Com. P. Rajeev, Member Parliament and also Standing Committee Member of Communication & I.T. has raised the issue of mass scale closure of posts offices with Sh. Sachin Pilot, State Minister for Communication and I.T. on 25.02.2011. Minister has agreed to intervene.
Postal JCA is also proposing to conduct immediate agitational programmes culminating to indefinite strike in the event of non drop of unilateral mass closure move of post offices.
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RAISE INCOME TAX EXEMPTION LIMIT TO THREE LAKHS - SURVEY
NEW DELHI: The government must increase the personal income tax exemption limit to at least Rs 3 lakh from Rs 1.6 lakh at present in the upcoming Budget for giving relief to taxpayers from high inflation, majority of CEOs surveyed by industry body Assocham has said.
"In view of the unprecedented inflation particularly the food inflation, the government must increase the personal income tax exemption limit from the existing Rs 1.6 lakh to at least Rs 3 lakh to give adequate relief to the larger sections of the society, added the majority of the CEOs," the pre-Budget survey said.
The Budget 2011-12 would be unveiled by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on February 28. At present, income up to Rs 1.6 lakh is exempted from tax for individuals. For women and senior citizens, the limit is Rs 1.9 lakh and Rs 2.4 lakh, respectively.
However, under the the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill which was introduced in Parliament last year, the I-T exemption limit is Rs 2 lakh. The DTC is expected to replace the 50-year old Income Tax Act from April, 2012.
The survey further said that due to continuous elevated inflation and high commodity prices across globe, there is a strong case for continuation of stimulus package so that the growth momentum is not spiked.
It was a pre-Budget expectations survey conducted under the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) with participation from its 1,000 CEOs. Inflation, particularly food inflation, has been a concern for both the government and the common man. For past the few months, food prices are at high levels.
The WPI inflation for December rose to 8.43 per cent, from 7.48 per cent in the previous month. Food inflation, based on wholesale prices, rose to 17.05 per cent for the week ended January 22, on account of escalating vegetable prices, particularly, onions. It was at 15.57 per cent in the previous week.
Around 84 per cent of the CEOs belonging to large, micro, small and medium enterprises polled in the survey held that stimulus package for textiles, gems & jewellery, construction and real estate, cement and steel, among others, should continue for the next fiscal.
Besides, majority of the CEOs also pressed for larger and faster disinvestment in public sector undertakings, proceeds of which should partly be to fund infrastructure augmentation in PPP projects to help India grow and achieve intended growth rate of close to 9 per cent in next 2-3 years.
Source: Economic Times
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MODERNISATION OF POST OFFICES
The Department of Posts has decided to improve the Look and Feel of its post offices through Project Arrow. The project has been launched with the objective of modernising departmental post offices across the country in a phased manner with an aim to make visible, tangible and noteworthy difference in post office operations. It aims at comprehensive improvement of the core operations of the post office as well as the ambience in which postal transactions are undertaken.
The IT Modernization Project Phase II of India Post under XIth plan envisages computerization of all the non-computerized Post Offices in the country (Departmental single handed Post Offices) and all Extra departmental Post Offices phased over the financial years 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13.
The number of Post Offices modernized in 2008-09 and 2009-10 are:
2008-09 - 45 post offices were computerized, computer hardware was upgraded in 1847 post offices and 500 post offices were modernized under Project Arrow.
2009-10 - 2920 post offices were computerized, computer hardware was upgraded in 92 post offices and 500 post offices were modernized under Project Arrow.
Total investment to be made on modernization in 2010-2011 and 2011-12 are:
2010-11- Rs. 209.76 crores has been allocated for computerization of post offices at the RE stage and `84 crores has been allocated for modernization of post offices under Project Arrow.
2011-12 - Rs. 626.41 crores has been earmarked for computerisation of post offices and Rs. 9 lakh for carrying out internal review of selected post offices already covered under Project Arrow.
The Department has diversified its activities to utilise its network by introducing services like selling of passport forms in identified post offices, accepting of utilities bills in the post offices, providing railway reservation facilities etc.
The Department has also tied-up with various Government departments to provide social security services especially in rural areas and with financial institutions to sell their product through post offices like :
(i) National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)-for disbursement of wages to NREGS beneficiaries through Post Office Savings Bank accounts.
(ii) Collection of Rural Price Index Data
(iii) Payment of Old age pension- through Post Office Savings accounts in Bihar, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, M.P., Maharashtra, North-East and Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and through money order in Karnataka, Kerala, M.P., Maharashtra, N.E., Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu , Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
(iv) Sale of gold coins by tying-up with Reliance Money Limited.
(v) On Line Acceptance of RTI Applications.
(vi) Provision of New Pension Scheme through Post Offices.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology, Shri Sachin Pilot in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
SP/AS
(Release ID :70037)
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Postal JCA is also proposing to conduct immediate agitational programmes culminating to indefinite strike in the event of non drop of unilateral mass closure move of post offices.
*******************************************************************************
RAISE INCOME TAX EXEMPTION LIMIT TO THREE LAKHS - SURVEY
NEW DELHI: The government must increase the personal income tax exemption limit to at least Rs 3 lakh from Rs 1.6 lakh at present in the upcoming Budget for giving relief to taxpayers from high inflation, majority of CEOs surveyed by industry body Assocham has said.
"In view of the unprecedented inflation particularly the food inflation, the government must increase the personal income tax exemption limit from the existing Rs 1.6 lakh to at least Rs 3 lakh to give adequate relief to the larger sections of the society, added the majority of the CEOs," the pre-Budget survey said.
The Budget 2011-12 would be unveiled by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on February 28. At present, income up to Rs 1.6 lakh is exempted from tax for individuals. For women and senior citizens, the limit is Rs 1.9 lakh and Rs 2.4 lakh, respectively.
However, under the the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill which was introduced in Parliament last year, the I-T exemption limit is Rs 2 lakh. The DTC is expected to replace the 50-year old Income Tax Act from April, 2012.
The survey further said that due to continuous elevated inflation and high commodity prices across globe, there is a strong case for continuation of stimulus package so that the growth momentum is not spiked.
It was a pre-Budget expectations survey conducted under the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) with participation from its 1,000 CEOs. Inflation, particularly food inflation, has been a concern for both the government and the common man. For past the few months, food prices are at high levels.
The WPI inflation for December rose to 8.43 per cent, from 7.48 per cent in the previous month. Food inflation, based on wholesale prices, rose to 17.05 per cent for the week ended January 22, on account of escalating vegetable prices, particularly, onions. It was at 15.57 per cent in the previous week.
Around 84 per cent of the CEOs belonging to large, micro, small and medium enterprises polled in the survey held that stimulus package for textiles, gems & jewellery, construction and real estate, cement and steel, among others, should continue for the next fiscal.
Besides, majority of the CEOs also pressed for larger and faster disinvestment in public sector undertakings, proceeds of which should partly be to fund infrastructure augmentation in PPP projects to help India grow and achieve intended growth rate of close to 9 per cent in next 2-3 years.
Source: Economic Times
********************************************************************************
MODERNISATION OF POST OFFICES
The Department of Posts has decided to improve the Look and Feel of its post offices through Project Arrow. The project has been launched with the objective of modernising departmental post offices across the country in a phased manner with an aim to make visible, tangible and noteworthy difference in post office operations. It aims at comprehensive improvement of the core operations of the post office as well as the ambience in which postal transactions are undertaken.
The IT Modernization Project Phase II of India Post under XIth plan envisages computerization of all the non-computerized Post Offices in the country (Departmental single handed Post Offices) and all Extra departmental Post Offices phased over the financial years 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13.
The number of Post Offices modernized in 2008-09 and 2009-10 are:
2008-09 - 45 post offices were computerized, computer hardware was upgraded in 1847 post offices and 500 post offices were modernized under Project Arrow.
2009-10 - 2920 post offices were computerized, computer hardware was upgraded in 92 post offices and 500 post offices were modernized under Project Arrow.
Total investment to be made on modernization in 2010-2011 and 2011-12 are:
2010-11- Rs. 209.76 crores has been allocated for computerization of post offices at the RE stage and `84 crores has been allocated for modernization of post offices under Project Arrow.
2011-12 - Rs. 626.41 crores has been earmarked for computerisation of post offices and Rs. 9 lakh for carrying out internal review of selected post offices already covered under Project Arrow.
The Department has diversified its activities to utilise its network by introducing services like selling of passport forms in identified post offices, accepting of utilities bills in the post offices, providing railway reservation facilities etc.
The Department has also tied-up with various Government departments to provide social security services especially in rural areas and with financial institutions to sell their product through post offices like :
(i) National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)-for disbursement of wages to NREGS beneficiaries through Post Office Savings Bank accounts.
(ii) Collection of Rural Price Index Data
(iii) Payment of Old age pension- through Post Office Savings accounts in Bihar, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, M.P., Maharashtra, North-East and Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and through money order in Karnataka, Kerala, M.P., Maharashtra, N.E., Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu , Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
(iv) Sale of gold coins by tying-up with Reliance Money Limited.
(v) On Line Acceptance of RTI Applications.
(vi) Provision of New Pension Scheme through Post Offices.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology, Shri Sachin Pilot in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
SP/AS
(Release ID :70037)
**************************************************************************
