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Showing posts from October, 2008

Planning to Buy House? Just wait

Makes sense to wait as prices will fall further; desperate builders are not finding many buyers. Housing Loans : Interest rates expected to come down, so wait a while; good time to pre-pay part of the loan if it is not tax-efficient. [Source : Outlook] Future economic historians may remember the month that just ended as Black September. Lehman Brothers collapsed; the Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch; AIG was nationalised; banks such as Washington Mutual and Wachovia were wiped out. As credit and finance markets around the world tumbled like ninepins, so did stock markets in India, with the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index (Sensex) falling 3.35% or 469 points on September 15. The worst affected was the realty index which dropped 7.6% on the same day. Since then, while stocks prices in India have seen massive swings, shares of real estate firms have remained depressed, falling a total of 20% as of October 1. In addition to housing stocks, home prices are taking a beating. By

DRDO facing attrition problem: Antony

Country's premier defence research organisation DRDO is facing the attrition problems as 785 defence scientists have resigned in the last three years. The government has offered various incentives for scientists in the Sixth Central Pay Commission (CPC) report, the Lok Sabha was informed today. "A number of incentives were recommended by the CPC, which have been accepted and implemented by the government," Defence Minister A K Antony said in a written reply to a question on exodus of scientists from DRDO. Incentives to arrest the attrition rate in DRDO include providing career enhancement opportunities to scientists by granting them study leaves, sending them to attend conferences and seminars and long term training courses. "DRDO is providing study leaves to scientists for acquiring higher qualifications like PhDs, Masters Degrees. Scientists are sponsored to go and attend conferences and seminars and for long term courses for research both within and outside th

Any govt decision on pay issue will be good for country: Army

As the committee headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is looking into the armed forces’ grievances over their new pay scales, the army on Wednesday said any decision by the government on the issue will be for the good of the country and the Services. “The pay anomalies issues is currently with the Cabinet and I am sure it will take care of it. Whatever it decides, it will be for the good of the country and the armed forces,” Vice-Chief of the Army, Lieutenant-General M L Naidu, said on the sidelines of an Army Postal Service Awards ceremony ihn New Delhi. “They (the committee members) are our national leaders and they will keep all issues in mind before taking a decision. It (pay issues) is not a matter of our expectations,” Naidu said, replying to a query on the course of action the armed forces would take if all their expectations are not met by the Mukherjee committee. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had late last month set up the Mukherjee committee with Defence Mi

Pay issue to be resolved shortly : Mr. Pranab Mukherjee

A ministerial committee, set up to look into the armed forces' grievance about pay “anomalies”, is likely to sort out the matter soon. External affairs minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the three-member committee, today said he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and defence minister Mr AK Antony. “Shortly, I am going to discuss with the finance minister (P Chidambaram),” he told reporters here when asked about the issue. Without giving details of his discussions with the Prime Minister, Mr Mukherjee merely said: “I do hope we will be able to sort out the issue shortly”. The committee, which also includes Mr Antony and Mr Chidambaram, was set up by the Prime Minister on 25 September in the wake of deep resentment in the armed forces, who complained that there were “anomalies” in the 6th Pay Commission recommendations and that it had lowered the status of their officers. After the government notification was issued on 29 August, the issues of “anomal

Pay issue of armed forces to be resolved soon: Pranab

A ministerial committee, set up to look into the armed forces' grievance about pay "anomalies", is likely to sort out the matter soon. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the three-member committee, on Monday said he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A K Antony. "Shortly, I am going to discuss with the Finance Minister (P Chidambaram)," he told reporters here when asked about the issue. Without giving details of his discussions with the Prime Minister, Mukherjee merely said "I do hope we will be able to sort out the issue shortly". The committee, which also includes Antony and Chidambaram, was set up by the Prime Minister on September 25 in the wake of deep resentment in the armed forces, who complained that there were "anomalies" in the 6th Pay Commission recommendations and that it had lowered the status of their officers. After the government notification was issued on A

The service chiefs’ protest

A similar scene is now being re-enacted in a democratic India. The three defence services, in unison, have refused to accept the orders of the Union cabinet on the Sixth Central Pay Commission award. The three service chiefs cited “the larger interest of the services” in an open communication to the rank and file. The defence services have two main grouses against the current pay award: reduction in status of military officers and lower pay than their civilian counterparts. While the pay commission and the government have gone by existent parities, the services refer to the extant Warrant of Precedence. The issue of salaries of lieutenant colonels is being projected as the main bone of contention by the services. Yet, this ignores the fact that while a lieutenant colonel used to lead a battalion of nearly 1,000 soldiers three decades ago, today, he only leads a sub-unit of 150. We have come to this pass due to a lack of appetite—both among civilians and among the Armed Forces—for funda

Teachers' bodies not happy with pay commission report

Various teachers' organisations have expressed resentment over the UGC-Pay Review Committee's recommendations, saying the report has fallen short of their expectations as it has several "anomalies". The Delhi University Teachers' Association has said major demand of teachers for higher pay scale to lecturers so as to attract talent to the university system has not been accepted. "The demand for introduction of professorship/professor's grade in all colleges to retain talent has not been considered by the committee headed by Prof G K Chadha," it said. DUTA representatives on Monday met UGC Chairman Sukhadeo Thorat to air their grievances, its president Aditya Narayan Mishra said. Democratic Teachers' Front, a teachers' organisation in Delhi University, said the recommendations of the Pay Review Committee with regard to pay scales and service conditions failed to reflect its objective of making the teaching profession more attractive. It s

Performance-based incentive scheme now on a voluntary basis

The department of science and technology (DST) that took the lead in formulating a performance-related incentive scheme for research organizations it funds, now plans to implement the scheme on a voluntary basis because some beneficiary organizations are still not convinced of the efficacy of the scheme.The dept of science and technology proposes to scrap annual confidential reports The Sixth Pay Commission had carried out a study through the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, on a performance-based incentive system, to ostensibly improve the performance outputs of Central government employees. The study, according to the official website of the pay commission, was aimed at working out a model whereby a base salary is attached to each post based on skills and responsibility and simultaneously, a second component would be payable over and above the salary on the basis of the productivity and performance of employees, either individually or as a group. The study recommended an a

UGC Pay Review Committee submits report

The University Grants Commission-appointed pay review committee, headed by Prof G K Chaddha on Friday recommended over 70 per cent pay hike with additional allowances and new positions to academics in the higher education sector. It also recommended 65 years as the retirement age, which can be extended up to 70 years. The committee submitted its report to UGC Chairman Prof Sukhadeo Thorat. UGC will meet on October 7 and 8 to accept the recommendations. According to the committee’s recommendations, at the entry level, a faculty member will join as an assistant professor, not as a lecturer as earlier, and his new pay band will be between Rs 15,600 to Rs 39,100. The teacher at the entry level will be entitled to a grade pay of Rs 6,600. At present, a lecturer’s pay scale is between Rs 8,000 to Rs 13,500. A teacher will be entitled for annual increment of three per cent of the basic salary with compounding effect. Certain teachers with good performance record will be eligible for four p

Pay review panel set up for IIT, IIM faculty

The faculty members of central technical institutions like IITs and IIMs can hope for a better pay package soon with the government setting up a committee for review of their salary and emoluments. The committee is headed by former director of Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, Prof Govardhan Mehta. "The committee will make a comprehensive study of the 6th pay commission recommendations. It will speak to the faculty members of the IITs, IIMs, IIITs and NITs and consider their views and recommend an ideal pay package for the faculty members in these institutions," a senior official in HRD Ministry told PTI. The committee has been given three months time to complete the report, so that the government could implement it before the general elections.

Armed forces to get revised pay from November only

The 1.5-million personnel of the armed forces will not be a happy lot this festive season, as their revised pay scales are expected to be paid only in November. They will take home, salaries under the old pay scales this month, but would get a part of the 40 per cent arrears under the 6th Central Pay Commission (CPC) that would bring some cheer before Eid, being celebrated tomorrow, and Diwali later this month. The defence personnel's 3.5 million civilian counterparts would go home with lot of plans to celebrate, as they got an increased pay under the new scales this month. The new CPC scales came into retrospective effect from January 1, 2006. The government has already announced that it would paid out a part amount of the 40 per cent arrears to the armed forces, following the forces submitting their CPC salary vouchers. The defence chiefs had accepted the new "discriminatory" pay scales, after prolonged protest by refusing to implement the Cabinet decision, with Def