95% of the world’s ATMs to be adversely affected as Windows XP support ends.

As the Windows XP era ends, yet another major concern has come into light. As if there weren’t enough security concerns to be taken care of and now the most important machines in the world are prone to attract malware and security breaches. Yes, we are talking about the ATMs which use run on Windows XP and with the end of life of Windows XP these machines, which by the way constitute of about 95% of the world’s ATMs are going to get quite vulnerable.

The largest supplier of Automated Teller Machines in the United States, NCR disclosed the statistics of this 95%, the thought of which is quite alarming at this juncture when millions of ATMs in the world face the deadline of upgrading from XP. Bloomsberg Businessweek disclosed the number of ATMs running on Windows XP in USA, which is close to a whopping 420,000!

Cabinet proposal soon to constitute 7th Pay Commission

The central government is likely to constitute the 7th Pay Commission for revising the salaries of its over 50 lakh employees before the start of process of next General elections due in May, 2014.

"The Finance Ministry is working out a Cabinet proposal for constitution of the 7th Pay Commission which could be taken up for consideration in the next couple of weeks," a source said.
According to information available, the government's intention to constitute 7th Pay Commission before going for polls is clear as it has made provision of Rs 3.5 crore in the second supplementary demands for grants in this regard which was approved by Parliament in the just concluded Winter Session.
Earlier in September this year, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had announced that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has approved setting up of the 7th Pay Commission.

According to the announcement, the Commission will be mandated to submit its report in two years time and its recommendations would be implemented from January 1, 2016.

India Post starts instant money transfer from UAE to India.

New Delhi: Eyeing the USD 35 billion money remittances business from Gulf, India Post on Friday announced launch of instant money transfer service in partnership with UAE's Emirates Post Group.

"India Post (Department of Posts) has signed an agreement with Wall Street Exchange (a company of the Emirates Post Group of UAE) for launch of an International Electronic Money Transfer service through 'Instant Cash' product of the Emirates Post Group," a DoP's official statement said.

'Instant Cash' is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Emirates Post Group, and its services are available in 59 countries through more than 60,000 locations.

"Recipients will be able to receive their payment at any of the identified 17,500 post offices by producing the unique transaction number along with their identity and KYC documents. Money will be available for payment immediately," the statement said.

The service was launched in the country this week by DoP, with Secretary P Gopinath receiving the first payment from United Arab Emirates at a function organised by India Post for signing the tie-up between the Department of Posts and the Emirates Post Group, the statement said.

The service will be rolled out nationally in a phased manner and will be made available at about 17,500 post offices across India by next month.

"This new service has its own significance going by the fact that globally, India is the largest recipient of remittances with over USD 70 billion annually, half of which come from the Gulf," the statement said.

The money transfer service will be provided through the International Financial System (IFS) of Universal Postal Union..


courtesy:http://www.deccanchronicle.com

World Post Day: UN urges governments to support postal developments and modernization

 

On World Post Day (9 October)UPU Director General Bishar A. Hussein urges governments to support postal reform efforts to ensure the provision of efficient postal services.

In his annual message, the head of the United Nations specialized agency says that postal services continue to play a vital role in the exchange of information and goods and that Posts worldwide are redefining themselves to meet customers’ evolving needs.“Posts remain important facilitators of national and international trade in this constantly evolving world,” he says. “The postal network, with more than 600,000 post offices, remains the largest physical network on the planet and a fundamental infrastructure for large segments of the economy.” 

In a special message, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also urges governments to take advantage of the postal network’s ‘tremendous potential’ for reaching citizens. “Postal services are engines of trade, growth and development,” says Ban as they go beyond physical mail and are redefining themselves for a 21^st- century communication landscape. 

Smt .Shanti S Nair has taken charge as Chief PMG of Kerala Circle.

 Shanthi S. Nair has taken charge as the new Chief Postmaster General, Kerala Circle. Ms. Nair, who belongs to the 1979 batch of the Indian Postal Service, was Chief Postmaster General, Tamil Nadu, before taking over here. Hailing from the State capital, she had held various positions in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala Circles earlier.

courtesy:http://www.thehindu.com/

Finmin Order - Payment of Dearness Allowance Central Govt Employees - Revised Rate from 01/07/2013

7th Pay Commission for central govt employees announced

Prime Minister Approves the Constitution of Seventh Central          Pay Commission; Recommendations   are Likely to be                      implemented with effect from 1st January, 2016 

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today approved the constitution of the 7th Pay Commission, which is likely to impact at least 85 lakh central government employees and pensioners.

The recommendations of the Pay Commission are likely to be implemented with effect from January 1, 2016, considering that it takes around two years for the commission to submit its report and the recommendations to take effect. 

                     The Finance Minister ShriP.Chidambaram in a statement said here today that the Prime Minister has approved the constitution of the Seventh Central Pay Commission.

            The fourth, fifth and sixth Central Pay Commissions’ recommendations were implemented as follows:

4^th CPC                       1.1.1986

5^th CPC                       1.1.1996

6^th CPC                       1.1.2006

            The average time taken by a Pay Commission to submit its recommendations has been about two years.  Accordingly, allowing about two years for the 7^th CPC to submit its report, the recommendations are likely to be implemented with effect from 1.1.2016.

CEPT - Official Web Site

Center for Excellence in Postal Technology (CEPT), the IT center of the Department of Posts  has hosted its official web site at http://cept.gov.in.   

You need to be a registered  user to access this site.

Free Photo-Editing Software ( No Registration is required) : iPiccy.com

iPiccy.com a free completely Web-based photo editing and sharing application to give users everywhere the ability to quickly and easily edit, enhance, share and print all of their photos from any Internet browser.

iPiccy provides new, easy-to-use tools for modifying pictures, using advanced image processing. iPiccy offers the easiest user interface and workflow of any photo editing application, allowing users to easily pull images from any Web site or file folder. iPiccy includes an extensive variety of easy Web-based photo-editing tools such as Auto-fix, Rotate, Crop, Resize and Color adjustment and Sharpen - all in one place and in real-time. In addition, iPiccy can also be used to turn photos into creative masterpieces, with clever special effects like Liquify, painter, vignette, pencils, and many more. iPiccy.com works flawlessly in any Web browser and is compatible with Mac, Windows and Linux. And since iPiccy lives on the Web, it is constantly evolving as new image-editing technology is developed and the needs of the user base change. 

HOW TO DOWNLOAD YOUR ADHAR CARD.

To download your Aadhar Card online Click below.

 

Click Here.

Appeal from Chief Post Master General, Uttarakhand Circle, Dehradun-248001

Kerala gets its first 'all-women post office'.

Customers who come to the old sub-post office near the Post Master General’s office are welcomed by four proudly smiling women. The office now possesses an air of fervency and hospitality that is not usually seen in government offices.
 The Department of Posts turned the PMG sub-post office into a women-only workplace on Tuesday, making it Kerala’s first all-women post office. The Post Office is entirely operated by women employees and provides all facilities that are available in any other post office. The office will be officially inaugurated on Friday.
 The post office has four staff members, including post master Shanthi S, postal assistant Manju R, stamp vendor Chandrika C and sweeper Latha Kumari.

India Post to carry relief material free to Uttarakhand.

 ALLAHABAD: The Department of Posts has decided to carry relief material for Uttarakhand flood victims without any postal charges.

Director, Postal Services, Allahabad Region, Krishna Kumar Yadav, said that the facility would be available at all head post offices up to July 20. India Post would collect relief material from general public/institutions / agencies /NGO and dispatch the same to Uttarakhand.

Yadav said that the package containing relief material should not more than 35kg in weight. It should be securely packed and marked as "relief material for Uttarkhand".

Google to use balloons to provide free Internet access to remote or poor areas.

Google tests giant balloons to connect 50 New Zealand homes to the internet.…

Google has a truly sky-high idea for connecting billions of people to the Internet — 12 miles in the air to be exact — through giant helium balloons circling the globe that are equipped to beam WiFi signals below.
Google will announce Saturday it has 30 balloons floating over New Zealand to provide free Internet access to disaster-stricken, rural or poor areas. Eventually, as the balloons move across the stratosphere, consumers in participating countries along the 40th parallel in the Southern Hemisphere could tap into the service.
Called Project Loon, the experimental program was hatched by engineers at the company’s top-secret Google X laboratory in California’s Silicon Valley that invented driverless cars and eyeglasses equipped with voice-activated computers. Some of those technologies won’t immediately — or ever — make money for the firm. Google said it pursues these “moon shot” ideas with the aim of solving big problems and creating breakthrough technologies that ultimately will bring more users to its services.

BSNL decides to discontinue 160-year-old telegram service

TIRUCHIRAPALLI: Smart phones, emails and SMS seem to have pushed the humble telegram service to a quiet corner with the BSNL deciding to discontinue the 160-year-old telegraph service from July 15.

 Once the main source of quick and urgent communication, the service delivered many happy and sad news to people spread all over the country.

 But with the advent of technology and newer means of communication, the telegram found itself edged out.

 As per a circular issued by Shameem Akhtar, Sr. General Manager (Telegraph Services) Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) Corporate office, New Delhi, the telegraph service is to be discontinued with effect from July 15, 2013.

 The circular sent to various telecom district and circle offices as per the instruction of a competent authority denotes that telegram services will be closed from 15 July and as a result all telegraph offices under the management of BSNL will have to stop booking telegrams from July 15.

How Much Customs Duty You Have to Pay for Importing Goods into India

 You have to pay taxes, also known as customs duty, for importing mobile phones, tablets and other goods from a foreign country into India. These taxes are often payable at the port of entry (like the airport).
A package forwarding service service in India has shared the current tariff chart and it should give you a good idea of what kind of taxes you can expect to pay for importing the various categories of items into India. Here’s the chart updated after the 2013 Union Budget:

Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy Use

Formula for Estimating Energy Consumption

Use this formula to estimate an appliance's energy use:

(Wattage × Hours Used Per Day) ÷ 1000 = Daily Kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumption

1 kilowatt (kW) = 1,000 Watts

Multiply this by the number of days you use the appliance during the year for the annual consumption in kWh per year.

What are NEFT and RTGS?

National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) allow individuals, companies and firms to transfer funds from one bank to another. You can check the RBI website for a list of NEFT and RTGS-enabled branches of your bank. These facilities can only be used for transferring money within the country. To opt for these, you need to fill a form providing your or the beneficiary’s details — name, bank branch where the account is held, the Indian Financial System Code, a unique code for identifying the branch, and the account number and type. You have to submit a cheque while opting for this facility. You can also transfer funds through net banking. These are third-party transfers and the option is available under the same header on your net banking home page.

Computer keeps restarting without warning

Your clients or even your own computer may keep restarting for no reason without warning. 
First of all, when a computer keeps rebooting it can be caused by a wide range of problems,
 from incompatable software such as Firewalls and Antivirus software, damaged or overheating
 parts inside your computer or even incompatable peripherals such as printers and scanners.
 Here are some computer repair tips to help you diagnose the problem.When a reboot occurs
 from within Windows XP, your computer will totally restart without telling you what caused it.
 This is the default behavior when Windows XP encounters a system failure.

Dearness Allowance 80% With Effect From 01-01-2013 –Approved By Central Government

The Union Cabinet today in its meeting, gave its approval to release an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. 1.1.2013 representing an increase of 8% over the existing rate of 72% of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise. The increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission.
Necessary order for increasing Dearness Allowance will be issued by Finance Ministry soon. The resultant arrears amount on account of the increased Dearness Allowance for the month of January , Febraury and March will be paid to central government employees by the respective Ministry/Department after the issuance of the order for granting dearness allowance by Ministry of Finance .

Source:http://www.gservants.com/