100pc hike proposed in salary of public servants!

Staff Correspondent

The Pay and Service Commission has recommended increasing salary of public servants by 100 percent on average, full implementation of which would raise the government spending on salary and allowance by 63.7 percent.

The commission, led by its Chairman Mohammad Farashuddin, submitted the report to Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday.

The report also recommended that the government provide each employee with a special package, including a flat and health benefits.

Farashuddin later told reporters the recommendation of pay hike was done to attract meritorious and efficient people to join government services. This is why the committee recommended a 120 percent hike in the basic salary of cadre officers at the entry level.

The pay structure has been recommended supposing a service holder has a six-member family, including his or her parents. The commission also took into account the salary structure in neighbouring countries and the private sector.

Muhith said the pay commission report would be implemented in phases, starting from July 1, 2015.

According to Muhith, the country's economic progress has been good and it is vital to have an efficient and satisfied administration for its management. The government has the money to implement the pay hike.

“Government's money is people's money and it has to be spent for the wellbeing of the people,” the minister said.

The existing budget has Tk 28,709-crore allocation for salary and allowance of around 13 lakh government employees. Implementation of the recommendations will require another Tk 18,247 crore. This is excluding the enhanced salary of some 6 lakh non-government school and college teachers.

Asked if it would push up inflation, Muhith said, “Absolutely not. It will have no impact on inflation.”

The minister said the budget allocation for salary would not increase because of this pay hike and that it would rather come down.

The allocation for salary in the current fiscal year is 15.7 percent of the total budget.

But the budget gets bigger every year. So if this pay hike is implemented in full, salary of the government employees will eat up only 14.2 percent of the budget, said Farashuddin, also former Bangladesh Bank governor.

The commission suggested cutting down the number of grades to 16 from existing 20. It also recommended lowest basic salary at Tk 8,200, up from Tk 4,100. The proposed maximum basic salary is Tk 80,000, up from exiting Tk 40,000.

Outside the grades, Tk 88,000 has been recommended as basic pay for senior secretaries instead of existing Tk 42,000. Tk 1 lakh monthly basic salary has been proposed for the cabinet secretary and the principal secretary to the prime minister. At present, they get Tk 45,000 in basic pay.

The existing grade 9 will be merged with grade 8 and the basic salary has been suggested Tk 25,000 instead of existing Tk 12,000 and 11,000.

The current pay scale was implemented in 2009, four years after the previous one. The new pay scale comes into force in the span of six years.

The cumulative inflation rose by 63 percent in these six years and the commission kept that in mind while preparing the recommendation, said Farashuddin.

Recommendation for yearly increment has been made in a way so that the basic salary doubles in 15 years.

The yearly increase of 4th to 16th grade employees has been fixed at 5 percent and it will increase in an incremental way.

The commission chairman said those who will fall in the first grade will get an additional 5 percent of the basic pay or Tk 4,000 every month for performing additional responsibilities outside their duty.

Farashuddin said the commission recommended making the house rent and other allowances more logical. 

NON-GOVT SCHOOLS

The commission suggested implementing the new pay scale for the schools under Monthly Pay Order (MPO) six months after it is implemented for government service holders.

Farashuddin said the time for implementing the pay scale for the teachers is required for its objective evaluation. He said they recommended that the non-government schools deposit to the government exchequer a part of the money they receive from students.

SEPARATE PAY SCALE

The commission suggested a separate pay scale for Bangladesh Bank but urged the government not to give any separate pay scale for the public organisations incurring losses.

Farashuddin said there was no logic for giving separate pay scales for public universities, state-owned banks, financial institutions and insurance firms.

SPECIAL PACKAGE FOR FLATS

The commission made several alternative recommendations so that every government employee may own a flat. One of them is building flats by real estate companies by dismantling old government buildings.

The government will own 60 percent shares of the flats while the developers 40 percent. The flats will be distributed among public servants on hire-purchase basis.

Another recommendation is that a group of 10-20 government employees will be given 5-10 kathas of land where they will build flats. For the construction, they will be given loans equivalent to 50 months' basic salary.

Another alternative is that a group of government employees will purchase land and providing the proof of the purchase they will get house building loans equal to 50 months' basic salary at the bank rate.

INSURANCE POLICY

The commission recommended providing government staff with mandatory health insurance.

The government would deposit Tk 400 for each employee for general insurance policy, which would cover death in accidents, and treatment cost. It would also deposit Tk 100 for life insurance.

An employee would receive a maximum of Tk 5 lakh in insurance and the compensation package would be paid directly to the hospital.

Farashuddin said if it was done, the insurance sector would also throb. Though the government expenditure on insurance premium would be high in the first year, it would gradually come down.

He added they also suggested that the government set up a 500-bed cardiac hospital with the premium money for government employees.

CAR LOAN

The commission proposed a maximum of Tk 25 lakh car loan facility for officers of grade three and above and that the facility could be extended to grade four officers later.

PENSIONERS' BENEFIT

The commission recommended making the rate of pension 90 percent instead of existing 80 percent of basic salaries.

It also suggested that the facilities for pensioners be increased at the rate of the salary hike of the government employees.

SEPARATE BANK

The setting up of a bank styled “Bank for Steps to Prosperity”, owned and run by the government employees, has also been recommended.

Farashuddin said the government welfare fund has a piece of land at Dainik Bangla intersection and selling 20-25 kathas of it could fetch Tk 400 crore, enough for the capital of the new bank. Each government employee would have a Tk 4,000 share in the bank.

He added the bank would provide development and commercial loans possibly on single-digit interest rates.

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM

The commission made several recommendations for civil service reforms. It suggested making the job tenure for voluntary retirement 20 years instead of 25.

It also proposed forming a development management pool, with officials selected on merit and efficiency. The commission also suggested taking exams for promotions.

Muhith said the government could take various initiatives as it had enough money. He said more initiatives would be taken in the next four years.

Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed said even if 100 percent of the Pay Commission recommendations were implemented, there would be no shortage of money and the government was capable of making it effective from this fiscal year.

Source: 100pc hike proposed

Mueller smashes Portugal by hitting hattrick

Germany striker Thomas Mueller is ecstatic after scoring his second goal against Portugal during their 2014 World Cup Group G match in Salvador yesterday. Photo: Reuters

Striker Thomas Mueller scored a hat-trick as Germany opened their World Cup campaign on Monday with a 4-0 rout of 10-man Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo enduring an afternoon to forget.
A decisive first-half saw Germany race into 3-0 lead as Mueller converted a penalty, then fired home their third on the stroke of half-time after a Mats Hummels header had also hit the target.
Portugal played almost an hour with a man down after defender Pepe was red-carded for aiming a head-butt at Mueller.
World Player of the Year Ronaldo played the full 90 minutes of the Group G opener despite recent injuries, but the Portugal captain was powerless to prevent his side being over-run.
The Portuguese suffered the same fate at Salvador's Arena Fonte Nova as their Iberian neighbours Spain last Friday when the holders were routed 5-1 by the Dutch.
Germany continue their domination of Portugal by adding Brazil 2014 to their list of recent wins over Ronaldo's side which includes the 2006 World Cup, plus the 2008 and 2012 European championships.
The result capped a remarkable day for Germany, in front of Chancellor Angela Merkel, just hours after news broke that ex-Formula One champion Michael Schumacher has come out of his lengthy coma.
Having declared himself '100 percent fit', Ronaldo lived up to his word with an early shot, then put Hugo Almeida into space, but the Germans were soon on top.
Sami Khedira fired wide after a loose pass from Rui Patricio with eight minutes gone at the start of a busy period for the Portugal goalkeeper.

Portugal defender Pepe (L) headbutts Germany forward Thomas Mueller before being sent off during their Group G match in Salvador yesterday. Mueller scored a hattrick as Germany routed Portugal 4-0. Photo: AFP

When left-back Joao Pereira tugged back on Mario Goetze's shirt, Serbian referee Milorad Mazic pointed straight to the spot.
Mueller, who scored five goals in the 2010 finals to claim both the Golden Boot and best young player award, planted his penalty in the bottom corner to open the German's account on 12 minutes.
Portugal coach Paulo Bento was forced into an early substitution as Almeida pulled up with a muscle injury to make way for Eder.
Goetze then crashed a shot just wide of the post, just before the Germans went 2-0 up.
Toni Kroos swung in a corner and centre-back Hummels out-jumped Pepe to plant his header past Patricio on 32 minutes.
Portugal's fortunes went from bad to worse on 37 minutes when the standing Pepe aimed a head-butt at the seated Mueller after an altercation to earn a straight red card.
Mueller had his revenge on the stroke of half-time when he chested down Kroos' long pass and smashed his shot past Patricio as it finished 3-0 at the interval.
After the break, Portugal kept chipping away at the solid German defence, which had been a concern coming into Brazil.
But Portugal's fortunes were summed up when one of Ronaldo's trademark free-kicks cannoned off the German wall leaving the world's best player with his head in his hands.
Having already lost injured midfielders Marco Reus and Lars Bender before arriving in Brazil, there were worrying scenes for Germany coach Joachim Loew when Hummels had to be helped off on 73 minutes.
Sampdoria's 22-year-old Shkodran Mustafi, the son of Albanian immigrants, came on to win only his second cap.
Mueller wrapped up his hat-trick on 78 minutes in scrappy fashion in a goal-mouth scramble after Patricio had parried a shot.

Full News: Muller mashes Portugal

Japan promised Bangladesh to provide US$6 billion on next 4- 5 years, roughly

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe sign and exchange a joint statement at the latter's office in Tokyo yesterday. Photo: BSS

Japan yesterday pledged to provide economic assistance worth $5.9 billion to Bangladesh over the next four to five years.

Japan will "extend economic cooperation amounting to about 600 billion yen ($5.9 billion) for roughly four to five years," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.

Abe's announcement came at a joint press conference with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina after the two leaders held formal talks at the Japanese premier's office in Tokyo.

"Bangladesh has great economic potential. In order to realise its potential and expedite further growth, Japan has come up with the concept of the Bay of Bengal industrial growth belt," he said.
The economic aid will be given through implementation of the concept of the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B), proposed by the Japanese premier.

Hasina, who arrived in Tokyo on Sunday on a four-day official visit, earlier signed a 21-point joint statement with Abe.
In the statement, they agreed to strengthen ties between the two countries on a variety of fronts.
According to government officials, Abe and Hasina discussed a number of topics on bilateral cooperation and Japan, as the single largest development partner of Bangladesh, has been earmarked by Dhaka for major government projects, including the reduction of poverty, fast-tracking infrastructure and power generation projects, and the development of the country's human resources.

As well as increased FDI from Japan to Bangladesh, Japan is keen to boost and develop new trade ties with Bangladesh and see imports to Japan from the South Asian country increase.
According to reports from agencies, Dhaka and Tokyo at the official talks had agreed to build a "comprehensive partnership" to further intensify the bilateral knot.
Speaking at the joint press conference, Hasina thanked the Japanese government for approving the 35th ODA Loan Package for the execution of five important projects. "It will have an impact on socioeconomic development," she said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on March 22 in Dhaka announced providing $1.18 billion as ODA for this year to be spent on five projects.
Hasina said during the official talks with Shinzo Abe, they had discussed almost all issues of bilateral ties, including economic cooperation. "I am pleased to state that it was a very constructive discussion."
"Thereafter, we have signed a joint statement reflecting the issues discussed and convergences arrived at. And the joint statement would provide a guide for the implementation of issues we both decided to carry out for the mutual benefit of the two countries," she said.
At a press conference on May 24, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said Dhaka would discuss several mega projects at the official talks.

The projects include the Ganges Barrage project, a multi-modal and multi-lane tunnel beneath the river Jamuna, a second nuclear power plant (NPP), a rail bridge parallel to Bangabandhu Bridge over the Jamuna, Eastern bypass road and restoration of water bodies surrounding Dhaka and improvement of Mawa-Kalna-Narail-Jessore road with construction of a bridge at Kalna.
Speaking at the joint press conference, the Japanese premier said Japan had come up with a concept with the BIG-B.
"To realise the concept, Japan is expected to exchange economic cooperation amounting to about 600 billion yen for roughly 4 to 5 years," he added.
Abe said he welcomed his Bangladesh counterpart in order to further strengthen relations between the two countries over the years.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and I shared the view of building a comprehensive partnership," he added.
He also said in the areas of politics and security, Japan and Bangladesh would begin foreign secretary-level talks to enhance policy dialogue.

"In order to jointly extend cooperation to the international community, Japan will also provide its knowledge to build a peace-building centre to be established in Bangladesh," he added.
In the areas of nuclear power, Japanese premier said Tokyo and Dhaka would begin expert-level dialogue on the peaceful utilisation of nuclear power in Bangladesh to share the experience and lessons of the accident of Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Abe said they also shared thoughts on starting a joint Bangladesh-Japan public-private economic dialogue to promote trade and expand private investment.
At the official talks, he expected that democracy would be further promoted in Bangladesh under the able leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina said she had already extended an invitation to Prime Minister Abe and Madam Abe to pay a visit to Bangladesh soon. "The people of Bangladesh, my government and I are looking forward to receiving them in Dhaka," she said.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam, Ambassador-At-Large M Ziauddin, PM's Principal Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder, ERD Secretary Md Mejbahuddin, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque, Bangladesh Ambassador to Japan Masud Bin Momen and PM's Special Assistant Mahbubul Hoque Shakil were present, among others, during the talks.

Full News: Japan pledges $6b

Full Statement: Bangladesh-Japan joint statement