7th Pay Commission Ready for Online Survey

Intends to Gather Suggestions via Web Survey: The 7th Pay Commission is all set to utilize the power of the internet. The decision, to not confine itself to just the opinions of the Central Government officials and various employees federations and instead gather feedback from all employees, is a very appreciable one.

The Central Government appointed the 7th Central Pay Commission on February 28, 2014, comprising Justice Shri Ashok Kumar Mathur as Chairman, Shri Vivek Rae as full time Member, Dr. Ratin Roy as part time Member and Smt. Meena Agarwal as Secretary and enumerated a list of tasks for the Commission. To examine various issues relating to emoluments’ structure, retirement benefits and other service conditions of Central Government employees and to make recommendations on the changes required.

The 4-member Commission acted promptly and, as first step, prepared a 42-points questionnaire covering 15 different topics. The questionnaire was then sent to the Secretaries of all Departments of Indian Government and to the various Central Govt Employees Federations, with a request that the completed questionnaire should be returned before the month of June.

On behalf of the JCM National Council staff, the completed questionnaire, with the approval of all the staff side members of National Council, was sent to the 7th CPC as early as May 8. While the 7th CPC awaits the responses of other departments and federations, it decided to launch an online survey to seek the views from all stakeholders including members of the general public. The individuals should give some personal information for registration and participate in the online survey on an easy-to-use webpage created especially for this. The invitation to participate in the survey has been extended to various organizations, groups and associations too.

The 42 questions have been given with separate space for each answer. The user can choose the format he/she is comfortable with to answer these questions. Also, there is an option to express one’s opinion in written format, until June 15.

Despite the fact that federations reflect the general opinion of employees, it is not clear why the CPC has sought for opinion of the general public. It is not an easy task for a Government employee to answer all these 42 questions. They would be able to give clear answers to only some of the questions asked in the questionnaire. That’s precisely what the CPC is looking for!

It is a well known fact that the Pay Commission cannot simply draft its recommendations based solely on these suggestions and answers. Yet, this is a welcome start. The responses will clearly indicate the topics that should be high-priority issues.

The online survey would be very effective and serve its purpose if all the Central Government employees participate in it. Each Central Government department has its own issues and expectations. It would be unreasonable to expect solutions to problems that the Pay Commission isn’t even aware of. The employees can choose to only reply to the questions they know the answers to. Each question has a separate space for answers. The webpage has been designed with instructions on how these answers have to be written.

It is necessary for all the Central Government employees to participate in this online survey. Take some time to prepare your replies to the questions and then attempt the survey. Those who don’t know English can have their answers translated.

In addition to these, each federation will make a list of the complaints and suggestions for each department and present them to the 7th Pay Commission. On behalf of the JCM National Council staff side, a request was made to extend the deadline to submit these lists, to July 30.

It is becoming obvious that the 7th CPC is getting ready to present its recommendations well within the 18 months time given to it.