BSNL clears employees salaries in February 2019 BSNL, a state – owned telecoms company, said that its 1,76 lakh employees were cleared of their pending february salaries. The company also announced the launch of various schemes to increase its market share and revenue. “We have disbursed salary of all employees that was pending for the month of February. BSNL employees have ensured that customers services run uninterrupted despite issues that they were facing. Now we will aggressively focus on increasing our market share and revenue with attractive schemes,” BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava told PTI. The BSNL CMD Thursday had said that the telco was using internal accruals of Rs 850 crore to clear the February salary. He had stressed that with the telecom department’s support, there would be no delay in salary disbursement in coming months. BSNL Friday announ...

Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota will not affect existing reservation Madurai (TN), Jan 27 (PTI) Virtually sounding the Lok Sabha poll bugle in Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday hit out at critics of the 10 per cent quota for the economically weaker sections. A few in the state were creating an “atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust” for ‘selfish’ interests, he said addressing a well-attended BJP rally here. He took a swipe at the proposed grand alliance of opposition parties, saying they had set aside their ‘differences’ to “remove this watchman” in the forthcoming Parliamentary elections. The government was taking effective steps to rid the country of corruption and nepotism, he said, while assuring firm action against economic offenders, even if put up abroad. The Centre’s 10 per cent quota for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the general category in education and government jobs will not impact the existing reservation benefits for Dalits, T...

Supreme Court agrees to examine Centre’s decision to grant 10 pc quota to poor in general category The Supreme Court Friday decided to examine the Centre’s decision to grant 10 percent reservation in jobs and education to poor candidates belonging to general category. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notice to the central government on various petitions challenging the validity of the Constitution (103 Amendment) Act, 2019, which paved the way for grant of quota to poor belonging to general category. “We are examining the matter and hence issuing notice returnable within four weeks,” the bench said. The bench, however, did not stay the operation of the Centre’s decision granting quota to the poor in the general category. In poll year, the Narendra Modi government had come out with the constitutional amendment bill giving quota benefits to the poor among general category candidates. The petitions were filed by parties including ...

One lakh benefitted under PMJAY health insurance scheme in one month of its launch Nearly a month after the roll out of the Centre’s PMJAY health insurance scheme, one lakh people have availed the benefits of the ambitious programme, Union Health Minister J P Nadda said Sunday. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (previously Ayushman Bharat), touted as the world’s largest health insurance programme, was launched pan-India by the prime minister from Jharkhand on September 23. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana on September 23 and within a month, one lakh beneficiaries have benefitted from it. We are committed to ensure the benefits of the scheme reach the last man,” Nadda said in a tweet in Hindi. The scheme is expected to benefit up to 55 crore people, providing them an annual health cover of Rs 5 lakh for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of   Empanelled Health Care Providers (EHCP). There is no cap on fa...

Government to allow data service initially under in-flight connectivity The telecom department is considering to allow only data services initially in flights and water vessels within Indian territorial boundaries, an official source said. Under the proposed in-flight connectivity guidelines, both voice and data services would be provided to passengers on flights and maritime transport within the national boundaries. “DoT will initially seek application for data services under IFC (in-flight connectivity) guidelines. There are some issues around gateway for voice so that will not start immediately,” a Department of Telecom official told PTI. In-flight connectivity service is available in most of the developed markets. While mobile phone use will still be restricted during takeoff and landing, the Telecom Commission has approved lifting the ban on the use of mobile phones and internet services at cruising altitudes. Globally, many airlines are offering wi-fi for passengers,...

Government Hikes GPF Interest Rate To 8% For October-December quarter. The government has increased the rate of interest for General Provident Fund (GPF) and other related schemes by 0.4 percentage points to 8 per cent for the October-December quarter. The rate is in line with that for Public Provident Fund. The interest rate on GPF was 7.6 per cent for the July-September quarter of 2018-19. “… during the year 2018-2019, accumulations at the credit of subscribers to the General Provident Fund and other similar funds shall carry interest at the rate of 8 per cent with effect from October 1, 2018, to December 31, 2018,” a Department of Economic Affairs’ notification said. The interest rate would apply on Provident Funds of central government employees, railways and defence forces. Last month, the government announced that the interest on small savings, including NSC and PPF, will be hiked by up to 0.4 percentage point for the October-December quarter, to align it with rising...

Central Government plans to abolish posts vacant for 5 years The government is planning to abolish all posts which have been vacant for more than five years, and has directed all ministries and department to submit a comprehensive report on the matter. In an office memorandum, the Finance Ministry said it had asked all ministries and departments to submit an action-taken report regarding abolition of posts vacant for more than five years. Some departments and ministries have responded but some, instead of providing a comprehensive report, have submitted the requisite information in piecemeal manner, it said. Therefore, financial advisors and joint secretaries (administration) of all ministries/ departments are requested to identify the posts which are vacant for more than five years and submit a comprehensive report on abolition of such posts in main ministry and their respective subordinate organisations at the earliest, the office memorandum, dated January 16, 2018, said. Following t...

Government considering report on age limit for civil service exams Nearly eight months after its submission, the report of Baswan committee that suggested changes in civil service exam pattern and age limit is under examination, the government has said. The committee had submitted its report to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on 9 August 2016. "The Baswan Committee's report along with UPSC's recommendations on it has been received on 20 March 2017 and the same is under examination," the department of personnel and training (DoPT) said in response to an RTI query filed by a PTI correspondent. Thousands of aspirants appear in the civil service exam conducted annually by the UPSC in three stages - preliminary, mains and interview - to select officers for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others. The UPSC had constituted the expert committee under the chairmanship of former human resource de...