This blog is meant for use by members of the Association for news and views. Send comments / suggestions / views to e-mail Id: aiaipasp.ors@gmail.com

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

New Year Message




Message to the members of All India Association of Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts, Odisha Circle Branch:-

New Year comes to give us a fresh hope, for a better future and success. On this New Year our resolution may be to face our challenges with courage and confidence, to lead a life of success and victory and to pray to the God for all those blessings.

Happy New Year-2015

Conducting of Limited Departmental competitive Examination for promotion of Lower Grade Officials to the cadre of Postal Assistants/ Sorting Assistants for the year 2014 held on 23-11-2014 - display of Provisional Key - Regarding

To view please Click Here.

Conducting of Limited Departmental Competitive Examination for Promotion of to the cadre of Inspector Posts (66.66%) Departmental quota for the year 2014 held on 22nd and 23rd November 2014 - Display of Provisional Key

To view please Click Here.

Options from the officers of Indian Postal Service (IPoS), Group 'A' invited for posting on Rotational Transfer for the year 2015-16

To view Department of Posts(Personnel Division) Letter No.4-9/2011-SPG dated 31-12-2014 please Click Here.

Launch of PAHAL (DBTL) scheme on 1st January 2015 in entire Country


1.      The Direct Benefit transfer of LPG (DBTL) scheme PAHAL (Pratyaksh Hanstantrit Labh) has been re-launched in 54 districts on 15.11.2014 in the 1st Phase and will be launched in the rest of the 622 districts of the country on 1.1.2015.
2.       Consumers who wish to join the scheme will have to either link their Aadhaar number into their bank account and their LPG consumer or if they do not possess Aadhaar number, they will have to link their bank account directly with their 17 digit LPG Id. Once a Consumer joins the scheme, he will get the cylinders at market price and will receive LPG subsidy directly in his bank account. A sum of Rs.568 will be paid in advance to the consumer, in the bank account, who now joins the scheme, as soon as he makes the first booking for a cylinder after joining the scheme to ensure that he has extra money required to pay for the first LPG cylinder at market price. This is in addition to subsidy that is paid on each cylinder.  Camps are being set up at various banks, and LPG distributor’s premises to enable LPG consumers to open bank account and enroll for Aadhaar if they need to do so to join the scheme.
3.      To keep consumers informed about their status in the scheme, consumers will receive SMS at every stage in the scheme. To avail of this feature all LPG consumers are requested to register their mobile number with their distributor if they have not done so. They are also advised to receive cylinders only with cash memos to be assured of their subsidy transfer.
4.      The scheme will cover over 15.3 crore consumers across 676 districts of the country. Currently over 6.5 crore consumers i.e. 43% have already joined the scheme and will receive subsidy in their bank account.
5.      DBTL is designed to ensure that the benefit meant for the genuine domestic customer reaches them directly and is not diverted. By this process public money will be saved. All LPG customers are requested to immediately join the scheme as above (Detailed Scheme is in Annexure).
6.      All LPG consumers who are yet to join the scheme must do so quickly. Those who do not have bank accounts must first open bank accounts and then submit the required details to their LPG distributor/Bank for becoming cash transfer compliant.
7.      As on 30.12.2014, an amount of Rs.624 Crore has been transferred to over 20 Lakh LPG consumers since the launch of the scheme on 15th November 2014.
8.      LPG consumers who do not wish to avail the LPG subsidy for LPG cylinders can simply choose to opt out of subsidy. Over 12000 citizens have already voluntarily given up subsidy freeing up crores of subsidy amount for their less privileged brethren.

Annexure
Salient Features/Timelines of the modified DBTL scheme
What if LPG consumer had joined the scheme earlier?
LPG consumers who had joined the scheme earlier by linking his Aadhaar number in LPG and Bank database will get the cylinder at Market price w.e.f 1.1.15 and the subsidy will be transferred into their bank account. They do not have to do anything further. They can check CTC (cash transfer compliance) status on www.mylpg.in.
How to Join the modified Scheme?
For joining the scheme, the consumers have to fill up a form available with distributors and also on www.mylpg.in. The options are as under:
1.      LPG consumers can join the scheme by providing their Aadhaar number to LPG distributor and to Bank.
2.      LPG consumers who do not have Aadhaar number can
a.       Give Bank details to LPG distributor OR
b.      Give 17 digit LPG ID to the Bank (select banks only).
 What happens if the LPG Consumer joins the scheme or if he doesn’t join it?
Once the scheme is launched on 1.1.15, LPG consumers who join the scheme will get a one time permanent advance of Rs.568/- as soon as they book a cylinder after joining the scheme.
All consumers who have joined the scheme will get LPG cylinders at market price and subsidy amount in their bank account after launch of the scheme in their district/state.
Between 1st January 2015 and 31st March 2015 (three months), any LPG consumer who does not join the scheme will get the cylinder at subsidized price as they are getting it today.
Between 1st April 2015 and 30th June 2015 (three months), those LPG consumers who still do not join the scheme will start getting the cylinder at market price and subsidy will be parked with the OMCs. As soon as they join the scheme within this 3 month period, the parked subsidy would be sent to their bank account, else it will lapse.
From 1st July 2015, consumers who have still not joined the scheme will get the cylinder at market price, but subsidy will not be admissible. Subsidy will be transferred only to the bank account of those consumers who have joined the scheme prior to 30th June 2015.
Any consumer joining the scheme after 30th June 2015 will get permanent advance and subsidy with prospective effect.
What happens to the LPG Consumers of the 54 districts where the scheme is ongoing?
1.      All consumers who have joined the scheme from 15th November 2014 are getting LPG cylinders at market price and cash in their bank accounts. They have also got the one time permanent advance of Rs.568/- on booking a cylinder after joining the scheme.
2.      Between 15th November 2014 and 14th February 2015 (three months), LPG consumers in these 54 districts who do not join the scheme will continue to get the cylinder at subsidized price as they are getting it today.
3.      Between 15th February 2015 and 14th May 2015 (three months), those LPG consumers who still do not join the scheme will start getting the cylinder at market price and cash admissible will be parked with the OMCs. If they join the scheme within this 3 month period, the parked cash would be sent to their bank account, else it will lapse.
4.      From 15th May 2015, consumers who have still not joined the scheme will get the cylinder at market price, however, cash subsidy will not be admissible. 
 MJPS/Rk
 (Release ID :114245) 
Source:-PIB

Grant of Savings Bank Allowance to Postal Assistants working in Savings Bank / Certificate Branches - Clarification ( SB Order No. 13/2014)

To view please Click Here.

Retirement on Superannuation

Shri Trinath Sahoo, SPOs, Dhenkanal Division, Dhenkanal is retiring from Govt. Service today  the 31/12/2014(A/N) on superannuation.

On the occasion of his retirement from Govt. Service, All India Association of Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts , Odisha Circle Branch bids him a respectful farewell and wishes him a good-health and peaceful life in his post-retirement days

Roll out of Berhampur HO under Berhampur Division in Odisha Circle to CBS on 29/12/2014



Ms. Kalpana Rajsinghot, PMG, Berhampur Region is inaugurating in the presence of Shri Sanjay Ku. Patra, ASP(HQ), Shri Tarini Padhi, ASPOs(I/C) and others



Roll out of Rayagada HO under Koraput Division in Odisha Circle to CBS on 29/12/2014



Roll out of Jeypore(K) HO under Koraput Division Division in Odisha Circle to CBS on 29/12/2014


Shri Daitari Rana, SSPOs, Koraput Division is inaugurating


Now, post offices can provide ATM cards, account statements

By ET Bureau 

Post offices moved a step closer to becoming banks. The government has allowed certain eligible branches to issue ATM cards to their account holders and also account statements instead of giving out passbooks, as most private sector banks do. 

On Tuesday, the government issued a gazette notification amending the Post Office Savings Bank General Rules, 1981. The rules will come into force immediately. These facilities will be available to the branches that are working on core banking solution software, essentially branches that part of an electronic network. 

Post offices currently provide savings account, recurring deposits, fixed deposits and many other small savings schemes run by the government including the popular Public Provident Funds. 

The funds raised by them largely go to finance central and state governments. India post currently has about 1.55 lakh branches, nearly 90% are in the rural areas, which many experts see as a good vehicle for financial inclusion. The notification says the post office savings bank could issue automated teller machine or debit card to account holders on request or otherwise which can be used to withdraw funds from any of the branches having core banking. 

The deposits to these accounts could be made and accepted through any electronic mode. The RBI had decided against issuing a banking licence to India Post when it gave out licence to IDFC and Bandhan Financial Services saying it would decide after consultation with government. The new rules notified by the government will push India Post closer to banks.

Source:-The Economic Times

IPS (Pay) Second Amendment Rules, 2014.

To view please Click Here.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Delegation of Financial Powers to Heads of Circles in the Department of Posts

To view please Click Here.

Amendment to Small Savings Schemes, 2014

To view please Click Here.

Letter to Chief Secretaries regarding furnishing of information relating to Assets and Liabilities by Public Servants under section 44 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013

To view please Click Here.

Posting in ASP Cadre in Sambalpur Region

Shri S.N. Satpathy, Offtg Sr. Postmaster, Bhubaneswar GPO who was earlier reverted to ASP Cadre and allotted to Sambalpur Region is posted as ASP(OD),  Dhenkanal Division vide R.O. Sambalpur Region Memo No.ST/RO/150-6(A) dated 26/12/2014. 

GS writes to DDG(P) requesting to issue repatriation orders in PS Gr.B cadre

No. GS/AIAIASP/PS Gr./DPC/2014                              dated :  29/12/2014

To,
Shri V. P. Singh,
Dy. Director General (P)
Department of Posts,
Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,
New Delhi -110001.

Subject:     Request to issue repatriation orders in PS Gr. B cadre.

Respected Sir,

          It is learnt that Directorate is releasing the result of supplementary DPC for promotion to the cadre of PS Gr. B for the year 2013-14.  

          I would like to bring to your kind notice that Directorate has not given proper attention to this Association’s letters of even number dated 30/12/2013, 20/2/2014, 25/3/2014 and 4/10/2014  vide which it was requested to issue orders for convening supplementary DPC for promotion to the cadre of PS Gr. B and also consider repatriation of all Group B officers who have completed one year in outside Circles. There is acute shortage of IP/ASP/JTS/STS manpower in almost all the Postal Circle and every cadre man is overburdened. This is adversely affecting the implementations of many upcoming projects in Department of Posts. In many Circles upto 80% of Group “A” post are lying vacant and PS Group “B” officers are officiating against these posts constantly for years together creating resultant vacancies in Group “B” and imbalances upto IP/ASPs level.

It is therefore once again requested to consider the request of the PS Gr. B officers for repatriation to their parent circle at the same time of release of result of supplementary DPC for the vacancies 2013.  

          With New Year’s greetings,     
          Yours sincerely,

Sd/-
(Vilas Ingale)
General Secretary

Monday, December 29, 2014

Department of Disabilities Affairs renamed as Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities

The Department of Disability Affairs (Nishaktata Karya Vibhag) under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has renamed as Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Viklangjan Sashaktikaran Vibhag). 

The Gazette notification in this regard has been issued by the Government of India. 
******


RTS/NCJ/ASB 
(Release ID :114169)

Source:-PIB

Roll out of Athgarh HO under Cuttack South Division in Odisha Circle to CBS





Sunday, December 28, 2014

Employment exchanges to get a makeover

Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya today said that the National Employment Exchanges have turned into mere registration centres for the unemployed and the Centre is working to change it to national career council centres. 

The Centre would provide Rs 292 crore for the purpose when the exchanges are tranformed to provide employment- related services on the national career service portal, he said here. 

The portal would be launched in March next year and would also host 100 model career centres and vocational rehabilitation centers, Dattatreya said. 

Under the Apprentice Protsahan Yojna launched in October, the ministry of labour and employment would support one lakh apprentices in the next two and a half years and share 50 per cent of the stipend. 

"We have a vision to have more than 20 lakh apprentices in the next few years against the present number of 2.8 lakh. In fact enhanced rates of stipend have also been notified for trade apprentices and the minimum rate of stipend per month payable has been indexed to minimum wage of semi-skilled worker," Dattatreya said. 

It was the ministry's sole motto to bring in workers in the unorganised sector under Employees Provident Fund and a special drive has already been launched in Shram Suvidha portal which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October. 

The ministry, Dattatreya said, has also launched Project Panchdeep to bring in efficiency and transparency and accountability in different operations of the Employees State Insurance Corporation besides initiating recognition of prior learning (RPL) for construction workers. 

"We have more than 4.2 crore workers with low-skill level. Under the RPL scheme we have started to give 15-day gap-training at site to unskilled labourers for the National Council for Vocal Training (NCVT) certificate. A provision of hourly wage compensation of Rs 35 is also there under it," he said.

Source:-The Economic Times

Save paper: Officials asked to write notes on both sides

With an aim of saving precious paper pulp, Labour Department of the Delhi government has asked all its officials, including all deputy commissioners, to write notes on both sides of paper and type in single space. 

The department has issued a circular directing officials to take such steps to minimise the impact on environment as trees are the major source of paper pulp production. 

"Injudicious use of paper not only leads to infructuous expenditure but also impacts the environment as trees are the major source of paper pulp production," said a senior government official. 

The official said notes should be typed/written on both sides of the paper or note sheet, adding that besides, typing should be done in single space. 

The department's move come after Finance Ministry recently issued such guidelines to all Ministries in this regard. 

According to the department, copies should not be typed again in the case the draft itself is legible and does not contain many corrections. 

It further added that policy instruction and guidelines issued through orders and office memorandums etc. may be uploaded on website and number of hard copies of such communication may be limited to the required minimum. 

Manual submission of forms etc., wherever stipulated, either under statutory obligations or otherwise, should be discouraged and switching over to e-forms, online submission of forms etc. may be encouraged, the department said.

Source:-The Economic Times

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Argumentative & too emotional - are Indians tough to work with?

By Lijee Philip & DIBYENDU GANGULY, ET Bureau

Corporate Dossier asked expatriate CEOs to describe the most incorrigible traits of Indianwork culture. The list we've compiled might upset you, but feel free to argue — which you will anyway:

We're always late

Seasoned expats have given up complaining about this quirk, except for a few German and Japanese CEOs, who still feel the pain every time they see an Indian colleague sauntering into a meeting 15 minutes late.

Makoto Kitai, MD, Mitsubishi Electric India, remembers fondly his days in Japan, when everyone would actually arrive five minutes early. "In India, being late by 15 minutes for a meeting is not considered to be late," he sighs. "Schedules go haywire in India but people don't complain."

If only our lack of punctuality was confined only to meetings! "Whether it a dinner or a larger function, I now assume that guests will arrive at least one hour late," says Philipp von Sahr, President of BMW Group India.

We're very argumentative

Indians, as Nobel laureate Amartya Sen tells us, are argumentative by nature and given the opportunity, we will debate and discuss till the cows at home. Jean-Christophe Lettelier got a taste of this as soon as he took charge at L'Oreal India last year. The meetings he conducted would go on interminably with everyone going in circles.

"Maybe it's because of an inductive approach to understanding things, but Indians make things more complex than they really are," he says. "I value the depth of thinking, but sometimes I have to just close the topic. Else there is complete chaos."

Mitsubishi's Makoto Kitai is another expat CEO who has had a hard time conducting meetings. "Japanese are very good listeners. We as a culture never speak out of turn which ensures that our suggestion would be asked every time. My Indian colleagues, on the other hand, are very ardent speakers and are always impatient when it comes to an opportunity to articulate their views," he says. We also have a propensity to get into time consuming discussions just about anywhere.

As Tetsuya Takano, MD of Ricoh India points out: "In India it's easy to form a discussion group. You only have to ask someone something and suddenly five people are around you and you can discuss anything. The preferable subject is politics."

We're confusingly diverse

After a year at the Hyatt Goa, Glen Peat thought he had Indian work culture figured out — then he was transferred to Mumbai. Now the chief of the Hyatt Ludhiana, the New Zealander says, "Punjabis are so very different from South Indians and the people of Delhi are so different from the people in Mumbai.

At first, I thought everyone in India speaks Hindi. It takes a lot of adjusting for an expat used to a uniform national culture." Expat CEOs invariably see India's diversity as one of its strengths, but truth be told, it takes getting used to. "The diversity poses quite a challenge in terms of unanimity of operations, tweaking the offerings to different needs," says Volvo Auto India MD Tomas Ernberg.

Besides managing your own work force, the diversity factor also plays an important role in market success. "It's both a challenge and an opportunity, as there is no one way of doing business or dealing with people. Something that works in Mumbai may not work in Chennai or Kochi. So, India allows the expatriate to use his creative side," says Ricoh India's Takano.

It takes 3 of us to fix a light bulb

the first time are usually struck by how establishments there manage with so few people. It's the other way round for expats in India. Dmitry Shukov, CEO of MTS India was amazed to see eight people pushing the boarding ladder at the airport the first time he arrived in Delhi.

"In Russia there is just one person doing that job. In sec tors like retail, there is always excess staff in India," he says. It's also very common in the hospitality industry, where guests are pampered with a level of service unheard of in the West. But splitting one person'sjob among three not only reduces wages, but also the challenge. Or, as Rex Nijhof, the Dutch chief of the Renaissance Mumbai Hotel puts it: "If you have something heavy and only two people available to move it, you have to find a way to build wheels on it. In India, you just get six more people."

We're too emotional

Indians are highly engaged with their work, which makes us more emotional about it. This can be disconcerting for expats used to a less engaged workforce, going about with stoic expressions.

"People here wear their heart on their sleeve, which is something I love," says Ben Salmon, a former diplomat with the Australian High commission, who is now CE0 and Co-founder of Bangalore's Assetz Property Group. "The flip side of it is that you can't criticise someone's work without visibly upsetting them. If there's bad news, it has to be carefully packaged."

This makes simple performance appraisals a herculean task in Indian workplaces. Bosses are wary about giving negative feedback, however constructive it may be, since the receiver is quite likely to fly into a rage or burst into tears. "During performance reviews, Indian managers tend to give only positive feedback and leave the criticism unsaid," says L'Oreal's Jean-Christophe Lettelier.

We don't trust easily

''There seems to be a trust deficit in Indian business and society in general which makes business par ties wary of each other until a relationship develops," says John Kilmartin, Director of IDA Ireland, the Irish government 's foreign investment agency.

The lack of trust extends to international brands and often translates into behaviour that expat CEOs find surprising. "For some reason, customers in India tend to escalate issues very quickly. May be this is due to lack of trust? Regardless of why this happens, we need to convince customers that we will always be fair and do the right thing for them," says Nigel Harris, president and managing director, Ford India.

But once the trust is earned, it tends to be strong. "The culture in India is such that if you earn a person's trust, you'll be treated like family. People in India are extremely cautious....but once on-board, their loyalty's commendable," says Michael Mayer, Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars.

We escalate decisions to the boss

When it comes to big issues, where the stakes are high, we would rather let the boss decide. At L'Oreal India, Jean-Christophe Lettelier has been trying to push decision making down to the front line and make the organisation entrepreneurial, but his observation is: "People avoid taking full responsibility for anything because they don't want to take any blame if things go wrong. Then if things do go wrong, they blame something else instead of taking responsibility."

Ben Salmon, CEO and Co- founder of Assetz Property Group was a diplomat at the Australian High Commission before he became an entrepreneur. He says: "There's a tendency to push decisions up to promoter level. For someone who believes that midmanagement should be taking decisions everyday within a strong corporate framework, this part of the Indian business environment is challenging."

We're very hierarchical

It's hard to get Indians to call the boss by his first name. Expats squirm when emails begin with the phrase "My respected sir." Tom Albanese, CEO of Vedanta says "Indians can be too eager to please sometimes. The only time I get flowers is when I am in India. I find awkward garlanding moments all the time. " The bowing low and garlanding is occasional and symbolic, but a practical day-to-day problem is addressing the CEO by his first name.

"Despite my best attempts, many of my colleagues still do not use my first name in discussions. The focus on hierarchy makes people take titles very seriously," says Ford's Nigel Harris. If you can't beat them, join 'em.

At Volvo Auto India, MD Tomas Ernberg has started adding the suffix jee after the names of his colleagues to show them an equal measure of respect. "People in India give too much importance to hierarchy. Even unconsciously it does reflect in their style of working and interaction," he says.

Michael Thiemann, CEO, ThyssenKrupp India tried to demolish hierarchies in his company and distribute responsibilities according to capabilities, like they do in Germany. The result, he says, was chaos. Thiemann then called in his senior colleagues to rework things. "We developed the concept of team work with an Indian flavour, taking care of the hidden rules of the Indian working culture," he says.

We're lousy at work-life balance

Indian CEOs pooh-pooh the issue saying we have to work 18 hours and build the nation, but expats find the lack of work-life balance in India quite appalling. "When I started working at BMW India, I was amazed to see e-mails coming from colleagues well after mid-night. I personally went to them and told them they need to maintain a good work-life balance," says Philipp von Sahr, President, BMW Group.

Expat CEOs believe spending long hours in the office equates with inefficiency. "It's actually hard work done smartly that takes you the long way. Time management is important," says Volvo's Ernberg.

Others, like Irishman Mike Holland, CEO of Embassy Office Parks in Bangalore, take a more philosophical view of the problem. "It relates to being in a different level in the economic hierarchy," he says. "Unlike the West, there's no distinction between work and life in India — they are fused. For an expat, it takes getting used to."

We're don't follow due process

''India's the global capital of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) but in day-to-day life, Indians don't seem to believe in business processes at all," says Mike Holland, CEO of Embassy Office Parks, a joint venture of Blackstone Prive Equity and Bangalore's Embassy Group.

Some expat CEOs attribute this impatience with due process and the desire for shortcuts to age. "India has a much younger workforce and I like to give enough space to employees. I don't want to take away the freedom from employees," says Guillaume Sicard, President, Nissan India.

Still, systems and processes are the life blood of an MNC and many expat CEOs fret over this issue. As Volkswagen's Michael Mayer says: "It may take people take some time to get used to it, but it's important to understand the rationale behind these systems since each one of us has to adapt to the entity we represent."

We're all stuntmen

Where the West has adventure sports, Indian have daily life. As managing director of Chyso India, a French manufact urer of chemicals used in the construction industry, Giles Everitt has seen labourers atop skyscrapers, painting the walls without a proper harness or life-line. "If there is one thing I would like to change in Indian work culture, it is the attitude towards health and safety," he says.

Why do we take so much risk? It is mostly lack of awareness says Ben S almon of Assetz Property, who believes real estate developers are now creating that. "Earlier, the cost of safety wasn't built in and construction labour didn't see their job as a trade. That's changing, though we're still nowhere near global standards."

We say what you want to hear 

If someone says "I'm 99% sure I will be there," most of us know he doesn't plan to be there at all. But for an expat CEO, such lines create big misunderstandings. New Zealander Glen Peat of Hyatt Hotels used to take a statement like "I'll be with you in five minutes" at face value -- and find himself waiting a long time. "It's ingrained in Indian culture. It's not very honest, but I've realised it's a way of being courteous," adds Peat.

We do everything at the last minute

The Indian attitude towards deadlines has been known to send many expat CEO blood pressures through the roof. "It took time for me to adjust with the time management of people in India," says Ricoh's Takano. "But if a deadline is not being met, they would stretch and make sure things fall in place."

Guillaume Sicard of Nissan Motor India, used to be incredulous at the confidence his Indian colleagues displayed as deadlines approached. "Time management is quite fluid in India. They will work late hours into the night, even on weekends, to meet the deadline. Americans or Europeans would never do that. There they believe in a strict 8 to 5 pm working day."

Be that as it may, doing things at the last minute can lead to shoddy quality. ThyssenKrupp's Michael Thiemann never takes that chance. "In India, up to 95% progress, everything is done very well. However, the boring 5% remains and that is where I get involved to make sure that the work is really done," he says.

Source:-The Economic Times