Time to Splurge: Rs 17,500 crore for government employees in mid-September

YES, about Rs 17,500 crore will come into the pockets of government employees in mid-September ensuring that five million families in India will have a party time ahead of Diwali and Durga Puja. In fact, government employees are set for the bonanza with the Centre releasing the second and last installment of arrears promised in 6th Pay Commission last year. The government employees received 40% of the arrears last year. Though the office memorandum of finance ministry released last Tuesday did not mention when exactly the remaining 60% arrear would be handed over, sources said, it would be given to the government employees in mid-September. So how are you investing or splurging that amount? Here are a few tips from babu blogger: 1) If you plan to buy a flat, look out for special discounts that many builders give for government employees. 2) If you wish to buy a car, bargain hard with the bank for a lower interest rate insisting that yours is the safest job during this bad time of economy. 3) Don’t splurge everything. Spare some money for rainy days and invest it in a few selective saving instruments. Last but not the least, don’t just save the entire money either. Why? First, during this economic downturn, many durable assets mainly real estates, are priced comparatively less. Secondly, government sincerely wants you to spend rather than save. If you spend 17K crore, it may stir the economy and help reviving many sectors!

Time schedule for completion of PAR for IAS The performance appraisal reports, or PARs of IAS officers are required to be completed at different stages strictly as per the time schedule given in All India (PAR) Rules, 2007, a department of personnel and training (DoPT) memo said. Rule 5.1 of these rules provides that "if PAR for a financial year is not recorded by 31st December of the year in which the financial year ended, no remarks may be recorded thereafter and the officer may be assessed on the basis of the overall record and self assessment for the year, if he has submitted his self assessment in time”. It has been decided that for the PARs of the year 2008-09, only such remarks of the reporting, reviewing and accepting authorities would be kept in the PARs dossier of the officer reported upon as are recorded by 31st December 2009, and that this practice would be followed uniformly in the coming years, it further said. Read, “Can every IAS, IPS or IFS be MS Dhoni or Sachin Tendulkar? Government says NO” posted on June 11, 2009. Also read, “MHA officials in jitters as P Chidambaram writes long comments on performance appraisal reports”, posted June 1, 2009. Tribal affairs ministry claims to have a site allowing citizens contacting officials through web The ministry of tribal affairs has claimed its revamped “Dynamic Website” (http://tribal.nic.in/) help members of the general public contacting the concerned officers directly through e-mail and apprise them of their problems and views. The website has the facility of a “Help Desk” through which people would be able to contact the ministry officials, it claims. Why don’t you try it yourself?