Expected DA from July 2014 - Looks like the curiosity surrounding the expected DA is fast receding

Expected DA from Jul 14 - Looks like the curiosity surrounding the expected DA is fast receding..!

One of the possible reasons for the dampening interest could be the fact that unlike last time, there is not going to be a DA hike. Although it is very well known that the hike is based on price rise and inflation, it probably feels to them as if something was lost.

This time there is no double-digit increase. It is only going to be a single-digit hike.

At the most, one can expect an increase of 7%. That too is not for sure. All that depends on the soon-to-be announced AICPIN points for balance months.

After announcing the second additional DA for the year 2014, there are only two instalments left. With the instalments of January 2015 and July 2015, the 6^th CPC comes to a close.

The next additional DA will be based on the 7^th CPC.

Additional Dearness Allowance formula could be changed in the 7^th CPC. They could announce a new Base Year. There could also be a change in the 115.76 yardstick. Nothing can be said for certain this time.

There is already a proposal to change the Labour Bureau Base Year from ‘CPI-IW 2001=100’ to ‘CPI-IW 2015 =100’.  The current series of CPI-IW with base 2001=100 was constructed on the basis of employment data in seven sectors namely, Registered Factories, Mining, Plantations, Ports & Docks, Public Motor Transport, Electricity Generation & Distribution Establishments and Railways sector. The current series comprises of a basket of about 370 items and 289 price collection markets spread across 78 centres of the country.

The new series of CPI-IW will cover 7 sectors and 88 cities in 27 states have been selected for the new recommendation of CPI-IW (2015-100). It is worth mentioning that a special Standing Tripartite Committee (STC) under the chaired by Prof. G.K. Chadda has been created in this regard.

DA Table for the last one year…

Mon/Year	AICPIN	App. DA	DA	DA Hike
Dec-12	219	80.83	80	8
Jan-13	221	82.49	82
Feb-13	223	84.22	84
Mar-13	224	85.87	85
Apr-13	226	87.38	87
May-13	228	88.97	88
Jun-13	231	90.62	90	10
Jul-13	235	92.28	92
Aug-13	237	93.93	93
Sep-13	238	95.59	95
Oct-13	241	97.32	97
Nov-13	243	99.12	99
Dec-13	239	100.56	100	10

Source:http://www.employeesnews.in/2014/04/expected-da-from-july-2014-looks-like.html

Employment News Weekly Updates: Job Highlights (12th April 2014 - 18th April 2014)

Job Highlights ( 12th April – 18th April 2014)

 UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION (UPSC)
No. of Vacancies – Various Posts
Last Date - 01.05.2014

UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION (UPSC)
Central Armed Police Forces
Name of Post –Assistant Commandants
No. of Vacancies - 136
Last Date - 12.05.2014

INDO-TIBETAN BORDAR POLICE FORCE (ITBPF)
Name of Post – Constable (Tradesman)
No. of Vacancies - 496
Last Date - 15.05.2014

AIR INDIA AIR TRANSPORT SERVICES LIMITED (AIATSL)
Name of Post – Security Agents
No. of Vacancies - 271
Last Date - 28.04.2014

NTPC LIMITED
Name of Post – Finance Executives
No. of Vacancies - 42
Last Date - 28.04.2014

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (IIT) KHARAGPUR
Name of Post – Professional Trainees
No. of Vacancies - 10
Last Date - 26.04.2014

MOTILAL NEHRU COLLEGE (EVENING)
Name of Post – Assistant Professor
No. of Vacancies - 22
Last Date - 21 Days of Publications of this Advertisement

Will the 7th CPC Extend Child Care Leave for Male Employees Too?

Child Care Leave, introduced by the 6th CPC, was a boon for women employees. 

Women employees have for long, been entitled to Maternity Leave. The 90 days paid leave granted as maternity leave was extended to 135 days by the 5th CPC. The 6th CPC further increased it to 180 days. 

Based on the very reasonable request presented by ATMAJA (Association of Adoptive Parents), the Government announced ‘Child Adoption Leave’ for female employees in 2006. Orders were issued to grant 135 days leave for female employees who adopt child upto one year of age. 

The 6th CPC introduced a family welfare privilege for female employees. Consequent upon the decisions taken by the Government on the recommendations of the 6th CPC relating to Maternity Leave and Child Care Leave, the Central Govt decided that the existing provisions of Maternity Leave enhanced to 180 days.

Leave of the kind due and admissible (including commuted leave for a period not exceeding 60 days and leave not due) that can be granted in continuation with Maternity Leave provided in Rule 43(4)(b) shall be increased to 2 years.

Women employees having minor children may be granted Child Care Leave for a maximum period of two years (i.e. 730 days) during their entire service for taking care of upto two children whether for rearing or to look after any of their needs like examination, sickness etc.

Only female employees were entitled to these leaves in order to provide health care and education supervision requirements for her two children. Although there were difficulties in implementing this decision, the announcement was welcomed by women employees. 

But this also created a sense of longing among the male employees. 

Were they not concerned about their family’s welfare? 

Was their presence not required in health and education related issues of their children? 

‘Why are we being denied this allowance?’. Men employees were wondered. 

But some male staff themselves wondered, it was impossible to give the same privilege to male employees too, who constitute 90% of the government workforce.

One could also hear demands that if not 730 days, at least half of it should be given to the male employees. 

Some suggest that the allowance should be made in genuine cases after necessary enquiries. 

Some also suggest that in cases where the husband and wife are employed, the leave should be given to both. 

Everybody has a right to demand…!

The request to give this privilege to men who have lost their wives, to look after their children sounds very reasonable. 

Children who have lost their mothers require the care and presence of their fathers. 

Will the 7th CPC consider this demand?

Source:http://www.employeesnews.in/2014/04/will-7th-cpc-extend-child-care-leave.html

Merging of DA with basic pay of Central Government employees - Rajya Sabha News

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF  FINANCE

RAJYA SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-2062

ANSWERED ON-11.02.2014

Merging of DA with basic pay of Central Government employees

2062 . SHRI PRABHAT JHA, ARVIND KUMAR SINGH, KUSUM RAI

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

(a) whether Government is actively considering to merge existing dearness allowance payable to Central Government Employees with basic pay;

(b) if so, the details thereof, and if not, the reasons therefor; 

(c) whether Government has received any representation from employees associations in this regard;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the details of action taken thereon; and

(e) the reasons for delay in constitution of 7th Central Pay Commission?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE

( SHRI NAMO NARAIN MEENA)

(a) No Sir.

(b) The 6th Central Pay Commission did not recommend merger of Dearness Allowance with basic pay at any stage. This has been accepted by the Government vide Resolution dated 29th August, 2008. 

(c)&(d) A number of representations have been received from Associations/Organizations of Central Government Employees demanding merger of 50% of Dearness Allowance with basic pay. However, in view of (b) above, the same has not been agreed to. 

(e) The Government has already decided to constitute the 7th Central Pay Commission under the Chairmanship of Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur, Retired judge of the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

Source: http://rajyasabha.nic.in/

General Elections to Lok Sabha 2014 - Tamil Nadu Government Declared Public Holiday on 24.04.2014

Finance (BPE) Department.

Fort St. George, Secretariat,

Chennai-600 009.

Letter No.19161 /Fin(BPE)/2014

 dated 4.4.2014

From

Thiru T.Udhayachandran, l.A.S.,

Secretary to Government (Expenditure)

To

The Chief Executive Officer of all State Public Sector

Undertakings/Statutory Boards

Sir/ Madam,                

Sub: General Elections to Lok Sabha 2014 and the Bye-election to Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 28 Alandur Assembly Constituency on 24.4.2014 - Public Holiday declared- Orders extended to State Public Sector Undertakings-Statutory Boards

Ref G.O.Ms.No.236, Public (Misc) Dept dt.29.3.2014

I am directed to state that in the reference cited, Government have declared Thursday, the 24th April 2014 as a Public Holiday under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 (Central Act XXVI of 1881) in view of General Elections to Lok Sabha 2014 and the bye-election to Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 28 Alandur Assembly Constituency, in Tamil Nadu.

2) I am therefore directed to request you to adopt the above orders to the workers and other employees in all categories of your Organization to enable them to cast their votes.

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-

for Secr1ary to Government (Expenditure)

FinMin against raising Income Tax exemption limit to Rs 3 lakh

The Finance Ministry has rejected the recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on raising the income tax exemption limit to Rs 3 lakh. The recommendation was made as part of the Committee’s report on the Direct Tax Code (DTC). Adjusting the slabs will cause tax revenue losses to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore a year to the exchequer, the Ministry has said.

It has, however, agreed to the recommendation on reducing the age for tax exemption for senior citizens from 65 years to 60 years. The Ministry has also rejected the recommendation on inflation-proofing the tax exemption.

The Finance Ministry released the proposed Direct Taxes Code - 2013 on Tuesday. Of the 190 recommendations made by the Committee, the Finance Ministry has accepted 153 either wholly or with partial modifications. In his Budget speech in February, Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had said that the government will seek public opinion on the revised DTC.

Earlier, the UPA Government had introduced the DTC Bill in the Lok Sabha in 2010 and later referred to the Committee. The revised DTC Bill will now be re-introduced in Parliament by the next Finance Minister post-elections.

The Parliamentary Committee had proposed no tax on income of up to Rs 3 lakh per annum; at the rate of 10 percent for Rs 3-10 lakh; 20 percent, for Rs 10-20 lakh and 30 percent on annual income beyond Rs 20 lakh. At percent, there is no tax on income of up to Rs 2 lakh per annum. Income of Rs 2-5 lakh attracts tax at the rate of 10 percent, 20 per cent on Rs 5-10 lakh and 30 per cent on income beyond Rs 10 lakh.

The revised DTC provides for a fourth slab for individuals, HUFs and artificial judicial persons with a view to maintaining overall progressivity in the levy of income tax. If their total income exceeds Rs 10 crore, it is proposed to be taxed at the rate of 35 percent under the revised DTC.

The revised DTC also said the income from a house property, which is not used for business or commercial purposes, will be taxed under the head ‘income from house property’.

The recommendations accepted include those pertaining to simplifying the structure and the content of the DTC for making it more user-friendly and at the same time “ensuring tax buoyancy by tapping high capacity/income and evasion prone segments”.

The recommendations ministry has rejected include the one on retaining the rate of taxation for life insurance companies at 15 percent against the proposed 30 percent and abolishing the Securities Transaction Tax (STT).

The Ministry has said that the revised DTC captures all assets for Wealth Tax, whether physical or financial, thereby removing the discrimination for taxation purposes against “conservative” taxpayers who invest their savings in physical assets.

The rate for the Wealth Tax is proposed (for individuals, HUFs and private discretionary trusts) at 0.25 percent. The threshold for the levy of in the case of individual and HUF is proposed at Rs 50 crores.

The draft Code also does away with the Settlement Commission as it has “not achieved the intended purpose of early settlement of cases and additional revenue realisation”.

The DTC Bill, 2010 had provided for a 50 percent threshold of global assets to be located in India for taxation. “This threshold is too high. There could be a situation that a company has 33.33 per cent assets in three countries but it will not get taxed anywhere.

Accordingly, the revised Code provides for a threshold of 20 per cent of global assets to be located in India for taxation...” it said.

Jayesh Sanghvi, National Leader - International Tax Services, EY says, “The proposed revisions relating to the onus of proof with regard to GAAR, transition provisions with repect to tax losses and MAT credit are welcome but the one on relaxing small shareholdings from the net of indirect transfers and the reduction of the threshold from 50 percent to 20 percent for substantial value may continue to some uncertainties”.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/finmin-against-raising-it-exemption-limit-to-rs-3-lakh/article5858989.ece

Expected Dearness Allowance for July 2014 : AICPIN for the Month of February 2014.

No. 5/1/2014-CPI

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT

LABOUR BUREAU

‘CLEREMONT’, SHIMLA-171004

DATED: the 31st March, 2014

Press Release

Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) – February, 2014

The All-India CPI-IW for February, 2014 increased by 1 point and pegged at 238 (two hundred and thirty eight). On 1-month percentage change, it increased by 0.42 per cent between January, 2014 and February, 2014 when compared with the rise of 0.90 per cent between the same two months a year ago.

The largest upward pressure to the change in current index came from Miscellaneous group contributing 0.34 percentage points to the total change. At item level, Rice, Wheat, Moong Dal, Fish Fresh, Goat Meat, Milk (Cow & Buffalo), Pure Ghee, Medicine, Barber Charges, Tailoring Charges, etc. are responsible for the increase in index. However, this increase was restricted to some extent by Arhar Dal, Groundnut Oil, Onion, Vegetable & Fruit items, Sugar, etc. putting downward pressure on the index.

The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly CPI-IW stood at 6.73 per cent for February, 2014 as compared to 7.24 per cent for the previous month and 12.06 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Similarly, the Food inflation stood at 7.56 per cent against 8.94 per cent of the previous month and 14.98 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year.

At centre level, Quilon recorded the highest increase of 9 points followed by Tiruchirapally & Conoor (6 points each) and Lucknow (5 points). Among others, 4 points rise was registered in 3 centres, 3 points in 2 centres, 2 points in 8 centres and 1 point in 10 centres. On the contrary, Chhindwara reported a decline of 5 points followed by Rourkela & Ajmer (4 points each), 3 points decline was observed in 6 centres, 2 points in 10 centres and 1 point in 12 centres. Rest of the 20' centres’ indices remained stationary.

The indices of 36 centres are above All-India Index and other 42 centres’ indices are below national average.

The next index of CPI-IW for the month of March, 2014 will be released on Wednesday, 30 April, 2014. The same will also be available on the office website www.labourbureau,gov. in.

Sd/-

(S.S.NEGI)

DIRECTOR

Source:http://labourbureau.nic.in/Press_IW_FEB2014.pdf