I have come to know now about this unique and excellent platform called ‘sarkaribaboo.blogspot.com' where govt. employees can share their views. I think this is a very good and unique initiative which should have been taken some years back. But better late than never. My hearty congratulations to the innovator.
Good News is that 6th Pay Commission is expected to submit its report to the Government by the end of this year. The Pay commission has been considering the structure of pay, allowances, pension, death-cum-retirement gratuity, family pension and other terminal or recurring benefits etc. including payment of bonus, introducing Productivity Linked Incentive Scheme in place of the existing ad hoc bonus scheme in various Departments.
If you talk of problems - there are heaps of problems. My learned friend Mr. Sudesh Negi has aptly sketched the pitiable, wretched and pathetic plight of the govt. employees with regard to pay & allowances, medical treatment etc. One can write "Granthas" on the problems of Govt. employees, but I would like to mention a few of them.
There is an utmost urgency for a motivational plan for all the govt. employees which should, inter-alia, include time bound promotions/ financial upgradation/ incentives etc to motivate the employees for better and better performance. Recently, I came to know that in Central Sectt. Stenographer’s Cadre, there are stenographers who, even after putting in 18-20 long years of service as stenographer are still a stenographer. Same is the case with other clerical staff in Central Sectt. Of course, there is ACP - a financial upgradation after completing 12 years of service in a particular scale– but it does not have any motivating effect. ACP is merely an eye wash – as this is just a financial upgradation and is not considered for anything else except financial upgradation. Shouldn’t there be a time bound promotion scheme. Despite working for say about 30-40 years, a Group ‘D’ employee in Govt. of India remains a Group D employee – both in terms of designation and pay & allowances & facilities. The 6th Pay Commission might think it appropriate to consider this important aspect.
I am going to touch upon a forgotton topic – i.e. about the admissibility of House Rent Allowance (HRA) to working couples - who are both in govt. offices. If you have been allotted a Govt. accommodation, both of you would have to forego your HRA irrespective of the fact that you both are entitled for the govt. accommodation. In another probability, if only one of the two is entitled for govt. accommodation and both are in govt offices; even then both the employees have to lose their HRA. To my mind it defies any logic. If both of them have to lose their HRA, they should be entitled either for two accommodations or only one accommodation and should get one persons’ HRA, as is the case with other employees, one of whom is working in govt. office and other in public sector.
The other point is about CGHS facilities being provided to the govt. employees. Why don’t the govt. thinks in terms of Mediclaim sort of an insurance plan for Govt employees and their wards? I think paying a lumpsum amount monthly or annually as medical allowance would not be a bad idea at all as the services of CGHS are not up to the mark.
If you talk of other allowances viz OTA, Conveyance etc. we are still sticking to the “once upon a time” theme. The rate of overtime allowance for govt. employees is only Rs. 12.50 per hour for a long-2 time, which was revised after a long time from Rs. 3.45 per hour. I don’t know when the time will come to revise the rates.
Payment of Transport Allowance (TA) is one of the issues which should be considered by the Pay commission. At present, more TA is given to those who are also entitled for officials cars. Obviously, they should get more TA as per their entitlements, but the lower rung officials should not be overlooked. Is paying just Rs. 100/- as TA to a poorly paid baboo justified?
There are so many issues pertaining to Central government employees, which need to be looked into, but one thing is certain that they are a frustrated lot - Be it medical facilities, TA, OTA, Bonus, salary - everything has a cap/ condition over it. We may hope 6th Pay commission might ease up the position for sarkari baboos.
-- Jagdish C. Bist
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7 comments:
Yes Mr. Jagdish, you are right, revision of overtime allowance is a long pending issue. Many of government servants are forced to sit late in the office many of which don't get any compensation. They all are competent people who if work outside, can earn at least five to ten thousand rupees a month.
Government should think about revision of OTA allowance irrespective of pay-scales. Everybody who works more should get ota.
--Dinesh
Now it seems that things have started picking up. People have started giving their suggestions for the pay commission. I hope this platform would help if as many as sarkari baboos start using this platform. We should inform as many as baboos we know about this platform so that our majority can force the Commission to keep in mind our views while recommendations are made to the government.
I am very glad to know that Mr. Jagdish has touched most of the common issues which a baboo would like to raise before the commission.
I am of the view that the transport allowance should be uniform for all the baboos whether he is a class-IV or Class I Gazetted Officer because as the metro rail facility is expanding, it is making its reach all over Delhi and by 2010 almost 90% baboos would start using this facility and metro people do not charge more from a Class-I Gazetted Officer, their fares are same for all.
Kartikeya, Railways
Jagdishji,
You have written a very good article and you have covered most of the problems which all sarkari baboos would like that 6th pay commission should take into consideration.
I would like to specially emphasize on Assured Career Progression (ACP) Scheme which was proposed by the 5th Central Pay Commission but the central government did not implement that scheme in its totality. 5th CPC recommended ACP after 8 years and 10 years but the government accepted it for after 12 years.
There is a very big anomaly in it. People who qualify departmental tests in between they are not considered for ACP for 24 years of their service. This is a great injustice to an employee who is competent and after qualifying an exam put to harrassment of waiting for next promotion for 24 years of total length of his service.
This anomaly should be removed and 6th CPC should consider 5th Pay Commission's recommendations of giving ACP after 8 years and 10 years.
--Sanjeev Khanna, I&B
Have you ever thought that you are getting much much more than you actually pay to the government?
Himesh
You are right Mr. Himesh, we stand no where when we compare ourselves with the private stuff. They have dedication and killing instincts which we lack but nevertheless we can try and certainly we can compete with them if we are given better working environment and better pay-packages.
Sandeep
Dear Mr. Jagdish,
Good article. But, i would like to clarify the first line of second para of your article. How correct is the news that SPC is going to submit its report by the end of this year itself, while the actual date for submission of report is April, 2007. Is it a factual news or just a rumour like we all heard about IR. Kindly clarify???
My dear Mr. Anonymous,
You are right, Pay Commission has been given the mandate to submit its report by the end of April next year. But interim report of the Pay Commission is expected anytime after September this year. Commission may submit its final report to the Government in the first quarter of next year but not later than April 2008. Government will take its own time to accept or reject some of the recommendations and will implement the report of the Commission by Deepawali next year.
--Deepa
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