PAC may summon PM Modi over cash ban issue if RBI's reply not satisfactory

PAC meeting to discuss issue of demonetisation has been called on January 20

Breaking News : The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament can call Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of demonetisation if it is not satisfied with the answers given by top finance ministry officials and the RBI Governor Urjit Patel, to whom a detailed questionnaire has been sent.

A PAC meeting on this issue has been called on January 20th, in which the RBI Governor Urjit Patel, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa and Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das will be present.

"We have not yet received answers to the questions we have sent to them. They will reply few days before the January 20th meeting. Their replies will be discussed in detail," PAC Chairman and senior Congress leader K V Thomas told PTI.

Asked if the PAC would call the Prime Minister if replies were not satisfactory, he said: "The committee has all right to call anybody involved in the matter. But that will depend on the outcome of the January 20th meeting. We can call PM on demonetisation issue if members unanimously decide."

In a meeting with the PM after demonetisation announcement made on November 8, Thomas said, "I had met him and he said that the situation will be normal after 50 days by December-end. But it does not looks like."(more)

7th Pay Panel report to be approved soon: Here is how it will benefit govt employees

7th Pay Panel report to be approved soon: Here is how it will benefit govt employees

The government is likely to announce the implementation of the 7th Pay Commissionrecommendations soon.

A Committee of Secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha has submitted its report on the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, which may be accepted, a financial ministry official said.

Based on the panel's report, the Finance Ministry is preparing a Cabinet note and the issue may come up for approval by the Cabinet as early as June 29.

The Commission has proposed a hefty 23.55% hike in salary, allowances and pension for 4.8 million government employees and 5.5 million pensioners.

The recommendations will lead to an additional burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore or nearly 0.7% of the GDP.

Of the total financial impact, Rs 73,650 crore will be borne by the General Budget and Rs 28,450 crore by the Railway Budget.

Here is how government employees will benefit:

1) Entry-level employees: The entry level pay has been recommended to be raised to Rs 18,000 per month from current Rs 7,000.

2) Hike in allowances and salaries: The basic salary hike recommended is 16%, while that of housing rent allowance, other allowances and pensions are 138.71%, 49.79% and 23.63%, respectively.

3) Military personnel: The starting salary of a sepoy (the army's entry rank) has been raised from Rs 8,460 (plus grade pay and allowances) to Rs 21,700 a month. At the other end of the rank spectrum, a lieutenant general will now earn above Rs 2,00,000 per month.

New salaries in the lowest grades (Pay Band 1) will be 2.57 times higher than the existing base line salaries. This caters for a multiplier of 2.25 for merging Dearness Allowance (DA) into the salary.

According to the report, the sepoy's raised salary (2.57 times his current salary) "includes a factor of 2.25 to account for DA neutralisation, assuming that the rate of DA would be 125% at the time of implementation of the new pay as on January 1, 2016". Read more.