THE GOVERNMENT OF ODISHA LAUNCHED "ELECTRONIC FUND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM" WITH THE HELP OF RBI.

The Reserve Bank launched the facility to make payments to the beneficiaries of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) electronically in Odisha. RBI deputy governor Harun Rashid Khan launched the facilty for the Odisha government in Bhubhaneswar, RBI said in a statement.

The objective of the scheme is to make electronic payment of wages to MGNREGA beneficiaries in the state of Odisha. He also launched a new model of government receipts to provide safe and efficient mechanism for government business and timely credit of government receipts. The e-FMS (electronic Fund Management System) went live for the districts of Ganjam, Gajapati and Mayurbhanj and one block Bolagarh of Khurdha district.

The e-FMS scheme involves disbursement of wages of MGNREGA beneficiaries directly to their bank accounts. Reuters

It will be launched in respect of at least one block each from the remaining 27 districts from 2 July , 2012. The remaining blocks of 27 districts would be taken up in the next phase so that the entire state is covered by Gandhi Jayanti, i.e., 2 October , 2012.

Implementation of e-FMS is expected to drastically cut down the delays in payment of wages to MGNREGA beneficiaries and also bring about transparency in the system apart from resulting in savings in operational costs, RBI said.

The e-FMS scheme involves disbursement of wages of MGNREGA beneficiaries directly to their bank accounts through the Regional Electronic Clearing Service (RECS) provided by the Reserve Bank, Bhubaneswar.

Based on the information provided by various nodal agencies (Gram Panchayat/block/district level), authorised officials of the Sponsor Bank (State Bank of India in this case) download the files and send to the Reserve Bank for processing on the same day on RECS. This will be done so that accounts of beneficiaries, maintained with different banks, can be credited the next day.

INCENTIVGE OF Rs.50/- PER PASS PORT DELIVERY TO POSTMAN

NEW DELHI: The TOI campaign on the passport logjam has made the government put reforms on the fast track. In an unprecedented move, the ministry of external affairs on Thursday announced a 'Passport Mela' this weekend at many PSKs countrywide - the kendras will remain open on Saturday and Sunday and people can just walk in, without an appointment. This practice will continue till the entire backlog has been cleared.

In a special briefing to TOI, Raghavendra Shastry, adviser to external affairs minister S M Krishna, gave details of fresh measures that are expected to address the concerns raised by the people - and reported by this newspaper to help make the new passport application process smoother and transparent.

The ministry has also reviewed the online appointment process, and from Friday, an additional 30% slots are being released. This will take the number of daily slots in the capital from 1,650 to 2,050. Moreover, appointments will now be given for up to 30 days instead of 15. "This way, we believe we will be able to process 6 lakh applications in the country this year," said chief passport officer and joint secretary in MEA Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi.

"We have taken the suggestions given by TOI seriously and want people to know that we are working hard on them. There has been a huge backlog of applications due to the holiday rush, which is why we are having this passport mela. MEA is doing it for the first time in the country. This will help us smoothen the service in about six weeks from now," said Shastry.

"We will entertain walk-ins only on weekends. And people need not form queues early in the morning. They can come anytime after 10am," said Basant K Gupta, additional secretary, consular passport & visa division, MEA.

The ministry has reiterated its promise of revisiting its website. "There has been a lot of confusion over the passport application website. The older site, www.passport.gov.in is no longer functional but people have been visiting it. Therefore, we are going to redirect traffic from there to our functional portal, www.passportindia.gov.in. We are also going to prepare a fresh list of documents required for applying under various categories. There will be no ambiguity in %the process anymore," Gupta said.

Does this mean that there will be no more surprise demands for additional documents by PSKs? "Yes. TCS staff will no longer decide what documents are needed. Now, only government officials will check if all documents are in place and if anything else is required," said Gupta.

So far, the applicants who were turned back by PSKs for lack of documents had to try their luck again with %the online appointment system to book a slot. "This will not happen anymore. If there is any requirement of a document, an applicant will be given three days to return with the papers," Pardeshi said. 

To ensure prompt delivery of passports, the postal department has been roped in. "The postman will be given an incentive of Rs 50 per delivery. He will call up or send an SMS before coming to ensure that the passport is delivered to the person to whom it is issued," said Raghavendra Shastry, advisor to minister of external affairs.

He said that the system will be implemented across the country and S M Krishna will personally write to all state chief ministers to ensure implementation of the revised rules.

  

Apart from Delhi, passport melas will be held at the following places: RPO, Koramangla, and PSKs at Sai Arcade, Lalbagh, Mangalore and Hubli in Bangalore; RPO and PSKs at Nelson Manickam Road, Saligramam, and Tambaram in Chennai; RPO and PSKs at Begumpet, Ameerpet, Toli Chowki, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Nizamabad in Hyderabad; RPO and PSKs in Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, and Gorakhpur; and passport office at 14 Mall Road in Amristar.

CRISIS IN US POSTAL SERVICE.

Ten current and former postal workers launched a more than 3-day hunger strike Monday to protest looming cuts and closures at the U.S. Postal Service.

Drastic? Yes. But organizers say desperate times call for desperate measures.

Rallies and marches just aren't working anymore," said Tom Dodge, 58, a postal truck driver from the Baltimore area who has participated in several marches and rallies to save post offices. "It's time to take a stand on this. The post office is a part of our Constitution."

The hunger strikers want the Postal Service to shelve its July plans to start closing or consolidating 48 mail processing plants. By the end of 2014, when the plan to shrink the postal network is completed, 229 plants will be consolidated or closed and 28,000 jobs will be gone.

They also want Congress to eliminate a mandate that has been a major financial drag on the service -- annual $5.5 billion payments to prefund health care benefits for future retirees. The strikers say eliminating the mandate would solve the Postal Service's financial problems.

"That payment is causing great hardship to the Postal Service," said Nannette Corley, a Maryland mail clerk for the past 19 years who is taking unpaid leave to join the hunger strike. "We are the people. What is it that Congress wants us to do? Starve and make everybody homeless?"

The hunger strikers stopped eating Monday and will start eating again Thursday evening. They plan to demonstrate several times in Washington over the next week -- at the Capitol, in front of the Postal Service headquarters, and in front of the offices of the Washington Post.

They're also going to knock on doors in Congress to lobby lawmakers to take up a bill that would repeal the prefunding mandate and avoid deeper cuts at the agency.

The Postal Service continues to face major financial turmoil. It reported a $5.1 billion loss last year, citing the recession, declining mail volume and a the congressional mandate to prefund retirement health care benefits for future retirees.

In addition to the plant closures, which will ultimately slow the delivery of the first-class mail that most Americans use, the Postal Service is trimming staff. It offered buyouts and retirement packages to 21,000 postmasters as well as45,000 mail handlers who sort and transport mail.

The health care mandate is a major liability for the Postal Service. Officials have said they won't have the cash to make a $5.5 billion payment that's due Aug. 1, or the $5.6 billion payment due Sept. 30.

While hunger strikers and unions say the health care prefunding mandate is causing the bulk of the Postal Service's financial woes, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said earlier this month that those who say the prefunding mandate is the agency's only problem are "entirely wrong."

Hunger strikers say Donahoe is wrong.

The Postal Service released a statement saying the agency "respects the right of our employees and retirees to engage in lawful public dialogue regarding postal issues."

DIRECT POST, A USEFULL MEDIA FOR ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Offering some respite to candidates contesting municipal elections, thepostal department has provided a unique alternative to the candidates. As it will not be possible for candidates to reach each and every house in his /her ward and also following restrictions on processions and road shows, the scheme entitled 'Direct Post Scheme', offers to deliver pamphlets of candidates in any area of choice.
As per the scheme, candidates and parties can hand over their election pamphlets to the post office where the postman would then deliver it to all the houses in the area specified by them. The cost is a modest Rs 1.50 per pamphlet, but it is accompanied by a rider that the number of such leaflets and pamphlets should not be less than 1,000.
Giving this information director postal services, Allahabad region, Krishna Kumar Yadav said that with increasing commercial activity, the need for direct advertising of their products and services by the business organisations is growing. Direct Post is the un-addressed component of Direct Mail, and would comprise of un-addressed postal articles like letters, cards, brochures, questionnaires, pamphlets, samples, promotional items like CD's/floppies and Cassettes etc, coupons, posters, mailers or any other form of printed communication that is not prohibited by the Indian Post Office Act 1898 or Indian Post Office Rules 1933.
To avail the Direct Post scheme the organisation or the individual would have to give at least 1,000 articles. For the local distribution of articles, the India Post would charge Rs. 1.50 per articles for the first 20 grams, while Rs 2 per article for distribution anywhere in the country.However, for every additional 20 grams or part thereof both local and inter-city articles would be charged Rs. 1 extra. The India Post would not accept articles which exceed the length and width of an A3 size paper. Articles posted as Direct Post' should not bear any address or name and the same would be accepted only by the designated post offices and not in a letter box.
Yadav said that the article would certainly have more credibility, if the same is distributed at home by the postman, unlike it being distributed by a hired person on the roadside. Even in this scheme the senders of Direct Post can specify the numbers and areas, in which the sender wishes the Direct Post articles to be distributed. Besides, the department would also inform the sender that the articles handed over by him had been delivered according to his instructions.

RESULT OF CONFIRMATION EXAMINATION OF PURI DIVISION

Department of Posts, India,

Office of the Chief Postmaster General, Odisha Circle,

Bhubaneswar – 751 001

Memo No.RE/30-14/2011                                                                                  Dated at Bhubaneswar the 19.06.2012.

The following PAs / SAs of Odisha Circle have come out successful in the confirmation examination held on 06.11.2011.

This issue with the approval of the competent authority.

RESULT OF CONFIRMATION EXAMINATION HELD ON 06-11-2011

Sl. No.	Name of the Candidate	Roll No.	Remark
1	Ashish Ku. Purty	PRI/Conf/Nov/05/2011	Pass
2	Pitabas Mahali	PRI/Conf/Nov/06/2011	Pass
3	Ramakrishna Pradhan	PRI/Conf/Nov/07/2011	Pass
4	Bijay Nayak	PRI/Conf/Nov/09/2011	Pass
5	Suchitra Sahoo	PRI/Conf/Nov/10/2011	Pass
6	Rasmikanta Nayak	PRI/Conf/Nov/12/2011	Pass

BADA DANDE CHALE TABA "NANDIGHOSHA" RATHA.

" RATHE TU BAMANAM DRUSTWA,PUNARJANMAM NA BIDYATE. "

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES , GR-'C',PURI DIVISIONAL BRANCH WISHES ALL ITS MEMBERS , A VERRY HAPPY RATHAYATRA.LET'S CELEBRATE THE PIOUS OCCASION WITH THE ALMIGHTY & SAY;

!!! JAI JAGANNATH !!!

Sri Govinda Chandra Pratihari

(Secretery  NAPE,GR-'c' ,Puri ,Br.)

FACILITY OF RETENTION OF ACCOMMODATION IN THE CASE OF RE-EMPLOYMENT.

O.M. No.12035/28/96-Pol.II (Vo.I) dated 14.06.2012 from Directorate of Estate, Ministry of Urban Development

The undersigned is directed to invite a reference to this Directorate’s OM No.12035/28/96-Pol.II, dated 30.09.2009 on the subject noted above and to say that officers who retired from Central Govt. Service before 30.09.2009 and thereafter were reemployed/appointed in Central Government on tenure basis, may be allowed to avail the un-availed period of retention of 8 months permissible as per SR-317-B-11 and SR-317-B-22 immediately after termination of their reemployment. However from 30.09.2009 the facility of retention of Govt. accommodation under SR-317-B-11 and SR-314-B-22 by the officers of Central Govt. on their superannuation are to be availed in one go starting from the date of their superannuation. This period of retention cannot be availed in piecemeal or postponed to a later date on their reemployment if not availed immediately after the superannuation of the officer in case the date of retirement of officer is 30.09.2009 or thereafter.

This issues in partial modification of this office OM No.12035/28/96-Pol.II, dated 30.09.2009 with the approval of UDM.

Sd/-

(R.N.YADAV)

Deputy Director of Policy

Extension of Risk Allowance till 31.12.2012.

  No.21012/01 /2008-Estt. (Allowance)

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, P.G. & Pensions

Department of Personnel & Training

****

New Delhi, 18th June, 2012.

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

             Subject: Extension of Risk Allowance till 31.12.2012.

             The undersigned is directed to refer this Department's OM No.

             21012/01/2008-Estt.(AL) dated 28.12.2011 vide which payment of

             Risk Allowance was extended till 30.06.2012. Extension of Risk

             Allowance for a further period of six months beyond 30.06.2012 has

             been considered and it has been decided that Risk Allowance may be

             continued at the existing rates for a further period of six months upto

             31.12.2012 or till further communication, whichever is earlier.

Zoya C.B.

Under Secretary to the Govt. of India

            To

                 1. All the Ministries/Departments

                 2. Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India/Controller

                     General of Accounts, Min. of Finance.

                 3. Secretaries to UPSC/Supreme Court of India/Lok Sabha Sectt/Rajya

                     Sabha Sectt./Cabinet Sectt./Central Vigilance Commission/President's

                     Sectt./Prime Minister's Office/Planning comm ission/Central

                    Information Commission.

                4. All State governments and Union Territories.

                5. Governors of All States/Lt. Governors of Union Territory.

                6. Secretary, National council (Staff Side), 13-C Ferozshah Road, ND

                7. All Members of Staff Side of the NC of JCM/ Depttl Council.

                8. M/Finance, Deptt. of Expenditure, E.II(B) Branch

                9.Railway Board, New Delhi.

                  •-41c. NIC, DOP&T to upload on the website

              11. 10 Spare copies

UPU News-Posts should be part of sustainable development agenda

On the eve of the opening of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), UPU Director General Edouard Dayan calls on participating countries to include the postal sector in their national sustainable development policies.

Rio, host city of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development

"Recognizing the impact of their activities and their social and economic role, many Posts are already committed to sustainable development. The UPU supports this commitment and is actively promoting the social, economic and environmental responsibility of an entire sector, which is the main employer and a major transporter in most of our member countries," recalls Dayan.

The world's Posts employ 5.4 million people, operate 807,000 post offices and process and deliver more than 380 billion letter-post items and six billion parcels.

For several years now, the postal sector's contribution to sustainable development has been a focus of discussions at the UPU. The UPU has concluded agreements with several international organizations to help its member countries and their Posts to increase their social responsibility in matters relating to decent work, health and climate change. These include the International Labour Office, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the United Nations Environment Programme, among others.

"In promoting sustainable employment, gender equality, financial inclusion, responsible environmental prac tices, risk management and the reconstruction of postal infrastructure after natural disasters, the UPU is giving its full support to the priorities of Rio+20," Dayan noted.

The UPU, a United Nations specialized agency, joined the other UN system organizations to sign the Rio+20 joint declaration adopted by the Chief Executive Board (CEB). The CEB, chaired by the UN secretary general, gathers the heads of all UN agencies. The declaration urges countries to use the Rio Conference as a concrete stepping stone towards promoting development for all.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development is taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 20-22 June 2012. 

CHERRISH YOUR MEMORIES

A meeting of the members of NAPE,GR-C,and NAPE POSTMAN&GR-D was held at the premises of lord Sidha Mahavir temple,Puri on dtd 10/06/2012. About 90 members were present.Organisational matters and staff-problems , unfavourable transfer orders and action taken thereof were discussed.
                                                             Some captured moments are shared herewith for apprisal of the members .

GENERAL BODY GET TOGETHER .

 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES , GR-'C',PURI DIVISIONAL BRANCH IS GOING TO CONDUCT A GENERAL BODY MEETING ,FOLLOWED BY LAUNCH ON DT 10/06/2012 AT THE SACRED TEMPLE OF "LORD SIDHA MAHAVIR" , PURI FROM 11.00hrs ONWARDS. ALL THE MEMBERS OF PURI DIVISION ARE CORDIALLY & HEARTLY INVITED ON THIS OCCASION.PLEASE DO PARTICIPATE IN THIS MEETING AND SHARE YOUR VALUABLE THOUGHTS FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE FORUM AND ALL ITS MEMBERS.

                       !!!!!!!! YOUR PRESENCE IS EXPECTED !!!!!!!!!!!!

                              Shri Govind Chandra Pratihari

      Secretary "NAPE" GR-'c ',Puri Divisional Branch

                                 

                   

GOVERNMENT LIKELY TO MAKE " NPS " MORE ATTRACTIVE.

The Cabinet is likely to approve three amendments proposed in the Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill, the law relate to New Pension Scheme (NPS). Central Government Employees who joined in Government Service on or after 01.01.2004 are under NPS. This pension scheme has also been extended to all Indian Citizens.

The Cabinet will meet to move amendments to the Pension Fund

Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill. According to reports, three changes are being made to PFRDA Bill.

•  The first amendment will reportedly allow contributor to withdraw funds from the pension scheme in case of an emergency. The present law does not provide for withdrawing funds for emergency purposes from NPS.
•  Also, the subscriber will be reportedly given a minimal assured return for the investment in his fund. Since NPS is market related there is no minimum return assurance so far.
•  The third amendment reportedly says there will be a 26 per cent cap on the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the scheme. Earlier, the cap was not specified. The BJP has been demanding the FDI cap of 26 per cent to be included in the PFRDA Bill.

The pension bill or the PFRDA Bill suggests changes to how savings of nearly 25 lakh Indians are invested. Currently, these savings are invested in government securities that offer a fixed rate of return. The new bill allows pension funds flexibility on appointing a professional fund management company and lays down roles and responsibilities.

"POSTMAN",BRAND BICYCLE- COMMING SOON !

DG(POSTS) No 1-6/2011                                                               Dated 04^th June 2012

            The Department intends to provide specially designed bicycles to the Postmen all over the country during 12^th Five Year Plan to help delivery staff carrying the mail of various sizes of articles in their beats for delivery to the public.

            It is proposed to design and develop the box of fiberglass or any other light weight durable material for carrying the mail/articles to be attached with the postal bicycle.

            A committee has been constituted comprising of PMG, Agra Region, Agra as a Chairperson, Director Postal Service (Mails & Speed post), O/o CPMG, Delhi Circle, Director (MV), Mail Business Dn. Postal Directorate and two representative of recognized postmen service unions, Shri. I.S.Dabas, General Secretary, AIPE, Postman & Group 'D', NFPE and Shri T.N. Rahate, General Secretary, N.U.Federation of National Postal Organizations are nominated as members who will look into the design, development of the bag/box of fiberglass/PBC or any other light weight durable material for carrying the mail/articles to be provided  with the postman bicycles.  The bicycles design should also look like as the brand ambassador of Department of Posts.

            The committee will submit their report within 3 months.