DA Hike Update for Central Government Employees: The Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi may give some good news to central government employees in the coming days, as the Union Budget 2022 has been presented. According to reports in the media, the government may consider giving out arrears to the employees. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, arrears for central government employees has been frozen for almost two years now, with the pandemic creating an economic constraint in the country. However, as India is reviving from that, some good news is expected from the government in this regard, reports have suggested.
As per a report on Zee News, the Union cabinet is mulling on the decision to give Rs 2 lakh to the employees in one go as DA arrear.
However, there is no official statement regarding this, and the government too has not commented anything on it. Dearness allowance, or DA, is generally increased twice a year, in January and July. However, there was no hike announced yet for the month of January this year. Churned out under the 7th Pay Commission, DA occupies one of the most important portions of any employee, especially those with government jobs.
What We Know So Far on DA Hike
As of now, central government employees are paid a Dearness Allowance of 31 per cent. The most recent hikes were given in July and October 2021, after a months-long freeze in the allowance due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Union Cabinet in October had hiked dearness allowance and dearness relief by 3 per cent to 31 per cent to benefit 47.14 lakh Central Government employees and 68.62 lakh pensioners.
In an earlier report, Zee Business quoted Shiv Gopal Mishra of the National Council of JCM, who said that the DA arrears of Level-1 employees range from Rs 11,880 to Rs 37,554. On the other hand, for Level-13 (7th CPC basic pay scale Rs 1,23,100 to Rs 2,15,900) or Level-14 (pay scale), the DA arrears of the employees will be Rs 1,44,200 and 2,18,200 respectively. If the Union Cabinet gives a green signal to it, the central employees along with over 65 lakh pensioners will further enjoy the linked benefits.
What is DA?
Dearness Allowance is a component of salary of government employees and pensioners. To cope up with the rising inflation, the central government revises DA and DR benefits twice every year – in January and July. DA varies from employee to employee based on whether they work in urban sector, semi-urban sector or the rural sector.
How is DA Calculated?
The government’s last move had benefitted early 48 lakh central government employees and 65 lakh pensioners across India when it hiked DA in October.
For central government employees, DA is calculated as under:
Dearness Allowance percentage = ((Average of AICPI (Base Year 2001=100) for the past 12 months -115.76)/115.76) x 100. Here, AICPI stands for All-India Consumer Price Index.
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