Bhopal meeting

Dear Editor

As already known to all LIC Pensioner friends connected with your blog that AIRIEF Two Days EC Meeting is to be held at Bhopal on Nov 1st and 2nd.  Right now myself and Sh.SN Chhabra are at New Delhi Railway station to board our train for Bhopal.

Let us hope that this EC Meeting proves to be a highly successful event thereby leading to a grand victory in our legal battle at supreme court which appears to be in final phase.

Regards
BRMEHTA
Panchkula

Debabrata Paul

'BANK NEWS'

UNION BANK RETIRED EMPLOYEES' ASSOCIATION

Date: 31st October,'15

Friends,

Letter by AIBEA to IBA re. Retirees' Issues

   We forward herewith a soft copy of the Letter dated 30th September,'15 written by the General Secretary of All India Bank Employees' Association to the Chairman, Indian Banks' Association requesting to commence negotiations on Bank Retirees' core issues.

    A similar letter was written to IBA by AIBOC also immediately  after signing the 10th BP Settlement / Joint Note in May, 2015.

    We are thankful to AIBOC and AIBEA for approaching IBA in these matters. However there is a general feeling of the bank retirees is that it would have been better if UFBU would have discussed and settled our issues along with the 10th BP Settlement / Joint Note for serving employees.

Yours sincerely,

B.G.Raithatha,

General Secretary

TO READ THE LETTER, CLICK HERE.

Period spent on training - GOI instructions

I find a letter No.2(71)-E III / 60 dated 03-12-1960 issued by GOI treating period spent on training as on duty. A copy of letter reproduced below.

Shri S. Narayana Nair may see the terms of offer of his appointment. He may make a representation to Office. The reply may be shared with - sent to LIC PC.

In the initial years of post nationalisation, no training as such for new recruits, if memory does not fail me.

SN

Training

BK Datta

Enhanced family pension - The position in Government

Clarification required by Sri...Vvin Satry. The position in GOI is as under :

What is enhanced family pension and for what period it is payable?

Ordinarily, family pension is paid @ 30% of the pay last drawn by the Government at the time of his retirement/death. However, in the following three cases, family pension is payable at the enhanced rate of 50% of the last pay drawn:

1. a)  From 1.1.2006, where a person not governed by the Workmen’sCompensation Act dies while in service after rendering not less than seven years continuous service, the rate of family pension shall be equal to 50% of last pay drawn Sent from my iPad payable for a period of ten years.
2. b)  In case a Government servant had died while in service after 1.1.1999 and before 1.1.2006 and his/her family was being granted family pension at enhanced rates, i.e., period of 7 years of enhanced rate had not been completed on 1.1.2006, the family pension will be allowed to be paid till the completion of the period of 10 years from the date of date of the Government servant.
3. c)  In the event of death of Government Servant after retirement, the enhanced family pension shall be payable for a period of seven years or for a period up to the date the deceased would have attained the age of 67 years, whichever is earlier. In no case the amount of family pension exceed the pension authorised on retirement from Government.

After the lapse of the period of 10 or 7 years, as the case may be, the family pension is payable at the ordinary rate. 

I request him to peruse the LIC Employees (Pension) Rules, 1995, if Sastryji wants to know the position in LIC.

The Last Train !

Misleading ?

30 Oct 15, 06:23 PM

Perumalmaruthu: Ms Lakshmi Raman's write-up is misleading! Pension for Bankmen is paid as a Second benefit in lieu of Management part of PF contribution! (SBI is exception to Pension Scheme 1995).

Clarification required

Sir, 

Full pension is payable to a family pensioner for a period of 7 

years on the death of a pensioner or notional attainment of 67 

years of pensioner, which ever is less. I hear the period is 

enhanced to 10 years. I seek a clarification.

vvln sastry, kakinada A.P.

CPI FOR JULY 263, AUGUST 264 & SEPT. 266 * INSERVICE EMPLOYEES ELIGIBLE FOR 34 SLABS OF DA

Lakshmi Raman

M. Sreenivasa Murty

‘’NOVEMBER 18^TH and before’’

My belated RESPONSE
TO Shri M V Venugopalan

Dear Sri Gangadharan,

I read some ten days ago, the write up by Shri M V Venugopalan titled “September 30th and after”. My immediate reaction was that in choosing to make his post-mortem cum stock taking after waiting ‘for the heat to die down’ he selectively overlooked what exactly I wrote and what he read in the LIC PC earlier.

Some of his comments now available in print, warranted a quick response from me. Then to my good fortune, people came forward spontaneously to expose the fallacies in his write up so quickly and so clearly. I was pleasantly surprised and I am thankful to a new contributor in Sri K Govinda Swamy, who squarely called MVV’s bluff, perhaps better than what I could have done – quoting chapter and verse from what I reported but deliberately distorted by Mr MVV. The simultaneous responses of others left little for me to add, at least immediately.

In order to highlight the importance of Jaipur Case or to eulogize the services of Mr Asthana in the court battles, Mr Venugopalan need not have painted me and my role black if he cared for objectivity which we routinely expect in him. For instance, when he claims a right to question the truth in my version (gospel truth?) (Supposing, if I say that it was Mr.Murty who was lying and not Mr.Asthana, can anyone deny my claim’), I happily concede his right to claim whatever he wants to. One’s rights in such matters are inalienable. He can claim that the Sun rises in the west in his part of the country. I have no right to ‘question’ his claim, after all, though I can come to my own conclusions on the purpose of his exercise.

A REQUEST: Send mail copies to pggangadharan@hotmail.com

WE ARE ENCOUNTERING SOME PROBLEMS WITH OUR MAIL BOX FOR 

licpensionerschronicle@hotmail.com. 

READERS WHO SEND MAIL TO THIS ID MAY ALSO SEND A COPY TO 

pggangadharan@hotmail.com

A kind word about 'Chronicle'

Thanks to Shri S D Sarma, Shri M. Kunhikrishnan, VP, AIIEA and to the Editor for clarification and all for the enlightening debate. Many of us were, as if, on the path of elucidating pension rules.

There is Pension Grievances Cell of GOI, in Dept. of Pension & P.W. There are Pensioners' Grievances Cells / Depts. at State Governments. To the best of my knowledge, no arrangements yet at other institutions like RBI, Banks or LIC.

But, there is LIC PC and its Editor, Shri P G Gangadharan ji. All would agree that LIC PC is ' functioning ' like / carrying out the functions of Pension or Pensioners' Grievances Cells at Central and State government offices.

Shri S. Narayanan Nair's doubt / problem is not the first or a solitary case. Many problems /grievances have been addressed and redressed in the past.

Hope Shri Nair is fully satisfied.

SN.

30 Oct 15, 09:26 AM

Perumalmaruthu: Thanks to the Editor for the clarification!

Qualifying service

SD Sharma's opinion seems to be correct. This opinion is also supported by Shri M. Kunhikrishnan, Vice President of AIIEA.

As per LIC rules, period of training is not counted for calculating service. This rule has been since changed and period of training is also taken into account for reckoning service period (QFS) now. When pension was introduced in the year 1995, there were thus two groups of employees - employees whose period of training is not reckoned  and (2) employees whose training period is reckoned for QFS as per changed rules. Shri Nair belonged to the former group of employees whose training period is not reckoned for QFS. He joined the service of the Corporation in Feb. 1991 and his probation actually commenced only in May 1991 (and probation completed in August 1991). So for all practical and QFS purposes, Shri Nair is deemed to have commenced his service only from the date of probation in May 1991. In the result, the period of service of the employee for QFS is 21 years, 5 months and 29 days which is rightly calculated by the Corporation as 22 years. -Ed.  

More comments on QFS

29 Oct 15, 10:23 PM

Perumalmaruthu: (Pension Reg1995 of Banks On counting of Leave...."17. Counting of periods spent on leave: All leave during service in the Bank for which leave salary is payable shall count as qualifying service."Provided that extraordinary leave on loss of pay shall not count as qualifying service except when the sanctioning authority has directed that such leave not exceeding twelve months during the entire...

So, even if Mr Nair had gone on sanctioned Loss of Pay for 3 months, his service is to be counted as 23.s with...

TRAINING PERIOD

30 Oct 15, 01:19 AM

SDSARMA: Mr.Nair's probation started on 2-5-91 and the first three months period is training period which cannot be counted for and lic has rightly calculated his service as 22years.

QFS CASE OF NARAYANAN NAIR

The calculations done by Shri S. Narayanan Nair are pucca. However, he may not rush to the Pension Department considering that three veterans have said that qualifying service would be 23 years when an employee has put in service of 22 years, 8 months and 29 days. More than six months service is taken as one year.
 
It is difficult to understand how the office calculated the QFS of Shri Nair as 22 years. They do not make such small silly mistakes - to put it jocularly!
 
Shri Nair by now must have gone through the Pension Rules. If not, he may go through to know more. He may like to recollect and confirm that (if), during his service of 22 plus years, he was not absent from service - on leave without salary- in one or more spells totalling 3 months. Also, he may see terms and conditions of his appointment. Any specific condition unlikely.

Shri Nair is one of the ex- servicemen who joined as Assistant and retired as AAO in October, 2013. He is also going to get his pension re- fixed as per latest pay scales of August, 2012. Congrats for both.
 
Shri Nair may be from military services. He may be a military pensioner. It is learnt that the GOI Notification for OROP is ready. It is only to be dated ( 13th,14th or 15th November, 2015 ) and signed.

SN.

QFS: NARAYANAN NAIR'S CASE DETAILS

29 Oct 15, 12:19 PM

NARAYANAN NAIR: Sir, I am re-employed ex-serviceman and retired as aao on 31.10.2013 after 60 years. My date of birth is 25.10.1953. I joined lic on 02.02.1991.  My date of probation on 02.05.1991 and date of confirmation 02.08.1991. pension dept of lic has counted my qualifying service as 22.years .Is this calculation correct.

Narayanan Nair's mail is reproduced:-


SIR,

I am an ex serviceman and retired as AAO on 31.10.2013. My basic pension is calculated as 11009/month by taking 22 years as QFS.

date of joining as assistant on 02/02/1991 at BO vandiperiyar

date of probation 02/05/1991
date of confirmation 02/08/1991.
date of birth 25/10/1953 last basic pay 32640 FPA 840

total service 22 years 8 months 29 days (23)
But lic has calculated as 22 years. FOR 23 YEARS

average basic pension FOR LAST 10. MONTHS 32185 32185x22/2x33 =10728.33 11215.98

FPA 840 840X22/2X33 =280.00 292.72
TOTAL BASIC PENSION =11009/ 11508.70
11509/
date of promotion to aao on 12.12.2007

please advise me by giving correct calculation.


THANKING YOU SIR

S. NARAYANAN NAIR PHONE 9745794901

22y.+8m. must be treated as 23 years, says Perumalmaruthu

29 Oct 15, 01:50 PM

Perumalmaruthu: Service of 22Y+8m must be treated as 23years.(Pension Regulations 1995 for Banks..

"16. Counting of service on probation: Service on probation against a post in the Bank if followed by confirmation in the same or any other post shall qualify".

Full Pension for 20Year service is available to RBI staff. But the same demand by Bank Unions(UFBU) was not conceded by IBA!

Some More Light on 20 Years of Qualifying Service for Full Pension and Addition to Qualifying Service ---GOI

Sixth CPC had recommended full pension to the Government servant who has rendered minimum qualifying service (q.s.) of 20 years 

GOI implemented the CPC recommendations with some departure on lump sum payment in terms paragraphs 5.2 to 5.4 of their O.M. F. No. 38/37/08-P&PW(A) dated the 2nd September, 2008.

In brief :

Para. 5.2 : Linkage of 33 years of q.s. for full pension dispensed with. A govt.servant who has rendered 20 years q.s., shall be paid at 50% of the emoluments ( last basic pay + grade pay eligible for pension) or average emoluments received during last ten months whichever is more beneficial to the employee.

Para.5.3 : If a govt. servant retires on completion of 10 years q.s. in accordance with CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, shall be paid at 50% of the emoluments ( last pay+ grade pay) or average emoluments, whichever is more beneficial to the employee.

Para 5.4 : The revised provisions as stated in Para. 5.2 and 5.3 above, will come into force from 02-09-2008, from the date of issue of O.M., under reference. Those retired between 01-01-2006 and 01-09-2008 will continue to be governed by the Rules / orders which were in force till issue of these orders.

There were large number of representations against the decision to make 20 years q.s. for full pension from a prospective date. GOI was generous to modify the instructions/order in terms of letter - same number- dated 10th December, 2009. Accordingly, the instructions contained in Para.5.2 and 5.3 came into force effective from 01-01-2006.

Additions to Qualifying Service : in view of the revised provisions for computation of pension--20 or 10 years of q.s.-- as stated in Para.5.2 and 5.3 above, the extant benefit of adding years ( 5 maximum subject to other conditions ) stood withdrawn w.e.f. 01-01-2006.

 _____Position regarding Pre 2006 Pensioners_____

As could be seen from the foregoing GOI orders, the benefit of full pension (50% of basic etc.) with 20 years service has not been extended to Pre 2006 Pensioners. They are governed by old rules, minimum 33 years of service for full pension, pro rata pension, etc. Some of the aggrieved pensioners filed cases in Delhi High Court, the CAT ( Central Administration Tribunal ), the Supreme Court.
> Delhi Court has said that the cutoff date is arbitrary and fouls Article 14 of the Constitution of India. All Pre- 2006 pensioners who had completed - more than- 20 years of q.s. should also get full pension ( instead of pro rata ) as in the case of Post 2006 pensioners. The Apex Court has also held the same view in an another case filed before it.

CAT is also in favour of Pre 2006 Pensioners. The operating part of CAT judgement dated 15-04-2015 is as under :

In view of the judgments of the Honble Supreme Court in D.S. Nakara (supra), V. Kasturi (supra), T.S. Thiruvengadam (supra) and order of the Full Bench of the Tribunal in OA 937/2010 with OA 2101/2010 dated 20.11.2014, we are of the opinion that the prayer in the OAs is fully justified. We, therefore, quash and set aside the impugned orders dated 3.10.2008 and 19.03.2010 being violative of law laid down by the Honble Supreme Court and direct the respondents that the qualifying service for earning full pension will be treated as twenty years also for those who retired from the Central Government service on or before 31.12.2005 and were alive on that day. The respondents are also directed to modify/amend all relevant government orders/ letters/ notifications in accordance with the above decision. It is made clear that this parity of pension between pre and post-1.01.2006 pensioners (on the question of eligibility of minimum pensionable service of twenty years) would apply both as regards pension and family pension. The respondents are granted three months time from the date of receipt of this order for implementation of directions contained in this order.

As the GOI has not yet acted on this issue of 20 years service for full - (they have issued notification on granting benefit to eligible pensioners w.e.f.01-01-2006 instead of 24-09-2012, as decided in the past)- the Pensioners have taken up the matter with the P.M.etc.

-------------We in LIC and those in Banks------------

LIC of India (Employees ) Pension Rules, 1995 and Banks Pension Regulations are primarily framed on the basis of GOI CCS ( Pension) Rules. it is high time that the serving employees and pensioners of the LIC and Banks take a leaf from the above and learn lessons from our counter parts in GOI . We must take concerted action to achieve whatever has been achieved by the brethren, the comrades in GOI, serving and retired.

SN ( a 1992 Pensioner )

Qualifying service

Presumably Mr Nair was born in October 1953. As per Rules 14, 15, 16 &19 of LIC Pension Rules, his qualifying service will be 23 years. To determine whether he  was eligible  for addition to qualifying service  in special circumstances under Rule 27, the eligibility conditions for his appointment are required.

Greetings.

C H Mahadevan

Second opinion by SN

 
Shri S. Narayanan Nair retired after reaching superannuation age at 60 on 31-10-2013.
Shri Nair has joined service in LIC on 02-02-1991. His date of birth may be any date (excepting first) in October, 1953 (Retired in October, 2013 minus 60 years of age). He joined service at the age of 37 years 4 months. He has thus rendered service of 22 years and 8 months in LIC.
 
Based on the available data, the QFS (qualifying service reckoned for pension) of Shri Nair is 23 years.
 
As he was 60 at the time of retirement, he is not eligible for Additional qualifying service of 5 years - maximum. He is (unfortunately- as per extant LIC Pension Rules) is not qualified / eligible for full pension.

QFS is calculated as provided and subject to several conditions enumerated in Chapter IV of the LIC Employees ( Pension ) Rules, 1995. Shri Nair may please go through the text / Rules. Easily accessible, available on LIC PC. Just a click on the required 'Pages' on the right side bar of PC.
 
Shri SNN is at liberty to correct SN.

FISHING IN TRICITY

Comments

28 Oct 15, 03:12 PM

R.S. SUBRAMANIAN: Your cartoon TOOTHLESS PENSIONERS IS REALLY SUPER. Why AIIEA is not demanding PENSION UPDATION which is the only thing that will really benefit the elder pensioners. I am unable to understand this.

28 Oct 15, 03:08 PM

s.narayanan nair: to know qualifying service. joined lic on 02.02.1991 as assistant. date of probation 02.05.1991. dt of confirmation 02.08.91. dt of retirement 31.10.2013. after 60 years. kindly let me know my QFS.

ALL ABOUT STEALING TWO HEN

Not a joke but a naked truth –The case of a two stolen chicken and the verdict after a decade !

For stealing two hens fifteen years ago two get forty two months in jail. A decade ago after the accused stole two hens in the dead of a night on April 2005 from the petitioner’s chicken farm the Magistrate has sentenced them for forty two months of rigorous imprisonment as it was proved by the public prosecutor that when the accused was caught while stealing they assaulted the petitioner and the accused were charged for an offence under Sec. 394 for voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery which can attract imprisonment for ten years. The accused immediately got a bail. The irony of it is that the judicial magistrate can pronounce sentence only up to three years and so the judicial magistrate has to forward the case to chief judicial magistrate. It is not over here if you think for it will drag on for some more years as the defense lawyer will be challenging the verdict in the session court.

Imagine yourself how our legal system is working and we pray that nothing of this kind will happen on NOV 18.

R.K.VISWANATHAN

AIIPA CIRCULAR

 ALL INDIA INSURANCE PENSIONERS ASSOCIATION

Cir No : 13/2015                                                                               Date : 26^th  October 2015

To

All Divisional/State units of AIIPA

Dear Comrades,

A SPLENDID WAGE INCREASE AND A FINE GESTURE

AIIPA heartily congratulates the AIIEA and its leadership for getting the magnificent wage revision offer and achieving 13.5% increase in basic pay, breaking the barriers on Basic Pay increase and also for the increase of around 20% in gross.

AIIEA is the only organization to raise the issue of improvements in the existing pension scheme, in the Joint Meeting of the unions with management of LIC, on 16th October 2015, when the entire top brass of LIC viz., Shri.S.K.Roy, Chairman, Smt.Usha Sangwan, Shri.V.K.Sharma and Shri.S.B.Mainak, Managing Directors, Shri.Neeraj Agarwal, Executive Director (Personnel) and Shri.Prakash Chand, Chief (Personnel) were present. Com.Amanulla Khan, President, AIIEA, while welcoming the wage revision offer made by the LIC and  referring to the Diamond Jubilee Year of the LIC, said that contributions made by the pensioners for the growth and development of the LIC should not be forgotten but to be taken cognizance of and LIC must make improvements in the existing pension scheme in relation to minimum pension, uniform rate of family pension and  medical allowance to pensioners etc. As the LIC is in favour of 100% neutralization in DA to pre-August 1997 pensioners, LIC should think above the legal battle and offer benefit at the earliest, he further said.

Again on 17th October 2015, when the AIIEA individually met the LIC officials, they reiterated the demand for improvements in the existing pension scheme. Referring to the improvements in pension scheme brought about in RBI, AIIEA wanted minimum pension to be raised to Rs.5000 and rise in the family pension and payment of medical allowance to all pensioners. AIIEA also demanded that LIC should look beyond the legal battle to make available 100% DA neutralization to pre-August 1997 pensioners.    

AIIPA wishes to convey its sincere hearty thanks to the AIIEA for raising the issues of pensioners for improvements in the existing pension scheme.

While complementing the AIIEA leadership for their sagacity and wisdom in this great accomplishment, AIIPA also greets the employees/officers who stood rocklike without any vacillations which helped the AIIEA to bring about this spectacular advancement. AIIPA also notes that it is a struggle won by the AIIEA against the political policy of the Government. AIIPA once again congratulates the leadership and the employees/officers for achieving excellent wage revision offer. 

AIIPA reassures its members that the organisation, along with AIIEA, will strive to secure the legitimate benefits both in life and general sectors.

As a follow up of its meeting with the Chairman and other officials of LIC on 13^th August 2015 and AIIEA’s discussions on 16^th/17^th October 2015, AIIPA will be writing to LIC urging immediate solutions to the issues of the LIC Pensioners.

With Greetings,

                                                                                                     Yours Comradely,

                                                                                                 (T.K.CHAKRABORTY)

                                                                                      General Secretary
      

CLICK BELOW TO  READ AIIPA LETTER 

TO CHIEF (PERSONNEL) ON MEDICLAIM

VRS pension for bankmen

27 Oct 15, 10:29 PM

Perumalmaruthu: THANK YOU Sri T Sudhakaran sir for pointing out the most important condition of VRS as found in the Pension Regulations 1995. I have stated the same in a layman's language that "No VRS optee can get more than superannuated persons of similar cases".

Asthana's visit

27 Oct 15, 06:05 PM

B.R.Mehta: Sh.Rajgopal Kamath Sir, a few bhajan mandali friends of Sh. Asthana at chandigarh wanted to prove that entire LIC Pensioners Community including Panchkula members are with him but it was impact of AIRIEF Unit only that he could not show courage to utter even a single word against either Panchkula or Sh. Murty. Also he does not have a justifiable answer for a question why he ignored Panchkula Unit Invitation to be here to address our members also in his role and responsibiltiy as AIRIEF Zonal President ?

Prayer from Madurai

28 Oct 15, 04:21 AM 

SD SARMA: Will Sh. MPS of Madurai answer Sri Rajagopal Kamath's point which was nicely depicted by the Editor with a cartoon.  It is evident Sh.KMLA wanted to create differences amongst the Panchakula unit members. He failed miserably in this respect. 

Toothless pensioners !

LIC PENSIONERS ISSUES

ALL INDIA INSURANCE PENSIONERS ASSOCIATION

Cir No : 12/2015                                                                          Date : 26^th October  2015     

                                                                            

To

All Divisional/State units of AIIPA

Dear Comrades,

Re: Letter to Hon. Shri S K Roy, Chairman, LIC of India.

We reproduce below our letter dated 26^th October 2015 addressed to Shri S K Roy, Chairman, LIC of India.

                With greetings.

                                                                                                                                     Comradely yours.

                                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                      General Secretary

Shri.S.K.Roy,

Chairman,

L.I.C. of India,

Mumbai.

Dear Sir,        

RESOLUTION OF LIC PENSIONERS’ ISSUES

    You may remember that the demand for ending discrimination between pre-August 1997 Pensioners and post-July 1997 Pensioners in consonance with the LIC Board Resolution of November 2001 was reiterated during the course of the Meeting, AIIPA Delegation, had with you ON 13th August,2015 and it was pointed out that LIC, instead of initiating steps towards ending discrimination, was perpetuating the differentiation even within the same class of Pensioners.

AIIPA Delegation argued that, by making a part payment albeit as per their understanding of the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, LIC was creating an artificial division among the pre-August 1997 Pensioners and that such a discrimination was bad in law. The delegation urged upon, payment in full and to all the pre-August 1997 pensioners. AIIPA Delegation pointed out that its standpoint got fortified when LIC decided at the first instance to deposit amounts in Jaipur & Chandigarh High Courts towards uniform rate of Dearness Relief, effective August 1997 and again in tandem with this understanding, to credit 20% of the amount due to the petitioners and members of the petitioner organisation in Delhi High Court.

Comments

27 Oct 15, 11:44 AM 

rajgopal.kamath: Can any reader enlighten me the significance of Asthana’s visit to Chandigarh? Why he chose to visit this place. We all know Supreme Court case has not been won.So there is no occasion for celebration.

No doubt some pensioners did receive some amounts. On Asthana’s side only the Jaipur petitioners including Shri Asthana himself got the interim relief while 5 post-97 petitioners did not receive any relief at all. And that keeps one guessing the immediate purpose of Shri Asthana’s visit to Chandigarh.

You have given special coverage to this luncheon meeting. I wonder why? To my mind Asthana came to Chandigarh at the instance of some Chandigarh members of airief (previously known as ordinary member/s). They had Panchkula unit in mind while arranging this meeting. And they had also ulterior motives. Otherwise, to an ordinary observer, there was no special purpose for arranging a meeting in Chandigarh. 

They had the Panchkula unit in mind. They wanted to create dissensions within Panchkula camp. Is that purpose served now? Is there any other achievement the organizers can claim?

STOP PRESS

Massive 7.5 earthquake kills four in Pakistan; tremors felt in Srinagar, New Delhi

A car hangs out of a showroom in Ludhiyana, Punjab.

(the hindu)

LIC PENSIONERS TO DELHI

Spot your train with ease

RailRadar helps passengers know location of 9,700 trains

Train-tracking has become easier than ever before with all trains, except those running on the Mumbai suburban network, being covered live by the web-based trainenquiry.com service of the Indian Railways. It has now taken on a new map-based dimension with the addition of railradar.trainenquiry.com.

At any point in time, information can be had online or via SMS about the location and schedule of the 9,700-odd trains that run a given week. And what is more fascinating is that the location of any train, except those in the Konkan railway belt, can now be seen on a map anytime — represented by a colour-coded arrow that indicates whether a train is running on time or late.

Though the enquiry service has been working for some years and providing information on select trains, it has become comprehensive in its new avatar launched last April. A mobile version was released in May; and just a few weeks ago came the map-based RailRadar add-on.

BD BHARGAVA

Mood and TONE changes are well known. They not only change due to some recent happening but could be the result of some past event too. They have, as such, the capacity to alter our decisions and opinions and can also have the effect of changing the course of our relations and actions.

What is Bonus?

Initially there was a concept of salary to be given on weekly basis to the workers in India. But when Britishers started ruling India they came up with concept of Monthly salary.
Therefore, if we consider 4 weeks in a month, 13 salaries should be distributed and as per monthly structure they were giving only 12 in a year.

In later days people realized it that its a loss to them in terms of one salary. There were many rallies in oppose of this in Maharashtra during 1930-1940. To come up with a solution to this problem, Britishers had a discussion with leaders about how to distribute this 13th Salary and unanimously they decided as per Indian tradition, Diwali is the biggest festival of India, so they will distribute this 13th Salary durring Diwali, today known as Diwali Bonus.
This was implemented from 30th June 1940.

Today many people don't know this, hence, sharing this letter.
http://ccggoo.blogspot.in/2015/10/bonus-brief.html

---

What are Cookies?

We’ve been talking of ad tracking and ad blocking for a few months now. During this time, I’m sure I’ve mentioned cookies and browsers and caches and all manner of Internet jargon.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to talk of each one of these to hopefully clarify all the bits and pieces that bring the Internet to you, what each one of them does and perhaps raise the curtain on some of this seemingly arcane technology.

Let’s start with cookies. (Just to clarify that each time I mention cookies, I’m referring to digital files and not sweet, baked, edible treats, with or without chocolate chips.)

At their simplest, cookies are simple text files that contain two pieces of information: a website name and a unique identifier of some sort. This identifier could be a number; it could be an alphanumeric string.

When you visit a cookie-using website for the first time, it places a cookie in your web browser. When you visit this website again, it looks for the cookie so that it can tell whether you have visited before and how to best tailor your experience for your latest visit. For example, the first time you visit a website, it might show you a message that welcomes you to the site and shows you how to find your way around via some simple instructions. Now, suppose you go back a couple of weeks later, the website knows you have been there before (via the cookie in your browser) so it shows you a ‘welcome back’ message instead.

This cookie helps a website to do a number of things to improve your experience each time you visit. The site gathers information on each of your visits and uses this information to learn what your browsing preferences or your areas of interest are. For instance, a news site could reorder itself to show you business and regional news higher up the page because it knows that these are the pages you tend to browse first. Or, a shopping site could show you products from the last category you were browsing on your previous visit. The cookie tells the site that you were looking for jeans on your last visit, but you left without buying any. On your next visit, the website uses this information to infer that you might still be looking for a pair of jeans, so it is trying to be helpful by saving you time and showing you what you were last looking for.

In essence, and at their simplest, cookies are an easy way for websites to recognise who has visited in the past and use this information to help provide a better experience for the visitor on each subsequent visit.

There are also more sophisticated cookies that do more than just keep track of whether you’ve visited the website before and store more than just a site name and unique identifier. We’ll delve into what these cookies do the next time.

(the hindu)

Comments

24 Oct 15, 04:47 PM

subbu: BD Bhargava Sir ! I am pretty sure that u ve been a mtg man. Every maktg man when he faces a disastrous year end has this hope . this Harbinger of Possible Escape routes - I mean.

23 Oct 15, 05:47 PM 

G.Krishna Prasad: What I mean is, we appear to have reached a point where we cannot do worse. We should only get better. Things should get worse before they can get better. It is about time our advocates delivered..
 
23 Oct 15, 06:49 PM

subbu: GK Prasad Sir ! Is it because of what u said, we r now

asked to chant Gayathri Mantra ! How many times a day? Morning or Evening? Before Food or After food?

BD BHARGAVA

RK Laxman honoured

Search engine Google on Saturday honoured one of post-Independence India’s greatest caricaturists Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Laxman on his 94th birthday with a doogle on its homepage. “Laxman was best known for his Common Man character, who he drew into his cartoons as a witness to the kinds of hypocrisies and societal inequalities Laxman wanted to silently expose,” Google said in a statement.

(the hindu)