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New pension scheme introduced

Thursday, 21 January 2010 02:11 administrator
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The Hindu 21.01.2010

New pension scheme introduced

Special Correspondent

Applicable to employees in service from April 1, 2006

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Launch: (From left) Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Finance, M.R. Sreenivasa Murthy, Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, and CEO of NPS Trust N.R. Rayalu at the signing of the agreements in Bangalore on Wednesday.

Bangalore: The State Government has introduced a Defined Contribution Pension Scheme (new pension scheme), applicable to its employees who have joined service from April 1, 2006. It entered into two agreements on Wednesday with the New Pension System Trust (NPST) and National Securities Depository Ltd. (NSDL).

Karnataka is the 14th State in the country to join the NPS Trust and 60,000 employees will be covered under the new scheme. As many as 15,000 to 20,000 employees are expected to join the scheme every year. The scheme is likely to be operational next month.

The agreements were signed by M.R. Sreenivasa Murthy, Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Department of Finance, and Gagan Rai for the NSDL and N.R. Rayulu CEO of the NPS Trust, in the presence of Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.

Mr. Yeddyurappa expressed confidence that employees would immensely benefit from it. The monthly contribution under the NPS should be 10 per cent of basic pay and Dearness Allowance paid by the employees and matched by the State Government in equal proportion.

How it works

A note said government employees under the NPS should normally exit the scheme at the age of superannuation. At exit, the employee should mandatorily invest 40 per cent of pension to purchase an annuity.

The annuity will provide for pension during the lifetime of the employee and his dependent parents and his/her spouse and minor children from the time of superannuation. The remaining 60 per cent of the pension will be paid to the employee at the time superannuation. The Government has adopted the NPS architecture set and regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). The supervision of the scheme’s functioning and performance of all intermediates will be done by the NPS Trust under the overall guidance and supervision of the PFRDA.

Mr. Rayulu, Managing Trustee and CEO of the NPS Trust, said that so far 23 States had agreed to join the scheme and another 13 states had brought their employees under its ambit.

Funds

So far more than 6.5 lakh employees of the Union and State governments and Union Territories had joined the scheme.

Mr. Rayulu said that the trust has an operating fund worth over Rs. 3,750 crore. In a couple of months the total strength of the members would reach one million. He said that the NSDL has been appointed as the Central Record Keeping Agency (CRA) and would update the entire records of the NPS, including the contributions, investments, balances and annuity for each employee.

Last Updated on Thursday, 21 January 2010 02:18
 

Panel system likely for next civic polls

Tuesday, 19 January 2010 11:23 administrator
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Indian Express 19.01.2010

Panel system likely for next civic polls

The election pattern for the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations is likely to change with efforts being made to embrace the panel system, which sets size of each ward as per population and requires each corporator to represent at least 40,000 people.

The state government is said to be keen on pushing this and both corporations are likely to oblige, though corporators are by and large against the move.

If it is done, the 2012 civic polls would be held as per this year’s census figures that will be out in 2011 and the PCMC corporators would go up to around 125 from 105 now. The number of PMC corporators would also rise from 144. “I favour the panel system as it helps reduce elected representatives with a criminal background, as they would not be able to exercise their influence on 50,000 voters. Pune Municipal Corporation was one of the first to accept the panel system but dropped it in 2004. There are problems like corporators taking credit for work. Many a time, three people from different parties get elected to the same panel,” said BJP corporator in PMC Vikas Matkari.

PCMC Congress corporator Babu Nair said, “A corporator is able to exercise influence over his ward in the present system. The panel system will result in dilution of powers. Also, it is seen that corporators cannot work together in a panel.”

According to the 2001 census, the population of Pimpri-Chinchwad was 10,06,628. Taking this into consideration, the municipal corporation carved out 105 wards.

This year’s census report would be out after March 2011. PCMC officials estimate that the population of the township would have grown to 15 lakh. The PMC area now has over 35 lakh.

According to the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, in municipal corporations where population is in over 12 lakh and less than 24 lakh, a minimum of 115 corporators should be elected. Also, in every town where population is over 12 lakh, there can be one elected corporator for every 40,000 people.

The 2002 elections of the PCMC had taken place according to the panel system when the state election commission divided the township into 35 wards. Three candidates were to be elected from each ward. Likewise, the election commission would decide the number of wards for the 2012 polls. There can be a minimum of three and a maximum of five elected representatives in each ward.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 January 2010 11:40
 

Miles to go before 24×7 water supply

Tuesday, 22 December 2009 11:42 administrator
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Indian Express 22.12.2009

Miles to go before 24×7 water supply

Mumbai’s dream of 24-hour water supply through the Sujal Mumbai plan will have to wait. The skewed demand-supply gap with a continuous rise in population indicates intermittent supply through the year.

Sujal Mumbai, announced in 2007, involves measures like telescopic rates (additional payment if more than 150 litres is used). A pilot project on automatic meters has been introduced; it is to be completed in 2012.

“24×7 supply is not feasible in the near future as it requires universal metering and identifying leaks through a water audit,” said Madhav Chitale, former irrigation secretary who was appointed in 1993 for long-term planning for augmenting water supply.

The measures for metering and addressing the leakages have not been introduced. These include measures for water distribution management and non-revenue water reduction, digital mapping of utilities on GIS maps, 100 per cent bulk consumer metering, district metering of 1000 connections, leakage detection, and replacement of old Tansa and Vaitarna pipelines. The Centre has already rejected funding under JNNURM for the change of pipelines

Estimates put the leakages due to illegal connections and thefts at 700 mld; officials say these are only guesses. “There is no error-proof mechanism to identify underground leakage. We need to carry out a detailed water audit and fix leakages. Till then, 24-hour supply is impossible,” Chitale said. The civic administration wants the World Bank’s help to identify a private party for the audit; that plan has remained on paper. Officials stressed detailed area management of water, with locality-wise consumption details. “This is only possible through metering. If one area is getting more water, it can be diverted to another low-pressure area,” said an official.

A white paper on the present and future water situation, presented early this year, estimated that till 2021 Mumbai will not be able to meet its demand.

The committee had recommended that the Middle Vaitarna and Gargai, Pinjal projects be given priority. The Middle Vaitarna project will add 450 mld to the 3,450 mld being supplied; Gargai and Pinjal will add 455 mld and 865 mld. Chitale stressed a sliding scale for water. “The rate across the city is uniform. To lift water from source and supply to a faroff place like Colaba is more expensive than supplying maybe to Bhandup.”

25% cut
The city will face an additional 10 per cent water cut from tomorrow till 11 am Saturday, taking the total cut to 25 per cent. This is because of work on joining pipelines with the new Tansa main line. The water department will also fix leakages on the Tansa East pipeline on Tuesday. The cut will be restored to 15 per cent after the work is done.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 December 2009 11:44
 
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