LIST OF NEWSPAPERS COVERED
ASIAN AGE
BUSINESS STANDARD
DECCAN HERALD
ECONOMIC TIMES
HINDU
HINDUSTAN TIMES
INDIAN EXPRESS
PIONEER
STATESMAN
TELEGRAPH
TRIBUNE
CONTENTS
CIVIL SERVICE 3-16
CONSTITUTIONS 17-18
DEFENCE 19
EDUCATION 20-23
LIBRARIES 24
POLICE 25
POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 26-31
POVERTY 32-36
PRESIDENTS 37
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 38
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 39
TAXATION 40
TERRORISM 41-42
TRANSPORT 43
URBAN DEVELOPMENT 44-48
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION 49-50
CIVIL SERVICE
DECCAN HERALD, OCT 28, 2016
Cabinet okays 2% DA ahead of Deepavali
Merged with basic pay after 7th Pay Commission
In a Deepavali gift to over 50 lakh central government employees and over 58 lakh pensioners, the Centre on Thursday approved 2% dearness allowance (DA) to be paid to them with retrospective effect from July this year.
Earlier this year, the government hiked DA by 6% to 125% of the basic pay. The DA was later merged with the basic pay following implementation of the 7th Pay Commission award.
The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both dearness allowance and dearness relief will be Rs 5,622.10 crore in the financial year 2016-17, though for the period of eight months (July to February 2017), it will be Rs 3,748.06 crore, an official statement said after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to a statement, the increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.
About 50.68 lakh government employees and 54.24 lakh pensioners will be benefited, it said.
Dearness allowance is paid to employees and pensioners to neutralise the impact of price rise on their earnings.
The central government employee unions, however, were not satisfied with the 2% hike and instead had pressed for a 3% increase.
The unions said that the average of consumer inflation for industrial workers in the past 12 months had worked out to be close to 3%.
PIONEER, OCT 28, 2016
BP SINGH BECOMES MP’S CHIEF SECY
Additional Chief Secretary of Home department BP Singh has been appointed Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh.
The newly appointed Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh Basant Pratap Singh is an officer of Indian Administrative Services (IAS) of 1984 batch. A native of Uttar Pradesh, Singh was born on July 1, 1958. Singh has obtained PG degree in Philosophy from the Allahabad University.
Singh was initially posted as Assistant Collector Bilaspur in June 1985. Beside SDO of Sehora and Dharmjaigarh, Singh also rendered his services as Additional Collector Baikunthpur. Besides, Singh also shouldered the responsibility of District Collector of Panna, Durg and Gwalior. Singh rendered his services as the Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh Seeds Corporation, OPTEL and Laghu Udhyog Nigam.
Singh was also posted as Joint Secretary Ministry of Textile Government of India.
Beside Divisional Commissioner of Indore Singh has also shouldered the responsibility of Principal Secretary Higher Education, Revenue and Forest during different service period. At present Singh is posted as Additional Chief Secretary Home from May 1, 2015.
During the service period Singh has received training in Change Management from London and on subject ‘Qualitative Methods and Operation Research for Public’ from Indian Institute of Management Bengaluru.
HINDUSTAN TIMES, OCT 27, 2016
Contractual staff must get at par wages: Supreme Court
Bhadra Sinha
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In a far-reaching verdict that brings relief to lakhs of contractual employees working in government departments and agencies, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that temporary workers are entitled to wages at par with permanent employees.
A bench headed by Justice JS Khehar based its judgment on the principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’. The rule, it said, constitutes a clear and unambiguous right vested in every employee — whether engaged on regular or temporary basis. The principle has been underscored in various judgments rendered by the SC and is law of the land, it said.
“Any one, who is compelled to work at a lesser wage, does not do so voluntarily. He does so, to provide food and shelter to his family, at the cost of his self respect and dignity, at the cost of his self worth, and at the cost of his integrity. For he knows, that his dependents would suffer immensely, if he does not accept the lesser wage,” read the verdict that came on petitions filed by temporary workers of the Punjab government.
The employees moved the SC after the Punjab and Haryana high court denied them the pay-scale entitled to a permanent employee.
The SC said India must follow the equal pay for equal work principle because it was a signatory of International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
“In our considered view, it is fallacious to determine artificial parameters to deny fruits of labour. An employee engaged for the same work, cannot be paid less than another, who performs the same duties and responsibilities. Certainly not, in a welfare state. Such an action besides being demeaning, strikes at the very foundation of human dignity,” the bench said.
“There can be no doubt, that the principle of equal pay for equal work would be applicable to all the concerned temporary employees, so as to vest in them the right to claim wages, at par with the minimum of the pay-scale of regularly engaged government employees, holding the same post,” it said.
DECCAN HERALD, OCT 27, 2016
WB report on ranking: PM seeks report from officers in a month
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked top secretaries to analyse areas that needed more reforms and report within a month after the latest World Bank report almost maintained a status quo on India’s ease of doing business.
He also asked the Cabinet secretary to review the overall performance of the Centre and states in this regard. The latest report upgraded India just a notch above to 131 from last year among 190 countries.
“The prime minister asked all chief secretaries and all secretaries of the Government of India to study the report, and analyse the potential areas where there is scope for improvement in their respective departments and states. He asked for a report from all concerned in this regard, within a month, and asked the Cabinet secretary to review the same thereafter,” sources in Prime Minister’s Office said.
Modi aims to push the country in top 50 ranking in terms of ease of doing business in coming years.
Earlier, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she was disappointment over the ranking.
“I am a bit disappointed. Not only the government of India, but every state is so actively engaged and wants to ease the situation... But for whatever reason, it has not been adequately captured in the ranking,” she said. She, however, said that Centre and states will work with renewed focus and speed to improve the ranking further.
On the target fixed by the prime minister to get within the 50th spot, she maintained that this goal is intact.
About steps to be taken in future to improve the ranking, the minister said the government has taken the right route in reforming and making ease of doing business a very important agenda for the Centre and states.
“Now, it is important for us to interact with states even more to quickly identify many such things which are important so that its impact is visible at the ground level,” Sitharaman said.
TRIBUNE, OCT 27, 2016
32% hike in basic pay of Haryana staff
First state to extend 7th pay panel benefits to staff
Revised pay package
· 2.5 lakh employees in Group A, B, C & D to get a hike of 32% over their basic pay as on January 1, 2016
· 21 pay bands prescribed — 14 of these are the same as that of Central Government
· Pay matrix made simpler, and closer to Central Govt pay structure
· Pay of employees to be fixed uniformly by multiplying afitment factor of 2.57
· Group D posts retained; Group D grade merged with higher pay grade of Rs 1,650
· Risk allowance for police personnel to continue upto March 31, 2017
Haryana would be the first in the country to award the Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) benefit to its employees from January 1, 2016, Chief Minister ML Khattar announced here today.
Addressing a press conference after a Cabinet meeting, he said the state government had decided in principle to grant the benefit of the revised pay package to its employees broadly on the pattern of the pay package given by the Central Government to its employees.
Khattar said contractual employees, such as anganwari workers and data entry operators, and those engaged under the outsourcing policy would also be benefited for which departments would submit their proposals within a week.
Also, risk allowance given to police personnel would continue up to March 31, 2017.
About 2.5 lakh employees in Group A, B, C and D will get a hike of 32 per cent over their basic pay as on January 1, 2016. Against the 32 existing grades, 21 pay levels have been prescribed of which 14 are the same as that of the Central Government. The pay matrix is simpler, easier to understand and closer to the Government of India pay structure.
By introducing only 21 pay levels, inter-departmental disparities would be settled to a large extent and the demand of Group C employees for a wage pattern akin to that of the Central Government met to a large extent. The pay of employees will be fixed uniformly by multiplying a fitment factor of 2.57.
Group D posts have been retained on the demand of employees' unions and to meet administrative needs. The pay grade of Group D (Rs 1,300 and Rs 1,400) has been merged with the higher pay grade of Rs 1,650. Their minimum pay now will be Rs 16,900.
Assured Career Progression (ACP) will be more attractive for Group C and D employees, benefiting about one lakh employees, — 40,000 in Group D and 60,000 in Group C.
The Haryana Cabinet today also approved the Haryana Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016, and the Haryana Civil Services (Assured Career Progression) Rules, 2016.
It authorised the government to issue necessary instructions for disbursing arrears on account of revision of pay in a manner proposed in the report.
Meanwhile, the Haryana Government has constituted a three-member committee under the Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, P Raghavendra Rao, for revision of pension as per the recommendations of the pay commission.The other members on the committee are Anil Malik and Shrikant Walgad, IAS.
TELEGRAPH, OCT 26, 2016
Regulatory confusions - The regulatory process has not been too successful in IndiaCommentarao-S.L. Rao
Any discussion of what holds India back focuses on inefficiency and corruption, bureaucracy at all levels, lack of coordination, centralization of power, and non-delegation to municipalities andpanchayats, investigation and police systems that are under political control, and the weakened state of the judiciary, to mention only a few.
However, the overseeing of the government and other functions are carried out through bodies created under the Constitution which are autonomous, independent and not expected to report to any government functionary. There are many created by legislation, mostly after 1991. The government appears to have given up some powers to these non-elected bodies. The constitutional bodies include the comptroller and auditor general of India, the Union Public Service Commission, the Finance Commission.
The governments transferred some of their regulatory powers, such as licensing, tariff setting, ensuring competitive markets, to regulatory agencies created by statutes. This was done for different reasons; among them is the technical nature of the subject under regulation, the need for clarity and transparency since large sums of money are involved, the need for a judicial approach, and sometimes pressure from international financing institutions. It was argued that the entry of the private sector after 1991 demanded more transparency. For such regulatory bodies, jurisdiction, the extent of their powers, the manner of exercising them, penal powers and so on are laid down by the statutes that created them. They might be bodies with national or individual state jurisdictions.
None of the agencies was a model for the others. Each was created by the concerned ministry. Thus the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is a recommendatory body. The electricity commissions are still trying to get authority over their forward markets from the Forward Markets Commission. Penal powers for non-compliance are weak in most cases except in the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Competition Commission of India. Some have appellate tribunals; appeals from others go directly to the high courts.
There is little research on their numbers and their comparative powers and performance. The list below covers most but some might have been missed. On a rough count, these are the following regulatory agencies in place today:
For transportation there are four, including waterways, highways and the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority; energy - 27: the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, 25 state electricity regulatory commissions, one for each state, and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board; communications: Trai; markets - three: the FMC; the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority, and the CCI; finance - four: the Reserve Bank of India, Sebi, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.