Wednesday 11 July 2012

Grant of financial upgradation under ACP/MACP Schemes to Inter Departmental transferee

CONTROLLER GENERAL OF DEFENCE ACCOUNTS

ULAN BATAR ROAD, DELHI CANTT-110010

No. AN/XI/11051/MACP/2011/ID

Dated: 4.6.2012.

To
The PCDA/ PCA (Fys)/CDA

Subject : Grant of financial upgradation under ACP/MACP Schemes to Inter Departmental transferee

Reference is invited to HQrs. Office circulars bearing Nos.AN/XI/11051/ACP/Corr. (ID) dated 18.6.2008 and AN/XI/11051/MACP/2010/Vol-I Dated 25.2.2010, wherein the clarifications were issued regarding grant of financial up—gradation under ACP/MACP Scheme to the inter_departmental transferee, who joined the DAD after availing ACP in the scale, which is lower than the scale in the hierarchy of our department based on the guidelines received from the Ministry through DOP&T.

2, Since the above two clarifications are contradictory, accordingly, the matter was brought to the notice of the Ministry and the Ministry in turn, in consultation with the DOP&T has clarified that such cases are to be regularised as per the criteria, as laid in HQrs. Office ibid circular dated 25.2.2010.
3. It is therefore, requested to review & regularised all such cases, as per the criteria laid down in the HQrs. Office circular dated 25.2.2010. The over payment made in this regard may be intimated to this Office inter—alia number of cases involved, to enable this office to take up the matter with the Ministry.


sd/-
(S.C. Gupta)
For CGDA


Source: www.cgda.nic.in
[http://www.cgda.nic.in/adm/macpIneterDept.pdf]

Post office bank proposal awaits RBI nod

Chennai, July 9 (IANS) The government is awaiting the Reserve Bank of India's nod on a proposal to spin off the savings account operations of post offices into a bank, Sachin Pilot, union minister of state for communications and information technology, said Monday.
Pilot also said the government is drawing up a plan to revive the loss-making Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and will soon roll out a new policy on electronics hardware manufacturing.
"We are waiting for a reply from RBI on our proposal to float post office bank," Pilot told reporters here.
The government, however, does not have any plans to spin off the postal life insurance business into a separate company. "The postal life insurance is doing well in providing affordable policy for rural people," he added.
Pilot was in the city to inaugurate a new research and development (R&D) facility of Alcatel Lucent India.
Asked about the turnaround plans for BSNL, he said: "We are drawing up the plan. Some circles are now earning profit. We are looking at BSNL floating joint ventures to use its assets in an efficient way."
On the proposed electronics policy, he said the Indian electronics (mobile phones, consumer durables and others) market is around $45 billion now and expected to grow to around $400 billion in 10 years time.
Pilot said the government is planning to stipulate certain percentage of components to be locally sourced, but declined to specify any number.
He said the merging of IT and telecom is creating a new opportunity for India and the focus of the government is on boosting the electronics manufacturing in a major way.
About the IT industry, Pilot said the sector is expected to grow 17 percent next year and the target is $300 billion by 2020 from the current $100 billion.
He urged the domestic IT companies to diversify their exports rather than focusing just the US market.
Referring to the rural connectivity plans, Pilot said the centre has written to all the states to provide right of way free of cost for laying the optic fibre connecting villages across the country.
Source :  http://www.newstrackindia.com

New IT policy to focus on local sourcing: Sachin Pilot

CHENNAI: Union minister of state for communication and IT Sachin Pilot said on Monday that the new IT policy was almost ready and would contain provisions to involve more domestic manufacturing companies in the electronics growth story.

"The draft notes have been finalised," said Pilot. "The value addition needs to go beyond putting some screws and bubble wrapping the product here in India. Some percentage of sourcing must be done locally."

The electronics market in India is worth $45 billion and is expected to grow to $400 billion in less than 10 years. "So, the ministry is really focused on electronics manufacturing getting a boost. We want to make sure that domestic firms gain from this growth, which will be mainly driven by domestic demand," said Pilot.

Pilot, who had earlier said crossholding among telcos may be scrapped, said this would be considered in the new IT policy. "If I have taken it up, it will be addressed," he said.

He said that IT exports are likely to reach $300 billion by 2020 but the focus should be on how to take IT to the masses. "There is no reason why we should restrict ourselves only to export dollars. Businesses should create more local content," said Pilot. "We are looking to get 22 Indian languages the same status. So far, only six languages are allowed for internet domain name registration."

On banking licence for post offices, he said the ministry has written to the RBI and the matter was under consideration. There are more than 23 crore savings bank accounts in the post offices. He also said there are no plans to change post office life insurance services as they were doing well. In Tamil Nadu, he said the revenue of the postal department increased by around 18% to Rs 882 crore and there are plans to interlink all the post offices in the state.

Pilot said that things are still difficult at BSNL on the financial front, although some circles have shown signs of return to profitability. "Traditional landline business is not giving us any money," said Pilot. "We are looking at more joint ventures although I can't give out more details now. We will also take steps to make management more efficient." 
Source : The Times of India, July 10, 2012

Deductors Must Comply with their Obligations to Ensure Correct Credit to Persons from Whose Income Tax is Deducted at Source

All deductors other than Government deductors must file their quarterly TDS statement for the quarter ending 30th June 2012, on or before 15th July 2012 and Government deductors must file their statement on or before 30th July 2012. While submitting their statements, the deductors have to choose correct and relevant form, quote correct PAN against all entries and ensure that correct CIN/BIN is quoted in the TDS statement. Non-quoting of PAN or TAN in TDS statements or delay in filing of TDS statements may lead to levy of penalty.

Filing of TDS statement with correct PAN and CIN/BIN is important because under Rule 37BA of Income Tax Rules, 1962 credit for tax deducted at source is given to the deductees on the basis of TDS statement furnished to the Income-tax Department by the deductor. Filing of TDS statements with incorrect PAN or other details of the deductee would, therefore, cause inconvenience to the deductees (taxpayer).

In case the income on which tax has been deducted at source is assessable in the hands of a person other than the deductee, the deductee must file a declaration with the deductor that credit for the TDS shall be given to the other person and not to the deductee. The declaration filed by the deductee must contain the name, address, Permanent Account Number of the person to whom credit is to be given and reasons for giving credit to such person. The deductor must, in the TDS statement, report the tax deduction in the name of such other person and also issue the TDS certificate in the name of the person in whose name credit is shown in the TDS statement.

TDS certificates for deductions on income other than salary income (Form 16A) for the quarter ending 30th June 2012 should be issued on or before 30th July 2012. 
Source : PIB, July 10, 2012

No service tax to be implemented on NRI remittances

NEW DELHI: The government has said overseas remittances will not attract service tax, putting to rest the concerns raised in view of new service tax norms.

"The matter has been examined and it is clarified that there is no service tax per se on the amount of foreign currency remitted to India from overseas," said a circular issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs.

The clarification come in the backdrop of concerns expressed in several quarters that overseas remittances would face 12% service tax under the negative list regime applicable from July 1.

India, one of the top recipient of remittances, got $ 64 billion in 2011, according to the World Bank data.



Chief Ministers of Punjab and Kerala, which are among the states receiving the largest remittances from expatriates, had taken up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"Concerns have been expressed in various fora regarding the leviability of service tax on the remittance of foreign currency in India from overseas....Remittance comprises money, the activity does not comprise a 'service' and thus not subjected to service tax", it said.

In case any fee or conversion charges are levied for sending such money, they are also not liable to service tax as the person sending the money and the company conducting the remittance are located outside India, the circular issued by the apex indirect taxes body said.

The CBEC further clarified that Indian bank or financial institution which charge the foreign bank for the services provided at the receiving end, is not liable to service tax. 
 
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Role of Post Offices in Empowering Aam Aadmi

In India, Information Communication Technology (ICT) has emerged during the last decade as the most powerful tool of sustainable human development. Today ICT’s inherent potential for inclusive growth through empowerment of masses makes it the most sought after need of the Nation. This technology is not the end but is mean to ends like good governance and better quality of service. Recognizing the role of ICTs in lessening the development divide and bringing transparency in Governance, India Post is the unique and most appropriate organization of Central Government for leveraging ICT for empowering Aam Aadmi.
Progressive use of computers in post offices and their connected network on a single integrated platform presents an opportunity for India Post to take state services to village level and also to retail products and services of other service providers.  Most of the technology led transformation plans fail because they lack focus on processes, people and resources. India Post has adopted a holistic approach to technology led transformation understanding the importance of reengineering process, skill development and enhancement and resource planning.
Computerization and Networking of Post Offices
The Government has approved the IT (Information Technology) modernization project of the Department of Posts for computerization of all its Post Offices, Mail Offices, Administrative and other Offices, establishment of IT infrastructure, and development of software applications. IT modernization project is a Pan India Project covering all the Post Offices throughout India. It includes all Post Offices in North-Eastern and Assam Circles. This project includes supply of rural ICT hardware devices and peripherals to the Branch Post Offices in the rural areas, development of scalable, integrated and modular software covering all the operations of Department of Posts and establishment of IT infrastructure including Data Center, Wide Area Network (WAN) based networking of the departmental Post Offices and Rural Information Communication Technology (Rural ICT) infrastructure for the Post offices in rural areas. The scope of this project has been structured in eight Broad areas. Computerization and networking of all Post Offices would bring in the following benefits for the Aam Aadmi:
·         Improve service level for users, increase productivity of the employees and inter-alia raise revenues of the Department.
·         The Post Office will become the focal point of delivery of Social Security Schemes of the State.
·         Enable electronic networking of about 1, 30,000 rural Post Offices.
·         Enable paperless transactions for mail, postal banking and insurance services.
·         Enable tracking and tracing of accountable articles meant for delivery.

Setting up of Automated Mail Processing Centres
Automation in mail processing would also help the Department in modernization of mail network, consolidation of sorting activities and expedite mail sorting and delivery. With a view to automate mail sorting, the Department of Post is setting up Automated Mail Processing Centers (AMPCs) in the metro cities. The sorting machines in Delhi and Kolkata are currently under installation and commissioning. These sorting machines would be able to sort approximately 35,000 articles per hour, whereas, the Mixed Mail Sorters would sort approximately 18,000 articles per hour. The Mixed Mail sorting machines would help in faster processing of large size letters, flats and packets/parcels through the use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Faster processing of mail, parcels and packets would lead to expedited delivery of these articles and improvement in service quality.
Project Arrow
The process of modernization of Post Offices began way back in April 2008 when Project Arrow was launched. The Project envisages up gradation of Post Offices in urban and rural areas both in terms of upgrading and enhancing the quality of service in ‘core areas’ and improving their ‘Look and Feel’. The project aims at creating a conducive and friendly work environment both for the staff and the customers visiting the Post Offices, providing all IT enabled services through secure connectivity, improving the service quality levels in the core business areas e.g. Mail delivery, Remittances both electronic and manual and Postal Savings schemes. The ‘Look and Feel’ activity focuses on improvement in Branding, Information Technology, Human Resource and Infrastructure.
So far the Project has been implemented in respect of monitoring of core areas in more than 15,500 Post Offices while ‘Look and Feel’ has been improved in 1,530 Post Offices. The Department of Posts received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration for the year 2008-09 for “Project Arrow – Transforming India Post” on 21st April, 2010. ‘Look and Feel’ component of Project Arrow is under implementation in 229 more Post Offices.
As the strong IT - base enables to offer a range of e-enabled services Post Offices equipped with ICT will not only play crucial role in social and financial inclusion of rural masses throughout the country but also in National Integration and empowerment of Aam Aadmi.
Source:-PIB Features
*Deputy Director(M&C), PIB, New Delhi.

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