7th Pay Commission News Today: The Central government employees and pensioners can expect a hike in their dearness allowance and dearness relief anytime soon as the Union Cabinet is likely to make the announcement in October. Some reports suggest that the DA hike announcement is expected before Diwali. As per the last year's trends, the DA hike was announced in the first week of October in 2023.
Employees write to Finace Ministry
The Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers had on September 30 written a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman expressing concerns over a delay in the DA/DR hike announcement. The confederation’s general secretary S B Yadav said in the letter that there is discontent among employees and pensioners due to the delay in the announcement of DA/ DR.
The Confederation said that Durga Puja festival is approaching and the PLB (performance-linked bonus) and adhoc bonus too are to be declared. However Yadav said the government might announce a 3 per cent hike this time.
How much salary will increase?
After the DA hike is announced, the salary of the central government employee, who has a basic salary of around Rs 18,000 per month, will increase in the range of Rs 540-720 per month, effective from July 1, 2024.
After the latest DA hike announcement, the dearness allowance will increase from 50 per cent to 53 per cent of the basic pay.
Why is DA hike announced?
The Centre grants dearness allowance to government employees, while DR is given to pensioners to cope up with the price rise and inflation. In general, DA and DR are hiked twice a year — January and July. Right now, over one crore central government employees and pensioners are getting a 50 per cent dearness allowance.
In March 2024, the Centre had hiked the DA of employees by 4 per cent to 50 per cent of the basic pay and then increased dearness relief (DR) by 4 per cent.
Check DA hike calculation
Dearness Allowance Percentage = ((Average of All-India Consumer Price Index (Base Year 2001=100) for the past 12 months -115.76)/115.76)x100.
For Central public sector employees: Dearness Allowance Percentage = ((Average of All-India Consumer Price Index (Base Year 2001=100) for the past 3 months -126.33)/126.33)x100.
