Friday, November 29, 2013
Thursday, November 28, 2013
KBC 2013 gets its first female crorepati
New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS) Firoz Fatma from Saharanpur has emerged the first female crorepati of the 2013 edition of popular reality TV game show "Kaun Banega Crorepati" (KBC).
She took home a jackpot of Rs.1 crore from the show, hosted by Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan. Her victory will be showcased on the season's last episode Sunday.
A Bachelor of Science student from Uttar Pradesh, Fatma participated in the game show to win a certain amount to pay off her deceased father's loan.
Fatma had lost hope to make it to the hot seat this season, but she finally found her lucky moment.
"I was very nervous when I wasn't able to make it to the hot seat in the second last episode and felt I have to go home empty handed. But then I aced the fastest finger first round and made my way to the hot seat," Fatma said in a press statement issued post her Rs.1 crore victory.
"Also, I didn't feel as the one-crore winner until the audience clapped and Bachchanji hugged me. It is a great feeling," she added.
Fatma credits her pool of general knowledge to newspapers and news channels.
Now the young lady wants to help her family get rid of her father's loan, and invest some money in studying further for a brighter future. She also wants her mother to live a tension-free life.
KBC is the Indian adaptation of international format "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". KBC first went on air in 2000.
Except the third season, which was hosted by Shah Rukh Khan, Big B has been in the anchor's seat for all KBC seasons.
Stop Tendulkar praise, say Pakistani Taliban
JUNGLE RAJ: A shot of Kabul's cricket-crazy thousands.The Pakistani Taliban have warned their country's media to stop praising Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, who retired this month after a glittering 24-year career.
A spokesman for the militants said Pakistanis should get behind their embattled captain Misbah-ul-Haq, even though he was a "substandard and low-level player".
Newspapers and TV stations across South Asia have been plastered with tributes to master batsman Tendulkar, who bowed out on November 16 as the world's leading run-scorer in both Test and one-day cricket.
Pakistan and India share one of the fiercest rivalries in world sport and the near-universal outpouring of praise for Tendulkar, the only man to score 100 international centuries, was a rare moment of agreement.
But Shahidullah Shahid, the main spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said it was time for Pakistanis to shut up about the "Little Master".
"There is an Indian cricket player called Tendulkar. He has been exceedingly praised by Pakistani media and also praised by a lot of Pakistanis," Shahid said in a video message, flanked by two masked men with AK-47s.
"Now someone should tell Pakistani media and other Pakistanis that no matter how good Tendulkar is, they should not praise him, it is against Pakistani nationalism and against loyalty to the country."
Misbah regularly comes under fire for his conservative tactics as captain and sedate batting style, which has earned him the nickname "Tuk-tuk".
Shahid told media to rein in their criticism -- though he scarcely gave a ringing endorsement of Misbah's leadership.
"No matter that Misbah-ul-Haq is a substandard and low-level player, Pakistani media should praise him because he is a Pakistani," Shahid said in the video published online at the weekend.
Shahid on Thursday confirmed the authenticity of the video to AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. a placard of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar outside a stadium in Mumbai November 14, 2013.
source:yahoo news
Aadhaar link mandatory for card transactions at merchant location
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has made it mandatory for banks to implement Aadhaarauthentication for card transactions at merchant locations.
The central bank said “all new card’s present infrastructure” has to be enabled for recent security measures, including an embedded EMV chip and a mandatory PIN, besides Aadhaar validation at point of sale (PoS) terminals.
Aadhaar is currently used by banks to establish identity while opening bank accounts, which can then be used to make sure that subsidy payments are routed directly to beneficiaries.
RBI had directed banks to issue chip-based cards by November 30 to tackle rising fraud.
The latest directive could mean additional expenditure for banks as they put in place the mechanism for biometric checks through the system established by the Unique Identification Authority of India that issues the Aadhaar number.
“The RBI’s directive to introduce biometric validation does not make sense,” said the payments head of a leading private sector bank, who expressed surprise at the move as banks are rolling out the EMV chip and PIN system, which he said was in line with best global practices for securing transactions.
Banks are issuing or have issued the new cards to customers who have used their existing cards at an international PoS terminal, the executive said.
“This facility will be later extended to other customers as well,” he said. “This new requirement is a challenge as we have very basic thumb print and reading devices. There is no service provider that manufactures such machines in bulk.”
Since the biometric validation is mandatory for new machines, most private banks may stop installing PoS terminals at merchant outlets, he said. The worst hit will be public sector banks.
State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda are among the large public sector banks that have announced plans to roll out a large number of PoS machines.
Source-TNN
JK imposes 10.5 per cent service tax on insurance schemes
Jammu, Nov 25: The Jammu and Kashmir government’s move to impose a uniform 10.5 percent service tax on the insurance policies has evoked strong resentment among the policy holders of Postal department terming it as cutting on their hard earned savings.
Sources said that state Commercial Tax Department has imposed a uniform service tax of 10.55 per cent on the insurance policies offered by all insurance companies including the Indian Postal Department Insurance schemes.
In this regard the department of Posts India has recently issued a notification to inform the public that every insurance service, including Postal Life Insurance and Rural Postal Life Insurance have been brought under sales tax net with effect from April 2007 vide under Jammu and Kashmir Government SRO No 117 dated March 2007.
The Posts India Department notification further says that all the existing and prospective Postal Life Insurance and Rural Postal Life Insurance insurants shall be charged 10.5 percent tax on the premium amount w.e.f from Nov 2013 payable to the state Government.
Sources said that around two lakh policy holders of Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) in the State have been affected by the new tax regime.
They said the imposition of such high rates of service tax would nibble at PLI and RPLI holders’ savings and benefits, adding that it would not affect much to the insurance policy holders of other companies which offer huge returns and high premium and long drawn Life Insurance policies and were already charging service and other taxes by including these in the premium itself.
Pertinently, only 1 to 3 percent tax has been imposed in other states after Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) issued a directive in this regard in June this year.
“It is highly illogical to impose service tax on the Postal Department Insurance schemes which offer a very low return of seven percent on small premium policies.
It means that if a PLI policy holder pays 10.55 percent service tax on the premium it is losing the seven percent returns and also paying 3.50 percent from his own pocket”, an Indian Postal Service official said on condition of anonymity.
Astonishingly, while the IRDA has asked the state governments to impose up to 3 percent service tax, Jammu and Kashmir has imposed 10.55 percent much to the dismay of the policy holders, particularly those having policies of Indian Postal Service Insurance schemes.
“Indian Postal department offers PLI only to employees of central and state government departments, nationalised banks, officers and staff of the defence services besides RPLI to the poor people of backward areas where they don’t have other options of saving, on very marginal interest, which is even less than the amount they are being forced to pay as service tax,” the official said.
He termed the imposition of service tax on the premium of PLI and RPLI as a dig at the policy holder who are government servants and pay every tax in one way or other.
“The department made several requests to state government for exempting PLI and RPLI from the new tax policy but they paid no heed,” the official said.
He claimed that the Postal department also requested for reducing the tax rate from 10.55 per cent to 1 or 2 per cent like other states but that was also declined by finance department, adding “after getting disappointed by the attitude of state government India Post take up the matter with higher ups in Union Government.”
When contacted, Chandera Parkesh, Chief Post Master General J&K said, “Service tax on PLI and RPLI is the decision of state government. After receiving complaints from the customers regarding sudden increase in premium amount we have sent a representation to state finance department seeking waive off.”
He said the Directorate of Postal Service is also in touch with state government on the issue.
However, a senior officer in state finance department, on condition of anonymity, told Greater Kashmir that concerned minister is not in town and on his return the Postal department representation will be tabled for discussion.
Source : http://www.greaterkashmir.com
New Postal Department service promises quick money transfers
A mobile money transfer service, launched recently by the department of posts, promises to reduce the time taken to transfer money orders within the country.
Now, people can send and receive money in a matter of a few minutes, thanks to the new ‘Mobile Money Transfer Service’ scheme available at 207 post offices in the city and suburbs.
As part of the mobile-based service, post offices are already offering electronically-transmitted money orders and instant money orders.
When a customer deposits money at a post office, a transaction ID is generated and sent as a text message to both the sender and recipient.
“We then provide a unique code to the sender who has to inform the recipient. The receiver can visit the nearest post office and show the text message and the unique code, to get the money. This process takes only a few minutes,” an official said.
The transaction amount is limited to Rs. 10,000 and customers are charged between Rs. 45 and Rs. 112 for transferring Rs. 1,000 to Rs.10,000.
The postal department has tied up with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for the service.
M. Rajan, who booked a money order through the service at the Vadapalani post office, said: “I transferred Rs. 2,000 to a relative in Chromepet. I was able to finish the process of booking, getting the unique code and telling my relative the code in 15 minutes.”
Officials at the postal department said, every month, on an average, nearly 10 lakh money orders, worth about Rs. 100 crore, are booked in the Chennai region. Of these, transactions relating to various government pension schemes account for Rs. 9 lakh.
Postmaster general, Chennai city region, Mervin Alexander said, “We want to tap customers who want to transfer small amounts, especially in rural areas, and draw customers who largely use banks for money transfers. Postal staff members have been provided with a handheld device to carry out the transactions.”
Tamil Nadu accounts for nearly 35 per cent of the money order transactions carried out across the country. For the six months ending September, for instance, about Rs. 6,000 crore worth of transactions were carried out in the country. Of these, transactions worth nearly Rs. 1,876 crore were done in the State, Mr. Alexander said.
Officials said in the older system of electronic money transfer, orders are delivered to the receivers the day after the booking is done.
Unlike in the case of web-based instant money orders, there are no receipts involved in this new service, officials said.
Source : http://www.thehindu.com
Tata Sons withdraws application for new bank license: RBI
Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, has withdrawn its application for a domestic banking license, RBI said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The company has indicated that its current financial services operating model best supports the needs of the Tata Group's domestic and overseas strategy, and provides adequate operating flexibility to its companies, while securing the interests of the Group's diverse stakeholder base," the Reserve Bank of India said.
The RBI has accepted the application withdrawal request, according to the statement.
Tata Sons had filed the application on July 1, according to the RBI. Companies in the Tata Group include Tata Consultancy ServicesBSE -0.52 % Ltd, Tata Motors LtdBSE 2.31 %, and Tata SteelBSE 0.73 % Ltd.
RBI had said in September that Value Industries, a unit of diversified conglomerate Videocon Industries BSE 0.03 % Ltd, had also withdrawn its application.
Source : The Economic Times
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
FAQ regarding New Pension Scheme in Ordnance Factories:-
Questionnaire regarding New Pension Scheme :-
source : PC of A (Fys)
via : http://karnmk.blogspot.in/
OFFICE OF THE PRINCIPAL CONTROLLER OF ACCOUNTS(FYS)
10-A, S K BOSE ROAD. KOLKATA – 700001
NPS Section
Questionnaire regarding New Pension Scheme :-
1.What is New Pension Scheme ?
A new defined contribution pension system in place of existing defined
benefit system, applicable for fresh entrants to Central Government
Service from 01-01-2004.
2. When it is started & for whom ?
The system is mandatory for all new recruits to the Central Government Service from 01-01-2004 except the Armed Forces.
3.What is the quantum of the Contribution ?
The monthly contribution to be deducted amounts to 10% of the Basic Pay,
Grade Pay and DA to be paid by the employee & matched by the
Central Government.
4.What will be the amount of Government Contribution?
It is equal to the individual’s subscription.
5.Is there any maximum limit of the subscription for an individual?
The maximum limit is 10%.
6.When does the NPS subscription start?
Recoveries towards Tier-I contribution start from the salary of the
month following the month in which the Government Servant has joined the
service. Therefore, no recovery is to be effected for the month of
joining.
7.Whether GPF will be available to the subscribers of the NPS ?
The existing provisions of defined benefit pension & GPF would not
be available to the new recruits in the Central Government service
covered under NPS.
8.How many Tiers are there in the NPS ?
There are two Tiers in the NPS. Tier-I is compulsory & Tier-II is
voluntary. Tier-II is a withdrawable account at subscriber’s option. The
employee would be free to withdraw part or all of the Tier-II of his
money any time. Government will not make any contribution to Tier-II
account.
9.When can the subscriber of NPS exit from the system ?
Individual can exit at the date of Superannuation i.e. at the age of 60 years.
10.What amount will be paid to the subscriber of the NPS at the time of retirement?
At exit, the individual would be mandatorily required to invest 40% of
the pension wealth to purchase an annuity and balance pension wealth
will be paid to him. Individual would have the flexibility to leave the
pension system prior to age 60. However, in this case, the mandatory
annuitization would be 80% of the pension wealth.
11.What is the Architecture of the New Pension Scheme ?
In order to implement the scheme there is a Central Record Keeping
Agency (National Securities Depository Limited) & several Pension
Fund Managers. At this stage there are three PFMs viz. SBI Pension Funds
Pvt.Ltd., UTI Retirement Solutions Ltd. & LIC Pension Fund Ltd.
An independent Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA) is to regulate and develop the pension market.
12.How & when an employee can contribute to Tier-II of the Scheme ?
An individual can open a Tier-II account with a Nationalized Bank and
the contribution will be deposited to the Bank by the subscriber
concerned. As Government will not make any contribution to Tier-II
account no recoveries will be made from the salaries of the employees on
this account.
13.How an employee be a member of the NPS ?
Immediately on joining Government service, the Government servant will
be required to provide particulars such as his name, designation, scale
of pay, date of birth etc. in the prescribed form viz. S-I form
prescribed by the NSDL, Mumbai, and submitted to his DDO. The S-I form
shall be submitted by the DDO to his Pay & Accounts Officer. The PAO
will forward the S-I form to the NSDL, Mumbai. On receipt of the form,
NSDL will allot 12 digit PRAN (Permanent Retirement Account Number) to
the subscribers and a PRAN kit will also be forwarded to the subscribers
by the NSDL.
14.How will the subscription recovered from the subscribers be remitted to the concerned authorities ?
The subscription of the NPS subscribers will be recovered from his
regular pay by the PAO concerned. The PAO will upload the NPS data to
the NPSCAN of NSDL & a cheque of the same amount will be remitted to
the Trustee Bank appointed by the PFRDA viz. Bank of India after the
data has been uploaded to the NPSCAN.
15.What is the investment plan of the NPS ?
The contribution towards pension will be invested in the default Schemes
termed as ‘Scheme I’ of various Pension Fund Managers (SBI Pension
Funds Pvt. Ltd., UTI Retirement Solutions Ltd. & LIC Pension Fund
Ltd.) presently in the proportion of 33%, 32% & 35%, respectively.
Each PFM will invest 85% of the contributions received by it in fixed
income instruments and 15% in equity & equity related instruments.
16.Whether the individual is entitled for leave encashment after retirement ?
The benefit of encashment of leave salary is not a part of the
retirement benefits admissible under Central Civil Services (Pension)
Rules, 1972. It is payable in terms of CCS (Leave) Rules which will
continue to be applicable to the Government Employees who join the
Government Service on or after 01-01-2004. Therefore, the benefit of
encashment of leave salary payable to the Government Employees/ to their
families on account of retirement/death will be admissible.
17.What happens if an employee gets transferred during the month ? Which office will make deduction of contributions ?
As in the case of other recoveries, the recovery of contributions
towards NPS for the full month (both individual & Government) will
be made by the office who will draw salary for the maximum period.
18.Who will pay additional relief on death/disability of Government Servants covered by NPS ?
Additional relief on death/disability of Defence Civilians Personnel
covered by the New Defined Contribution System (NPS) will be dealt with
by PCDA (P) Allahabad.
19.What is the procedure for recovery of NPS contribution in the case of EOL/HPL ?
The subscription of the employee and the Government would be restricted
proportionately to the leave salary in case of HPL cases.
In case of EOL since no salary is drawn during this period, no
contribution either from employee or from Government would be payable.
20.What is the procedure for recovery of NPS contribution in the case of Suspension cases?
Every subscriber shall subscribe monthly to the NPS when on duty or Foreign Service but not during a period of Suspension.
On exoneration or otherwise, the amount of subscription shall be the
emoluments to which he was entitled on the first day after his return to
duty.
If a subscriber elect to pay arrears of subscriptions in respect of a
period of suspension, the emoluments or portion of emoluments which may
be allowed for that period on re-instatement, shall deemed to be
emoluments drawn on duty.
21.What is the Time Line of regular upload and Fund Transfer ?
The responsibility for timely remittance to the Trustee Bank is that of
the PAO in respect of all the subscribers under his domain. After
pre-audit of pay bill the PAO should upload the subscriber contribution
details on NPSCAN and obtain the transaction ID by the 25th of each
month.
If the remittance is through RTGS/NEFT then it may be ensured that the
NPS contributions (Govt. & Employees) should be credited to the
account of the Trustee Bank by the PAO on the last working day of each
month for that salary month. If the remittance is through a cheque
payable to the Trustee Bank, then the same should be delivered to the
local branch of the Trustee Bank by the PAO by the 26th of each month
marked NPB for the last working day of the month.
source : PC of A (Fys)
via : http://karnmk.blogspot.in/
Grant of paid holiday to employees on the day of poll — Regarding.
ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA
NIRVACHAN SADAN, ASHOKA ROAD, NEW DELHI-110001.
No.78/2013/EPS
Dated: 24th October, 2013
To1. The Chief Secretaries to the Government of: -
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan,
Delhi, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
2. The Chief Electoral Officers of: -
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram. Rajasthan,
Delhi, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
3. The Secretary to the Govt. of India, M/o Personnel Public
Grievances & Pensions, Department of Personnel and
Training, North Block, New Delhi.
Subject:- General Election to the State Legislative Assemblies of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Delhi and bye-elections to fill the casual vacancies in the StateLegislative Assemblies of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu — Grant of paid holiday to employees on the day of poll — Regarding.
Sir,
I am directed to invite your
attention to Section 135B of the Representation of the People Act. 1951
which provides for the grant of paid holiday to the employees on the day
of poll. The Section 135B is reproduced below:
“135B. Grant of paid holiday to employees on the day of poll.
(i) Every person employed in any
business trade, industrial undertaking or any other establishment and
entitled to vote at election to the House of the People or the
Legislative Assembly of a State shall, on the day of poll, be granted a
holiday.
(ii) No deduction or abatement of
the wages of any such person shall be made on account of a holiday
having been granted in accordance with sub-section (I) and if such
person is employed on the basis that he would not ordinarily receive
wages for such a day, he shall nonetheless be paid for such day the
wages he would have drawn had not a holiday been granted to him on that
day.
(iii) If an employer contravenes
the provisions of sub-section (1) or susedion (2), then such employer
shall be punishable with fine, which may extend to five hundred rupees.
(iv) This section shall not apply
to any elector whose absence may cause danger or substantial loss in
respect of the employment in which he is engaged.”
2. The above provisions recuire
that all establishments and shops including those which work on shift
basis shall be closed on the day of poll in the Constituency where a
General/bye-election is to be held. However, there may be cases where a
person is ordinanly resident of the Constituency and registered as an
elector, may be serving/employed in an industrial undertaking or an
establishment located outside the Constituency having a
general/bye-election. It is clarified that in such a situation, even
those electors including casual workers working outside the constituency
concerned would be entitled to the benefit of a paid holiday extended
under Section 135B(1) of the Representation of the People Act. 1951.
3. The daily wage/casual workers
are also entitled for a holiday and wages on poll day as provided in
Section 135B of the R.P. Act, 1951.
4. The Commission desired that
suitable instructions should be issued to all concerned and a copy there
of be endorsed to the Commission for its information and record.
5. The receipt of this letter may please be acknowledged.
Yours faithfully,
sd/-
(Sumit Mukherjee)
Secretary
Source : www.eci.nic.in
[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/current/ImpIns25112013.pdf]
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