New Delhi: The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the payment of Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) equivalent to 78 days’ wages for the financial year 2017-18 for all eligible non-gazetted Railway employees (excluding RPF/RPSF personnel). The financial implication of payment of 78 days’ PLB to railway employees has been estimated to be Rs. 2044.31 crore. The wage calculation ceiling prescribed for payment of PLB to the eligible non-gazetted railway employees is Rs 7000 p.m. The maximum amount payable per eligible railway employee is Rs 17,951 for 78 days. About 11.91 lakh non-gazetted Railway employees are likely to benefit from the decision.
The Productivity Linked Bonus in Railway covers all non-gazetted railway employees (excluding RPF/RPSF personnel) who are spread over the entire country. Payment of PLB to eligible railway employees is made each year before the Dussehra/ Puja holidays. The decision of the Cabinet shall be implemented before the holidays for this year as well. For the year 2017-18 PLB equivalent to 78 days’ wages will be paid which is expected to motivate the employees for working towards improving the performance of the Railways.
Establishment and operationalisation of permanent campuses of IISERs at Tirupati, Berhampur:
The Union Cabinet has also approved establishment and operationalistion of permanent campuses of the two new Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs) at Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) and Berhampur (Odisha). The total cost likely to be incurred is Rs 3074.12 crore (Non-Recurring: Rs.2366.48 crore and Recurring: 707.64 crore).
Creation of two posts of Registrar, one in each IISER in Level 14 of 7lh CPC has also been approved by the Cabinet. The IISERs will provide top quality science education at the Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate levels, PHDs & Integrated PHDs. They will carry out research in frontier areas of science. They will enable India move towards being a knowledge economy by attracting the best scientific talent as faculty and prepare a strong base of scientific manpower in India.
National Council for Vocational Education and Training:
In another major decision, the Union Cabinet has approved the merger of the existing regulatory institutions in the skills space – National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) and the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) into the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET).
NCVET will regulate the functioning of entities engaged in vocational education and training, both long-term and short-term and establish minimum standards for the functioning of such entities. The Council would be headed by a Chairperson and will have Executive and Non-Executive Members.
This institutional reform will lead to improvement in quality and market relevance of skill development programs lending credibility to vocational education and training encouraging greater private investment and employer participation in the skills space. This in turn will help achieve the twin objectives of enhancing aspirational value of vocational education and of increasing skilled manpower furthering the Prime Minister’s agenda of making India the skill capital of the world.
