Income Tax Rates 2010-11 (Assessment Year 2011-12)

The income tax rate for the year 2010-2011 (Assessment year 2011-2012) announced by the Government is given below. The taxable income should be arrived after deducting maximum savings of Rs 1,00,000, HRA Exemption etc. i.e Taxable income = Gross Income - (Savings Rs 1,00,000 + HRA Exemption + HBA Interest + Rs 20,000 for infrastructure bonds)

In case of individual (other than II and III below) and HUF

	Income Level	Income Tax Rate
i.	Where the total income does not exceed Rs.1,60,000/-.	NIL
ii.	Where the total income exceeds Rs.1,60,000/- but does not exceed Rs.5,00,000/-.	10% of amount by which the total income exceeds Rs. 1,60,000/-
iii.	Where the total income exceeds Rs.5,00,000/- but does not exceed Rs.8,00,000/-.	Rs. 34,000/- + 20% of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs.5,00,000/-.
iv.	Where the total income exceeds Rs.8,00,000/-.	Rs. 94,000/- + 30% of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs.8,00,000/-.

II. In case of individual being a woman resident in India and below the age of 65 years at any time during the previous year:-

	Income Level	Income Tax Rate
i.	Where the total income does not exceed Rs.1,90,000/-.	NIL
ii.	Where total income exceeds Rs.1,90,000/- but does not exceed Rs.5,00,000/-.	10% of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs.1,90,000/-.
iii.	Where the total income exceeds Rs.5,00,000/- but does not exceed Rs.8,00,000/-.	Rs. 31,000- + 20% of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs.5,00,000/-.
iv.	Where the total income exceeds Rs.8,00,000/-	Rs.91,000/- + 30% of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs.8,00,000/-.

III. In case of an individual resident who is of the age of 65 years or more at any time during the previous year:-

	Income Level	Income Tax Rate
i.	Where the total income does not exceed Rs.2,40,000/-.	NIL
ii.	Where the total income exceeds Rs.2,40,000/- but does not exceed Rs.5,00,000/-	10% of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs.2,40,000/-.
iii.	Where the total income exceeds Rs.5,00,000/- but does not exceed Rs.8,00,000/-	Rs.26,000/- + 20% of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs.5,00,000/-.
iv.	Where the total income exceeds Rs.8,00,000/-	Rs.86,000/- + 30% of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs.8,00,000/-.

Surcharge: The surcharge on Income Tax for Individuals for total income exceeding Rs.10 lacs stands removed.

Education Cess: 3% of the Income-tax.

Letters addressed to 'Ganga Maiya', the river goddess are delivered(?) by a post office in Kachhla town of Uttar Pradesh.

An article published in the Yahoo News on 19.2.2010 is reproduced below which is very interesting to read.

Fri, Feb 19 10:59 AM Badaun, Feb 19 (IANS) They are addressed to 'Ganga Maiya', the river goddess. And the letters come in scores every day to a small post office only a few metres away from the banks of the Ganga river in Kachhla town of Uttar Pradesh.

The residents of the town in Badaun district, some 250 km from Lucknow, write to the river - held sacred in India - on auspicious occasions as well as in times of distress in the hope of being blessed by Ganga Maiya.

What's more, the letters are collected without fail by postmen and 'handed over' to the river!

'It is believed that the tradition of writing letters to Ganga Maiya is over 100 years old,' Sukhdev Prasad, 65, a retired primary school teacher, told IANS.

No one actually knows how it began. But people say it has something to do with the belief that the water of the river had therapeutic properties.

'Our forefathers started consuming Gangajal (the river water) to treat chronic diseases. With this perhaps started the tradition of writing letters in which they mentioned the symptoms of a particular disease that afflicted them,' added Prasad.

According to local people, initially the patients or their family members used to 'hand over' the letters to the river by dropping them into the water.

'With the passage of time, the tradition of writing letters to Ganga Maiya acquired more popularity and not only people from Kachhla but also from adjoining districts started posting letters addressed to the Kachhla post office,' Mukhram Singh, 58, who runs a small garments shop in the town, told IANS.

Today those dashing off letters don't just pray for a cure to their ailments; they write on auspicious occasions as well.

Once the letters reach the Kachhla post office, the postmen take them to the river bank and drop them into the water.

'Be it any festival - Holi, Diwali, or birthdays, marriages, mundan (tonsure ceremonies) or house warming, people seek blessings from Ganga Maiya by writing letters,' Satya Pal Singh, a sugarcane farmer, told IANS.

'Residents here believe the letter serves as an invitation to Ganga Maiya, who will then visit their home and bless them, in turn bringing good luck and prosperity,' he added.

According to officials at the Kachhla post office, on an average they receive nearly 50-60 letters addressed to Ganga Maiya every day.

'Though we receive 50-60 letters daily, the number goes up to 200-300 during weddings and other festivities,' Rambhajan Sotia, a postman attached to Kachhla post-office, told IANS.

Sotia himself feels he is 'lucky' to get a chance to bow before the holy river almost daily.

'I am really lucky...I believe it is only by god's grace that I have got the opportunity to seek blessings of Ganga Maiya even while doing my job,' added Sotia.

(Asit Srivastava can be contacted at asit.s@ians.in)
-Indo-Asian News Service
asit/pg
Asit Srivastava

Click here to see the article

Department worked out a system of allocation of points to various attributes based on a 100 point-scale for Compassionate Appointment cases

Department has worked our a system of allocation of points to various attributes based on a hundred point-scale as indicated below to assess the degree of indigence among all applicants considered for compassionate appointment within the prescribed ceiling of 5% of the direct recruitment vacancies in the letter No 37-36/2004-SPB-1/C dated 20.1.2010:-

(a)FAMILY PENSION (BASIC EXCLUDING DA&ALLOWANCES)

SlNo	Points	Proposed slab for Deptt. of Posts
1	20	Upto 5000
2	18	5001-8000
3	16	8001-11000
4	14	11001-14000
5	12	14001-17000
6	10	17001-20000
7	8	20001-23000
8	6	Above 23000

(b)Terminal benefits (DCRG, GPF, CGEGIS, Leave encashment & Pension Commutation)

SlNo	Points	Proposed slab for Deptt. of Posts
1	10	Upto 1,40,000
2	9	1,40,001-168000
3	8	18001-196000
4	7	196001-224000
5	6	224001-252000
6	5	252001-280000
7	4	280001-308000
8	3	308001-336000
9	2	336001-364000
10	1	364001-420000
11	0	420001 & above

(c)Monthly income of earning members and income from property

Sl No	Points	Proposed slab for Deptt. of Posts
1	5	No income
2	4	2500 or less
3	3	2501-3500
4	2	3501-4500
5	1	4501-5500
6	0	5500 & above

(d) Moveable/Immovable Property

Sl No	Points	Proposed slab for Deptt. of Posts
1	10	Nil
2	8	Upto 1,50,000
3	6	1,50,001-3,00,000
4	3	3,00,001-6,00,000
5	1	6,00,001-10,00,000
6	0	above 10,00,000

(e)No of dependents - Points

Dependents	Points
(i) 3 and above	15
(ii) 2	10
(iii)1	5

(f)No of Unmarried daughters - Points

Unmarried daughters	Points
(i) 3 and above	15
(ii) 2	10
(iii)1	5
(iv)None	0

(g)No of Minor children - Points

Minor Children	Points
(i) 3 and above	15
(ii) 2	10
(iii)1	5
(iv)None	0

(h)Left over Service - Points

Left over service	Points
(i) Over 20 years	10
(ii) Over 15 & Upto 20 years	8
(iii)Over 10 & Upto 15 years	6
(iv)Over 5 & Upto 10 years	4
(iv)0 - 5 years	2

IN ADDITION TO THE ABOVE, CASES WHERE THE WIFE OF THE DECEASED OFFICIAL HAS APPLIED FOR COMPASSIONATE APPOINTMENT FOR HERSELF, SHE SHALL GET 15 ADDITIONAL POINTS AS GRACE POINTS. THIS WILL BE IN LINE WITH THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE THAT THE WIDOW NEDS TO BE GIVEN PREFERENCE FOR COMPASSIONATE APPOINTMENT

Speed post work outsourced to private agency

Maharashtra Circle outsourced the Speed processing in Mumbai. Newsitem published in Indian Express on 16.2.2010 is reproduced below for information:-

Pune: In order to bring in more professionalism and efficiency into its Speed Post services, the Postal Department has tied up with a private entity to outsource its work. This private agency would only be involved in processing the Speed Post mail posted by the top 25 customers of the post, who provide them business in bulk.

The Speed Post processing centre at Kharadi will be inaugurated by M S Bali, the Chief Postmaster General of Maharashtra and Goa in Viman Nagar on Tuesday .

Along with this service, the Beat Code Mapping of Postal Addresses for customers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will also be inaugurated.

Talking about this development, Col K C Mishra, Post Master General (Marketing and Technology) said, “After successfully implementing the project in Mumbai on a trial basis, we are going to introduce the same system in Pune as well. Even though there are many customers who provide us mail in bulk, we will be providing this service for the top 25 customers only.”

The system is called Speed Post and Express Parcel Post Processing Centre. This centre will be located at Kharadi. Millennium Soft-Tech Pvt Ltd will run this service under the supervision of postal department.

This private agency would pick up the parcel from the customer. The parcel would then be scanned and later provided with a barcode. After this, the mail will be sorted out, sealed and sent to the transit mail office of the at the railway station. “We tied up with a private agency, because, we were finding it tough to manage the Speed Post with the existing workforce. Our top customers had started complaining about the delayed mails,” Mishra said.

Click here to see the newsitem

Madhanagopalapuram sub post-office in Tamilnadu bagged first prize in Project Arrow Phase - I

Two post offices in Perambalur district in Tamil Nadu, viz. the Madhanagopalapuram sub post-office and the Perambalur Head Post Office, brought laurels to Tamil Nadu by bagging the first and third prizes respectively in the country for successful implementation of ‘Project Arrow’ scheme (Phase I) launched by the Department of Posts in 50 post offices in the country in August 2008 to enhance the look and feel of post offices and to provide enhanced services to comman man in rural areas on par with the services available in metropolitan cities.

The Postal Department and an external audit agency that reviewed the performance of the implementation of ‘Project Arrow’ scheme in all the 50 post offices in the country had adjudged the Madhanagopalapuram sub post office to receive the first prize and the Perambalur HPO the third prize.

Four employees of the Madhanagopalapuram sub post office -- S.Baskharan, now Superintendent of Post Offices, Pattukkottai, P.Ramani, Inspector of Post Offices, Perambalur, P.Sandanadorai, Sub Postmaster, Madanagopalapuram Post office and C.Sasikumar, Deputy Systems Manager, Perambalur, were deputed by the Postal Department to Bangkok for a week-long special training programme at Asian Pacific Postal College under the scheme ‘Rewards and Recognition of Project Arrow’.

Thirty one officials and staff of the Perambalur Head Post Office were presented with a total cash prize amount of Rs. 1 lakh and each got a prize money ranging from Rs.1,000 to Rs.5,000.

S. K. Chakrabarti, Chief Postmaster General, Tamil Nadu Circle, on Sunday honoured K. Raju, Postmaster of Perambalur HPO and his team of staff in the HPO with cash prizes at a simple function held at Puliancholai village near Thuraiyur in Tiruchi district.

S. P. Rajalingam, Postmaster General, Central Region, Tiruchi, felicitated the award-winners.

Revised Norms for Postmen Establishment

Department in Memo No 9-1/2005-WSI/PE-I dated 5.2.2010 has revised the norms for Postmen establishment as follows. The revised norms will also be applicable for GDS MD as per note below Rule 106 of Volume VI Part III.

The Head of Circles and Regional PMsG are requested to undertake a review of the implementation of revised norms after six months and provide the for assessing the impact of new norms and undetaking a fresh review if considered necessary.

Sl No	Item	Congested areas in Minutes	Less congested areas in minutes	Remarks
1	Delivery of unregistered mail (other than in multistoried buildings)	0.72	0.72	-
2	Delivery of unregistered mail in multistoried buildings	0.42	0.42	Note 1 below
3	Delivery of unregistered mail in bulk	2.00 for delivery of seven articles	2.00 for delivery of seven articles	Note 2 below
4	Registered and Parcel mail (including insured value payable and speed post articles	2.50	2.50	-
5	Delivery of Registered and Parcel mail under special lists	4.50 per list	4.40 per list	-
6	Delivery of Value Payable and CD articles	3.00	3.00	-
7	Return of value payable & CD articles	2.50	2.50	-
8	Money Orders Paid	3.85	3.85	-
9	Money orders returned unpaid	2.50	2.50	-
10	Unpaid articles	2.00	2.00	-
11	Delivery of Speed post articles	2.00	2.00	-
12	Delivery of insured articles	3.50	3.50	-
13	Return of insured articles	2.50	2.50	-
14	Delivery of Accountable articles in multistoried building	1.80	1.80	Note 3 below
15	Returns by Postman	20 Mts maximum	20 Mts Maximum	Note 4 below
16	Distance travelled	19 Mts per KM by foot 10 Mts per KM by Bicycle	12 Mts per KM by foot 06 Mts per KM by Bicycle	-

Note 1. Multi storied buildings denote high rise buildings with 4 or more storey

Note 2. Bulk addressee is defined as a single person or firm receiving 7 or more unregustered articles in a day. Therefore, the bulk articles as per revised definition have to be segregated and counted separately. Each bulk Addressee in receipt of 7 or more articles will be given a time factor of 2 Mts. There is no need for deduction of this workload from the total work load as is done now. To illustrate, if a particular Post Office is in receipt of 600 unregistered articles, other than bulk mail, it has to be multiplied by 0.72 and if it receives 80 articles for 7 bulk addressees then, the work for delivery of bulk mail would be 7X2 mts = 14 mts

Note 3. The norm provided at Sl no 13 is in addition to normal time factor provided for different accountable articles, In view of the introduction of this norm, separate statistics is to be maintained for accountable articles to be deliverable in high rise buildings of 4 or more storey.

Note 4.The norm provided for rendering returns by Postman of Sl No 14 is Maximum time that can be allowed per day. The individual time factors provided for return of accountable articles at Sl no 7, 9 and 13 will be applied and allowed if the workload is less than 20 mts. By application of the norms, if the workload for rendering returns works out more than 20 mts, the maximum limit of 20 mts will be applied.

Note 5. Articles delivered through Postboxes/Post bags and through window of the Post office will be excluded from the purview of delivery of unregistered articles.

Note 6. The figures of Accountable Articles should be average of six days statistics collected in the middle of the month and furnished by the incharge of delivery post office.

Note 7. The Postmaster/Sub Postmaster will furnish six days figures for unregistered mail. The verifying officer has to collect two days personal figures in the middle of week and the least of two averages will be adopted for assessing the work load.

Note 8. After having a dencity of population of 2500 per sq. km may be taken as congested area

Note 9. For postmen doing delivery of single beat system their staff hours has to be taken at 450 mts per day and doing delivery in two batches, the staff hours is to be taken as 420 mts per day.

Note 10. The number of Postman justified will be arrived at by dividing the total work load by 450 mts or 420 mts as the case may be. Additional Postman will be sanctioned if the work load is 0.5 or more.

Note 11. Distance travelled means distance covered on the main roads, lanes and bye lanes. Distance travelled covered for entering various houses is included in time factor for delivery of articles.

Department decided to allow Lady Inspector Posts selected through Department Examrinatioin and through SSC to Circles of their choice/Place of posting of their spouse

Department of posts in letter No A-34013/01/2009-DE/SPB-II dated 05.02.2010 addressed to All Chief PMGs has decided to consider the requests of lady Inspectors of posts for transfer to Cirele of their choice/place of posting of their spouse with the following conditions:-

I. The transfer will be allowed under Rule 38 of P&T Volume - IV without provision of minimum service in the grade of Inspectors of Posts but subject to other conditions laid down in the said rule.

II. The CPMG of the Circle where the lady Inspectors of Posts is working would be competent to permit such transfer in consultation with the CPMG of the Circle where the transfer is sought for by the individual.

III. In order to maintain the representation of promotees and direct recruits, a surplus qualified lady candidate may be allowed to seek transfer against a vacancy meant for promotion to be filled up on the basis of Departmental Examination and a lady Inspectors of Posts appointed on the basis of Direct Recruitment may be allowed transfer against a vacancy meant to be filled up by Direct Recruitment in the Circle to which the transfer has been sought for.

IV. Further in order to maintain the representation of SC/ST/OC in the case of surplus candidates appointed by promotion on the basis of Departmental Examination and SC/ST/OBC/OC in the case of Inspectors of Posts appointed by Direct recruitment, a lady Inspectors of Posts belonging to one category may be allowed transfer against the vacant post of the same category in the desired Circle.

V. As the Department has reported 276 vacancies of Inspectors of Posts pertaining to the years 2006,2007 and 2008 to be filled by Direct Recruitment and the SSC has already taken into account the said vacancies with the reported break up for SC/ST/OBC/OC and have since declared the result of writtten part of the Combined Graduate Level Examination, these vacancies shall not be taken into consideration while entertaining requests for transfer received, if any.

Hand-held mobile terminals for Speed Post services supplied to Delivery staff at T. Nagar Post Office, Chennai

On Saturday hand-held mobile terminals for Speed Post services were supplied to the delivery officials at T. Nagar and Teynampet Post offices. With this this system, customers in these areas will now be able to get their deliveries in a faster manner.

The officials would carry instruments that would record digital signatures of the customers. The senders could soon track the status of the posts through Internet. Ten postmen who would be given the devices would be able to deliver 10,000 Speed Posts daily.

Smt. Sunita Trivedi, Chief General Manager, Business Development and Marketing Directorate, Department of Posts, New Delhi inaugurated the facility.

Rs 40 lakh looted from post office

Sonarpur (WB), Feb 8 (PTI) Six armed miscreants today looted Rs 40 lakh and critically injured two persons during a daring robbery incident at a local post office in West Bengal's South 24-Parganas district.

The incident took place when money was being transferred from the Sonarpur post office to the nearby police station in the morning, police said.

When the post master and a policeman tried to put up a resistance, the armed group fired at them and critically injured the duo at the doorstep of the post office.

The miscreants, then, decamped with the booty, police said, adding the injured were rushed to a nearby nursing home.

Source - PTI News

Introduction of Contributory Insurance Health Scheme to GDS - Reg

One man Committee chaired by Shri R.S. Nataraja Murti as Chairman has recommended for Contributory Insurance Scheme for in-patient treatment of GDS through Government Hospitals/Private Hospitals. The Committee further recommended that the insurance premium may be contributed jointly by the Government and the GDS as fixed by Government. The GDS and the spouse may also be covered under the health scheme without contribution from the discharged the GDS.

Department is in the active consideration to examine the feasibility of extending RSBY (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna - a scheme formulated by the Ministry of Labour and Employment) to the regularly appointed GDS and his/her family members not exceeding five including the GDS and his/her spouse.

Hence, the Department has issued orders to collect the details of the GDS in the Department as on 1.1.2010. The GDS has to give information about the family members. He/She should also give his/her photograph.

Bio-matric smart cards are likely to be issued to the beneficieries.

Department created Postmasters Cadre in the GP Rs 4800, 4600, 4200 and 2800

The Postal Department is more than 150 years old and the qualification for feeding cadre (Postal Assistant) to this Department was only Matriculation. Recently, the qualification for Postal Assistant has been changed as Higher Secondary with some basic computer knowledge.

These officials are promoted to LSG/HSG-II/HSG-I Postmasters as per seniority and the service to the public is depend upon these cadre only. Fast track examination conducted for LSG promotion was also stopped due to various reasons.

However to improve the efficiency further and to cope up with the present technlogical issues, Department has issued orders vide Order No 13-2/2010-PE-I dated 3.2.2010 to constitute Postmaster Cadre which is reproduced as follows:-

It has been decided with the approval of the Competent Authority to constitute a separate cadre of Postmasters with following number of posts by carving them out from the existing General Line Cadre Posts and Postal Services Group - B of Postal Wing and to designate them as Senior Postmaster, Postmaster Grade-III, Postmaster Grade-II and Postmaster Grade-I as detailed below:-

SlNo	Existing Cadre	Proposed Cadre	Number of Posts
1.	Postal Services Group - B Officer	Senior Postmaster Rs 9300-34800 + GP Rs 4800 (PB-3) and Rs 5400 after 4 years(PB-2)	116
2	Higher Selection Grade-I (HSG-I)	Postmaster Grade-III Rs 9300-34800 + GP Rs 4600 (PB-2)	495
3	Higher Selection Grade-II (HSG-II)	Postmaster Grade-II Rs 9300-34800 + GP Rs 4200 (PB-2)	511
4	Lower Selection Grade (LSG)	Postmaster Grade-I Rs 9300-34800 + GP Rs 2800 (PB-2)	2097

The Posts will be deemed to have been designated as Senior Postmaster, Postmaster Grade-III, Postmaster Grade-II and Postmaster Grade-I with effect from the dates these are filled up.

The consequential action like framing of Recruitment Rules shall be taken by the Personnel Division.

PSS Group B Examination to be held on 3rd, 4th and 5th May 2010

Department has issued notification for conducting PSS Group 'B' Examination for General Line and IP Lines officials to be held on 3rd, 4th and 5th May 2010. The vacancy declared as under:-

Cadre	OC	SC	ST
General Line	25	6	2
IP Line	21	3	2

Post office in Chittorgarh looted

Six armed miscreants bargedinto the head post office of Chittorgarh and looted around Rs 80,000 on 27.1.2010 after injuring the security guard in Kotwali police station area on Tuesday night.Police have registered a case against unidentified persons and investigation ison.

Around 2 am, six armed men entered the post office and caught hold of security guard Chandra Prakash. They tried to break open lockers in the strongroom but failed. Out of frustration, they thrashed the guard and locked him in a room after tying him up. They managed to open an almirah and steal Rs80,000 in cash and flee.

The police arrived on the scene only on Wednesday morning when the guard was freed by local people. The injured guard was admitted to hospital. His condition is said to be stable.

Police have recorded the statement of the guard.

Source : Times of India

Rly reservation thru post offices launched

Indian Railways' Passenger Reservation System (PRS) facility was launched at four post offices in Maharashtra Circle on Monday.
The facility was inaugurated by Mr Gurudas Kamat, Minister of State for Communications & IT, in Mumbai. This initiative forms part of the memorandum of understanding signed between India Post and Indian Railways for providing PRS to nearly 5,000 post offices in cities and towns across the country.
Mr Kamat said on the occasion that the project would not only reduce the queues at railway reservation centres but also reduce the load on railways.
The Minister also said that the PRS facility will be launched in six more post offices in the circle within a fortnight. In Maharashtra and Goa Circle, 500 post offices have been identified for the purpose. Once fully implemented, 103 post offices in Mumbai will provide railway reservation facility.
“The PRS facility at the post offices will not only provide convenience to passengers in booking tickets, but will also help India Post to generate additional revenue,” said Mr M.S. Bali, Chief Post Master General (Maharashtra & Goa).
The revenues will flow in the form of minimal charges levied on booking and cancellation of tickets. For example, a fee of Rs 15 per ticket will be charged for issuing second class sleeper and second class sitting tickets.
Four post offices where PRS facility began on Monday include Chembur Head Post Office, Dadar Head Post Office, Mandvi Post Office, Girgaon Mukhya Dak Ghar.
This facility is already being provided at three post offices in Maharashtra Circle – Dahisar Post Office, IIT Powai Post Office in Mumbai and OROS Post Office in Sindhudurg district (Konkan)
Source : The Hindu Business Online

8% DA Due from 1.1.2010 (Dearness Allowance Calculation based on the CPI for the month of December 2009 released on 31.1.2010

The All India Consumer Price Index number for (Industrial Workers) (Base 2001=100) for the month of December 2009 is 169 as announced by Statistics Department, Labour, Government of India.

Based on this index, the DA is calculated and given below. The increase is 35.70%. Hence, 8% DA is due from 1.1.2010.(Present DA rate from 1.7.2009 is 27%).

Month	All India Index	% of increase
Nov 2008	148	21.44
Dec 2008	147	22.38
Jan 2009	148	23.39
Feb 2009	148	24.32
Mar 2009	148	25.12
Apr 2009	150	25.98
May 2009	151	26.84
Jun 2009	153	27.78
Jul 2009	160	29.00
Aug 2009	162	30.23
Sep 2009	163	31.45
Oct 2009	165	32.67
Nov 2009	168	34.11
Dec 2009	169	35.70