look news india
7th Pay Commission DA Hike: Another good news is going to come for central employees in September 2024. After the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), central employees are also going to get the benefit of increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) this month. It is expected that the government may announce a 3-4 percent DA hike in the third week of September.
3-4 percent increase expected in dearness allowance
The government will increase dearness allowance (DA) by 3-4 per cent in the third week of September. An increase of 3 per cent has been confirmed, but it can also be 4 per cent. According to sources, earlier in March 2024, the government had increased DA by 4 per cent to 50 per cent of the basic salary. Along with this, dearness relief (DR) for pensioners was also increased by 4 per cent. Dearness Allowance (DA) is given to central employees, while Dearness Relief (DR) is for pensioners. DA and DR are increased twice a year in January and July.
Will central employees also get COVID-19 DA arrears?
In the recent Monsoon Session of Parliament, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed that the government is unlikely to release 18 months of DA and DR arrears frozen during the Covid-19 pandemic. In response to a question on whether the government is considering releasing 18 months of dearness allowance or DR for central employees and pensioners, the decision to freeze three instalments of DA/DR from January 2020, July 2020 and January 2021 for central employees and pensioners was taken to ease the pressure on government finances due to economic troubles during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Will dearness allowance in excess of 50% be added to basic pay?
According to experts, if the DA is more than 50 percent, it will not be merged in the basic salary. However, other allowances like house rent allowance etc. have been increased. Various organizations of central employees have demanded the formation of a pay commission. However, the government currently has no proposal to form the 8th Pay Commission.