Proposals on Child Care Leave (CCL) and Maternity Leave

No. 13018/1/2014-Estt(L)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training

Old JNU Campus, New Delhi 110 067
Dated: 01.04.2016

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject:-Proposals on Child Care Leave (CCL) and Maternity Leave — Reg.

This is regarding proposals on the subject of Maternity Leave and CCL that are under consideration in this Department. In this connection, a workshop was held in DoPT on 28.01.2016 with the stakeholder Departments on the following issues and the consensus emerged as follows:

(a) Maternity/CCL in case of surrogacy: There is no provision at present for any kind of Leave for surrogate/commissioning mothers. It is proposed that 180 days maternity leave may be granted to the surrogate as well as commissioning mothers, in case either/both of them are Government servants. The commissioning mother also requires time for bonding with her child and to take care of him/her and hence would also become eligible for Child Care Leave. Paternity Leave may also be granted in case of surrogacy.

(b) Age Limit for CCL in case of disabled children: It is proposed that the age limit for CCL in case of disabled children needs to be done away with since the requirement of parental care may be more/stronger when the disabled child grows older. It may therefore be allowed to provide for CCL in the case of disabled children — the ‘disability’ being clearly defined by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment – without any age limit provided the maximum CCL that can be availed remains within the ceiling of 730 days.

(c) Leaving HQ/availing LTC while on CCL: At present leaving headquarters or availing LTC are not permissible during CCL. The underlying intent of CCL is to allow care of up to two children whether for rearing or to look after any of their needs like examination, sickness etc. Thus, it is not restricted to exam and sickness alone. Taking care may also include ensuring their rest and recreation and towards that objective leaving headquarters or availing LTC can be allowed. It is thus proposed that the employees may be permitted to leave headquarters/avail LTC while they are on CCL, provided clearances from appropriate competent authorities are taken while proceeding on foreign travel.

(d) CCL minimum for at least five days: Vide this Department O.M. No.13018/6/2013-Estt.(L) dated 5 th June, 2014 the stipulation of the requirement of minimum period of 15 days’ CCL has been removed. It is now proposed to introduce a minimum period of five days of CCL i.e., CCL henceforth may not be granted for less than 5 days.

2. Comments on the above proposals are solicited please.

(Mukul Ratra)
Director

Over 60 financial giants line up to partner with India Post

NEW DELHI: The vast legacy network of India Post, once perceived to be unwanted baggage and a huge financial burden, is turning out to be its biggest strength. Top global financial firms Barclays, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Western Union, Visa and domestic giants State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank are among over five dozen companies that have queued up to partner with the payments bank arm of the country's postal department.

Even the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, has shown interest in picking up a stake in the business.

There are nearly 1.5 lakh post offices across the country, and 1.3 lakh in rural India. 

A large-scale modernisation drive across these branches, including computerisation and the gradual rollout of core banking solutions and ATMs, has attracted big boys of the financial world who are looking at new opportunities in banking, mutual funds, insurance and money transfer.

The postal network and services are the backbone for lastmile connectivity across the country and our efforts at modernization as well as digitization are bearing fruit," telecom and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is also in charge of the Department of Posts, told TOI. "With India Post having got a payments bank licence, there is a scramble to forge partnerships and alliances."

The postal department bagged a licence for a payments bank from the Reserve Bank of India in August last year. The central bank also allowed 10 other firms and tech companies to operate payment banks, considered the likely new disruptive force on the financial landscape of the country. Payments banks can accept deposits up to Rs 1 lakh but cannot grant loans.

They can deposit their money in government bonds and issue debit cards but not credit cards. These banks are expected to spread financial inclusion across the country and bring down cost of remittance and fund transfer.

The interest in partnerships with the postal department comes against the backdrop of the success that India Post has achieved after tying up with over 800 e-commerce companies, including Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon.Parcel revenue, which registered a dip of 2% in 2013-14, grew 45% in 2014-15 and a staggering 100% till February in 2015-16.Those seeking an alliance with India Post for banking products and services include SBI, PNB, BoB, Union Bank, and IDBI Bank. Foreign aspirants include Barclays Bank, Deutsche Bank and HSBC.

In the queue for an alliance on the insurance business are HDFC Life, ICICI Lombard, ICICI Prudential, Bajaj Allianz, Kotak Life Insurance, Royal Sundaram and PNB Metlife.

Transfort and Western Union from the US have lined up for a deal on money transfer.State-owned telecom company BNSL wants to strike a partnership for the mobile wallet business, while American financial services giant Visa has approached India Post for a pact on ATM and point-of-sale transactions.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Full Pension to Pre-2006 Pensioners with lessthan 33 years of service – Govt promises to revise Pension

Orders are likely to be issued early for full Pension to the Pre-2006 Pensioners who retired after 10 years of service on superannuation or 20 years of service on Voluntary retirement or on absorption in PSUs. Their pension shall be revised as per judgment of CAT New Delhi instead of Pro-Rata Pension.

Govt. advocate, while replying to the Contempt Petition filed by CGSAG (S-29) Pensioners Association-vs-UOI, had agreed in CAT New Delhi on 16-2-16, to implement within 4 weeks the CAT judgements (dated 21-4-2015 in OA 1165/2011 & Dated 22-1-2016 in OA 2165/2011, RA 165/2015 & 175/2015).

In the hearing of the Contempt Petition in the CAT on 31-3-2016, the Govt. Advocate sought more time to submit compliance orders on the judgment. The next date for hearing was fixed on 25th May, 2016.

Earlier, the Department of Expenditure, wanted to restrict the said benefit to the Petitioners, but finally agreed in a Meeting with Staff Side JCM on 10-3-2016, to reconsider the matter in view of the opinion of Deptt. of Legal Affairs for implementation of the CAT orders.

Compulsory Retirement – Cracking down on CG Employees

Since the exercise is believed to have been kicked off at the instance of the Prime Minister’s Office, chances are that several more employees may be shown the door.

Compulsory Retirement – Cracking down on CG Employees – While there was always a rule to compulsorily retire bureaucrats, the rule applies to only those who are at least 50 years old.

CG employees may get 3-4 times the salaries of their private sector counterparts, especially at the lower-to-medium levels, but the security of tenure that they enjoyed is now under threat because of the compulsory retirement threat.

A study for the 7th Pay Commission found a fresh government nurse earned 3.4 times her private sector counterpart, a teacher 2.7 times and a driver 2.3 times. While there was always a rule to compulsorily retire bureaucrats, the rule applies to only those who are at least 50 years old – on grounds of either corruption or inefficiency, this has rarely been used.

According to The Economic Times that reported the use of an obscure Rule 56(j) to sack 15 customs and central excise officials —including two at the level of commissioners—this was last invoked three decades ago. Indeed, a few months before it demitted office in 2014, the UPA government reiterated the rule, but it did precious little about it. The NDA reissued the order last September, but made its intentions clear since, while doing so, the order excerpted various Supreme Court judgments on this – in other words, CG employees were warned that the highest court in the land had ruled in favour of this in the past.

In the case of State of Gujarat vs Umedbhai M Patel, the SC had ruled that “whenever the services of a public servant are no longer useful to the general administration, the officer can be compulsorily retired for the sake of public interest”. It then went on to say, according to the DoPT circular, “For better administration, it is necessary to chop off dead wood, but the order of compulsory retirement can be passed after having due regard to the entire service record of the officer.”

Since the exercise is believed to have been kicked off at the instance of the Prime Minister’s Office, chances are that several more employees may be shown the door.

However, there are enough checks since there will be review panels before the compulsory retirement and then there is the process of appeal to the tribunal as well as to the courts.

Drawal of TRCA to GDS sustitutes and payment of wages on Holidays and allowing Weekly off - Guide lines

List of services to be covered under RICT

Services Available In The RICT Branch Office Device

Following are the services available in the Rural ICT project. The handheld device supplied to the Branch Post offices has the capabilities to do the following services in the BO itself without depend the account office.

1. Maintenance of Rural Branch Post Office accounts.

ü  Cash Management -enable BPM to view/update beginning-of-the­ day and end-of-day cash balances

ü  Accountability of sumps and Postal stationary

ü  Transaction Management

2. Financial Banking at Rural level.

ü  Opening of new account (Small Savings Scheme & No- frills)

ü  Account Deposits and Withdrawals

ü  Electronic Money Order (eMO) Disbursement & Booking

ü  MGNREGS Enrollments & Disbursement

3. Insurance Service at Rural level

ü  New Enrollments

ü  Claims and loan payment

ü  Printing renewal premium receipts for the customer

4. New Retail Services

ü  Phone recharge coupons

ü  Sale of application forms e.g. passport forms

ü  Reservations of train and air tickets

ü  Sale of books

ü  Commission\Fee collection

ü  E-commerce (give orders\view commodity rates)

ü  Retail channel for other\private players

5. Mail Service at Rural level

ü  Booking & Delivery of registered articles

ü  Speed Post Booking & Delivery

6. Assist Government of India

ü  Data Collection

ü  UIDAI enrollment

ü  Other Government Welfare Schemes\Services

ü  Provide detailed MIS reports and management dashboards

India Post Partnering Growth