OFFICE BEARERS

Circle President : - Sukhtej Singh, Assistant Supdt Posts, Amritsar Sub Division, Amritsar 9463004921;

Circle Secretary :- Vikas Sharma, Assistant Supdt Posts, Ropar Sub Division, Ropar 9417226661;

Circle Treasurer :- Gaurav Nagi, Inspector Post (PMU) Punjab Circle Chandigarh (M) 09876581559


Friday, April 14, 2017

UPU NEWS : The Postal Operations Council (POC) sees success with new working methods

The Postal Operations Council (POC) held its first session for the 2017-2020 cycle at the end of March, launching a series of new tools and improved working methods aimed at increasing efficiency.

One new addition is a deliverables matrix developed by the International Bureau secretariat to help monitor the implementation of Congress decisions, resolutions and work proposals. It was developed for both the POC and Council of Administration (CA) and can be monitored by delegates using a new online workspace application developed by the UPU.
“The key principles of the Reform of our Union are  faster decision-making processes and more efficient ways of working,” said UPU Director General Bishar A. Hussein.
“New and innovative electronic working methods have been designed to increase the participation, representation and integration of UPU stakeholders in our work – this will increase the role and relevance of our Union in solving the challenges faced by the postal sector.”
Under the new matrix, all deliverables assigned to the first POC session had been marked green as completed.
For his part, POC Chairman Masahiko Metoki said: “Congratulations to all the member countries on achieving green [across the board] … it is a very visual, clearly understood presentation [of our achievements].”
The changes were implemented according to a decision made by member countries during the 26th Universal Postal Congress, which instructed the UPU streamline the structures and decision-making processes and decrease the length of meetings to five days for each council session.

Looking forward

With new challenges and new opportunities brought about by the changing market environment, it became clear during the session that the POC will be at the forefront in bringing about the disruptive change needed for the UPU to rise to new market realities—namely through integrated product development and quick decision making.
The continuing development of the Integrated Product Plan, which was approved by the Istanbul Congress, has demonstrated that with a clear vision and a clear mandate backed by resources, expertise and adequate structures, the UPU can move quickly and proactively to address the needs of the rapidly evolving market.
Among the achievements made during the session was the approval of the PosTransfer Group business plan, the postal payment services quality of service standards, and amendments to two articles of the postal payment services regulations as well as the licensing agreement for PosTransfer, the UPU’s collective trademark for postal payment services.
The conditions set out in the PosTransfer Licensing agreement will ensure that Posts will adhere to the UPU electronic postal payment quality of service standards, provide key service performance indicators, share relevant Postal Payment Services e-Compendium information and use the UPU’s Financial Electronic Inquiry System (FEIS)—a system used to manage and settle claims and reclamations.

Electronic advances

Another milestone was the approval of the suggested way forward for implementation of Electronic Advanced Data (EAD).
EAD refers to item-level messages shared between an Posts, Customs and air carriers to facilitate safe and efficient delivery of international mail containing goods. 
“There has been an increase in the pre-loading air cargo requirements that have been applied to the air cargo sector and the express sector and they’re looking at Posts as well,” said Peter Chandler, who represents the United States as co-chair of the POC committee on supply chain integration.
The European Union Customs Code will soon require EAD information on items containing goods.
“There is a deadline for EAD. Most of the POC’s plans are to be ready by 2020 to meet the European deadlines but  it’s foreseen that there are other countries that are examining the same issue,” Chandler explained.
This roadmap will be an essential component to ensuring that all Posts are able to exchange this information by 2020.

.POST

Regarding digital transformation and markets development, the POC decided to amend the .POST Domain Management Policy to make it easier for organisations to register their .POST domain names and benefit from increased internet presence and security of online services.
This was in direct response to a number of requests from members over the past year, which the .POST Group Steering Committee and the International Bureau studied to find a solution.
This change is part of a strong push to expand the use of .POST during this cycle.

Adopting regulations

During the plenary session, POC members adopted revised UPU Regulations and Final Protocols regarding international postal operations.
The UPU regulations are drawn up by the POC  every four years in line with decisions taken during the last Universal Postal Congress.
Congress decided to combine the former Letter-Post and Parcel Post Regulations into one set of Regulations to the Convention. The International Bureau will produce a new Regulations Manual in line with this change. The new manual will be organized to follow the operational process step-by-step, starting by describing each type of mail item, continuing with rules for processing the items, and following through to accounting procedures.
Rules pertaining to all postal items are contained in the first part of the Regulations, followed by those which pertain only to letter-post items and finally, those which pertain only to parcels. This has reduced the duplication of many identical rules which were previously contained in two separate manuals.
These rules will come into effect 1 January 2018.
More than 440 delegates turned out for the first session of the POC, which took place between 27-31 March.

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Post cadre restructuring position in Gr 'C' cadre.

CBDT NOTIFIES SAHAJ ITR FORM

The Central Board of Direct Taxes has notified Income-tax Return Forms (ITR Forms) for the Assessment Year 2017-18. One of the major reforms made in the notified ITR Forms is the designing of a one page simplified ITR Form-1(Sahaj). 

This ITR Form-1(Sahaj) can be filed by an individual having income upto Rs.50 lakh and who is receiving income from salary  one house property / other income (interest etc.) . Various parts of ITR Form-1 (Sahaj) viz. parts relating to tax computation and deductions have been rationalised and simplified for easy compliance. This will reduce the compliance burden to a significant extent on the individual tax payer. This initiative will benefit more than two crore tax-payers who will be eligible to file their return of income in this simplified Form.  Simultaneously, the number of ITR Forms have been reduced from the existing nine  to seven forms. The existing ITR Forms ITR-2, ITR-2A and ITR-3 have been rationalized and a single ITR-2 has been notified in place of these three forms. Consequently, ITR-4 and ITR-4S (Sugam) have been renumbered as ITR-3 and ITR-4 (Sugam) respectively.

There is no change in the manner of filing of ITR Forms as compared to last year. All these ITR Forms are to be filed electronically. However, where return is furnished in ITR-1 (Sahaj) or ITR-4 (Sugam), the following persons have an option to file return in paper form:-(i) an individual of the age of 80 years or more at any time during the previous year;   or(ii)  an individual or HUF whose income does not exceed five lakh rupees and who has not claimed any refund in the return of income,

The notified ITR Forms are available on the department’s official website www.incometaxindia.gov.in
Source:-PIB(Release ID :160309)

7 CPC - MODIFICATION IN THE EXISTING APAR SYSTEM

The 7th Central Pay Commission has retained rate of annual increment at 3 percent. The 7th CPC has also recommended withholding of annual increments in the case of those employees who are not able to meet the benchmark either for MACP or a regular promotion within the first 20 years of their service. These recommendations have been accepted by the Government. 

The 7th CPC has observed that it is essential to have a linkage between Departmental Results Framework Documents (RFD) and Annual Appraisal Performance Report (APAR) and has suggested the following modification in the existing APAR system for determining Performance Related Pay:

(i)     Alignment of Objectives: The Ministry’s Vision/Mission needs to be translated into a set of strategic objectives for each department and these objectives need to be cascaded by the Department Head to his subordinates and subsequently down the chain.

(ii)  Prioritizing Objectives, Assigning Success Indicators and their Weights: Objectives reflected in the APAR should be prioritized and assigned weights along with success indictors or Key Performance Indicators. The Commission recommended 60 percent weight on work output and 40 percent weight on personal attributes, instead of existing 60 percent weight on personal attributes and only 40 percent weight to work output.

(iii)    No Ex-ante Agreement: The indicators in the APAR of an officer/staff will need to be discussed and set with the supervisor at the beginning of the year.

(iv)    Timelines: The timelines for RFD may be synchronized with the preparation of the APAR so that the targets set under RFD get reflected in individual APARs in a seamless manner.

(v)   Online APAR System: The Commission recommended introduction of online APARs system for all Central Government officers/employees. 

This was stated by Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on 31-03-2017.

Source:-PIB (Release ID :160347)