7th Pay Commission DA Hike For Govt Employees: The central government has recently said in the Parliament that the need to raise the Dearness Allowance or DA for central government employees under the 7th pay commission beyond 3 per cent is not valid since the hike is done at par with inflation rates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet was expected to meet on the issue of DA hike for government employees on Wednesday, but there was no official update on a decision. The government is expected to take a decision on DA hike before Holi.
On Tuesday during the second part of the budget session, the Union government sent its responses to several questions on why the Central Government Employees’ Dearness Allowance hike has been kept static at a time when inflation rates have become high. Questions were also asked on whether the government will consider raising DA/DR in accordance with the current inflation rates.
“Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) to the Central Government Employees and pensioners respectively is calculated on the basis of rate of inflation as per All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (AICPI0IW), released by Labour Bureau, M/o of Labour and Employment,” Union minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
Responding to a question asking if the “Government would consider giving DA/DR in accordance with the prices and would not maintain DA/DR at static 3 per cent,” the minister said the question “does not arise” in the view of his abovementioned reason.
The average retail inflation for the October-December quarter of 2021 was 5.01 per cent, while the same shot up to 6.07 per cent in the month of February this year.
DA Hike: What to Expect this Time
Now, there have been reports that Centre may again increase the DA by 3 per cent. With this latest increase, DA will stand at 34 per cent of the basic salary. This decision will benefit over 50 lakh government employees and 65 lakh pensioners.
What is DA?
Dearness Allowance is a component of salary of government employees and pensioners, aimed at soothing the impact of inflation. To cope up with the increasing inflation rates, the effective salary of government employees is revised periodically. DA is generally revised twice every year – in January and July. However, for this year, there has been no announcement on DA hike yet.
In July, 2021, Centre hiked the Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief to 28 per cent from 17 per cent. The central government stalled DA for almost one and half years due to coronavirus pandemic. With another 3 per cent hike in October, 2021, the DA for central government employees rose to 31 per cent.
The Dearness Relief for central government pensioners was also hiked to 31 per cent, effective from July 1,2021.
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