Monday 29 January 2018

Update on 23.2.2018 : Wondered What is Holding Up your E PPO (and your Arrears of Pension) ?




Update: 

PCDA (Navy) has commenced issuing manual (old style) PPOs to Apex scale from 05 Feb 2018. 

JCDA (AF) states that it is awaiting LPC (Last Pay Certificate) and DS (Data Sheet) to commence issuing PPOs.

Dte of Air Veterans has forwarded 46 LPC & DS of Apex scale.

However the hold up is that Concordance Tables have not been issued by MoD/DESW. And the software developed by CGDA has more glitches to be effective!!!!

Wondered What is Holding Up your E PPO (and your Arrears of Pension)?



Online RTI Request Form Details



RTI Request Details:-

RTI Request Registration number DEXSW/R/2017/50661

Public Authority Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare



Personal Details of RTI Applicant:-

deleted



Request Details :-

Deleted



(Description of Information sought (upto 500 characters)

Description of Information Sought



Sir,



Please refer to MoD No. 17(01)/2017/(02)/D (Pension/Policy) dated 5.9.2017, RTI Online request DEXSW/R/2017/50517 dated 26.9.2017, the transfer to ACDA (P) on the same date, and reply of PCDA (P) dated 21.11.2017 attached as  supporting document.



2. It is understood that the Defence Secretary has expressed his concern that only a few thousand of the Defence civilian pensioners have been provided with revised e-PPOs. A copy of the ibid leEer/memo/OM/ID note of the Defence Secretary is requested.



3. Further, please provide information as defined in Section  

2 (f) of the RTI Act, 2005 including minutes of meetings, deliberations etc.



3.1. Whether the Defence Secretary has also expressed similar concern that NIL defence forces pensioner or family pensioners have been provided with revised e-PPOs, with a copy of the letter/OM/Memo/ID Note.



3.2. The steps/methodology instituted by DESW to monitor the performance of the CGDA in ensuring compliance with the orders for revision of pensions and issue of e-PPOs,



3.3. Any periodic reports obtained by DESW from CGDA of its inability to revise pensions and issue e-PPOs



3.4. Any special software requisitioned (with the dates of issue of tender if it is outsourced), the probable date of completion of installation of the software, the date of trials if any, the probable date of commencement of revision of pension and issue of e-PPOs.



Reply from DESW received online on 29 Jan 2018

RTI Matter/Speed Post



No. 237/RTI/2014/D (P/P) – Part II

Ministry of Defence

Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare

D (Pen/Policy)

New Delhi, dated 24. 01.2018



Subject: Seeking Information under RTI Act, 2005



Sir,



            Please refer to your online RTI application bearing Reg No. DEXSW/R/2017/50661 dated 02.12.2017 received in this office from Nodal Officer/DESW through online  RTI portal.



2.        In this regard point-wise reply in respect of aforesaid RTI application is as under:



            1.        No information sought



            2.        The information sought for is not available with CPIO and may be available with D (Civ-II), therefore, the RTI application is being transferred to the CPIO, D (Civ-II) under provision of Section 6 (3) of the RTI Act, 2005 for providing information.



            3.1.     No such information is available.



            3.2.     The progress of issue of e-PPOs is reviewed in this Department at various levels from time to time.



            3.3. & 3.4.    A copy of the O/o CGDA letter dated 24.11.2017 on the issue is enclosed herewith.



3.        Dy Secretary (Pension) Room No. 236, B Wing, Sena Bhawan, New Delhi Tele/fax No. 011-23015609, email id ds_pension@desw.gov.in is the Appellate Authority.

Sd/------------------

Encl: as above                                                                                              (Manoj Sinha)

CPIO & Under Secretary to Govt of India



Copy to The CPIO, D (Civ-II) – An online RTI  application dated 02.12.2017 is forwarded to your office under Section 6 (3) of the RTI act, 2005 for furnishing information sought in reply to point No. 1, 2. 4 & 5 of RTI application.



Office of the Controller General of Defence Accounts

Ulan Batar Road, Palam, Delhi Cantt- 110010





Subject: Action plan on Pension Matters on recommendations of the Group of Secretaries of Ministry of Defence, Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare and approved by the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri – reg

            With reference to MoD ID No. 12 (22)/2016/D (P/P) dated 02.11.2017 & 22.11.2017, please find attached herewith revised status of implementation of items selected in Departmental Action Plan on pension matters.



2.               As regards SFTP connectivity with 5 banks i.e. Syndicate Bank, ICICI Bank, Union Bank of India, Dena Bank & Punjab & Sind Bank, it is intimated that SFTP connectivity with Union Bank of India and Syndicate Bank have been established with PCDA (P), Allahabad. Now 3 banks i.e. Dena Bank, ICICI Bank  & Punjab & Sind Bank remain where SFTP connectivity is yet to be established. Necessary instructions have also been  issued to these banks on 01.11.2017   



Sd/-----------------

(Rajesh Kumar Gupta)

For CGDA

Shri Manoj Sinha

Under Secretary (Pen/Policy)

MoD, Deptt of Ex-servicemen Welfare

D (Pen/Pol) Room No. 222, B Wingh, Sena Bhawan, New Delhi – 110011

DO No. 5194/AT-P/E-Project/Vol-II dated 24th Nov 2017



IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION PLAN ON PENSIONARY MATTERS

(Status Report as on 20.11.2017)



[1]       Digitisation or Pensioner records & linking of Record Offices with PSAs  & Banks



(i)        Installation of inter-operable WAN between Record Offices & Pay Account Offices, Pension Sanctioning Agencies and Banks/DPDOs                   



Establishing interoperable WAN between Record Offices & PAO



-           Out of total 48 Army Record Offices, two Record Offices i.e . Gorkha Regimental Centre at Ghoom & Kunraghat do not process pension claim.



-           In remaining 46 Record Offices, connectivity with 42 ROs established.



-           At 2 locations (BEG Kirkee & Ladakh Scounts, Leh) supply orders were placed with BSNL on 21.3.2017 for installing WAN along with their PAO (ORs) through VSAT pooling. At other locations (APTC, Pune, AAD Gopalpur), new links were ordered to BSNL on 21.3.2017 for installation of WAN directly at ROs through same channel of VSAT pooling.



-           Out of these four locations which BSNL had declared earlier as Technically Not Feasible (TNF), WAN has been installed at the PAO (ORs) location at BEG Kirkee. Action for extending WAN connectivity from PAO to RO BEG Kirkee is in hand and likely to be completed shortly. For remaining three places, BSNL is trying to male the connection up from different locations. S and when the same is done, all remaining three locations whall be connected through CGDA WAN.



-           For Air Force pensioners, CGDA WAN connectivity has been installed at Air Force Central Accounts Office (AFCAO) and Directorate of Air Veterans (DAV).



-           For Nay pensioners, work orders have been placed with BSNL to extend the CGDA WAN to NAVPEN Mumbai. Initial work in this regard has been completed and the connection is likely to be established soon. 



Establishing interoperable WAN between PAO & PCDA



Three Record Offices have no PAOs (APS Kamptee, Gorkha Regimental Centre at Ghoom and Kunraghat).



Out of remaining 45 PAOs, CGDA WAN connectivity is established in 44 PAR (ORs).

For remaining one PAO (Ladakh Scounts, Leh), same problem is being faced by BSNL explained above for RO Ladakh Scounts. Matter is being sorted out with BSNL.



Establishing connectivity between PSAs and CPPC of Banks/DPDOs



SFTP connectivity with 25 banks was established by PCDA (Pensions) Allahabad by taking a static IP from BSNL on normal broad band line. The verification logic of XML signer tool was developed and shared with these Banks.



-           As upload speed for e-PPO and data files on these connections was very poor, new optic fibre connectivity has been again established by PCDA (P) through BSNL. This leads to change in static IP address of PCDA (P) and hence also requires to re-establish SFTP connectivity with all banks.



Out of 29 banks (25 public and 4 private), connectivity has been re-established with 25 banks which were earlier on board. Canara Bank has some problem with version of software being used at their end which is being handled by them.



Out of five Banks viz. Syndicate Bank, ICICI Bank, Union Bank of India, Dena Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank, two Banks viz. Syndicate and Union Bank of India have confirmed establishing SFTP connectivity with PCDA (P) Allahabad. Ministry may like to issue instructions to rest of the banks for expediting action.   



-           Out of 64 DPDOs, 63 DPDOs have been connected through CGDA interoperable WAN. The DPDO at Leh has not yet been connected for the reasons already explained above.



(ii)       Transmission of e-documents trough secured connections



-           For transmission of e-documents between ROs, PAOs and PSAs, forms/documents haven been revised to reduce the duplicate documents/information.



-           A software ‘Suvinya’ has been developed for transmission of LPC-cum-Date sheet and documents from ROs to PCDA (Pensions) and other Pension Sanctioning Agencies. Training for nine Record Offices and PAO (ORs) have been done in the month of July 2017 and pilot run has been started from 11.9.2017.  

-           Action for taking other Record Offices which are connected through interoperable CGDA WAN is in hand and shall commence very soon.



-           ROs have to obtain digital signature to authenticate the e-documents before transmission, status on the same could be obtained from AG’s Branch. Pending the same, scanned and signed documents shall travel through the system to process pension cases.   



-           Instructions have been issued for sending 100% e-PPos with data files for the PPOs generated under Seventh CPC revision/grant to all Pension Disbursing Agencies. The system has been implemented and e-PPOs with xml data file are being sent using SFTP connections to all PDAs including DPDOs. Wherever SFTP connectivity is yet to be established, PSAs are sending e-PPOs through mail to CPPC using NIC mail IDs.   



2]        Seeding of Aadhaar in Pension records including bank accounts



-           Relevant changes in pension documents for capturing Aadhaar number for new retirees have been done. Instructions issued to process new pension claims onli with Aadhaar number which are being adhered to by all three PSAs except in case of personnel belonging to states which were earlier covered under NPR viz. J & K & NE States and for Nepalese Gorkhas.



-           Out of 4,44,727 pensioners drawing pensions from 64 DPDOs, Aadhaar number of 3,64,558 cases (81.97%) have been obtained and captured in DPDO payment software. Efforts are being made to increase the number of Aadhaar seeding.



3]        Issue of e-PPO



-           As stated in item [1] (ii) above, live transmission of e-PPOs have been started by Pension Sanctioning Agencies with PDAs under Seventh CPC revision.



4 & 5]                        Tracking of pension sanction processes and Development of Mobile Apps for pension related matters



-           Tracking of e-pension document is feasible if entire pension sanction system worked on a single platform.



-           Government has announced for creation of web based interactive pension disbursement system for defence personnel. In order to achieve the same, Request for Proposal (RFP) have been notified by the CGDA office. The new system shall be developed by the agency selected during the tender process and deliver the new system within 15 months from date fo signing contract.



-           As a stop-gap arrangement, the SUVINYA software developed for online transmission of LPC-cum-data sheet, facilitate the Record Offices to track their cases through WAN which are submitted through the same. The system automatically reports issuance/rejection of PPO to Record Office concerned. 



-                     A Mobile All “Defence Pension info” has been launched on 14th Dec 2016 and is available on Google Play Store. The App provided pension disbursement related information for pensioners drawing pension fro Bank as well as from DPDOs through login facility. The Mobile App provides similar information as available on the website www.dpdopensioners.org.



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Monday 22 January 2018

More on Submissions to the Koshyari Committee including Army Rep presentation




            Please note: - The total number of pages in the Report is 90. Only 19 pages are in the public domain. The complete Report with who said what is awaited.


Annexure – I

(of the Koshyari Committee Report)



LIST OF REPRESENTATIVES OF NGOs AND INDIVIDUALS WHO APPEARED BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON PETITIONS PRAYING FOR GRANT OF ONE RANK ONE PENSION TO THE ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL



I           Indian Ex-Services League, Chanakyapuri, Delhi



1.        Brig R K S Gulia, President

2.        Brig Kartar Singh, Rajasthan State Ex-Services League

3.        AVM R P Mishra, Vice President

4.        Commander B B Sharma (retd)



II          All India Ex-Services Welfare Association, R K Puram, New Delhi



1.        Lt Col Inderjit Singh (retd)

2.        Brig Bhagwan Singh (retd)

3.        Capt U R Nikam (retd)

4.        Lt Nar Singh Dass (retd)

5.        Capt Bhagwan Dass (retd)

6.        Sub Mange Ram (retd)    



III        Retired Defence Officers Association (Regd) Dwarka, Delhi



1.        Lt Col B K Sharma (retd)

2.        Lt Col Satwant Singh



IV        All-India Ex-Para Military Personnel Association, Dehradun, Uttarakhand



1.        Shri S S Kothiyal IG (retd)

2.        Ahri A Alur IG (retd)

3.        Shril M L Verma IG (retd)

4.        Shri H G Garg IG (retd)



V         Dehradun Ex-Services League, Dehradun



1.        Brigadier K G Behl (retd) President

2.        Brig R S Rawat (retd)        

3.        Col M M P Kala (retd)



VI        Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement, Gurgaon



1.        Maj Gen Satbir Singh (retd)

2.        Lt Gen R S Kadyan, Chairman, IESM

3.        Col R P Chaturvedi

4.        Sub Mah (Hony Lt) Kameshwar Pandey



VII       All India Central Confederation of Pensioners Association, Patparganj, Delhi



1.        Shri S S Ramachandran, Gen Secy

2.        Col P K Singh



VIII      Individual Representatives



1.        Vice  Admiral Harinder Singh (retd) PVSM, AVSM, Noida

2.        Rear Admiral Arun Saxena (retd) AVSM, VSM, Gurgaon

3.        Brigadier V Mahalingan (retd) Noida



ANNEXURE – II



FOCAL POINTS ON THE PRESENTATION MADE BY REPRESENTATIVES OF INDIAN ARMY ON 27TH MAY 2011



SLIDE 1



TITLE:                         OROP



·        IN MILITARY, EQUALITY IN SERVICE HAS TWO COMPONENTS



Ø     RANK

Ø     LENGTH OF SERVICE



·        HENCE TWO MILITARY PERSONS IN SAME RANK AND EQUAL LENGTH OF SERVICE SHOULD GET SAME PENSION IRRESPECTIVE OF DATE OF RETIREMENT



SLIDE 2



TITLE:             IMPLICATIONS OF OROP



·        UNIFORM PENSION TO BE PAID TO THE ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL RETIRING IN THE SAME RANK WITH SAME LENGTH OF SERVICE IRRESPECTIVE OF DATE OF RETIREMENT



·        ANY FUTURE ENHANCEMENT IN RATES OF PENSION BE AUTOMATICALLY PASSED ON TO THE PAST PENSIONERS 



SLIDE 3



TITLE:             RECOMMENDATIONS ON OROP



·        HISTORY OF RECOMMENDATIONS


·        CURRENT STATUS


Ø     IMPROVEMENT OF PENSIONARY BENEFITS OF JCOs/OR


Ø     GOVT HAS ATTEMPTED TO BRIDGE THE GAP FOR JCOs/ORS


Ø     ATTEMPT TO BRIDGE GAP FOR OFFICERS LIMITED TO LT GENs ONLY


Ø     DIFFERENCE IN PERCEPTIONS EXIST – BANE OF THE PROBLEM



SLIDE 4



TITLE:             IMPORTANT PRONOUNCEMENTS



·        PRE 10.10.1997 JCO/OR PENSIONERS BROUGHT AT PAR WITH 10.10.1997 PENSIONERS


·        ENHANCED RATE OF CLASSIFICATION ALLOWANCE FOR PENSION


·        PENSION OF ALL 01.01.2006 JCOs AND ORs BROUGHT AT PAR WITH POST 01.01.2006 RETIREES


·        SEPARATE PAY SCALES OF Rs 67000-79000 CREATED TO ADDRESS ISSUE OF DISPARITY IN PRE AND POST 01.01.2006 PENSIONERS OF LT GEN RANK


·        BENEFIT OF BROAD BANDING OF DISABILITY/WAR INJURY PENSION PARTIALLY RESOLVED


·        BRIG K P SINGH DEO (RETD) COMMITTEE REPORT 1983




SLIDE 5         



TITLE:                         EXAMPLES



·        DIFFERENCE IN PENSION BETWEEN LT COL AND MAJ GEN   Rs 1000/-


·        DIFFERENCE IN PENSION BETWEEN COL AND BRIG      Rs 100/-


·        DIFFERENCE IN PENSION BETWEEN MAJ AND LT COL  Rs 11600/-


·        WIDE DIFFERENCE IN PENSION OR PRE AND POST 2006 FAMILY OF PENSIONERS


·        DIFFERENCE IN PENSION BETWEEN PRE AND POST 2006 ORs


·        PRE-2006 HAV PENSIONERS GET LOWER PENSION THAN A POST 1.1.2006 SEPOY


·        PRE-2006 MAJ GEN PENSIONER GETS LOWER PENSION THAN POST 1.1.2006 LT COL




SLIDE 6         



TITLE:               ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS



·        ABSOLUTE FIGURES AFTER GOVT IMPROVEMENTS


o       JCOs/Ors


o       OFFICERS


·        APPARENT REASONS FOR DIFFERENCES


o       PAY SCALES TO RUNNING PAY BANDS AND FITMENT TABLES TO BOTTOM OF THE BAND


o       EXCLUSION OF NEW SCHEMES e.g. ACP TO PAST RETIREE PENSION CALCULATIONS – CONCERTINA EFFECT



SLIDE 7         



TITLE:                         WAY OUT



SOLUTION RECOMMENDED WILL SATISFY 90% OF EX-SERVICEMEN (SUPPORTED BY RECENT JUDGMENTS)



·        PRE 01 JAN 06 RETIREES BROUGHT AT PAR WITH POST 01 JAN 06 RETIREES (EVERY PAY COMMISSION)


·        RUNNING PAY BAND PROBLEM TO BE RESOLVED AS UNDER: -


o       OFFICERS: FIX A BENCH MARK WITHIN THE RUNNING PAY BAND FOR EACH RANK BASED ON MINIMUM SERVICE FOR EACH RANK e.g


§        LT COL (13 YEARS) – BOTTOM OF PB-4+GP+NEW PAY AND ALL CES


§        COL (15 YEARS) – AS ABOVE + 2 INCREMENTS


§        COL (TS) – 26 YEARS – AS ABOVE +3 INCREMENTS



·        JCOs/ORs: AS HAS BEEN DONE + BENEFIT OF ACP AND NEW PAY AND ALLOWANCE


·        NEW ALLOWANCES BENEFIT CARRY NO ARREARS


·        SIMILAR EXERCISE TO BE CARRIED OUT FOR PRE-2006 FAMILY PENSIONERS (ALL TYPES)


·        RE-FIXATION AT EVERY FIVE YEARS TO REDUCE GAP


·        RESTORATION OF WEIGHTAGES FOR PENSION


·        EXTENSION OF NON-FUNCTIONAL UPGRADATION AS IN CASE OF CIVIL CADRES  



SLIDE 8



TITLE:             PENSION OF JCOs AND ORs



RANK
PRE 01 JAN 2006 (ORIGINAL VI CPC)
Revised Pre 01 Jan 2006 (Revised by Govt)
Post 01 Jan 2006

X Gp
Y Gp
X Gp
Y Gp
X Gp
Y Gp
Sep
(19 yrs)
4679
4348
6227
5330
8025
7045
Nk
(24 yrs)
5175
4908
6900
6046
8200
7245
Hav
(26 yrs)
6062
5496
7905
6783
9410
8220
Nb Sub
(28 yrs)
8450
7750
11510
10675
11510
10675
Sub
(30 yrs)
11066
10532
13105
11970
13105
11970
Sub Maj
11350
10793
13450
12285
13590
12285



PENSION OF OFFICERS
Rank
Pre 01 Jan 2006
Post 01 Jan 2006
Maj
14100
22135
Lt Col
25700
28695
Col
26050
30375
Brig
26150
31170
Maj Gen
26700
33925
Lt Gen
36500
39500



SLIDE 9



TITLE:             MAJ RECOMMENDATIONS OF SHRI K P SINGH DEO COMMITTEE



·        RESTORATION OF PENSION AS EXISTED PRIOR TO III CPC – LITERALLY OROP EXISTED


·        RANK PLAYED A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE IN MILITARY. REFLECTED ITS ETHOS AND IS ALLOWED TO BE RETAINED AS PER OUR CONSTITUTION. EVEN AFTER RETIREMENT, PENSIONS SHOULD BE RANK BASED


·        EVERY SUBSTANTIVE OFFICER, JCO AND OTHERS SHOULD RECEIVED THE PENSION OF RANK HELD ON RETIREMENT IRRESPECTIVE OF THEIR VINTAGE AND DATE OF RETIREMENT.



Note:- Pi charts on proportion of ranks vis-à-vis civilians etc under preparation as author is not fluent in PowerPoint.  

Contention points/statements highlighted in Red  
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