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

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Retirement on Superannuation

Shri Khageswar Mahant, SPOs, Kalahandi Division, Bhawanipatna and Shri Sukadev Sahu, ASP(HQ), RMS 'N' Division, Cuttack retired from Govt. Service today the 31st July, 2014 (A/N) on superannuation.

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

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 - Submission of declaration of assets and liabilities by the public servants.

To view Department of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions No.21/2/2014-C.S.I (PR) dated 31-07-2014 please Click Here.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Income tax department to taxpayers: Save our official email id in inbox

After asking taxpayers to validate their personal email ids and mobile phone numbers for online filing of Income Tax returns, the I-T department has now urged them to include its official email address in the 'safe list' of their inboxes. 

The department has suggested taxpayers to validate and include in the 'white/safe list' of their respective inboxes the official handle of the department-- 'DONOTREPLY@incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in', so that it does not land in the spam or junkfolder of the taxpayer. 

"What a taxpayer needs to do is to include this email id in the safe list of his or her email recipients. Once an online tax filer validates his or her email id and mobile phone on the department's online portal, the system sends an auto-generated PIN to complete the secure process and hence this email should not land into the spam folder which can be easily missed by the individual," a senior I-T officer said. 

The department has issued the advisory after it found instances of this validation email landing into the spam or junk folder of taxpayer's inboxes thereby leading to trouble in e-filing

The online tax filing season is on and as of now the last date is July 31. 

Once the email is received from this official handle, the taxpayers can use the PIN to go further with the online filing procedures of their Income Tax Return (ITR). 

The Central Board of Direct Taxes, the apex authority of the I-T, has recently notified new rules for online filing of ITRs saying taxpayers filing their returns this year (assessment year 2014-15) will have to mandatorily share their personal email ids and mobile numbers with the department. 

The aim behind this latest move was to update and stay in touch with the taxpayer each and every time their is a tax related issue. 

The CBDT also recently notified taxpayers that the I-T department does not send any communication from private email addresses such as gmail, yahoo etc to them. 

"Taxpayers are cautioned that they should not respond to such phishing mails and avoid downloading any attachment, which may contain virus or malicious software," the CBDT had said.

Source:-The Economic Times

Introduction of Single Window System in DOPT for receiving proposals for Sanction for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 - regarding.

To view please Click Here.

Publishing of Compendium of Best Practices on RTI-Volume.II

To view please Click Here.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Website name booking in Hindi proposed from August 15 for Rs 350

 Individuals of companies which are interested in owning a website with domain name in Hindi language would be able to book the name in Hindi script from next month. 

"Domain (website) name booking in Hindi script is proposed to be launched from August 15 subject to approval from higher authorities. Each domain name will cost Rs 350 and the TLD(top level domain) will be .bharat (in Hindi script)," National Internet Exchange of India CEO Govind told PTI. 

The name would have '.bharat' in Hindi script as its extension instead of commonly top level domains such as .com, .net or .in. 

He said that companies involved in booking of domain names can facilitate booking of website name in Hindi script as well. 

"First two months, we will open it for companies having trademark or copyright on names likebrands, government organisations, reputed commercial firms. After two months, the service will be opened for all," Govind said. 

He said that people will be able to book sub-domain name for Rs 250 each. 

At present, people can book name of websites using English script or letters. Government is of the view that websites in Hindi will give push to creation of website content in local language as well.

Source:-The Economic Times

Government asks babus to file revised property returns by Sep 15

The Centre has asked all its staff to file their revised property returns by September 15 as part of a mandatory obligation under the Lokpal Act. 

As per Lokpal rules, public servants who have filed declarations, information and annual returns of property, shall file the revised details of their movable and immovable assets as on August 1, 2014, to the competent authority on or before September 15 this year, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said in a directive. 

The directive asked all Ministries and Departments of the Centre to bring the provisions of Public Servants (Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the Limits of Exemption of Assets in Filing Returns) Rules, 2014, to the notice of all concerned for compliance. 

The directive covers all central government servants which comes to a total of about 50 lakh and includes IAS, IFS and IPS officers, and employees of Groups A, B and C. 

The DoPT has developed an online system named PRISM for IAS officers to file their property returns under the Lokpal Act, and asked IAS officers to file information related to assets and liabilities online. 

"An application, namely, Property Related Information System (PRISM) has been designed and would become operational w.e.f. August 1, 2014 to enable the officer to file the information and declaration online," the DoPT said. 

The Centre has issued new forms for filing returns which have fields to fill details of cash in hand, bank deposits, investment in bonds, debentures, shares and units in companies or mutual funds, insurance policies, provident fund, personal loans and advance given to a person or any entity, among others. 

The employees also need to declare motor vehicles, aircraft, yachts or ships, gold and silver jewellery and bullion possessed by them, their spouses and dependent children, according to the form. 

The Public Servants (Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the Limits for Exemption of Assets in Filing Returns) Rules, 2014, were notified by the DoPT recently. 

As per the rules, notified under Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, every public servant shall file declaration, information and annual returns of his assets and liabilities as on March 31 every year, on or before July 31 of that year. 

These declarations are in addition to such returns being filed by the government employees under various services rules. 

According to the Lokpal Act, a public servant shall furnish to the competent authority information relating to the assets of which he, his spouse and his dependent children, jointly or severally, own. 

Source:-The Economic Times

Friday, July 25, 2014

No proposal to integrate Aadhaar & NPR: Government

Government is not considering any proposal to integrate the UID (Aadhaar) project with National Population Register (NPR), Parliament was informed today. 

"There is no such proposal under consideration of the government at this stage," Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, when asked whether it proposes to integrate UID with NPR. 

On giving statutory status to Aadhaar, Singh said: "A notice for introduction of the bill (for the purpose) alongwith official amendments was moved in the Parliament during Winter Session, 2013. However the same could not be taken up for consideration." 

The National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in December 2010 and was thereafter referred to the Standing Committee on Finance. 

The UPA government had to suspend Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfers in view of reservations over certain issues. 

Giving indications that the new government will continue Aadhaar enrolments, Rs 2,039.64 crore has been provided in the budget for the Aadhaar for the current fiscal, as against Rs 1,550 crore released in 2013-14. 

As per latest information available, as many as 73.71 crore Aadhaar enrolments have been done till mid-July, with 8.45 crore rejections by the Unique Identification Authority of India implementing the project. 

UIDAI has generated 64.05 crore Aadhaars and incurred an expenditure of Rs 4,620.61 crore so far since its inception. 

The minister informed the House that Aadhaar enrolments are being carried out in all districts of 22 states and union territories allocated to the project. 

The authority was mandated to collect biometrics of 60 crore residents and rest of India's population was to be covered under the NPR project.

It was decided by the Cabinet Committee on UIDAI during UPA regime that all residents would be issued National Multi-purpose Identity Cards under NPR, and UIDAI would generate Unique identification number for entire population. 

Both UIDAI and NPR were to share the biometric data collected by them for issuing NMIC and generating unique identification number. 

The NPR is a comprehensive identity database maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Home Ministry.

Source:-The Economic Times

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act,2013-Submission of declaration of assets and liabilities by the public servants for each year and placing the same in public domain on the websites of the Ministries/Departments.

To view Department of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions No.11013/3/2014-Estt(A) dated 23-07-2014 please Click Here.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

President of India inaugurates bank and post office at their new locations in the President’s estate

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the President’s Estate Branch of United Bank of India and Rashtrapati Bhavan Post Office in their new buildings today (July 24, 2014). 

The President’s Estate Branch of United Bank of India was established on February 28, 1976 and inaugurated by the then President of India, Late Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. 

The Rashtrapati Bhavan Post Office started functioning as Viceroy’s Camp Post Office at Shimla on June 10, 1904. In 1948, it was renamed as Governor-General Post Office and in 1950, it was again renamed as President-Camp Post Office. On December 7, 1950 it got its present name. This Post Office caters to the needs of President’s Secretariat as well as residents of the President’s Estate. 

The Bank and Post Office were relocated from a heritage building as part of measures to implement the Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan for the President’s Estate. 

A fitness centre for the staff of the President’s Estate was also inaugurated by the President today.

Source:-PIB

No central deputation if bureaucrats fail to file property returns

An IAS, IFS and IPS officer can be denied central deputation if he is facing graft charges or has defaulted in submitting annual property returns, as per the government's new policy. 

It has also been decided to relax selection criteria further to ensure adequate representation of officers belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, women and the North East at the central level. 

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has finalised new guidelines on central deputation for Joint Secretary and equivalent posts for officers belonging to Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS), among others. 

"Vigilance denied officer shall not be empaneled, which means that they exhaust their first chance of empanelment. The cases of officers who have defaulted in filing property returns shall also be treated as vigilance denied, for a period of one year for every default. 

"Adverse impact of default in filing of Immovable Property Returns would be one year applicable to the empanelment due in the year of default," a DoPT directive said. 

In case the selection process does not lead to adequate representation of categories like SC, ST, women, particular state cadres, North East among others in the panel, the criteria for empanelment would be suitably relaxed to give due representation to these sections, it said. 

The directive said that empanelment should be considered not as a reflection of the intrinsic merit or otherwise of an officer but the suitability of an officer to occupy senior levels in the central government. 

"There shall be separate experts panel in connection with the empanelment at the level of Joint Secretary. The experts panel will be required to examine the Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs), year-wise in detail for each batch and will give their own assessment of the gradings of officers for each year, which will be taken into account by the Civil Services Board (CSB) for making recommendations," it said. 

Also, the officer would be assessed on a scale of '9' (outstanding) on the basis of their grades in ACRs, it said. For the purpose of evaluating the overall performance, numerical values are assigned to outstanding, very good, good and average grade officers. 

CSB would also take into account the experience profile of officers, carefully scrutinise the ACR dossier and evaluate such qualities as general reputation, merit, competence, leadership and a flair for participating in the policy-making process to recommend the list of officers to be included in the panel, the revised policy directive said. 

For the purpose of evaluating the overall performance of an officer, ACRs during the 10-year period, immediately preceding and inclusive of the cut off year, would be taken into account, it said. 

An officer needs to serve 17 years of service to become eligible for JS empanelment at the Centre, it said.

Source:-The Economic Times

Central Civil Services (Commutation of Pension)Second Amendment Rules, 2014

To view please Click Here.

Consolidated Empanelment Guidelines for holding the posts of Joint Secretary or equivalent level at the Centre

To view please Click Here.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Ms. Kalpana Rajsinghot (lPoS-1992) posted as PMG, Berhampur

To view Directorate Order No.1-6/2014-SPG dated 16th July, 2014 please Click Here.


All India Association of Inspectors and Asst. Supdt. of Posts, Odisha Circle Branch welcomes the officer to Odisha Circle. 

Filing your returns? It’s wise to stick to I-T dept's official site

The last date for filing Income Tax (I-T) returns is just about a week away and it's time to get your documents in order to get started with the process. If you have a taxable income of over Rs 5 lakh, you must file the returns online. The process has become less complicated this year with the I-T department's official e-filing site (incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in) introducing the much simpler Java utility. 

"It is user-friendly and faster, with separate tab for head of income and tax details being provided. Also provided is the option to pre-fill some personal and tax information such as PAN(permanent account number), name, TDS etc," points out Sonu Iyer, partner and national leader, human capital services, EY. 

However, keep your bank statements, Form-16 issued by your employer and a copy of the last year's returns near you before you begin. 

You then need to register yourself on the portal, where your PAN will act as your user ID. You can click on 'Quick e-file ITR' on the left hand side menu and follow the instructions after selecting the applicable form. Pay the income tax due, if any; verify all the information and hit the 'submit' key. Finally, if you haven't filed the return using a digital signature, you need to print the verification form (ITR-V), sign it using a blue ink and send it to the I-T department's central processing centre in Bangalore by ordinary or speed post, within 120 days of filing your returns electronically. 

Pay and File 

If you find the task daunting, you may also use private portals like taxsmile. com, cleartax.in and myITreturn. com that facilitate filing of return. 

You can also check out mobile applications from BlackBerry and makemyreturns.com. 

The private portals essentially offer two types of plans — one, where you are required to complete the process on your own and the other, where the portal's helpdesk assists you. If your return-filing is complex and detailed, consider opting for this assistance. But you will have to pay a fee of Rs 299-1,500, depending on the site and your requirements. Those earning less than Rs 5 lakh are offered this service for free. 

"For those drawing an income of over Rs 5 lakh, we charge a fee. All calculation engines are embedded (filer need not know the tax laws) in the page, making it easy to file returns," says V Srinivasan, MD and CEO, taxsmile.com. In addition to these, the portals also offer value-added services like tax credit verification, ITR-V submission and refund tracking for a fee. "Our income tax return review service entails tax experts scrutinising the return prepared by users. This helps in ensuring accuracy," says Saakar Yadav, managing director of my IT return.com. 

Choose Sites Carefully 

I-T department recently put out a cautionary advice against using certain mobile applications without naming any, stating that one must use them at their own risk. So, ensure that you are using a legitimate portal or an application. Also, read the privacy policy of the portals before going ahead with the process to ascertain how the information collected will be handled by these sites and applications. 

For example, check if the firm's policy states that your data won't be shared with third parties without your consent. Moreover, you have to consider its track record too. "You need to assure yourself th at the sensitive information that you provide will not be misused. Therefore, do a background check to ascertain the return filing portal's reputation and its parent company's antecedents. Transacting through credible entities will provide some comfort," says Suresh Surana, founder, RSM Astute Consulting. Considering that the new version of the forms on the department's portal is simpler, attempt filing on the official site first. Switch to private sites only if you find the process on the department's site cumbersome.

Source:-The Economic Times

No proposal to change five-day week: Government


There is no proposal to change the present five-day week for the employees of central government ministries and departments, Lok Sabha was informed today. 

"No," said Jitendra SinghMinister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in a written reply to a question whether the government plans to change the five days per week working for central government servants. 

There were reports that the government was considering increasing the five-day week schedule to six days. 

The minister said there was also no proposal to enhance earned leave and casual leave being granted to the employees. "There is no such proposal under consideration of the government," he said.

Source:-The Economic Times

Consolidated Instructions on Probation/Confirmation in Central Services - regarding.

To view please Click Here.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Transfer and Posting in ASP Cadre in Berhampur Region

The following transfer and posting order has been issued vide RO Berhampur Memo No. ST/11-62/2014 dated 01-07-2014



1.   Sri S S Padhi PI RO Berhampur has been promoted to ASPos Cadre on adhoc basis and posted as ASP (HQ), O/O SRM, RMS BG Division, Berhampur.

2.   Sri Raghunath Sahu, ASP (HQ), O/O SRM, RMS BG Division, Berhampur has been transferred and posted as ASP (OD), O/O SSPOs, Berhampur Division, Berhampur against the vacant Post.

Image, A Psychological Prison

By: Swami Sukhabodhananda

For every hour you remain angry you give up sixty minutes of joy. Ask yourself: Why do we lose our joy for petty things? Unimportant things have become more important. Joy is the most important energy but we lose it for a viewpoint that seems more important than joy. Has something gone wrong in the way we look atlife?  We give up our life for winning our point of view, or getting a status in life or money or position. One has to learn to drop this foolishness. Anger is an expression of foolishness.

Two Angry Lions
There is the famous story of two lions, which were ready to fight each other to quench their thirst. There was sufficient water for both. But they fought on the issue of who should drink water first and in the process both were very thirsty but winning was more important than quenching their thirst. They stubbornly fought with tooth and claw and their emotions went very wild. They continued attacking each other. Blood was all around but still they fought. Then they found vultures were around waiting to see who is going to die, so that they could have their food. Realising their foolishness, they left the scene. They thought that they will be devoured by the vultures and so decided to end their fight. Anger is the sure way for self-defeat.

Every emotion is energy. Anger and sorrow is also energy. Sorrow creates its own material and that is imagination. When you are angry you imagine a subjective world and justify why you are angry. It creates an illusory world. You are unconscious of your inner projections. You take imagination to be real. You identify with this imagination and create its psychological prison. To be alert to how your mindimagines, projects and creates a psychological prison is a part of being inwardly awake.

It’s About Compassion
If you are alert, you will transform this anger energy into compassion. The object of anger will become an object of compassion. Transforming this energy is being wise. Why do you get angry with the other?

The other does not fit into your image of how you should be. So your struggle is to see that the other falls into your image, which is what most of us want.  The world is not indebted to fit into our mental image. We have not questioned why we create an image.  One may justify that it is natural to create an image. Stop justifying and let us think wisely.  You have an image of your spouse or boss. You want them to fit into your petty image. Why do you have an image? You feel secure if you have image of the other. It is easy for you to operate and make others wrong. It requires great alertness, not to have an image and then look at the other. Then intelligence will flow as to how to deal with the other rather than your conclusion of how to relate.

When intelligence operates there is creative harmony but when conclusions operate there is inner deadness. Your corporate world, family world and personal life will be better rather than being bitter.

Source:-The Times of India

Monday, July 21, 2014

Modification in transfer and posting in ASP cadre-Bhubaneswar HQ Region

The following modification in transfer and posting in ASP cadre is issued vide C.O. Memo No. ST/24-15(2)/2014 dated 21-07-2014.

Sl No
Name of the Officer S/Shri
Present place of Posting
Revised posting on modification of transfer
Remarks
1
B.K. Mishra
ASP(OD), Balasore under orders of posting as ASP(OD), Bhadrak
ASP-II, Bhubaneswar RMS
Vacant Post
2
Bharat Ku. Patra
IP, BG 1 st RMS BG Division under orders of Posting as ASP-II, Bhubaneswar RMS
ASP(Staff), Circle Office, Bhubaneswar
Against diverted post of ASP(BD), RMS N Division kept attached to Circle Office

Sunday, July 20, 2014

More features for AIIMS Bhubaneswar announced

Dr Harsh Vardhan assures Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik of central health support
 “I want to see AIIMS Bhubaneswar develop into the most modern hospital in India, bigger and better than AIIMS Delhi,” Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister, told reporters in the Odisha capital today. He went on to make ten significant announcements which underscore the government’s commitment. These are:
*An integrated treatment facility for patients combining AYUSH and allopathic medication and techniques.
*A 100-bed, super-speciality Mental Health and Neurosciences Centre.
*A 100-bed super-speciality Nephrology Centre with dialysis and kidney transplant facilities.
*A Cancer Super-Speciality centre, with 100 beds.
*Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, another 100-bed super-speciality facility.
*A brand new Department of Occupational and Environmental Health.
*A Department of Geriatric Medicine.
*AIIMS Bhubaneswar’s ‘satellite’ in Balasore to be a 300-bed multi-speciality hospital. It is coming up on a 25 acre plot provided by the state government.
* Balasore unit to have on its campus a School of International Public Health in collaboration with a reputed overseas institution.
*All BSc (Nursing) students at AIIMS Bhubaneswar to henceforth receive a monthly stipend of Rs 500.
The Health Minister spent over an hour inspecting the out and in-patient departments of AIIMS. He made it a point to look into minute details. His attention moved to the registration slips which are routinely handed out to new patients and he noted that the health advice printed on them were not of much value. So he recommended that every 15 days a new message should be printed. This way, he suggested to Dr A.K. Mahapatra, the Director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar and the senior officials by his side, there could be greater awareness generation of the simple truisms of healthy living.
The Bhubaneswar AIIMS, much like the five others set up recently, is suffering a serious shortage of faculty and non-faculty staff. Dr Harsh Vardhan announced the clearing of decks for a recruitment drive beginning August 1.
“We have only 65 filled faculty positions in each AIIMS at the present time, a shortfall of 250. So I have decided to hire on contractual basis for the first two years because we need to get the facilities functional fast,” he told reporters.
About recruitment to faculty and non-faculty positions, the Minister said he has decided to give the Director of each of the AIIMS the authority to chair selection committee meetings. The system of getting officials from other Institutions to chair the interview sessions has, effectively, been discontinued.
In the afternoon the Health Minister spend some time with the students and inspected their living quarters. He noted that large neon signs were necessary on the exterior of the hospital.                            
Source:-PIB