Government Decides to withdraw the 10th February 2016 Notification with Immediate Effect

Press Information Bureau 

Government of India

Ministry of Labour & Employment

21-April-2016 17:51 IST 

Government Decides to withdraw the 10th February 2016 Notification with Immediate Effect

Government had issued a notification dated 10th February 2016 regarding rules for withdrawal from EPF Funds by the members. Under the revised rules, the employee was permitted to withdraw the employees’ share from the fund (which is 12% of the wages). However, it was prescribed that the employers’ share of contribution towards the Provident Fund (which is 3.67% of wage) would be allowed to be withdrawn only at the age of retirement (58 years). The objective was to provide a minimum social security to the workers at the time of retirement. It was noticed that over 80% of the claims settled by EPFO belonged to pre-mature withdrawal of funds, treating the EPF accounts as savings accounts, and not a Social Security instrument.

In order to address the issues the amendment stated above was carried out with the consent of Trade Unions and with the intention of promoting a decent accumulation of provident fund for the members at the end of their working lifetimes.

However, considering the representations received from various quarters and after consultations with the various stakeholders, Minister of State (IC) Labour and Employment, Sh Bandaru Dattatreya announced that the government has decided to withdraw the said 10th February 2016 Notification with immediate effect.

Accordingly, the workers are now allowed to withdraw the entire amount from the provident fund as per existing provisions of the EPF Scheme 1952 including the employers’ share of 3.67%.

Govt Employees, Kin To Benefit From SAI's 'Come And Play' Scheme

NEW DELHI: Central government employees and their families can now take part in sports and fitness activities like swimming, badminton and table tennis at top facilities of SAI under the 'Come and Play' scheme. 

According to a DoPT order, the employees, their families and dependants can use various facilities of Sports Authority of India, including at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium and Major Dhyan Chand national stadium. 

The facilities would be available on a first-come-first-serve basis and the rates would not exceed Rs 100 per person, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) order said. 

There are about 50 lakh central government employees working across the country. 

The facilities being offered are swimming, badminton, table tennis and fitness centres at both the stadiums, the DoPT said. 

The 'Come and Play' scheme was initiated for optimum utilisation of SAI sports facilities across the country by providing youth from local communities and sports enthusiasts with an opportunity to get trained under expert coaches. 

PMO LIKELY TO REVIEW INDIA POST'S PROGRESS ON APR 14

New Delhi, Apr 10 () The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is likely to undertake a review of India Post on April 14 regarding action taken by the department for setting up its payments bank.

According to sources, PMO will also take stock of progress made by Department of Post (DoP) to improve functioning through initiatives like e-commerce and IT modernisastion.

The Public Investment Board (PIB) has already approved the Rs 800-crore proposal from India Post for setting up a payments bank and after the PMO review, it will be sent to the Cabinet for final approval.

"Top officials of DoP will brief PMO about the progress made so far by the department in improving efficiency and what is the latest update regarding the payments bank," a source said.

The meeting with PMO is likely to take place on April 14, the source added.

The PMO is monitoring the progress made by DoP to improve its functioning and utilising the vast network of post offices across the country for financial inclusion.

Earlier this year also, PMO had taken a review of DoP with special focus on the implementation of proposals submitted by a task force on leveraging the department's post office network.

India Post has selected Deloitte to advise it on setting up a payments bank.

The India Post payments bank will primarily target unbanked and under-banked customers in rural, semi-rural and remote areas, with a focus on providing simple deposit products and money remittance services.

The pilot for the payments bank is set to start from January 2017 and the full-fledged operations may start by March.

As many as 40 international financial conglomerates including World Bank and Barclays have shown interest to partner the postal department for setting up the bank.For strengthening the e-commerce infrastructure, DoP has set up 57 new state-of-the-art parcel centres across the country through which more than 400 e-commerce companies are being serviced. 

Centre notifies hike in dearness allowance to 125 % for Central Government Employees

Centre notifies hike in dearness allowance to 125 % for Central Government Employees

Centre on Thursday notified its decision to raise dearness allowance (DA) to 125 per cent from 119 per cent, benefiting its 48 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners.

The union cabinet had decided on March 23, to release an additional instalment of DA and dearness relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from 1 January 2016. Thus, the central government employees as well as pensioners are entitled for DA/DR at the rate of 125% of the basic with effect from 1 January 2016.

“…the President is pleased to decide that DA payable to central government employees shall be enhanced from existing rate of 119% to 125% with effect from 1 January 2016,” a finance ministry’s office order said.

According to the today’s Office Memorandum No.1/1/2016-E-II (B), the additional installment of DA payable under this order shall be paid in cash to all central government employees.

In regard to armed forces personnel and railway employees, separate orders will be issued by the ministry of defence and ministry of railways, it said.


The government has estimated that the combined impact on exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs 14,724.74 crore per annum.


The burden on exchequer would be Rs 6,795.5 core towards central government employees and Rs 7,929.24 crore towards pensioners during 2016-17.


The Centre revised DA twice in a year on the basis of one year average of retail inflation for industrial workers as per the accepted formula.

Earlier in September last year, DA was increased to 119 percent from 113 percent which was effective from July 1, 2015.

In April last year, the government had hiked DA by 6 percentage points to 113 percent of their basic pay with effect from January 1, 2015.

The increase in DA is in accordance with the accepted formula based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission.

However, the central government is going to start the 7th Pay Commission award in July, which will be effective from January 2016.

7th Pay Commission: Guess who else is going to benefit from central govt employees' pay hike! Zee News

It is not just Central government employees eagerly anticipating implementation of the 7th pay commission and take home higher monthly pay package.

Your next-door real estate agent, car dealer and consumer durables seller are also seen gaining from the pay commission hike. According to reports, almost 3.4 crore individuals (employees and pensioners) will witness increase in their incomes, resulting in a multiplier effect on a couple of professions. 

Real estate agent: Realty sector is expected to eventually succeed in shaking off the sluggish demand and witness spurt in the sale of houses in tier 1 and tier 2 cities as more than 80 percent of Central government employees lives in these cities

As a result of the foreseen demand, the Reserve Bank of India expects sharp, quick and continuous spurt in the housing index.

Car dealer: With implementation of the 7th CPC, your next door car or two wheeler dealer may rejoice too. The industry expects double digit increase in automobile sales especially two-wheeler, the mini and the compact hatch back segment. 

Consumer durables seller: The increase in disposable income will no doubt boost the disposable income leading to increased demand for consumer durables goods like refrigerators, TV etc

Banker: Of course, peaking demand for automobiles, real estate and consumer durable will create demand for consumer loans. The consumer loans section of banks and NBFCs will vie to get the larger share of the indirect gain from the 7th CPC salary hike.

The scenario of crores of potential customers and falling interest rate will announce a win win situation for the banks and consumers both.