YEAR END REVIEW 2020 DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

YEAR END REVIEW 2020 DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

Ministry of Communications

YEAR END REVIEW 2020 DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

New version of DARPAN-PLI App deployed in Core Integration System (CIS) with facility of processing various financial and non-financial requests of PLI/RPLI insurants at 127115 Branch Post Offices

17,092 villages brought under the coverage of Bima Gram Yojana (BGY) From January, 2020 to November, 2020

Over 7 lakh Passport applications and more than 99 lakh requests for Aadhar enrollments / updations processed from January, 2020 to November, 2020

India Post tied-ups with Indian Drug Manufacturers Association, Director General of Health Services and a number of private firms and online pharmaceutical companies for delivery of medicines from their facilities to hospitals and beneficiaries during COVID-19

31 crore financial transactions enabled through Post Office and IPPB accounts during COVID 19 period

India Post won India Today Healthgiri Award for providing the best logistic services during COVID 19

Posted On: 29 DEC 2020

YEAR END REVIEW 2020 DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

For more than 150 years, the Department of Posts (DoP) has been the backbone of the country’s communication and has played a crucial role in the country’s social economic development. It touches the lives of Indian citizens in many ways: delivering mails, accepting deposits under Small Savings Schemes, providing life insurance cover under Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) and providing retail services like bill collection, sale of forms, etc. The DoP also acts as an agent for Government of India in discharging other services for citizens such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage disbursement and old age pension payments. In the year 2020, the Department strengthened its supply chain through capacity upgradation and expanding Road Transport Network. It played important role in countering impact of COVID-19 pandemic by enabling doorstep delivery of financial services and medicines etc. The Year End Review for Department of Posts highlights the achievements, and progress on various initiatives of department in the year 2020.

Supply Chain and e-Commerce: Mail, Express Services and Parcel:

• Capacity upgradation: Parcel handling capacity has increased from 6.0 crore per annum to 7.5 crore per annum.
• Road Transport Network: National level dedicated Road Transport Network rolled out on 56 routes touching 80 cities. Approx. 15000 bags containing 75 tonnes of parcels are being carried daily through the setup network.
• Improvement in Pan – India Average Transit Time for Speed Post: Average Transit time of Speed Post reduced from 105 hrs. in July,2019 to 81 hrs. in Feb,2020.
• Real-Time updation of Delivery: Postman Mobile App implemented in 1.47 Lakh POs including 98,454 post offices in rural areas. Real time delivery status of 14 crore Speed Post and Registered articles done through the Postman Mobile App.
• E-Commerce exports: ‘DakGharNiryat Kendra’ are being established at around 800 Post Offices covering all District headquarters to promote exports of MSMEs.
• International Tracked Packet Service extended to 3 more countries Mongolia, Bhutan and Sri Lanka taking the total from 12 to 15 countries.

Banking Services and Financial Inclusion:

• Digital Financial empowerment of the public at large: DOP serves more than 50 crore POSB customers through 1.56 lakh post offices across length & breadth of the country and have an outstanding balance of Rs. 10,81,293 crore under Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) Schemes. The Post Office CBS system is the largest network in the world with 23,483 Post Offices already on this network. Further 1,29,151 Branch Post Offices have been also enabled to access the network on real time basis. The CBS has enabled the DOP in providing 24×7 services through ATMs, Internet & Mobile Banking.
• Financial Empowerment of Rural Populace: All the 9 Small Savings Schemes of MoF are available in 1.56 lakh Post Offices. 5 Schemes, namely, Monthly Income Scheme, Senior Citizens Savings Scheme, Public Provident Fund, National Savings Certificate & KisanVikas Patra have been introduced in BOs through SB Order 27/2020 dated 23.07.2020. People living in rural India will not be required to come to town & cities to do any Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) transaction. The same will be available at their doorstep through local Branch Post Offices.
• Economic Empowerment of Girl Child: Sukanya Samriddhi Account (SSA) scheme is also known as girl child prosperity scheme and was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji on 22nd January, 2015 in Panipat, Haryana. SSA scheme ensures a bright future for girl children. This scheme has facilitated them in proper education, marriage expenses and securing their future. The Sukanya Samriddhi Account can be opened in any post office. A total of 1.83 Crore Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts have been opened with deposits amounting to Rs. 58,822.62 Crore, by the Department of Posts, till November, 2020 since introduction of the scheme.
• Insurance and Pension coverage of masses at reasonable rates: The PM Jan Suraksha Schemes, namely, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeewan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) & Atal Pension Yojana (APY) were launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister in May, 2015. The DOP has been playing an active role under these Government of India flagship schemes and had made 3.2 Lakh Atal Pension Yojana (APY), 5.9 Lakh Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and 1.17 crore Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) enrolments so far.
• Simplified processing of deceased claim cases to expedite deceased claim settlement process and help claimants to get the claim amount expeditiously.
• Post Bank of India: More than 1.36 Lakhs Access Points enables for India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) transactions thus creating largest single bank network across the country. More than 2.90 Lakhs Gramin Dak Sewaks (GDS) and Postmen enables to act as Doorstep Banking Service Providers taking Banking services to the doorstep. More than 3.61 crore people benefitted from Aadhar enabled Payment System (AePS) transactions involving an amount of Rs.7,667 crore, majority of them during COVID-19 lockdown.
• Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT): More than 3.99 crores transactions were performed involving an amount of Rs. 4,040 crore for a period from January, 2020 to November, 2020. Disbursed benefits of more than 275 schemes of different Ministries to beneficiaries including those in remote and rural areas.
• Digital Inclusion: 1,29,159 Branch Post offices are using SIM based handheld POS devices. 40 crore digital transactions have been facilitated through promotion of Remotely Managed Franking Machines for a period from January, 2020 to November, 2020.

Postal Life Insurance (PLI)/ Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) :

• Bonus of PLI for the financial years 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 have been declared in the month of March, 2020. Similarly, Bonus of RPLI for the financial years 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 have been declared in the month of April, 2020.
• A total of 26,54,652 transactions were done in respect of PLI/ RPLI amounting to Rs. 5,15,14,03,966/- in the month of April, 2020, inspite of nation-wide lockdown and extension of premium payment period to June, 2020.
• Since, April, 2020, there has been 48% increase in monthly PLI/RPLI online transactions.
• Inspite of lockdown and severe restrictions on transportation and staff attendance in offices, more than 90% of Central Processing Centres (CPCs) across the country were functional, more than 70,000 new proposals were processed and more than 40,000 claims were sanctioned in the month of April, 2020.
• Wirecard, the then existing payment gateway has been replaced by PayU for online premia payment, offering multiple channel of payment by customers, namely Debit Card, Credit Card, Net Banking, Wallets and UPI.
• To simplify the process of acceptance of new proposals and facilitate settlement of claims within citizen charter’ norms, approver limits for acceptance of new proposals and settlements of claims have been revised and has been decentralized to Head Post Office/ GPO/ Divisional Level (except for early death claims involving inquiry, for which approving authority is Director). Accordingly, Rules 55, 55(1), 55(2), 58(1) and 59(2) of PLI (Postal Life Insurance) Rules, 2011 were amended.
• The process of settlement of Death Claim, Maturity Claim and handing of Loan requests in PLI/ RPLI has been simplified by prescribing Comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for each.
• To facilitate faster processing of death claim cases, Rule 39 of PLI (Postal Life Insurance) Rules, 2011 has been amended keeping in line with the existing Industry practice.
• A new version of DARPAN-PLI App has been deployed in Core Integration System (CIS) with facility of processing various financial and non-financial requests of PLI/RPLI insurants at level of 127115 Branch Post Offices including those in remote and rural areas.
• Department has brought in more transparency in communication with customer by adding more SMSs relating to policy servicing.
• Department has removed 2 revival restrictions during the policy contract. Along with this, provision for revival of policy in instalments has been provisioned in the PLI system.
• Business Performance of PLI and RPLI: As on 30-11-2020, there were a total of 96.79 lakh active PLI and RPLI policies with an aggregate sum assured of Rs. 2.05 lakh crores.
• Investment Functions of PLI / RPLI Fund: The total corpus of PLI / RPLI fund has reached Rs 1.13 lakh crore by 30-11-2020.
• Bima Gram Yojana: From January, 2020 to November, 2020, 17,092 villages brought under the coverage of Bima Gram Yojana (BGY). Each BGY village has at least 100 households covered by one RPLI policy.

Citizen Centric Services:

• Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (PoPSK): With the growing need of its citizens for a passport for various purposes, Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Posts mutually agreed for setting up Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (PoPSKs) in post offices to utilise the post office infrastructure and reach for delivering passport services. 426 PoPSKs have been made operational till date, of which 02 PoPSKs opened in 2020 namely (i) Seoni, Madhya Pradesh and (ii) Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Island. 7,27,329 applications have been processed through PoPSKs from January, 2020 to November, 2020.
• Aadhar Enrolment and Updation Centres: The facility has brought convenience to the citizens by way of generating new Aadhaar and updating their Aadhaar cards in case of any change/ mis-match. More than 42,000 Postal Officials/ MTS/ GDS have been trained/ certified to perform Aadhaar operations. The Aadhaar Enrolments are done free of cost. A sum of Rs. 100/- is reimbursed by UIDAI for every successful Aadhaar Enrolment to India Post. Aadhaar Updations are chargeable and a sum of Rs. 50/- is collected from the citizens for every demographic updation and Rs. 100/- is collected from the citizens for every biometric updation.13,352 Post Office Aadhaar Centres have been set up across the country. 99,25,630requests for enrollments / updations have been processed by these Centres from January, 2020 to November, 2020.
• A total no of 3,43,296 Gangajal Bottles have been supplied for the period from January, 2020 to November, 2020.
• Digital Advancement of Rural Post Offices for a New India (DARPAN): Carried out 17.41 crores online Postal and financial transactions involving Rs. 23,251/- crores for a period from January, 2020 to November, 2020 through 1.29 lakh Branch Post Offices in the rural areas of the country. More than 1.5 crores transactions per month are taking place through DARPAN devices.
• PO-CSC (Post Office-Common Service Centres): A convergence of Post Offices and Common Service Centres (Part of CSC e-Governance Services India Limited under Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology) for effective delivery of various citizen centric services is a part of the five-year Vision Document of the Department of Posts. Accordingly,10136 Post Offices are now providing services of Common Service Centres through the Digital Sewa portal of CSC. As on 30.11.2020, 48234 transactions worth Rs. 4.62 Crore were delivered through these Post Offices.
• There are 100+ CSC Services which are offered through these post offices which include Government to Citizen Schemes(G2C) such as Pradhan Manthri Street Vendors’ Athma nirbhar Nidhi Yojana (PMSVANIDHI), Pradhan Manthri Jan Arogya Yojana (Ayushman Bharat), Pradhan ManthriShram Yogi Maan-dhanYojana (PM-SYM), Pradhan Mantri Laghu Vyapari Maan-dhan Yojana (PM-LVM), The Election Card Printing, E-Stamp Service, and Various e-District Services. Some of B2C (Business to Citizens) Services offered includes Bharat Bill Payment System Bills (Electric, Gas, Water bills etc…), Renewal Premium collection for Life Insurance Policies and General Insurance such as Motor Vehicle, Health and Fire Insurance etc, Third party services such as EMI collections for various loans offered by financial institutions and submission of online application forms for loans and Travel services such as Ticket booking service is available for Flight, Train and Bus Tickets.

Opening of new Branch Post Offices (BOs) in 90 identified Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts in the country: In pursuance of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Note for Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS), a proposal for opening of 4903 new Branch Post Offices (BOs) in 90 identified LWE districts in the country was under taken. In the first Phase, 1789 Branch Post Offices in Panchayats not having post offices opened in LWE districts across the country, of which 16 Branch Post Offices have been opened from January, 2020 to November, 2020.

Public Grievances:

Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS): Department of Posts processes complaints registered by consumers of postal services in the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS). Streamlining of CPGRAMS was done by mapping over 1.55 lakh Post Offices till the level of Branch Post Offices by intuitive navigation of complaints to the line-end offices for faster resolution. This was done in collaboration with Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) and the new version 7.0 was successfully launched in September 2019. Department of Posts is the only Department selected for the pilot study for the revamping by DARPG. The details of the complaints handled in 2020 upto 30.11.2020 are as under:

S. No.	Year	Complaints received during the period	Complaints settled during the period	% of settlement	Average disposal time (days)
1	01.01.2020 to 30.11.2020	57604	56935	98.8%	16

• Social Media Cell: Social media Cell is an independent entity and deals with the Twitter and Facebook accounts of the Department of Posts. The social media cell monitors the complaints sent to all the Circles on daily basis. The average first response time is approximately 4 hours. The details of the complaints handled in 2020 upto 30.11.2020 are as under: –

S. No.	Year	Complaints received during the period	Complaints settled during the period	% of settlement
1	01.01.2020 to 30.11.2020	197801	195896	99%

• India Post Call Centre (IPCC): ln wake of the initiatives taken up by Prime Minister to bring transparency and accountability in the Government, Department of Posts established 2ndIndia Post Call Centre with 24x7x365 IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) facility for the citizens in Patna on 01.07.2019. IPCC is working in the four languages namely Hindi, English, Odiya and Bengali for the convenience of the citizens. 36,72,136 calls were received in IPCC from 01.01.2020 to 30.11.2020.
• Implementation of Dynamic Queue Management System (DQMS) in Post Offices: Dynamic Queue Management System (DQMS) has been installed in 57 Head Post Offices in the last one year having six or more than six working counters. Overall DQMS have been installed in 340 Post Offices. The Objectives & scope of DQMS are given below:-
• To reduce waiting time.
• To increase processing capacity.
• To reduce miscommunication among customers.
• To give a comfort level to staff and customers.
• To monitor customer flow.

Initiatives taken by the Department in the COVID-19 situation:

• Postal services were identified as essential services during lockdown. The vast network of post offices had been galvanized to respond to the challenges in coordination with State Governments and local bodies. Control Rooms at India Post HQ and Circle (State) HQs were established to manage, receive and respond for immediate needs.
• Supply Chain: Road Transport Network connecting 56 routes and 75 cities was commenced in April, 2020 utilizing Departmental Mail Vans. The network came handy to delivery essentials, medicines and medical equipment including ventilators, defibrillators, COVID 19 testing kits, masks and PPE kits. Around 36,000 tonnes of material were delivered through postal channels which also include use of Parcel Trains. Supply chain arrangements were also made for farmers to connect their farm produce to markets.
• Financial Inclusion: During lockdown and initial phase of unlocking more than 33.95 crore transactions valuing around Rs. 7.02 lakh crore were made through POSB accounts. Around 78 lakh POSB ATM transactions amounting to Rs. 2389 crore were made.
• Instructions issued during lockdown for the ease of customers:
• Waive off penalty/ revival fee (default fee) in RD/ PPF/ SSA Accounts for the deposits due in FY 2019-20 and April, 2020, till June, 2020.
• Relaxation in guidelines in respect of PPF/ SSA Accounts for a Single Deposit pertaining to FY 2019-20 till June, 2020.
• Extension of the prescribed time limit of one month post retirement for retirees, of Feb 2020 to April 2020, to invest in Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) till June, 2020.
• Relaxation in provisions for rebate on RD Advance deposits & default fee for the month of March 2020 to May, 2020 without default/ revival fee, till June, 2020.
• Reduction in TDS rate in POSB Schemes for the period from 14.05.2020 to March, 2021.
• Various relaxation under POSB schemes extended till 30.07.2020 instead of 30.06.2020.

• India Post tied-ups with Indian Drug Manufacturers Association, Director General of Health Services and a number of private firms and online pharmaceutical companies for delivery of medicines from their facilities to hospitals and beneficiaries.
• During COVID period, Rs. 5200 crore disbursed to 2.5 crore beneficiaries through AePS at the doorstep who were not able to access banking facilities.
• 31 crore financial transactions enabled during COVID19 period through Post Office and IPPB accounts.
• Taking initiative in public interest, special features have been added to Post info App for accepting emergent service requests from people. More than 60,000 service requests have been attended by Department of Posts during lockdown.
• Activated Mobile Post Offices across the country to provide basic postal services, food and masks distribution etc.
• Free distribution of around 10 lakhs food and ration packets was made to the needy.
• Launched dedicated Road Transport Network in April, 2020 on 56 long haul routes and connected farm produce of farmers to markets by activating postal supply chain.
• India Post won India Today Health giri Award for providing the best logistic services during COVID19. The selfless service of the employees of India Post did not go unnoticed!
• Special Covers, Post Cards and Special Impressions were issued with messages to create awareness about social distancing and to express gratitude to Corona Warriors.
• A grace period was provided to all the Registered Newspapers from March, 2020 to November, 2020 for printing and posting of their editions as per their convenience.
• Department of Posts has extended the Postal Life Insurance (PLI) / Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) premium payment period due on March, 2020, April, 2020 and May, 2020 upto 30.06.2020 without penalty/default fee due to outbreak of COVID19.Due to outbreak of COVID19, date for revival of lapsed policies, in which premia have not been paid during the last 5 years, was extended in phases.
• CPGRAMS Portal: A separate category for ‘COVID-19’ grievances was created on CPGRAMS to address and monitor grievances of the public with regard to their postal needs in the backdrop of the pandemic. 1235 grievances have been resolved within the prescribed timeline of 3 days since the creation of the category i.e. from 30.03.2020.
• Social Media: Social Media (Twitter handle of India Post) had a mitigating effect in this pandemic by providing immediate relief to the citizens by redressing their concerns in booking and delivering medicines and arranging financial transactions in post offices. 1.54 lakh grievances have been resolved during the period of lockdown.
• Separate category of COVID 19 Grievances provided on the Online portal. IPPC services over 25 Lakh calls during COVID 19 lockdown.

Miscellaneous:

• Human Resource Management: The Department has conducted various training sessions and a total no of 92,824 officers / officials were trained for the period from January, 2020 to November, 2020.

Source: PIB

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Persmin Year End Review 2020 - Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions - PIB News

Persmin Year End Review 2020 - Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions - PIB News

Persmin Year End Review 2020

Persmin Year End Review 2020

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

Year End Review 2020- Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions

Cabinet approved creation of National Recruitment Agency (NRA), paving the way for a transformational reform in the recruitment process for central government jobs

Centre launched “Mission Karmayogi”- National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB)

Doorstep Service for submission of Digital Life Certificate through Postman launched

Revamped Scheme for PM’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration 2020 launched

Interviews for jobs abolished in 23 States and 8 UTs in India so far

31 DEC 2020

Following are the initiatives of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions during the year 2020:

1. Cabinet approved creation of National Recruitment Agency (NRA), paving the way for a transformational reform in the recruitment process for central government jobs

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval in August, 2020 for creation of National Recruitment Agency (NRA), paving the way for a transformational reform in the recruitment process for central government jobs.

Recruitment Reform – a major boon for the youth

At present, candidates seeking government jobs have to appear for separate examinations conducted by multiple recruiting agencies for various posts, for which similar eligibility conditions have been prescribed. Candidates have to pay fee to multiple recruiting agencies and also have to travel long distances for appearing in various exams. These multiple recruitment examinations are a burden on the candidates, as also on the respective recruitment agencies, involving avoidable /repetitive expenditure, law and order/security related issues and venue related problems. On an average, 2.5 crore to 3 crore candidates appear in each of these examinations. A common eligibility Test would enable these candidates to appear once and apply to any or all of these recruitment agencies for the higher level of examination. This would indeed be a boon to all the candidates.

National Recruitment Agency (NRA)

A multi-agency body called the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) to screen/shortlist candidates for the Group B and C (non-technical) posts. NRA will have representatives of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance/Department of Financial Services, the SSC, RRB & IBPS. It is envisioned that the NRA would be a specialist body bringing the state-of-the-art technology and best practices to the field of Central Government recruitment.

Access to Examination Centres

Examination Centres in every District of the country would greatly enhance access to the candidates located in far-flung areas. Special focus on creating examination infrastructure in the 117 Aspirational Districts would go a long way in affording access to candidates at a place nearer to where they reside. The benefits in terms of cost, effort, safety and much more would be immense. The proposal will not only ease access to rural candidates, it will also motivate the rural candidates residing in the far-flung areas to take the examination and thereby, enhance their representation in Central Government jobs. Taking job opportunities closer to the people is a radical step that would greatly enhance ease of living for the youth.

Major Relief to poor Candidates

Presently, the candidates have to appear in multiple examinations conducted by multiple agencies. Apart from the examination fees, candidates have to incur additional expenses for travel, boarding, lodging and other such. A single examination would reduce the financial burden on candidates to a large extent.

Women candidates to benefit greatly

Women candidates especially from rural areas face constraints in appearing in multiple examinations as they have to arrange for transportation and places to stay in places that are far away. They sometimes have to find suitable persons to accompany them to these Centres that are located far away. The location of test centres in every District would greatly benefit candidates from rural areas in general and women candidates in particular.

Bonanza for Candidates from Rural Areas

Given the financial and other constraints, the candidates from rural background have to make a choice as to which examination they want to appear in. Under the NRA, the candidates by appearing in one examination will get an opportunity to compete for many posts. NRA will conduct the first-level /Tier I Examination which is the stepping stone for many other selections.

CET Score to be valid for three years, no bar on attempts

The CET score of the candidate shall be valid for a period of three years from the date of declaration of the result. The best of the valid scores shall be deemed to be the current score of the candidate. There shall be no restriction on the number of attempts to be taken by a candidate to appear in the CET subject to the upper age limit. Relaxation in the upper age limit shall be given to candidates of SC/ST/OBC and other categories as per the extant policy of the Government. This would go a long way in mitigating the hardship of candidates who spend a considerable amount of time, money and effort preparing and giving these examinations every year.

Standardised Testing

NRA shall conduct a separate CET each for the three levels of graduate, higher secondary (12th pass) and the matriculate (10th pass) candidates for those non-technical posts to which recruitment is presently carried out by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS). Based on the screening done at the CET score level, final selection for recruitment shall be made through separate specialised Tiers (II, III etc) of examination which shall be conducted by the respective recruitment agencies. The curriculum for this test would be common as would be the standard. This would greatly ease the burden of candidates who are at present required to prepare for each of the examinations separately as per different curriculum.

Scheduling Tests and choosing Centres

Candidates would have the facility of registering on a common portal and give a choice of Centres. Based on availability, they would be allotted Centres. The ultimate aim is to reach a stage wherein candidates can schedule their own tests at Centres of their choice.

OUTREACH ACTIVITIES BY NRA

Multiple languages

The CET would be available in a number of languages. This would greatly facilitate people from different parts of the country to take the exam and have an equal opportunity of being selected.

Scores – access to multiple recruitment agencies

Initially the scores would be used by the three major recruitment agencies. However, over a period of time it is expected that other recruitment agencies in the Central Government would adopt the same. Further, it would be open for other agencies in the public as well as private domain to adopt it if they so choose. Thus, in the long run, the CET score could be shared with other recruiting agencies in the Central Government, State Governments/Union Territories, Public Sector Undertaking and Private Sector. This would help such organizations in saving costs and time spent on recruitment.

Shortening the recruitment cycle

A single eligibility test would significantly reduce the recruitment cycle. Some Departments have indicated their intention to do away with any second level test and go ahead with recruitment on the basis of CET scores, Physical Tests and Medical examination. This would greatly reduce the cycle and benefit a large section of youth.

Financial Outlay

The Government has sanctioned a sum of Rs. 1517.57 crore for the National Recruitment Agency (NRA). The expenditure will be undertaken over a period of three years. Apart from setting up the NRA, costs will be incurred for setting up examination infrastructure in the 117 Aspirational Districts.

2. Cabinet approved “Mission Karmayogi”- National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB)

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved launching of a National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB) with the following institutional framework in September, 2020: –

• Prime Minister’s Public Human Resources (HR) Council,
• Capacity Building Commission.
• Special Purpose Vehicle for owning and operating the digital assets
• and the technological platform for online training,
• Coordination Unit headed by the Cabinet Secretary.

Salient Features

NPCSCB has been carefully designed to lay the foundations for capacity building for Civil Servants so that they remain entrenched in Indian Culture and sensibilities and remain connected, with their roots, while they learn from the best institutions and practices across the world. The Programme will be delivered by setting up an Integrated Government Online Training- iGOT Karmayogi Platform. The core guiding principles of the Programme will be:

Supporting Transition from ‘Rules based’ to ‘Roles based* HR Management.Aligning work allocation of civil servants by matching their competencies tothe requirements of the post.

• To emphasize on ‘on-site learning’ to complement the ‘off-site’ learning,
• To create an ecosystem of shared training infrastructure including that of learning materials, institutions and personnel,
• To calibrate all Civil Service positions to a Framework of Roles, Activities and Competencies (FRACs) approach and to create and deliver learning content relevant to the identified FRACs in every Government entity,
• To make available to all civil servants, an opportunity to continuously build and strengthen their Behavioral, Functional and Domain Competencies in their self-driven and mandated learning paths.
• To enable all the Central Ministries and Departments and their Organizations to directly invest their resources towards co-creation and sharing the collaborative and common ecosystem of learning through an annual financial subscription for every employee,
• To encourage and partner with the best-in-class learning content creators including public training institutions, universities, start-tips and individual experts,
• To undertake data analytics in respect of data emit provided by iGOT- Karmayogi pertaining to various aspects of capacity building, content creation, user feedback and mapping of competencies and identify areas for policy reforms.

Objectives

It is also proposed to set up a Capacity Building Commission, with a view to ensure a uniform approach in managing and regulating the capacity building ecosystem on collaborative and co-sharing basis.

The role of Commission will be as under-

• To assist the PM Public Human Resources Council in approving the Annual Capacity Building Plans.
• To exercise functional supervision over all Central Training Institutions dealing with civil services capacity building.
• To create shared learning resources, including internal and external faculty and resource centers.
• To coordinate and supervise the implementation of the Capacity Building Plans with the stakeholder Departments.
• To make recommendations on standardization of training and capacity building, pedagogy and methodology
• To set norms for common mid-career training programs across all civil services.
• To suggest policy interventions required in the areas of HR Management and Capacity Building to the Government.

iGOT- Karmayogi platform brings the scale and state-of-the-art infrastructure to augment the capacities of over two crore officials in India. The platform is expected to evolve into a vibrant and world-class market place for content where carefully curated and vetted digital e-learning material will be made available. Besides capacity building, service matters like confirmation after probation period, deployment, work assignment and notification of vacancies etc. would eventually be integrated with the proposed competency framework.

Mission Karmayogi aims to prepare the Indian Civil Servant for the future by making him more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent and technology-enabled. Empowered with specific role-competencies, the civil servant will be able to ensure efficient service delivery of the highest quality standards.

Financial implications

To cover around 46 lakh Central employees, a sum of Rs.510.86 crore will be spent over a period of 5 years from 2020-21 to 2024-25. The expenditure is partly funded by multilateral assistance to the tune of USD 50 million. A wholly owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for NPCSCB will be set up under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013. The SPV will be a “not-for-profit” company and will own and manage iGOT- Karmayogi platform. The SPV will create and operationalize the content, market place and manage key business services of iGOT- Karmayogi platform, relating to content validation, independent proctored assessments and telemetry data availability. The SPV will own all Intellectual Property Rights on behalf of the Government of India. An appropriate monitoring and evaluation framework will also be put in place for performance evaluation of all users of the iGOT– Karmayogi platform so as to generate a dashboard view of Key Performance Indicators.

Background

Capacity of Civil Services plays a vital role in rendering a wide variety of services, implementing welfare programs and performing core governance functions. A transformational change in Civil Service Capacity is proposed to be affected by organically linking the transformation of work culture, strengthening public institutions and adopting modern technology to build civil service capacity with the overall aim of ensuring efficient delivery of services to citizens.

A Public Human Resources Council comprising of select Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, eminent public HR practitioners, thinkers, global thought leaders and Public Service functionaries under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Prime Minister will serve as the apex body for providing strategic direction to the task of Civil Services Reform and capacity building.

3. Doorstep Service for submission of Digital Life Certificate through Postman launched
   Huge relief for pensioners to submit Life certificate while staying at home.

Doorstep Collection of Life Certificate from the Pensioners by Banks – DOP&PW Circular

India Post Payments Bank, IPPB of Department of Posts & Meity have successfully launched the initiative of the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare: “Doorstep Service for submission of Digital Life Certificate through Postman” in November, 2020. The facility to submit life certificate online through Jeevan Pramaan Portal was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister in November, 2014 with the objective to provide a convenient and transparent facility to pensioners for submission of Life Certificate.

Ever since, DoPPW, under the able guidance of Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State, Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions, has been leveraging technology year after year, to make the system seamless and more and more convenient for the elderly Pensioners.

In order to make this facility available across the country, DoPPW roped in the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and utilise its huge network of Postmen and Gramin Dak Sevaks in providing doorstep facility to pensioners for submission of life certificate digitally.

IPPB has customized its Bank software and dovetailed the same with Jeevan Pramaan software of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) and UIDAI, to provide DLC services at the doorstep of Pensioners. This facility shall be in addition to other facilities such as withdrawal of money from bank account etc. while sitting at home. IPPB is utilising its national network of more than 1,36,000 access points in Post Offices and more than 1,89,000 Postmen & Gramin Dak Sevaks with smart phones and biometric devices to provide Doorstep Banking Services. As a result a huge number of pensioners across the country shall be able to avail doorstep service through Postmen/ Gramin Dak Sevak, without visiting to bank branch or standing in a queue outside the bank branches.

In order to avail “doorstep service for submission of DLC” through IPPB, pensioners can get detailed information on ippbonline.com. It is a chargeable service and will be available to all Central Government Pensioners across the country irrespective of the fact their pension accounts are in different bank. The process to avail “doorstep service of DLC” through IPPB can be viewed @ Youtube(Pension DOPPW) and facebook of D/o Pension & Pensioners Welfare . In view of current pandemic, it is a huge relief for pensioners to submit Life certificate while staying at home.

4. Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh launched the revamped Scheme for PM’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration 2020 and web portal www.pmawards.gov.in

In July, 2020, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh launched the revamped PM’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration and the web portal www.pmawards.gov.in. Addressing the Central Ministries and State/ UT Governments on this occasion, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the Scheme has been revamped in tune with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s governance model of citizen participation. He said that the Mantra of “Maximum Governance, Minimum Government” is incomplete without citizen participation and citizen centricity and added that transparency and accountability are its twin hallmark.

The Scheme Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration 2020, has been revamped to recognize the performance of the District Collectors towards outcome indicators, economic development, peoples’ participation and redressal of public grievances. Nominations have been called in four major categories – District Performance Indicators Programme, Innovation General Category, Aspirational Districts Program and Namami Gange Program. Under the District Performance Indicators Programme, District Collectors would be evaluated on their contribution to Inclusive Development through credit flow to priority sector, Promoting peoples movements – Jan Bhagidari through effective implementation of priority sector schemes of SBM (Gramin) and SBM (Urban) programs, Improving service delivery and redressal of Public Grievances. The Innovations category of the Scheme has been broad-based to provide separate award categories for innovations at National, State and District level. The period of consideration for the awards is 1st April 2018 to 31st March 2020. In all 15 Awards would be conferred under the Scheme in 2020.

5. Interviews for jobs abolished in 23 States and 8 UTs in India so far

Interview for jobs has been abolished in 23 States and 8 Union Territories of India. This is a follow up to the abolition of interview for Group-B (Non- Gazetted) and Group – C posts in the Central Government ever since 2016.

It was on the 15th of August 2015, while speaking from the rampart of Red Fort on the occasion of Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had suggested abolition of interview and making the job selection totally on the basis of written test because whenever an interview call was received by a candidate, his entire family would get disturbed with apprehension and anxiety. On a quick follow up to the Prime Minister’s advice, the DoPT undertook an expeditious exercise and within three months completed the entire process to announce abolition of interview for recruitment in Central Government with effect from 1st January, 2016.

6. Three new Information Commissioners administered oath of office in November

The Chief Information Commissioner Shri Y.K. Sinha administered the oath of office to Information Commissioners Shri Heeralal Samariya, Ms. Saroj Punhani and Shri Uday Mahurkar at a swearing-in ceremony organized in Central Information Commission in November this year. With their induction, the total number of Information Commissioners including the Chief Information Commissioner has risen to 8 in the Central Information Commission.

Shri Heeralal Samariya, a former IAS officer, was Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment in Government of India before retirement. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. His area of expertise includes Administration and Governance.

Ms. Saroj Punhani, an IA&AS officer, before joining as Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission, was holding the post of Deputy Comptroller & Auditor General (HR & Training) in Government of India. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities. Her area of expertise includes Administration and Governance.

Shri Uday Mahurkar, a veteran journalist, before joining as Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission, was functioning as Senior Deputy Editor with a leading media house. He graduated from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Indian History, Culture and Archaeology. His area of expertise includes his vast experience in media.

PIB

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Expected DA January 2021 - AICPIN for November 2020 increased by 0.4 points

Expected DA January 2021 - AICPIN for November 2020 increased by 0.4 points

Expected DA January 2021

Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (2016=100) – November 2020

The All-India CPI-IW for November, 2020 increased by 0.4 points and stood at 119.9 (one hundred nineteen and point nine). On 1-month percentage change, it increased by (+) 0.33 per cent between October and November, 2020 compared to (+) 0.92 per cent increase between corresponding months of previous year.

The maximum upward pressure in current index came from Food & Beverages group contributing (+) 0.25 percentage points to the total change. At item level, Rice, Arhar Dal, Fish Fresh, Milk, Mustard Oil, Soyabean Oil, Sunflower Oil, Onion, Potato, Chillies Dry, Tea Leaf, Cooked Meal, etc. are responsible for the increase in index. However, this increase was checked by Poultry (Chicken), Tomato, Brinjal, Carrot, Cauliflower, Ginger, Gourd, Green Coriander Leaves, Lady Finger, Peas, Orange, etc., putting downward pressure on the index.

At centre level, Puducherry recorded the maximum increase of 4 points. Among others, 3 points increase was observed in 4 centres, 2 points in 7 centres and 1 point in 30 centres. On the contrary, Guntur, Bhilai, Udham Singh Nagar and Vadodara recorded a maximum decrease of 2 points each. Among others, 1 point fall was observed in 17 centres. Rest of 25 centres’ indices remained stationary.

Year-on-year inflation based on all-items stood at 5.27 per cent for November, 2020 as compared to 5.91 per cent for the previous month and 8.61 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Similarly, Food inflation stood at 7.48 per cent against 8.21 per cent of the previous month and 9.87 per cent during the corresponding month a year ago.

Y-o-Y Inflation based on CPI-IW (Food and General)

All-India Group-wise CPI-IW for October and November, 2020

Sr. No.	Groups	Oct, 2020	Nov, 2020
I	Food & Beverages	123.0	123.6
II	Pan, Supari, Tobacco & Intoxicants	132.5*	133.1
III	Clothing & Footwear	117.4	117.4
IV	Housing	113.5*	113.5*
V	Fuel & Light	126.4	126.8
VI	Miscellaneous	117.0	117.2
	General Index	119.5	119.9

Expected DA January 2021 – AICPIN for November 2020 increased by 0.4 points

*Rounded up from second decimal place.

CPI-IW: Groups Indices

Speaking about the latest index, Shri Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment said, “The rise in index coupled with fall in annual inflation will have dual impact in terms of increasing income and purchasing power of the workers. He added that the effect is mainly due to vegetables which had good supply in the market and provided respite to the consumers.

Shri DPS Negi, Director General of Labour Bureau while releasing the index said, “The rise in index during November, 2020 and fall in inflation rate are in line with other price indices compiled and released by other Government agencies”.

He further said that Rise in index is mainly on account of increase in prices of Rice, Arhar Dal, Fish Fresh, Milk, Mustard Oil, Soyabean Oil, Sunflower Oil, Onion, Potato, Chillies Dry, Tea Leaf, Cooked Meal, Cooking Gas, Household Goods & Services etc.

The next issue of CPI-IW for the month of December, 2020 will be released on Friday 29th January, 2021. The same will also be available on the office website www.labourbureaunew.gov.in.

The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the M/o Labour & Employment, has been compiling Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers every month on the basis of retail prices collected from 317 markets spread over 88 industrially important centres in the country. The index is compiled for 88 centres and All-India and is released on the last working day of succeeding month.

Source: PIB

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