Operation Five Minutes – Now Unreserved Ticketing on your Mobile Phone

‘Operation Five Minutes’ – Now Unreserved Ticketing on your Mobile Phone

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Railways

22-April, 2015

Suresh Prabhu Launches Mobile App for Paperless Unreserved Ticketing

Fulfilling yet another commitment of the Railway Budget 2015-16, the Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu launched Mobile Application for Paperless Unreserved Ticketing through video conferencing on Egmore–Tambaram Suburban Section of Chennai, at a function here today. Referring his Railway Budget announcement, the Railway Minister said that for the passenger, the Indian Railways is committed to ‘Operation Five Minutes’ – that is, purchase of an unreserved ticket within five minutes and today’s launching of Paperless Unreserved Mobile Ticket is the first step in this area. He said that it will allow the passenger to buy a ticket on the move and allow him or her to board the train with the ticket secured on his or her mobile phone, without any need for printing the ticket. Shri Suresh Prabhu commended all the members of CRIS to develop the Paperless Unreserved Ticketing Mobile Application and hoped for speedy implementation of other IT projects in the pipeline. The railway Minister said that the innovative ideas are always welcome and said that he has set up ‘Kayakalp’ Council which will consider innovative ideas for the betterment of Indian Railways. He said that Shri Suresh Prabhu also unveiled the plaque for the foundation of the Indian Railways Datacentre in Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), an IT wing of Indian Railways, which will provide state-of-the art facilities to house the required computer equipment. Shri Prabhu said that he would expect this new building to be environmental friendly and called upon the officials to complete the construction of this building before scheduled deadline ensuring quality with less cost.

Speaking on the, Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K.Mital said that CRIS, a IT arm of Indian Railways since 1986, has proved capable of managing large railway-wide IT applications such as Passenger Reservation System, Unreserved Ticketing System and Freight Operations Information System. He said that over the years, CRIS has implemented other centralised applications such as Control Officer Application, Crew Management System and Integrated Coaching Management System. Shri Mital said that with CRIS taking up the challenge of developing and implementing these large system, the Indian Railways will see a sea-change in the effectiveness and utilisation of its assets, cutting down cost and improving its services.

Member Traffic, Railway Board, Shri Ajay Shukla said that the Unreserved Ticketing System is an important revenue generating system developed by CRIS. He said that nearly two crore passengers obtain unreserved tickets daily through nearly 11470 counters and 5836 locations generating about Rs. 52 crore of revenue per day. He congratulated CRIS for successfully developing Application App for paperless unreserved ticketing system on Indian Railways.

To move forward in line with digital India, Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) has developed a paperless Unreserved Ticketing feature in Mobile Application “utsonmobile” both for Android and Widows platforms. This will eliminate the need for printing of Unreserved Tickets on ATVMs at the stations. User can download ‘App’ from Google Play Store or Window Store.

The application is being rolled out as a pilot between Chennai Egmore & Tambaram suburban Section of Southern Railway covering 15 stations. For paperless ticketing, GPS co-ordinates of suburban railway track on the Chennai Egmore-Tambaram section, plus 15 meters on either side of the tracks have been earmarked as Geo-Fencing area within which no ticket booking is allowed in order to ensure that passengers have ticket before commencing the journey. After implementation of paperless ticketing, facility of printing paper ticket at ATVM will not be available on Chennai-Egmore to Tambaram Section.

The application provides necessary on-screen alerts to guide the passenger during the booking process. Payment for the ticket is done through the “Railway Wallet” feature in the “App”. After booking the ticket, the passenger will get the ticket confirmation screen which contains limited information of the ticket. The paperless journey ticket will be stored in the local mobile application database in the encrypted form which cannot be tampered with. The passenger has to start the journey within 1 hour as per policy for suburban sections. Ticket booked in paperless mode cannot be cancelled in order to prevent claiming of refund after travel.

The ticket has distinct colour scheme everyday and it is embedded with Quick Response (QR) code. It cannot be forwarded to another mobile or edited or printed. The old invalid tickets will be removed from the mobile device through a sync feature in the ‘App’.

For the purpose of ticket checking, the application has various features such as colour scheme, show ticket features, secret code of the day, booking time of the ticket and scrolling of legend “IR UNRESERVED TICKETING’. In case of mobile in disconnected mode, it will be checked through QR Code.
The Indian Railways Datacentre will be a new building in the premises of existing CRIS office. Indian Railways depends heavily on Information Technology for its customer facing commercial activities, train operations, and internal management. Critical IT applications run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the year, to support Railway operations. These applications cannot be shut down for even a minute on account of any outage of power or cooling.

Sensitive computer equipment used by these IT applications such as high-end servers, storage, network switches etc. needs a controlled environment with precision air-conditioning, uninterruptible power supply (UPPS) , adequate network bandwidth, fire suppression, access control and comprehensive security/surveillance.

The existing datacenters of Indian Railways are nearing their fully capacity. As the number of critical applications increases, this capacity needs to be expanded and the infrastructure brought in line with global standards. To achieve this, the IR Datacentre in CRIS has been planned to ensure state of the art infrastructure for continuous power, precision cooling and protection to the equipment. Complete redundancy and physical security will be provided in the datacenter facilities through the latest technologies in this area. A secure Internet gateway with high bandwidth datacom circuits already exists, and will be expanded further.

The Indian Railways Datacentre can also cater to its PSUs and will help Railways to provide better services to its customers and management.

PIB

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Minimum Guaranteed Pension for Disability/War injury element as per CSC 2012 recommendation.

Minimum Guaranteed Pension for Disability/War injury element as per CSC 2012 recommendation.

No. 16(01)/2014-D(Pension/Policy)
Government of India,
Ministry of Defence.
Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare
New Delhi, the 10th April 2015

To
The Chief of the Army Staff,
The Chief of the Naval Staff,
The Chief of the Air Staff,

Subject: Minimum Guaranteed Pension for Disability/War injury element as per CSC 2012 recommendation.

The undersigned is directed toth refer to this Ministry’s letter No. 17(4)2008(1)/D(Pen/Pol)/ Vol-V dated 15 February 2011 1ilssued in implementation of the Government decision on the recommendations of 6th CPC, which prescribe minimum guaranteed rate of various casualty pensionary awards for pre -2006 Armed Forces Officers and Personnel Below Officer Ranks(PBOR).

2. Further, orders were issued as per recommendation of CSC 2012 for determining the minimum guaranteed pension in respect of Pre-2006 pensioners/ family pensioners. The minimum guaranteed pension has been stepped up to 50% and 30% in respect of Service Pension and Family Pension respectively of the minimum of the fitment table for the ratng in the revised pay structure issued for implementation of recommendations of 6 CPC instead of the minimum of the pay band. The question of extending this benefit to disability element in respect of Pre-2006 Armed Forces Pensioners was under consideration of the Government. Now, the President is pleased to decide that the minimum guaranteed Disability/ War Injury Element of Pre-2006 Armed Forces Personnel should be determined with reference to the minimum of the fitment table for the rank in the revised pay structure issued for implementation of recommendations of 6t CPC instead of the minimum of the pay band, subject to consideration that the rate of disability element/ war injury element of lower rank may not exceed that of higher rank. The Disability/ War Injury Element of Pre-2006 shall be further stepped up as under:-
 
Disabiliy Pension

3. The disability element revised in terms of Para 2.2 of this Ministry’s letter dated 4.5.2009 as amended from time to time shall not be less than 30% of the minimum of the fitment table for the rank in the revised gay structure issued for implementation of recommendation of 6t CPC instead of t e minimum of the pay band corresponding to pre-revised scale held by Armed Forces personnel at the time of retirement / discharge 1 invalidment for 100% disability.

3.1 For disability less than 100%, the disability element shall be proportionately reduced as per the period and degree of disability accepted.

3.2 In cases where permanent disability is not less than 60%, the disability pension (i.e. total of serv1ce element revised in terms Para 2.1 of this Ministry’s letter dated 4.5.2009 as amended from time to time plus disability element) shall not be less than 60% of minimum of the fitment table for thehrankin the revised pay structure issued for implementation of recommendation of 6t CPC instead of minimum of the pay band corresponding to the pre-revised scale held by Armed Forces personnel at the tlg‘le of retirement / discharge/ invalidment, subject to minimum of Rs.7000/- per month.

Liberalized Disability Pension

4. The disability element revised in terms of Para 2.2 of this Ministry’s letter dated 4.5.2009 as amended from time to time shall not be less than 30% of the minimum of the fitment table for the rank in the revised pay structure issued for implementation of recommendation of 6t CPC instead of minimum of the pay band corresponding to pre-revised scale held by Armed Forces personnel at the time of retirement / discharge finvalidment for 100% disability.

4.1 For disability less than 100%, the disability element shall be proportionately reduced as per the period and degree of disability already accepted. However, in no case the revised disability pension (i.e. aggregate of service element revised in terms of Para 2.1 of this Ministry’s letter dated 4.5.2009 as amended from time to time plus disability element) shall be less than 80% of the minimum of the fitment table for the rank in the revised pay structure issued for implementation of recommendation of 6 CPC instead of the minimum of the pay band corresponding to pre-revised scale held by Armed Forces personnel at the time of retirement / discharge /invalidment.

War Injury Pension

5. The War Injury element revised in terms of Para 2.3 of this Ministry’s letter dated 4.5.2009 as amended from time to time shall not be less than 100% in case of invalidment and 60% in case of retirement/discharge, of the minimum of the fitment table for the rank in the revised pay structure issued for implementation of recommendation of 6t CPC instead of the minimum of the pay band corresponding to pre-revised scale held by Armed Forces personnel at the time of retirement discharge invalidment for 100% disability.

6. All Pension Disbursing Agencies (PDAs) handling disbursement of pension to Defence pensioners are hereby authorized to pay revised Disability / War Injury Element 1n respect of Pre-2006 retired/ discharged/ invalided out pensioners from service, in terms of these orders without calling for any application from the Defence pensioners and without any further authorization from the concerned Pension Sanctioning Authorities(PSAs). PCDA (Pensions) Allahabad will issue further implementation instructions while circulating these orders to all the PDAs concerned.

7. This order will take effect from 24th September 2012. There will be no change in the amount of revision of disability element/ war injury element paid during the period 01.01.2006 to 23.09.2012. Therefore, no arrears shall be allowed for this period.

8. All other terms and condition shall remain unchanged.

9. Pension Regulation of all the three services will be amended in due course.

10. This issues with the concurrence of Finance division of this Ministry vide their ID No PC-3 to MF
10(12)2012/FIN/Pen dated 23.03.2015

11. Hindi version will follow.

Yours faithfully
(Prem Parkash)
Under Secretary (Pen/Pol)

Click here to download Original

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Indian Railways to launch App tomorrow for paperless ticketing in unreserved category

Indian Railways to launch App tomorrow for paperless ticketing in unreserved category

Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu

New Delhi: Come tomorrow and rail commuters can use a mobile phone App to obtain tickets in the unreserved category as the Indian railways takes forward its initiative for paperless ticketing.

“We are launching a mobile-based paperless unreserved ticketing application tomorrow,” said a senior Railway Ministry official.

Having booked a ticket using the App, a commuter need not take a print-out of the same and can show its soft copy on the cellphone to the TTE.

Apart from being a green initiative, the paperless ticketing system would also save time for passengers as it allows them to avoid lining up at the ticket window.

As per the plan, one may download the App from the Google App store for Android-based mobile phones. After the download, the user will get a registration ID number for creation of a railway e-wallet.

Money for buying tickets will have to be loaded through the e-wallet mobile payment system either online or at a ticket counter at any station.

Passengers have the option of topping up the e-wallet at ticket counters or on the IRCTC website using a credit or debit card, the official said.

Besides booking tickets, one can even renew season tickets using the App, which the official said will be a great help for commuters in the unreserved ticketing segment.

The App-based ticketing system was tried out in the Mumbai suburban sector on a pilot basis. The App will be available for cellphones running on the Android operating systems. An App for Blackberry will be available later.

PTI

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CSS demands status equivalent with IAS officers

CSS demands status equivalent with IAS officers

New Delhi: The Central Secretariat Service (CSS) is demding for a status equivalent with the IAS officers (Indian Administrative Service officers).

A team of CSS officers met Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, seeking a new pay package, perks and promotion.

The Central Secretariat Service (CSS) is one of the earliest organized services in the country. The origin of the service can be traced back to the year 1919.

The CSS Officers at the middle and lower management levels of the administrative machinery are responsible for assisting in the formulation and monitoring implementation of policies concerning subjects, which are the main responsibility of the central government.

There are around 2,200 CSS officers in the Government starting from Under Secretaries to Additional Secretaries.

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Finance Minister Jaitley to meet officials again to keep Income Tax Return forms simple

FM Jaitley to meet officials again to keep Income Tax Return forms simple

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: Facing criticism over the new Income Tax Return (ITR) forms that seek details on bank accounts and foreign trips, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will hold another round of meeting with officials to simplify the procedure.

Soon after his trip from Washington yesterday, Jaitley had held a meeting with tax officials on the new ITR forms that have evoked sharp reactions from experts and others alike.

“The Finance Minister will be taking another meeting to finalise changes in the new forms,” said a source.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy-making body of the Income Tax department, had notified the forms for the current assessment year, seeking additional details to check the menace of black money.

As it stands, the new ITR forms, including the ITR-1 and ITR-2, require an assessee to furnish the number of bank accounts held by the individual “at any time (including opened/closed) during the previous year” with the last balance in the account as on March 31 of the just-concluded fiscal.

The assessee will also have to furnish the name of the bank, account number, address, IFSC code and any possible joint account holder’s name.

On Saturday, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das had said the government will reconsider the new ITR forms to make it simple. Jaitley had called him up from Washington, asking him not to proceed further on the matter.

Experts and consultants have criticised the new forms, saying the government was seeking too much of data. They felt that the addition of new information would make the process of filing returns difficult.

PTI

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Submission of Memorandum to the 7th Central Pay Commission – request for oral evidence regarding

Submission of Memorandum to the 7th Central Pay Commission – Request for oral evidence – AICAEA

All India Civil Accounts Employees Association
(RECOGNISED BY GOVT. OF INDIA)
CENTRAL HEADQUARTER

No.AICAEA/HQ/ A-41/7CPC/2015/246

Dated 30th March 2015

To
The Member Secretary,
7th Central Pay Commission,
Chatrapati Shivaji Bhawan,
1st Floor, B-14/A, Qutab Institutional Area,
New Delhi 110016
Tel Number:- 26517097
E-mail:- secy-7cpc@nic.in

Subject:- Submission of Memorandum to the 7th Central Pay Commission – request for oral evidence regarding.

Madam,
This Association, vide its forwarding letter No.AICAEA/HQ/A-41/7CPC/2014/988 dated 28th July 2014 has submitted a “Memorandum” to the 7TH Central Pay Commission.

This Association is a part of the JCM Scheme and one of the members of the Departmental Council of Ministry of Finance.

This Association represents nearly 7000(Seven thousand) employees belonging to the cadres of MTS, LDC, Staff Car Driver, DEO, Computer Operator, Accountant, Senior Accountant, Stenographer, Private Secretary, Hindi translator/officer etc. of the Departmentalized Accounts organization functioning under the Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure.

I, on behalf of this Association, request you to kindly extend us the opportunity of tendering oral evidence in support of the Memorandum submitted by us. We may kindly be intimated the date for tendering oral evidence at least a fortnight ahead so that our representatives from other stations are able to take part.
Thanking you,

Yours sincerely

(V. BHATTACHARJEE)
Secretary General

Source: www.nfcaahqnd.blogspot.in

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Payment of Dearness Allowance to Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) at revised rates w.e.f. 01.01.2015 onwards - reg.

DA from Jan-2015: Order issued for Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS)

 

Payment of Dearness Allowance to Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) at revised rates w.e.f. 01.01.2015 onwards

 

No. 14-01/2011-PAP

Government of India

Ministry of Communication & IT

Department of Posts

(Establishment DIvision)/P.A.P. Section

7 Oak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi - 110 001.

Dated : 20th April, 2015.

To,
All Chief Postmaster General
All G.Ms. (PAH/Directors of Accounts (Posts).

Subject: Payment of Dearness Allowance to Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) at revised rates w.e.f. 01.01.2015 onwards - reg.

Consequent upon grant of another installment of Dearness Allowance, with effect from 1st January, 2015 to the Central Government Employees vide Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure's OM. No. 1/2/2015-E-ll (8) dated 10.04.2015, duly endorsed vlde this Department’s letter No. 8-1/2012-PAP dated 13.04.2015, the Gramin Dal: Sevaks (GDS) have also become entitled to the payment of Dearness Allowances on basic TRCA at the revised rate with effect from 01.01.2015. It has, therefore, been decided that the Dearness Allowance payable to the Gramin Dak Sevairs shall be enhanced from the existing rate of 107% to 113% on the basic Time Related Continuity Allowance, with effect from the 1st January, 2015.

 

2. The additional installment of Dearness Allowance payable under this order shall be paid in cash to all Gramin Dak Sevaks.

 

3. The expenditure on this account shall be debited to the Head “Salaries” under the relevant head of account and should be met from the sanctioned grant.

 

4. This issues with the concurrence of integrated Finance Wing vide their Diary No. 10/FA/2015-CS

dated 20.04.2015.

(Major S.N.Dave)

Assistat Director General (Estt.)

 

Source: NFPE

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DELAY IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP) – IESM LETTER TO Sh RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR

IESM LETTER TO Sh RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR

DELAY IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP)

Dear Sh Rajeev Chandrashekhar

You have been leading the fight for Defence Personnel both serving and ex-servicemen (ESM) inside and outside of Parliament and with every Government. ESM have appreciated your gesture of not accepting increased pay and perks of MP since last two years and your resolve that you will not accept the pay raise and perks till Government grants OROP for ex-servicemen.

IESM on behalf of ESM family thanks you for your unstinted support. OROP, one of the crucial demands of ESM, is close to approval. OROP has the approval of two Parliaments, all political parties and has been approved twice in the budget. Yet OROP notification has not been issued since last one year. The reason for this undue delay in issuing the notification is a common knowledge that Bureaucracy is not happy to give OROP to Armed Forces and veterans. The work on draft GL and the tables will start only after the approval of OROP by the Government. Raksha Mantri has extended full support to OROP and is personally monitoring the progress of the file.

This undue delay in issuance of notification is not good for morale of Ex-servicemen. They have started getting doubts on the Government’s resolve to give OROP. Government has missed three deadlines given to veterans for issuance of GL. Parliament session is about to start and Government will get busy in running the session and notification for OROP will get relegated to yet another date. IESM requests you and your friends to raise pertinent questions which will nail the Government to fixed dead line and Government is not permitted to give stereotype reply on OROP. Some of the questions which come to our mind are
Government has been giving stereotype reply since last three Parliament sessions that OROP is under consideration and will be given as and when it is formalized. Please give firm date for issuance of notification. Ambiguity on such an important demand of Armed Forces is having adverse impact on their morale.
As per principle of OROP a senior rank officer/JCO/OR will not be paid pension less than his junior. Will this aspect be the adhered to and OROP notification will include suitable safe guard for this?

Honorable courts have given many decisions in favor of Defence Personnel. Some of them have been complied with and only litigants have been given the benefits of court decision. Will GL include all decisions given by courts in favor of Defence Personnel whether litigants or not. This will ensure equal justice for all affected ESM and will also save Court’s time and Government’s time. It may be noted that non litigants if not included in GL will definitely move the courts and will get decision in their favor from AFT/High court /Supreme Court.

There are only very few Major rank officers who are drawing pension. Most of them are very senior and 75 and above. This group of officers needs sympathetic consideration as they had all put in service of more 20 years. This group needs to be given Lt Col basic pension with Major’s grade pay, since after 2004 officers with 13 years service one eligible for the rank of Lt Col . Most of them are pre – 96 retired. Government had denied giving them Lt Col pension. One Major Thomas pre 96 retiree has won the case and has been awarded Lt Col Pension. Lt Col pension with Major’s grade pay needs to be given to all Majors pre 96 or post 96 retiree. This will again save Government time on litigations by Majors.

Status of National War Memorial. When will the work start on it and when will nation pay homage to fallen soldier at the National Memorial?

Status of Ex-Servicemen Commission. Government to confirm that it will be headed and manned by Ex-servicemen and will have statutory powers to order Government departments for delay in actions.

Sh Rajeev ji, ESM are getting restive because of this undue delay and shifting of goal post on one pretext or other. IESM is worried that some of the local organizations may get disturbed and may deviate from the non-violent path of IESM and may resort to Rasta Roko or Rail Roko agitations. It will not be good for country and ESM. May I therefore request you to kindly meet PM/RM and confirm the latest position and issue a statement to sooth the nerves of the agitated ESM.

I am sure we will see some of the questions being raised in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on the suggested lines in the coming session.

I will be grateful to get a reply giving plan of action and your advice for future course of action.

With regards,
Maj Gen Satbir Singh, SM (Retd)
Chairman IESM
Mob: +919312404269, 0124-4110570
Email : satbirsm@gmail.com

Source: www.ex-airman.blogspot.in

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