look news india
8th Pay Commission: On July 23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not mention the 8th Pay Commission in the Union Budget for FY 2024-25. Crores of government employees and pensioners were waiting for the announcement regarding the formation of the pay panel, which will recommend the fitment factor and other guidelines for revision of their basic pay and allowances.
8th Pay Commission
Generally, a pay commission is constituted once in 10 years to decide the salaries of government employees. The last such panel, i.e. the 7th Pay Commission, was constituted in February 2014 and its recommendations were implemented from January 1, 2016. In view of this, employees and pensioners were hoping that the government would announce the 8th Pay Commission with the budget for the financial year 2024-25, which would start the process of revising their salaries by January 1, 2026.
The government had received proposals
A day before the presentation of the Budget, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha that no proposal to constitute the 8th Pay Commission is currently under consideration. However, two requests have been received for the formation of the Pay Commission in June 2024. The National Council (Staff Side), Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) was one of the recognised bodies of central government employees and pensioners that had written a letter to the government in June seeking an early announcement about the formation of the 8th Pay Commission.
The government can still form the 8th Pay Commission
According to NC-JCM secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra, the government has not said anything about pay hike or 8th Pay Commission in the budget. According to him, the pay matrix is still eligible for revision. According to Mishra, the pay matrix of central government employees, which determines their basic pay, can be revised even before the announcement of the 8th Pay Commission. Usually the pay matrix is revised based on the fitment factor suggested by the pay commissions which are constituted once in 10 years. However, the 7th Pay Commission had recommended inclusion of dearness allowance in the pay matrix of employees when the dearness allowance becomes 50% of the basic pay.