Government to issue Sovereign Gold Bonds with effect from 26th November, 2015; Bonds to be sold through banks and designated post offices

Government of India, in consultation with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has decided to issue Sovereign Gold Bonds. The Bonds will be issued on November 26, 2015. Applications for the bond will be accepted from November 05, 2015 to November 20, 2015. The Bonds will be sold through banks and designated post offices as may be notified. The borrowing through issuance of the Bond will form part of market borrowing programme of Government of India.

It may be recalled that the Finance Minister had announced in Union Budget 2015-16 about developing a financial asset, Sovereign Gold Bond, as an alternative to purchasing metal gold.

The major features of the Bond are given below:

Sl. No.	Item	Details
1	Product name	Sovereign Gold Bond
2	Issuance	To be issued by Reserve Bank India on behalf of the Government of India.
3	Eligibility	The Bonds will be restricted for sale to resident Indian entities including individuals, HUFs, trusts, Universities, charitable institutions.
4	Denomination	The Bonds will be denominated in multiples of gram(s) of gold with a basic unit of 1 gram.
5	Tenor	The tenor of the Bond will be for a period of 8 years with exit option from 5th year to be exercised on the interest payment dates.
6	Minimum size	Minimum permissible investment will be 2 units (i.e. 2 grams of gold).
7	Maximum limit	The maximum amount subscribed by an entity will not be more than 500 grams per person per fiscal year (April-March). A self-declaration to this effect will be obtained.
8	Joint holder	In case of joint holding, the investment limit of 500 grams will be applied to the first applicant only.
9	Frequency	The Bonds will be issued in tranches. Each tranche will be kept open for a period to be notified. The issuance date will also be specified in the notification.
10	Issue price	Price of Bond will be fixed in Indian Rupees on the basis of the previous week’s (Monday–Friday) simple average of closing price of gold of 999 purity published by the India Bullion and Jewellers Association Ltd. (IBJA).
11	Payment option	Payment for the Bonds will be through electronic funds transfer/cash payment/ cheque/ demand draft.
12	Issuance form	Government of India Stock under GS Act, 2006. The investors will be issued a Stock/Holding Certificate. The Bonds are eligible for conversion into demat form.
13	Redemption price	The redemption price will be in Indian Rupees based on previous week’s (Monday-Friday) simple average of closing price of gold of 999 purity published by IBJA.
14	Sales channel	Bonds will be sold through banks and designated Post Offices, as may be notified, either directly or through agents.
15	Interest rate	The investors will be compensated at a fixed rate of 2.75 per cent per annum payable semi-annually on the initial value of investment.
16	Collateral	Bonds can be used as collateral for loans. The loan-to-value (LTV) ratio is to be set equal to ordinary gold loan mandated by the Reserve Bank from time to time.
17	KYC Documentation	Know-your-customer (KYC) norms will be the same as that for purchase of physical gold. KYC documents such as Voter ID, Aadhaar card/PAN or TAN /Passport will be required.
18	Tax treatment	The interest on Gold Bonds shall be taxable as per the provision of Income Tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961) and the capital gains tax shall also remain same as in the case of physical gold.
19	Tradability	Bonds will be tradable on exchanges/NDS-OM from a date to be notified by RBI.
20	SLR eligibility	The Bonds will be eligible for Statutory Liquidity Ratio.
21	Commission	Commission for distribution shall be paid at the rate of 1% of the subscription amount.

7th CPC – Modifications in LTC – Expectations..

7th CPC – Modifications in LTC – Expectations..

Everyone knows that Central Government Employees are entitled to avail Leave Travel Concession (LTC) once in two years to visit home town and once in four years to visit any places in India. The employees are reimbursed full expenses for transport from the work station to the place to be visited and back.
 
Before the sixth CPC was implemented, availing of LTC by the employees was less in number all over India. In order to encourage employees to avail LTC, the Central Government made some impressive modifications in the rules, which saw a huge increase in the percentage of employees going for it. The employees were allowed to travel by air to Jammu & Kashmir and North Eastern States and it continued till June 2015. The modification in the rules that was brought in was the travelling expenses were given in packages depending upon employee’s designation. These visits by the employees saw a huge growth in tourism in these states. It turned out to be a great opportunity for the employees to travel to these places, to know different people, their culture and so on. But for unknown reason, the central government did not extend the orders beyond June 2015.
 
Home Town LTC: 
 
Is it possible to make changes in the Permanent Address of a Central Government Employee?    
 
Those Central Government Employees having their Hometown on the outskirts of their work places, are automatically ineligible for availing LTC Hometown. But they are eligible for the LTC for visiting any other places in India. For the benefit of those employees, in exceptional cases,  the CCS Rules (LTC) – Change of Hometown –  allows an employee to change the Permanent Address only once in their whole service. The employee can apply for this, through their respective head of sections with detailed documents. A male employee can choose the  native place of his wife or vice versa or any other closed relation’s address. Care should be taken while applying for the changes, as the rule allows only once in their whole service. After the changes in the permanent address, the employee can apply for the LTC showing the new address.
 
Expecting new changes in 7th CPC  for availing LTC… 
 
Central Government Employees should be allowed to avail LTC Home Town once in a year and All India LTC  once in three years which can bring huge changes in the department of tourism in India. It can motivate the employees to travel, visit different places, to know different people and their working conditions etc. Air travelling should be allowed to all other places in India and can be extended to other neighbouring countries also.
 
Let us wait and see for the recommendations…!

GENERAL AWARNESS -13

1.      The national game of Canada is

             a) Football b) Basketball c) Ice Hockey d) Hockey

2.      Number of players on each side of the team in Basketball is

             a) 9   b) 5   c) 11   d) 7

3.      In which part of India, Indo Tibetan Border Police headquarters is to be opened?

      a) Bihar  b) Himachal Pradesh   c) Jammu and Kashmir d) Assam

4.      Which state’s High Court has insisted that banks cannot freeze accounts nor stop services of issuing cheque book or ATM facility where the account holder has not supplied KYC (Know Your Customers) documents?

      a) Gujarat  b) Tamil Nadu c) Assam d) Punjab

       5.      Which State became the 3rd state in India to launch State Portal (SP) and State Service                        Delivery Gateway (SSDG) project?

     a) Nagaland  b) Assam  c) Mizoram d) Orissa.

       6.   A new technique in medical science that is non-invasive, does not utilize radiation and                          gathers bio-chemical information without time consuming chemical analysis is

             a) Dynamic Spatial Reconstruction (DSR)

             b) Position Emission Tomography (PET)

             c) Magnetic Resource Imaging   (MRI)

             d) Computed Tomography (CT)

       7.   Heart murmur is due to

                  a) Non-functioning atrium b) Leaky value c) Coronary thrombosis d) Small aorta

       8.     The smallest living cell is tha

            a)Bacterium b) Bread mold c) Mycoplasma d) Virus

       9.      The functional unit of ecosystem is

            a) Organism b) Biosphere c) Ecosystem d) Population

      10.     Megasthenes was the ambassador of

            a) Seleucus b) Alexander c) Darius d) The Greeks

Answer

1) c 2) b 3) a 4) a 5) a  6) c  7) b  8) c  9) c 10) a 

  

OVERNMENT OF INDIA

Department of Posts India

APPLICATION FOR THE GRANT OF ADVANCE OF PAY TO THE CENTRAL

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES ON THE EVE OF IMPORTANT FESTIVAL

1.  (A) Name of the Applicant (in BLOCK letters)                                        :
                          :  
     (B) Designation                                                                                          ;                                                            
                                             
2. Community of the Applicant                                                                       :     
                   
3. Whether Permanent / Quasi – Permanent                                                    :  
       
4. Basic Pay Rs.                                                                                               :
                                              -
5. Amount of advance required Rs.                                                                 :
                 
6. Installment of recovery Rs. Each                                                                 :
                     
7. Festival for which advance required
               
8. Whether recovery made from the pay                                                          :
               
9. Whether recovery of previous festival
    advance is outstanding                                                                                      :   
                       
10. I hereby declare to stand fully responsible as to the accuracy of the above
entries and to abide by the rules of the subject and have taken no festival
advance during this financial year.


                                                                             Signature of the Applicant


11. In case of temporary official a security bond is attached herewith

Full name of the Official                                                                              :

Certificate by D.D.O. / Cashier

This is to certify that the entries against Column 1 to 4 and 8 to 9 are correct
and no festival advance has been granted to the official during this financial year and
that no recovery of the previous advance taken by this official is outstanding.


                                                                                                            DDO / Cashier

Annexure`B’

Expenditure incurred on account of Local Food bills during tour

                This is to certify that I was on official tour at Udhagamandalam (Tour Station) From -------To------and incurred expenditure on account of my food bills amounting to RS    ----

  (@ RS ----/--per day)

               

It is also certified that I have not been issued with any receipt on account of my payments made towards my food bills as the Hotel / Restaurant / Stall where I had taken breakfast / lunch dinner/snacks/beverage had no receipt book with them.

Name

Designation                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Signature

Seventh Pay Commission Likely To Allow Work From Home For Disabled, Women Employee

Seventh Pay Commission Likely To Allow Work From Home For Disabled, Women Employee

New Delhi: Seventh pay commission is likely to ask the government to consider allowing disabled and women central government employees to work from home.

The commission may recommend government to ask Information and Technology department, whether it is possible to have systems in place for monitoring and supervising work being done remotely by disabled and women central government employees .

“Allowing disabled and women central government employees a choice in where and how they work can increase employee loyalty and job satisfaction, and the government needs to apply it for a big win to boost their confidence, which will also give the productivity,” said a pay panel official.

The studies revealed those disabled and women employees who have the option of working outside of the office also reported somewhat lower levels of stress and exhaustion. And studies have suggested that employees tend to get higher performance evaluations.

Allowing employees to work away from a government office means increased opportunities for those women and those persons with disabilities. It can also help the environment, as the employees are able to eliminate lengthy commutes.

The work from home filtered into jobs that have little to no stress and minimal travel.

At present, the strength of disabled employees in the total workforce of the central government is 9,339, which constitutes 0.3 per cent of the total staff strength of 29.59 lakh, according to an RTI reply to The Indian Express from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Women employment under central government has been estimated to the tune of 3.37 lakh, which is 10.93 percent of the total regular central government employment, according to census of central government employees as on March 31, 2011.

“We are looking at whether it is technologically possible to allow disabled and women employees for working from home,” said the official.

“A need was felt to provide work from home facility to persons with disabilities and women to enable them to effectively discharge their duties.,” he added.

The government constitutes the Pay Commission almost every 10 years to revise the pay scale of its employees and often states also implement the panel’s recommendations after some modifications.

Headed by Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur, the four-member Commission was appointed in February 2014 and the commission will hand over its recommendations to government within December 31, 2015.

As part of the exercise, the current Pay Commission holds discussions with various stakeholders, including organisations, federations, groups representing civil employees as well as defence services.

The Sixth Pay Commission was implemented with effect from January 1, 2006, the fifth from January 1, 1996 and the fourth from January 1, 1986. The Seventh Pay Commission will be implemented with effect from January 1, 2016.

GENERAL AWARNESS -12

1.      The parliament or a state legislature can declare a seat vacant if a member absents himself without permission from the session for 

              a) 30 days b) 60 days c) 90 days d) 120 days

2.      Who presides over the Lok Sabha if neither the speaker nor the deputy speaker is available?

             a) A member nominated by the president

             b) A member chosen by the council of ministers

             c) A member of the panel of chairmen announced by the speaker

             d) The Senior most member of the Lok Sabha

3.      Which of the following bills can be introduced in the parliament only with the prior approval of the president?                                                                                                                                     a) Money bill b) Bill pertaining to impeachment of president

            c) Bill pertaining to power of Supreme Court d) all the above

4.      Amniocentesis is legally banned because

             a) It affects the health of the mother b) It harms the foetus

             c) It causes the spread of AIDS d) It is used for the purpose of selection of the sex of the                         fetus

5.      Which of the following is the largest single source of the Government’s earning from tax revenue?

             a) Central excise b) Customs c) Corporation tax d) Income tax

6.      The latest information about agriculture market is collected and published by the

             a) Food Corporation of India b) Directorate of Economics and Statistics

             c) National Council of Applied Economic Research d) Indian Statistical Institute

7.      Who of the following has won the Men’s singles Titles in the Wimbledon 2010 Championship

              a) Rafael Nadal b) Roger Federer c) Andy Murray d) Daniel Nester

8.      Wisden crickter of the year Award was given in 2010 to

             a) Sachin Tendulkar b) M.S Dhoni c) Gautham Gambhir  d) Virender Sehwag

9.      The first women who successfully sailed  around

              a) Jeanne Baret b) Janko Tabei c) Neelam Chowdhury d) Dr.Andey Mclean

10.  What is the name of the ground for golf?

 a)      Ring b) Field c) course d) court

Answer

                 1) b 2) c 3) a 4) d 5) a 6) b 7) a 8) d 9) a   10) c 

Finacle / Mccamish receipt Printing in Dot matrix Printers - Suggestion reg.

Finacle  and Mccamish receipts printing can be done in Dot matrix Printer itself in legible, readable way by changing the settings as below:

Open the PDF document to Print 

--Go to File

--Print

--Properties

-- Advanced

-- Below Paper Quality, Graphic appears and 120x72 dots per inch stands selected defaultedly. If you click on 120X72, a combo box will appear. From the drop-down, select 240X216 dots per inch.

--Give Ok.

--Ok.

--Print.

         I am doing in the above manner and printing reports in Finacle and Mccamish. Its a humble suggestion for our colleagues suffering without Laser printers. I faced hardship without laser printer and then tried and found it by trial and error method. I would like to inform you so that you will let our colleagues know. 

Thanks to

K. Radha, SPM,
Srirangam West S.O.
Trichy-620006.
ph: 9486311338.

GENERAL AWARNESS -11

1.      Opium is a plant product obtained from

              a)Dried leaves b) Dried latex c) Roots d) Stem bark

                                                  

2.      Tobacco smoke is  injurious to health because it contains

              a)Carbon monoxide b) Nicotine c) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons d) All of these

3.      Premature fruit fall results in significant loss of yield in some cases. This can be stopped by

              a)Adequate irrigation b) Auxin spray c) Increasing fertilizer application d) Increase the                         availability of minerals

4.      A fish that is devoid of any scales is

              a)Carp b) Dog fish c) Cat fish d) Mullet

5.      Upanishads  are books on

             a)Religion b) Yoga c) Philosophy d) Law

6.      Buddha preached his first sermon at

             a)Lumbini b) Sarnath c) Sanchi d) Gaya

7.      In which language was the Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta originally written?

             a)Sanskrit b) apabharamsa c) Prakit d) Pali

8.      Where is the Gulf of Mannar located?                                                                                              

            a)West of Gujarat b) East of Tamil Nadu c) West of Kerala d) South of Kanyakumari

9.      Which country is the leading producer of automobiles?

              a)China b) Japan c) USA d) Russia

10.  The Pacific ring of fire is associated with                                                                                     a)Forest fires b) Volcanoes and earthquakes c) Oil well fires d) Thermal power system

Answer

 1) b  2) d  3) b  4) c 5) c  6) b  7) a  8) b 9) c 10) b