Engagment of cosultant- As per provision of GFR 2005

Revision fo fixation of pay of retired judges on their appointment on Commission/ Commitee of enquiry GOI OM Dated 8/4/2009

Banking Companies (Nomination) Rules, 1985–Acknowledgement of Nomination and indicating the Name of the Nominee in Pass Books / Fixed Deposit Receipts

RBI / 2008-09/ 406

DBOD.No.Leg.BC.114 /09.07.005/2008-09

March 9, 2009

All Scheduled Commercial Banks (Excluding RRBs)

Dear Sir,

Banking Companies (Nomination) Rules, 1985 – Acknowledgement of Nomination and indicating the Name of the Nominee in Pass Books / Fixed Deposit Receipts

It has been brought to our notice that some banks do not have the system of acknowledging the receipt of the duly completed form of nomination, cancellation and /or variation of the nomination. Further, it is also understood that in some banks, although there is a system of acknowledgement of nomination as provided in the Savings Bank account opening form, such acknowledgements are actually not given to the customers. In this connection, banks are aware that in terms of Rules 2 (9), 3 (8) and 4 (9) of the Banking Companies Nomination (Rules), 1985, they are required to acknowledge in writing to the depositor(s) / locker hirers (s) the filing of the relevant duly completed Form of nomination, cancellation and / or variation of the nomination.

2. Banks are therefore advised to strictly comply with the provisions of Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and Banking Companies (Nomination) Rules, 1985 and devise a proper system of acknowledging the receipt of the duly completed form of nomination, cancellation and / or variation of the nomination. Such acknowledgement should be given to all the customers irrespective of whether the same is demanded by the customers.

3. Further, please refer to para 19.4 of our Master Circular on Customer Service (BC.No.75 dated November 3, 2008) wherein banks have been advised to introduce the practice of recording on the face of the passbooks/FDRs the position regarding availment of nomination facility with the legend "Nomination Registered".

4. In this connection, a suggestion has been received that banks should indicate the name of the Nominee in Pass Books / FDRs. Since this would be helpful to the customers / nominees, banks are advised that in addition to the legend “Nomination Registered”, they should also indicate the name of the Nominee in the Pass Books / Statement of Accounts / FDRs, in case the customer is agreeable to the same

Yours faithfully

(Prashant Saran)

Chief General Manager-in-Charge

India's 15th general election: Google initative

At Google, we believe information is fundamentally empowering. While all of our technologies demonstrate a commitment to this guiding principle, information is especially important when a society comes together to participate in democratic elections. Beginning ten days from today, more than 700 million eligible voters in India will over the course of four weeks have the opportunity to participate in the largest democratic event in human history — India's 15th general election.

Today, along with a wide range of partners, we are happy to announce the launch of the Google India Elections Centre — available in English and in Hindi.

People from across India can use the centre to do the following:

• Confirm their voter registration status
• Discover their polling location
• View their constituency on a map
• Consume relevant election-related news, blogs, videos, and quotations
• Evaluate the status of development in their constituency across a range of indicators
• Learn about the background of their Member of Parliament and this year's candidates

With still more features to be added during the election, we hope the site will be an ongoing resource for analysis, governance, and democracy in India after the election.

This project would not have been possible without the shared vision of a broad coalition of partners: the Association for Democratic Reforms, HT Media Limited, Indicus Analytics, the Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, the Liberty Institute, and PRS Legislative Services. These groups are the true champions of promoting a more transparent democracy, and we're privileged to be able to shine a light on their work on the occasion of India's 15th Lok Sabha polls.

We're hopeful not only that the elections centre will further a culture that seeks access to information, but that it will also yield positive changes in voting patterns during the upcoming polls.

Please visit the site, select your constituency, and get started! Spread the word about what you learn and, of course, don't forget to visit the polls.

Posted by Rishi Jaitly, Senior Policy Analyst, and Sanjay Jain, Product Manager

Vacancy at Food Safety and Standards Authority of India- Last date 30/04/2009

Vacancy at NIOS - Last Date 24/04/2009

Health Facilities in Emergencies -

A.N. Khan(Senior Scientist, Former Assistant Director, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur.)

Significant advances in health, social and economical development have been made in recent decades. And yet, this progress has been repeatedly tested by man-made and natural disasters. One cannot pursue long-term strategies for health for all without paying attention to this global problem.

Disaster is “any occurrence that causes damage, economic disruption, loss of human life and deterioration in health and health services on a scale sufficient to warrant an extraordinary response from outside the affected community or area”. The response to a disaster must involve all sectors of government and the whole community. Functional health facilities and trained staff are crucial in times of emergencies and disasters.

The World has long experienced many disasters and in some of these, health facilities were a major casualty. For example during December 26, 2004, tsunami —30 of the 240 health clinics were destroyed in Aceh province, Indonesia and seriously damaged 77 others. In Sri Lanka, 92 health facilities were destroyed including 35 hospitals. In 2001 in Gujarat, a magnitude of 7.7 earthquake destroyed 3812 health facilities. More than 11,000 medical institutions were damaged in China’s Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008, forcing tens of thousands of people to seek treatment elsewhere. Current conflicts in Ethiopia and Gaza are hampering primary health services, such as immunization. These are some examples of disaster situations where health services are affected and at times unavailable when needed the most.

World Health Day 2009 focuses on the safety of health facilities and the readiness of health workers who treat those affected by emergencies. Health centers and staff are critical life-lines for vulnerable people in disasters – treating injuries, preventing illness and caring for people’s health problems, such as safe child birth services, immunization and chronic disease care, which must continue in emergencies. Often, already fragile health systems are unable to keep functioning through a disaster, with immediate and future public health consequences.

The focus of the biennial World Disaster Reduction Campaign 2008-2009, is also on the same issue : “Hospitals Safe from Disasters – Reduce Risk, Protect Health Facilities, Save Lives”. In this global effort World Health Organisation is working with UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) and World Bank so that all facilities stand upto emergencies and continue to function.

On International Day for Disaster Reduction, 8 October 2008 in New York, experts from China, India and Caribbean shared experiences with International agencies, Diplomatic Missions and health sector academics on how to make hospitals and schools safe from disasters. India outlined a ten-point approach to ‘Building Back Better’ from Gujarat’s massive 2001 earthquake, ranging from seismic risk assessment to training masons and local communities.

It was the Disaster Mitigation Advisory Group (DIMAG) that originally conceived the idea of Hospital Safety Index, which is gaining acceptance as a global tool for assessing the likelihood of a hospital remaining functional in disaster situations. A strategy should be developed to sustain current efforts to apply the Hospital Safety Index, including training the evaluators who use the safe hospital check list to assess health facilities. DIMAG will also promote creation and use of learning tools and methodologies.

DIMAG proposes that future safe hospital measures take into account the risks associated with climate change such as flooding, stronger hurricane and storm surge and increase awareness regarding these hazards.

A fire safety guide for hospitals will be developed and published and will include procedure for evacuation exercise, as part of the Hospital preparedness programme.

The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and DIMAG will encourage and lend support to the June 2009 Conference on ‘Safe Hospitals’.

Several countries are working to keep hospitals safe, improving preparedness to protect lives. In Mexico, trained evaluators have diagnosed the safety of 200 health facilities, identifying which health facility needs improvements. In Japan, Pakistan and Peru health facilities are now build to withstand earthquakes. Multifunctional facilities for health education and agriculture are built in Bangladesh to aid relief after cyclones and floods – which saved thousands of lives after Cyclone Sidr in 2007. WHO is also urging health facilities to respond to internal emergencies, such as fires, and ensure the continuity of care.

The goal of raising awareness in this issue is to affect changes that will ensure that health facilities are able to function in the aftermath of emergencies and disasters. This means ensuring the structural resilience of health structures with existing technologies; keeping the equipment and supplies of these health facilities intact should an emergency happen; improving preparedness and risk reduction capacity of health workers; and involving communities in this effort.

Safe health facilities are those that are accessible and function at maximum capacity immediately after a disaster event. This is not just the work of the health sector and health professionals alone but experts from other fields such as urban planners, architects, engineers to bring not just awareness, but action.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to prevent most disasters. Nevertheless, we can forestall or alleviate many of their worst effects by anticipating them and by being prepared. Our concern is with reducing the adverse impact of disasters on human health, through preparedness and by bringing the right technology to bear in a timely, coordinated and effective manner, for each phase of operation, namely, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction. (PIB Features)

Nishant takes off from WWII runway

BANGALORE: An abandoned World War II runway at a village near Kolar on Sunday played host to the first ever flight of an indigenous rotary engine-powered unmanned air vehicle (UAV), Nishant.The flight took off on early Sunday morning and climbed to an altitude of 1.8 kms effortlessly before cruising for a duration of 35 minutes.The air vehicle was recovered safely at the intended place at a dried-up lake, after a total flight duration of 40 mins.The engine, a Wankel rotary type, was the developmental project of the DRDO and was jointly designed and developed by NAL, a CSIR laboratory, VRDE, Ahmednagar and ADE, Bangalore.Very few countries in the world have the capability to develop and master this technology.The provisional flight clearance for the first indigenous prototype engine was given by the certifying agency, RCMA.The engine was cleared for flight after rigorous ground endurance test runs.The Wankel engine weighs about 30 kgs, and this engine type is known for its high power to weight ratio in a single rotor category.Performance check The performance of the engine during the flight met the requirements of the first flight of a engine in the air vehicle.This 55 hp indigenous engine is expected to replace the present imported engine of Nishant.The critical core engine, including the special cylinder composite nickel-silicon carbide coating and special aluminium alloy castings, was designed and developed by NAL.VRDE developed engine peripherals such as the ignition and fuel systems and ADE developed flight testing.The reconnaissance UAV, which has completed its user trials with the Indian Army, is expected to be handed over to the army shortly.
Courtesy: Express Buzz

Criteria for assessing sutability of officers where there is upgradation/ revision of pay scales GOI Om dated 9/3/2009

Revision of Pay scales- amendment in service/ recruitment rules GOI OM dated 24/03/2009

ATMs blocked as consumers cash in on fee relief

Niladri Bhattacharya / Mumbai April 03, 2009, 0:33 IST

Using third-party automated teller machines (ATMs) may be free now, but withdrawing cash from these machines has not been easy in many parts of the country.

During the first two days of free ATM use, when account-holders rushed to the nearest outlet to withdraw cash, many customers have had to deal with printouts saying “transaction declined”. Customers using their own banks’ ATMs did not, however, face similar problems.

Executives at State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank, which together account for over 17,000 of the nearly 40,000 ATMs, confirmed that third-party ATM use was proving difficult. The problems were the result of overloads on the national financial switch (NFS), which enables inter-bank transactions.

Transactions on a bank’s home ATM network are processed through a different switching system, while inter-bank transactions go to NFS, the country’s largest domestic network for authentication and routing payment details of various e-commerce transactions and e-government activities.

Adding to the volumes were the higher cash withdrawals at the start of the month. Typically, cash withdrawals go up ahead of a long weekend, such as the one starting tomorrow.

“The traffic has increased manifold. NFS is yet to put in place requisite systems to handle this huge volume,” said an SBI executive.

“For inter-bank transactions the routes are different and there may be a problem with satellite connectivity,” an ICICI Bank spokesperson said. Asked about the problem, an HDFC Bank spokesperson, however, said the bank’s terminals were not affected and there was no significant surge in volumes.

Bankers said the problem had also been taken up with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) before the shift to free ATM use from April 1. “RBI has assured us that this problem will be addressed. It will take a few days for the system to be upgraded,” a bank executive said.

Although ATM use is free, for withdrawals as well as balance enquiries, banks are yet to finalise new inter-bank transaction charges.

An RBI official said the regulator has not received any complaints and the problem was not due to any pricing-related issues.

Courtesy : Business standard

Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage-Another Ground for Divorce

The Law Commission of India submitted to the Government of India, its 217th Report on “Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage-Another Ground for Divorice”. The Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Justice A.R.Lakshmanan, former Supreme Court Judge, forwarded the report to the Union Law Minister, Dr. Hans Raj Bhardwaj.

Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 provides grounds for presentation of a petition for divorce. Section 27 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 similarly provides grounds for grant of divorce in the case of a marriage solemnized under the Act. However, the said Acts do not provide “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” as a ground for divorce. The Law Commission of India in its 71st Report title “The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 – Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage as a Ground of Divorce” recommended amendments in the Hindu Marriage Act to make irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a new ground for granting divorce among the Hindus. Recently, the Supreme Court also in Naveen Kohli V. Neelu Kohli (AIR 2006 SC 1675) recommended to the Union of India to seriously consider bringing an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 to incorporate irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a ground for the grant of divorce.

In view of the above, the Law Commission of India suo motu took up the study of the subject. The Commission examined the extant legislations as well as a number of judgments of the Supreme Court and High Courts on the subject and has expressed the view that “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” should be incorporated as another ground for granting divorce under the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Special Marriage Act, 1954. The Court before granting a decree for divorce on the ground that the marriage has irretrievably broken down should also examine whether adequate financial arrangements have been made for the parties and children.

Declaration of holiday on 14th April, 2009 - Birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

F.No.12/6/2009-JCA-2
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
(Department of Personnel & Training)
North Block, New Delhi

Dated the 2nd April,

Declaration of holiday on 14th April, 2009 - Birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

It has been decided to declare Tuesday, the 14th April, 2009 as a Closed Holiday on account of the birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, for all Central Government Offices including industrial establishments throughout India.
2. The above holiday is also being notified in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act of 1881 (26 of 1881).

New tax rule to usher in clarity on TDS credit

Tax relief

The new CBDT rule has now settled the position that a person who is liable to pay the tax should be eligible for the TDS credit

Joint owners in shares, deposits or property could now have the right to claim

K.R. Srivats

New Delhi, March 20 Tax deducted at source (TDS) credit can now be availed by persons other than the deductees. This has been clearly articulated by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in a new rule on TDS credit availment.

Bringing relief and certainty to taxpayers, the CBDT has also spelt out the situations and the procedure through which the tax credit will be made available for persons other than deductees.

The credit for TDS will be allowed to persons other than the deductees only in cases where the relevant income is assessable to income tax in the hands of such other person. The new CBDT rule has now settled the position that a person who is liable to pay the tax should be eligible for the TDS credit, say tax experts.

To illustrate this point, consider a situation of winnings from a raffle going to a minor. The tax is deducted before the payment is made to the minor. Under the clubbing provisions of income tax, the income of the minor gets clubbed with those of the parent and gets taxed at the latter’s hands.

As the TDS certificate is in the name of the minor (deductee being the minor), tax authorities at the ground level often deny TDS credit to the parent even though the incomes are clubbed and assessed in the hands of the parent. Now, the CBDT has made it clear that tax credit has to be granted to the parent (the person in whose hands the income is assessable).

Similarly, in a situation where the deductees are joint owners of shares, property and deposits, the CBDT has now said that the TDS credit would be available to the respective joint owners in proportion of their ownership of the asset. Hitherto, no mechanism was available by which all the joint owners in shares, deposits or property could have the right to claim TDS credit.

“The latest CBDT rule on credit for TDS will bring clarity at the ground level. They have gone by the principle that the person who pays the tax should get the tax credit,” Mr Jayesh Thakur, Associate Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers told Business Line.

Till date, tax officers were taking different views on the eligibility for tax credit in situations where the income is assessable to tax in the hands of persons other than the deductee. Hitherto, assessees were often required to go up to the High Courts to get benefit of the TDS credit, point out tax experts.

Trusts, partnership firms

The CBDT has also brought clarity and certainty to the eligibility for availment of TDS credit in respect of trusts, partnership firms and Association of Persons (AOP).

In situations where the deductee is a Trust and the income is assessable in the hands of trustees, the TDS credit should be granted to the trustee. Similarly, where the deductee is partner or karta of a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) and the income is assessable as the income of firms or the HUF, the TDS credit would have to go to the partnership firm/HUF.

Where the deductee is the Association of Persons (AOP) and the income is assessable in the hands of the members, the CBDT has made it clear that the TDS credit should go to the members of AOP.

The procedure: For persons other than the deductee to get the TDS credit benefit, the deductees are required to file a declaration with the deductor. The declaration should have details of the other person (i.e. the person to whom tax credit is to be given) like name, PAN, payment or credit in relation to which tax credit is to be given and the reason for giving credit to such person.

The deductor would report tax deduction in the name of such other person to the tax authority. The TDS certificate could also be issued in the name of the person other than the deductee.

In Budget 2008-09, the Government decided that the system of allowing credit to the assessee for TDS/Tax collected at source (TCS) needs a certain degree of flexibility considering the ongoing technological and business process changes.

Instead of providing rigorous conditions regarding the method of giving credit for TDS in the Income Tax Act itself, the Government decided to do this through the rules. That promise has now been implemented by CBDT by bringing the necessary rule for this purpose.

Govt abolishes banking transaction tax

New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) Taxpayers will not have to pay levy on withdrawal of cash from banks with the government withdrawing the Banking Cash Transaction Tax (BCTT) from today.
The government had introduced 0.1 per cent BCCT in 2005 on cash withdrawals of more than Rs 50,000 (individuals) and Rs 1,00,000 for others in a single day from non-savings bank account maintained with any scheduled bank.

The tax has been withdrawn from April 1 following an announcement made by the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his budget speech for 2008-09, sources said.

In his Budget speech, Chidamabram had said, "The BCTT has served a very useful purpose in enlarging the information system of the Income Tax Department. Since the information is also being gathered through other instruments introduced in the last few years, I propose to withdraw this tax with effect from April 1, 2009." The levy was introduced in 2005 to track unaccounted money and trace its source and destination.

Though BCTT was not introduced with the intention of revenue generation, the levy, as per the revised estimates, contributed to the exchequer Rs 600 crore during 2008-09. The BCCT collection was Rs 550 crore for 2007-08.

permission to government servent to work as Arbitrator and accept fee/ honorarium therefore GOI OM Dt 21/10/2008

Inclusion of following items in the list of specilized works

Notification on TDS and TCS -PIB Release

The Board has amended the rules relating to Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) and Tax Collected at Source (TCS) vide Notification No. S.O.858 (E) dated 25th March 2009.

In this context, taxpayers are informed that the new Form 17 (the challan for payment of TDS and TCS) is applicable only for payment of tax deducted or collected at source on or after 1st April 2009. Therefore, in respect of any TDS or TCS made before the 1st April, 2009, the payment will continue to be made to the credit of the Central Government by using the challan in Form No. 281 (i.e. the old challan form) even after 31st March 2009.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes will shortly issue a detailed circular on the amended rules relating to TDS and TCS.

Nehruvian bravado haunts IAF’s vistas - Part I (Natteri Adigal)

“THE SARAS project will continue, we will not shelve it.” The heroic announcement of SK Brahmachari, Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has cheered faithful patriots, ever ready to puff up their chests in pride.

The announcement came shortly after the second prototype (PT-2) of the light transport aircraft (LTA) Saras crashed on the outskirts of Bangalore in early March. The 14-seater multi-role plane is being developed by ’expert’ science research VIPs at National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), a CSIR outfit.

More than the monstrous sums squandered in the development, which has been going on since the early 1990s, the real tragedy was the loss of three young IAF officers. Test pilots Wg. Cdr. Praveen, Wg. Cdr. Deepesh Shah, and Test Engineer Squadron Leader Ilayaraja, who were on board the pre-doomed aircraft, died in the crash.

NAL chief AR Upadhyaya had taken the considered view that the accident must not hamper the program in India’s quest for beating the big names in the business. If Brahmachari, who met NAL ’scientists’ and relatives of the deceased pilots, is to be believed, the father of one of the pilots told him that completion of the Rs 200 crore project would be a fitting tribute to his son.

Whether it was true or not, it is this suicidal mindset - not just being prepared to become a martyr if needed but actually dying due to the ineptitude and criminal negligence of top bosses and utter mismanagement - that is being promoted by fake experts living in a Nehru era time warp.

A high-profile science babu who has dedicated his entire career (pushing files) to the country in one of the 37 research institutes governed by CSIR paid a typical homage saying, “These young officers have supported the test flying of the LTA, knowing fully well the risks involved with the experimental production. No great success can be achieved without paying the price.”

What he did not mention explicitly was that the price involved in fitting emergency equipment like ejection seats, mandatory when test flying unproven stuff, was too high compared to the cheap lives of passionate IAF officers in India!

This attitude came to the fore just one month previously in case of LTA’s compatriot LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) named Tejas. Air Commodore Rohit Varma, who heads the LCA flight testing at the National Flight Test Centre (NFTC), said, “Unlike other countries where test pilots are retired airmen, our test pilots are all serving pilots, bringing in contemporary experience of our operating environment!”

Countries which really want to develop such machines are idiots by implication because they believe that only highly experienced pilots will be able to take split-second decisions, often needed while facing situations that could not have been predicted! Apparently, the dare devilry or agility of pilots who have hundreds of flying hours left in them are not the attributes needed for this job.

NFTC bosses incidentally boast, “This centre has been set up entirely indigenously.” This is a sick Nehruvian mindset obsolete in an age when the concept ’global hubs’ is in vogue. Even far richer countries prefer to source such items in other countries in order to keep pace with advancements and to ensure quality and cost-effectiveness, rather than sink money in indigenization.

Rapid fire experts of India have come out with a brilliant idea to cut down the likely setback due to the fate of the PT-2, which was completely destroyed in the accident. The PT-1 aircraft will be modified and touted as the PT-3 by fitting the higher thrust Pratt and Whitney engines! Bring a donkey, present it as a horse and get a willing jockey to ride it! After all, any number of suckers are available to test-fly such make believe machines and become martyrs.

Of note, the PT-1 that had its first flight in May 2004, exceeded its empty weight target by almost a tonne. That is 25 per cent. Therefore, the PT-2, which first flew three years later than the PT-1 did (and crashed now), was fitted with the 1200 shp version of the original 850 shp engines, imported from Pratt & Whitney, Canada.

The PT-3 was supposed to be a ’production-standard prototype’, targeting a 500-kg weight reduction, using advanced materials. It was expected to fly by 2009-end, pushing certification into 2010.

Courtesy: Merinews