Centre Plans To Bar Its Officials From Making Any Criticism Of Govt On Social Media

Centre Plans To Bar Its Officials From Making Any Criticism Of Govt On Social Media

New Delhi: The Centre plans to amend the CCS (Conduct) Rules for baring its officials from making any criticism of government on social media, television and any other communication application.

Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh

Right now, the conduct rules do bar government officials from criticizing the government on a radio broadcast, communication over any public media, in any document, in any communication to the press or in any public utterance.

However, to make the rules specific to social media given presence of many officials on the same, a note is now proposed to be added to the All India Service (Conduct) Rules, 1968 saying: “The member of service shall also not make any such statement on television, social media or any other communication application. The word ‘Document’ may also include a caricature.”

This implies that any criticism of the government or its policies on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook or on social networking groups like WhatsApp or through the officer drawing out a caricature will also attract disciplinary action under the Conduct Rules. The step comes after a committee constituted to review All India Service Rules has proposed certain amendments to the Conduct Rules.

Under the rules, a statement by an official is considered critical of the government if it has the effect of an adverse criticism of any current or recent policy or action of the Central Government or a State Government, which is capable of embarrassing the relations between the Central Government and any State Government or which is capable of embarrassing the relations between the Central Government and the Government of any Foreign State. All such statements by officials will not stand barred on social media.

In the context of social media, the government however wants to introduce a provision allowing government officials to participate in any public media including social media websites without the prior sanction of the government if the same is required by the officer as part of bonafide discharge of his duties. Many officials have joined Twitter and Facebook to communicate government decisions and the provision seems to be aimed at the same.

The government also plans to tweak an existing rule and plans to specify that government officials can take part in “simple and inexpensive entertainment events arranged by public bodies or institutions”.

In another tweak to the conduct rules, the government plans to introduce a provision whereby the official will be required to intimate the government of the purchase of an asset like automobiles or household equipment only if its value exceeds two months of his basic pay.

Inputs with ET

All India Draft Combined Seniority list of Postmaster Grade-III cadre till 2015

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RTP PRINCIPAL CAT CASE

RTP PRINCIPAL CAT CASE Arguments were held in RTP Principal CAT case today (20.07.2016). The further argument will be held on next date i.e. 26.08.2016.

RBI Guidelines for Licensing of Payments Banks

PRESS RELEASES- RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

(139 kb)

Date : Nov 27, 2014

RBI releases Guidelines for Licensing of Payments Banks

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released on its website today, the Guidelines for Licensing of Payments Banks. Key features of the Payments Banks guidelines are: i) Objectives: The objectives of setting up of payments banks will be to further financial inclusion by providing (i) small savings accounts and (ii) payments/remittance services to migrant labour workforce, low income households, small businesses, other unorganised sector entities and other users. ii) Eligible promoters : Existing non-bank Pre-paid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuers; and other entities such as individuals / professionals; Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), corporate Business Correspondents(BCs), mobile telephone companies, super-market chains, companies, real sector cooperatives; that are owned and controlled by residents; and public sector entities may apply to set up payments banks. A promoter/promoter group can have a joint venture with an existing scheduled commercial bank to set up a payments bank. However, scheduled commercial bank can take equity stake in a payments bank to the extent permitted under Section 19 (2) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Promoter/promoter groups should be ‘fit and proper’ with a sound track record of professional experience or running their businesses for at least a period of five years in order to be eligible to promote payments banks. iii) Scope of activities : Acceptance of demand deposits. Payments bank will initially be restricted to holding a maximum balance of Rs. 100,000 per individual customer. Issuance of ATM/debit cards. Payments banks, however, cannot issue credit cards. Payments and remittance services through various channels. BC of another bank, subject to the Reserve Bank guidelines on BCs. Distribution of non-risk sharing simple financial products like mutual fund units and insurance products, etc. iv) Deployment of funds : The payments bank cannot undertake lending activities. Apart from amounts maintained as Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) with the Reserve Bank on its outside demand and time liabilities, it will be required to invest minimum 75 per cent of its "demand deposit balances" in Statutory Liquidity Ratio(SLR) eligible Government securities/treasury bills with maturity up to one year and hold maximum 25 per cent in current and time/fixed deposits with other scheduled commercial banks for operational purposes and liquidity management. v) Capital requirement : The minimum paid-up equity capital for payments banks shall be Rs. 100 crore. The payments bank should have a leverage ratio of not less than 3 per cent, i.e., its outside liabilities should not exceed 33.33 times its net worth (paid-up capital and reserves). vi) Promoter's contribution: The promoter's minimum initial contribution to the paid-up equity capital of such payments bank shall at least be 40 per cent for the first five years from the commencement of its business. vii) Foreign shareholding: The foreign shareholding in the payments bank would be as per the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy for private sector banks as amended from time to time. viii) Other conditions : The operations of the bank should be fully networked and technology driven from the beginning, conforming to generally accepted standards and norms. The bank should have a high powered Customer Grievances Cell to handle customer complaints. ix) Procedure for application: In terms of Rule 11 of the Banking Regulation (Companies) Rules, 1949, applications shall be submitted in the prescribed form (Form III) to the Chief General Manager, Department of Banking Regulation, Reserve Bank of India, 13th Floor, Central Office Building, Mumbai – 400 001. In addition, the applicants should furnish the business plan and other requisite information as indicated. Applications will be accepted till the close of business as on January 16, 2015. After experience gained in dealing with payments banks, applications will be received on a continuous basis. However, these guidelines are subject to periodic review and revision. x) Procedure for RBI decisions: An External Advisory Committee (EAC) comprising eminent professionals like bankers, chartered accountants, finance professionals, etc., will evaluate the applications. The decision to issue an in-principle approval for setting up of a bank will be taken by the Reserve Bank. The Reserve Bank’s decision in this regard will be final. The validity of the in-principle approval issued by the Reserve Bank will be eighteen months. The names of applicants for bank licences will be placed on the Reserve Bank website. Background It may be recalled that in the Union Budget 2014-2015 presented on July 10, 2014, the Hon’ble Finance Minister announced that: “After making suitable changes to current framework, a structure will be put in place for continuous authorization of universal banks in the private sector in the current financial year. RBI will create a framework for licensing small banks and other differentiated banks. Differentiated banks serving niche interests, local area banks, payment banks etc. are contemplated to meet credit and remittance needs of small businesses, unorganized sector, low income households, farmers and migrant work force”. Accordingly, the Reserve Bank formulated and released for public comments draft guidelines for licensing of payments banks in the private sector on July 17, 2014. Several comments and suggestions were received from interested parties and public on the draft guidelines. Considering the feedback received, the guidelines on payments banks have been finalised. Alpana Killawala Principal Chief General  Manager Press Release : 2014-2015/1089

CIRCLE WISE NUMBER OF CBS OFFICES AS ON 27.06.2016

The govt is planning to take disciplinary action for criticising the Government in written word as well as caricatures.

India Post seeks services of students, unemployed for delivering goods

New Delhi: With online orders piling up, India Post is hiring students and the jobless to deliver goods, S.K. Sinha, secretary at the department of post, said on Thursday.

The department recently issued orders under which it can hire third-party persons, such as unemployed people and students, to pick up and deliver articles from post offices, with a 12% commission for every delivery.

“If you pick up about 10 orders of about 1 kg, you can earn Rs.100-250 per day,” said Sinha, adding that the programme will also help generate employment. There’s an upper limit for how much commission you can earn.

The outsourcing will augment its parcel service and bring it at par with other private parcel services that offer to pick up orders from the customer’s location.

The postal department’s revenue from COD (cash on delivery) consignments from e-commerce majors surged to Rs.1,300 crore in the year ending March 2016, up from Rs.500 crore in 2014-15, and just Rs.100 crore in 2013-14.

E-commerce firms availing India Post’s services include all the major online portals such as Amazon India, Flipkart as well as Snapdeal.

The requirements to register for the program is an identification proof and reference from two prominent person known to the post office, after which the third party will be given a licence to deliver and pick up articles.

With e-commerce and financial services expected to take off, the department is expecting earnings from these services to help break even in the next 6-7 years.

India Post recorded a deficit of about Rs.6,000 crore for fiscal year 2015, a 14.4% increase from a year earlier.

The department is also looking at revenue from its online service, e-post office, which sells philately products as well as the newly launched bottled Gangajal, water from the river Ganga.

There is strong demand for Gangajal with almost all the stock sold out, added Sinha.

India Post has sold at least 4,000 bottles of Gangajal, considered holy by Hindus, from its post offices and online and has witnessed strong demand from southern states such as Tamil Nadu.

“While India Post doesn’t generate any profit from the Gangajal program, it does create a lot of goodwill for the department, which in turn can help attract users for its speed post and banking services,” Sinha said.

Source : http://www.livemint.com

CHANGE IN PROCEDURE OF ISSUE OF NSC AND KVP FROM 01.07.2016

From: Director (CBS)

Sent: Friday, July 8, 2016 19:17

To: CPMG Andhra Pradesh Circle; CPMG Assam Circle; CPMG Bihar Circle; CPMG Chattisgarh Circle; CPMG Delhi Circle; CPMG Gujrat Circle; CPMG Haryana Circle; CPMG Himachal Pradesh Circle; CPMG Jammu & Kashmir Circle; CPMG Jharkhand Circle; CPMG Karnataka Circle; CPMG Kerala Circle; CPMG Madhya Pradesh Circle; CPMG Maharashtra Circle; CPMG North East Circle; CPMG Orissa Circle; CPMG Punjab Circle; CPMG Rajasthan Circle; CPMG Tamilnadu Circle; CPMG Uttar Pradesh Circle; CPMG Uttarakhand Circle; CPMG West Bengal Circle

Cc: DDG (Financial Services); GM CEPT; Sakthivelu VM; Giriraj Ponnambalam; FSI (CBS) Team, CEPT; Director CEPT (Mysore); DDG (PG, QA & Inspections); DDG (PCO / PMLA); Director (Vigilance); Member (Banking & HRD)

Subject: Re: CHANGE IN PROCEDURE OF ISSUE OF NSC AND KVP FROM 01.07.2016

 Respected Sir/Madam,

This office is receiving references  on handling the cases relating to cheque clearing received after 30.6.2016 and cheque clearing date is prior to 1.7.2016 in respect of issue of NSC or KVP and in some cases maturity value of KVP showing less the the double amount. It is requested to follow the following procedure to handle such cases:- 

1. Accounts for which cheque clearing was done upto 30/06/2016 and clearing information was received on or after 01/07/2016 - use CSCOAAC menu and enter the date of clearing as a/c open date & value date. Select the denominations requested. System will open account against each denomination. If stock of certificates  is available, print certificates. If stock of certificates is not available and returned and If number of accounts are less than 5, change deposit receipt option to Passbook printing and print Passbook. Note all account numbers on the second page of Passbook manually and SPM/APM can sign below this information. If there are more than 5 Accounts, Passbook may be prepared manually and account numbers should be written manually on Page 2 and SPM/APM should sign below this information. 

2. Issue relating to Maturity value for some high value accounts is shown less by Re.1 or Rs.2 - this issue is noticed and configurations are being worked out. Maturity amount will get corrected after configuration changes. No. of accounts affected (greater 60000 denomination) is between 300-400 across all the SOLs. In such cases, maturity value should be corrected manually to double the amount on Passbook under initials of SPM/APM. 

With regards,

Sachin Kishore
Director (CBS)

Sansad Marg,

Dak Bhavan