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| DA hike is likely |
Likely DA hike on salary of Central government employees by 4% from the existing 38% to 42%.
7th Pay Commission DA Hike Updates: As lakhs of Central government employees are eagerly waiting for their salary hike, the Central Cabinet is likely to make the announcement on DA hike later on Wednesday. As per a report by Zee News, the announcement regarding the DA hike for government employees is likely to be made in today's cabinet meeting.
DA Hike Likely by 4% Central Govt Employees:
If the announcement is made, then the Centre may hike the DA for employees and pensioners by 4% to 42% from the existing 38% of DA.
Notably, the DA hike for government employees and pensioners is made based on the latest Consumer Price Index for industrial workers (CPI-IW), released by the labour ministry every month.
According to latest data, the retail inflation dipped marginally to 6.44% in February, mainly on account of a slight easing in prices of food and fuel items though it remained above the RBI's comfort level of 6% for the second month in a row.
The data released on 13 March 2023 showed the CPI-based inflation was at 6.52% and 6.07% in February month of 2022. If the DA is hiked, then it would be effective from 1 January 2023.
At present, over one crore central government employees and pensioners are getting 38% DA and the last revision on the DA hike was made on 28 September 2022 and it was effective from 1 July 2022.
Earlier, the Centre had increased DA by 4% points to 38% based on the percentage increase in the 12 monthly All India Consumer Price Index for the period ending June 2022.
Why DA is Hiked for Govt Employees?
The Central government employees must know that the Dearness Allowance is given to compensate them for rising prices. The dearness allowance is revised twice a year first in the month of September and then in March.
Protest Over DA Hike in West Bengal:
In the meantime, the state government employees in West Bengal are holding demonstrations to press for their demand for a hike in dearness allowance at par with central government employees. The protesters said they would withdraw from their hunger strike only after getting assurance from the state government regarding their demand.
Central Govt's Stand on 18-month DA Arrears:
Union Minister Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply in the Lok Sabha said the Centre has no plan to release the 18 months of Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears which were stopped during COVID pandemic.
He said the Centre's decision to freeze three instalments of Dearness Allowance(DA)/Dearness Relief (DR) to Central Government employees/pensioners due from 01.01.2020, 01.07.2020 and 01.01.2021 was taken in the context of COVID-19, which caused economic disruption, so as to ease pressure on Government finances.
However, he added that as the adverse financial impact of the pandemic in 2020 and the financing of welfare measures taken by the Government had a fiscal spillover beyond FY 2020-21, arrears of DA/DR which mostly pertain to the difficult FY of 2020-21 are not considered feasible.
Salary Increase After DA Hike for Govt Employees:
For a government employee having basic pay of Rs. 30,000, his DA will increase by an amount of ₹ 1200/-.
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