7th Pay Commission: THIS State Hikes 4% DA For Govt Employees, Pensioners – News18

7th Pay Commission: The Odisha government has announced a four per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) for its employees and pensioners. The DA for employees and pensioners has been increased to 42 per cent from the existing 38 per cent.

The increased DA will be applicable with retrospective effect from January 23 this year and the employees will receive the amount with their June salary, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office on Tuesday.

A total of 7.5 lakh employees and pensioners will get the benefit.

Recently, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh also announced their salary hikes for their government employees and pensioners.

DA Hike For Central Govt Employees Likely

The Centre is also likely to hike dearness allowance (DA) next month, July 2023, thus raising their salaries, according to media reports. The DA hike is likely to be 3-4 per cent, to compensate central government employees and pensioners for rising prices.

The DA is hiked twice a year — January and July. The last hike was announced in March 2023, which became effective from January 1, 2023. In the hike, the DA was raised by 4 per cent to 42 per cent.

Now, according to the reports, the central government might decide to hike DA by 4 per cent, following which the DA will increase to 46 per cent.

Dearness allowance (DA) is given to government employees, while dearness relief (DR) is for pensioners. According to the official data, there are 47.58 lakh central government employees and 69.76 lakh pensioners. After the upcoming DA hike, these employees and pensioners will be benefitted.

The DA is given to employees based on the basic pay of the employees, while the DR is given on the basis of a basic pension.

How Is DA Hike Calculated?

The central government revises the DA and DR for employees based on a formula. Following is the formula:

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.