delivers products you have ordered online, along with letters.

The department of posts has recently tied up with various online shopping portals to offer delivery services.

With e-commerce growing by leaps and bounds, the postal department, which has a widespread reach, particularly in rural areas, will bridge the gap in logistics.

The department has tied up with major e-commerce players, including Amazon, Flipkart, Shopping Zone India and Naaptol, to help ramp up their delivery system.

“We are also in the process of tying up with smaller online players. We are delivering more than 80 per cent of the products ordered online to customers across the State on behalf of some e-commerce firms,” said an official.

A tie-up with another major online market firm, Snapdeal, is also under way. Soon, customers need not necessarily visit the nearest philatelic bureau to buy stamps as Snapdeal will also offer philatelic stamps and first covers of the postal department.

In Chennai and its suburbs, nearly 2,300 postmen, postwomen and gram dak sevaks (who are part-time staff members) attached to 110 post offices will be involved in delivering goods through various modes, including cash-on-delivery.

T. Murthy, chief postmaster general, Tamil Nadu circle, said: “We have set up a dedicated parcel-handling unit in Ekkaduthangal where the products are sorted and dispatched to various places. We have the capacity to handle over 40,000 parcels daily.”

The department now handles nearly 28,000 parcels daily and delivers across the State. Of these, about 30 per cent is delivered in and around Chennai.

“We deliver in a day from the date of booking, in Chennai, and in a maximum of four days in remote areas. We are processing the requests of many other e-commerce firms too,” said Mr. 
Murthy.

Source: The Hindu- October 4,2014

7th Central Pay Commission - Interim Report Demanded

"Presently, we consider the interim report as essential due to the important reasons given below:

 1. The 50% DA merger that was allowed in the 5th Pay Commission is not made available now for Central Government employees after 6th CPC report was implemented. 

 2. Also the inflation rate is the range of 7 to 11 % in last 8 years  is very high.The actual price rise is more than 200% and DA we got as on 1/1/14 is 100%.  we are not fully compensated by DA , which should have been 100% neutralization, now  it is 50%  neutralization of price rise. Price rise is happening in every sector not only in food items, the rise is more in housing & service sector.    

The terms and references of the 7th Central Pay Commission was approved by the cabinet on 28.02.2014. In the terms and references document, in paragraph (h), it has been said that if needed an interim report can be recommended.

(h) To recommend the date of effect of its recommendations on all the above.The Commission will make its recommendations within 18 months of the date of its constitution.  It may consider, if necessary, sending interim reports on any of the matters as and when the recommendations are finalised.

After the 7th Central Pay Commission was set up, it obtained terms and references from various stakeholders using the 1st phase of interactions. Now, through the 2nd phase of interactions, inputs are received through meetings held in various important cities of India.

The expectation of many Central government employees now is: Is there a possibility of the 7th Central Pay Commission interim report being released? In the 5th Pay Commission, considering the inflation rates, when the DA reached 50%, it was merged with the basic salary. If 50% DA is merged there will be an increase of 20 to 30% in salary will be there by DA Merger alone. which have immediate effect on salary structure. The basic salary increase should be more than 3.5 times considering 100% DA merging into it and current price rise.    

However, in the 6th Pay Commission, nothing about the 50% DA merger has been mentioned. Moreover, comparing the DA increase due to inflation in the 5th Pay Commission, the DA that was given during the 6th Pay Commission taking into account the inflation rate is much higher. I have attached a table below to explain this.

5TH CPC DA		6TH CPC DA
01.01.1996	0%	01.01.2006	0%
01.07.1996	4%	01.07.2006	2%
01.01.1997	8%	01.01.2007	6%
01.07.1997	13%	01.07.2007	9%
01.01.1998	16%	01.01.2008	12%
01.07.1998	22%	01.07.2008	16%
01.01.1999	32%	01.01.2009	22%
01.07.1999	37%	01.07.2009	27%
01.01.2000	38%	01.01.2010	35%
01.07.2000	41%	01.07.2010	45%
01.01.2001	43%	01.01.2011	51%
01.07.2001	45%	01.07.2011	58%
01.01.2002	49%	01.01.2012	65%
01.07.2002	52%	01.07.2012	72%
01.01.2003	55%	01.01.2013	80%
01.07.2003	59%	01.07.2013	90%
01.01.2004	61%	01.01.2014	100%
01.03.2004	DA Merger		NO DA Merger
01.07.2004	14%	01.07.2014	107%
Total %  DA	75%	Total %  DA	107%

Presently, we consider the interim report as essential due to the important reasons given below:

1. The 50% DA merger that was allowed in the 5th Pay Commission is not made available now for Central Government employees

2. Also the inflation rate in the 6th Pay Commission is very high. Due to these factors all the Central Government employees naturally expect if they could get any interim relief through an interim report of the 7th Central Pay Commission w.e.f 1/1/2014. For this we should mobilize and educate our members for more struggles. Which will make Government & 7th CPC  to rethink  and grant us DA merger and interim relief  from 1/1/2014.

Source: Karnataka COC- Central Government Employees News

RED TAPISM OF MINISTRY OF FINANCE

CADRE REVIEW IN RESPECT OF ADMINISTRATIVE CADRE OF MILITARY ENGINEER SERVICE

A letter on the above subject, received from the All India MES Admn Cadre & Ministerial Staff Association is published below. It is pertinent to mention here that the cadre review proposal of the Administrative Staff of NSSO Offices has also been pending with Department of Expenditure from 2011. This Association is also eager to write a letter to the Finance Minister on the issue.   

  

AIRF writes to Secretary, Railway Board against compulsory attendance on 2nd October 2014. And the Railway Board accepted that the attendance on 2nd October  is voluntary(Please click the link below).
http://www.airfindia.com/Orders%202014/SWATCH%20BHARAT.pdf

HAPPY DUSSEHRA. 

HAPPY DURGA PUJA

MACP ON PROMOTIONAL HIERARCHY: PRINCIPLE CAT DIRECTS SECRETARY MINISTRY OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT TO IMPLEMENT MACP ON PROMOTIONAL HIERARCHY WITHIN 4 WEEKS.