Recently, the Central Government bestowed a wonderful dearness allowance blessing upon its Central employees and pensioners. This decision of the government will alleviate the burden of an increase in the minimum basic salary of the employees. Other good news that comes along with this is very important for the employees concerning the 18-month DA dues and the 8th Pay Commission. Let us do an introspection of the news mentioned below.
Something Big By The Government:
The central government has not planned any dearness allowance and dearness relief to be paid for 18 months during the Kovid-19 period. This has been confirmed by the Union Ministry of Finance in written replies to both Houses of Parliament. In reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State, Finance Ministry, clarified that when the dearness allowance and dearness relief were stopped, the time frame during which three installments were due was used to ease the burden on government finances, and hence they are not being considered for payment.
The Current DA For Employees Stands At 53%.
As per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, central government employees and pensioners are currently receiving an additional 53 percent dearness allowance under their salaries. The recent increase of DA by an extra 2 percent now raises the current level to 55 percent.
When Will The 8th Pay Commission Come Into Being?
From January 16, 2025, the establishment of the 8th Pay Commission for revision of pay of central government employees will be in force and restructuring of pension and allowances of pensioners will be covered under it. This is a major decision by the government which shall influence roughly 50 lakh employees and 65 lakh pensioners of the central government. Interestingly, the last Seventh Pay Commission has been set up in 2014 and its recommendations got the effective date of January 1, 2016. Thus, the term of the Seventh Pay Commission is scheduled to be completed in December 2025, providing the time to the new body to be functional from January 1, 2026.
Also Read: 2025 Pay Hike In India Set To Fall To 8.8%, Deloitte Report Reveals