7th Pay Commission: The wait for the increase in DA of central employees and pensioners is about to end. Soon the central government is going to announce an increase in dearness allowance and dearness relief for its more than one crore employees and pensioners. On the other hand, according to the news coming in the media, the government can give three gifts each to the central employees and pensioners. According to reports, this includes increase in DA, increase in fitment factor and payment of arrears of DA. In this, the countdown for the announcement of increase in dearness allowance has also started.
Union cabinet meeting on March 15
A cabinet meeting under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is proposed on March 15. After this meeting, the central government can give great news to its employees and pensioners. On this day the Prime Minister can announce the increase in DA and DR. Earlier, it was agreed upon in the cabinet meeting held on March 1, but it was not officially announced.
According to the information received from the sources (7th Pay Commission), the government has decided to increase their dearness allowance and dearness relief by 4 percent. After this, the DA of central employees will increase from 38 to 42 percent. However, it has not been announced by the government yet.
According to media reports, a final decision on the increase in dearness allowance may be taken in the cabinet meeting to be held on March 1, 2023. If this happens, from March 31, employees can get increased salary and pensioners can get increased pension. Not only this, the money for the months of January and February will come into the account along with the arrears.
Government can take a big decision on DA outstanding for 18 months
The issue of DA Arrears of 18 months pending for central employees is still pending. Central employees have been demanding for a long time to give the stalled DA from January 2020 to June 2021. It is expected that the government can solve it by finding a middle way. Due to this, it is believed that the employees will get bumper benefit.
In fact, the DA of the last 18 months from January 2020 to June 2021, during the Corona period, is still pending. It is worth mentioning that due to the Korna epidemic, three installments of DA dues were put on hold till January 1, 2022, till July 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021. In July 2021, the government restored the dearness allowance. However, the employees were not given the three outstanding installments unpaid for the last 18 months.
In view of the demand of the employees organizations (7th Pay Commission), the government can adopt a middle way in this regard and can announce a lump sum amount. If this happens then up to Rs 2.18 lakh can come in the account of the employees. The report also states that the Center may release DA arrears for its employees in eight installments.
Increase in fitment factor
At the same time, the matter of revision in the Fitment Factor of the Central Government is also fast. Central employees are continuously demanding increase in fitment factor. Therefore, after the Union Budget, the government can make a big announcement on increasing the revision in the fitment factor. If there is an increase in the fitment factor, then there can be a big increase in the salary of the employees.
At present, fitment factor is being given to central employees at the rate of 2.57 per cent. There is a demand to increase it to 3.68 times. With the increase in fitment factor from 2.57 to 3.68, the minimum basic pay will increase from Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000. If the central government accepts this demand, then there will be a tremendous increase in the minimum salary of central employees.
Significantly, the last time the fitment factor was increased in the year 2016. The 7th Pay Commission was also implemented in the same year. At that time the minimum salary of the employees went straight from Rs 6000 to Rs 18,000. While the ceiling was increased from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh. Now the government can again increase the salary of central employees this year.
