7th Pay Commission: The central government may soon announce an increase in dearness allowance (DA) in the last week of September or the first week of October. According to reports, this time the government may announce a DA hike of up to 3-4 percent for central employees.
7th Pay Commission: The central government may soon announce a hike in dearness allowance (DA) in the last week of September or the first week of October. According to reports, this time the government may announce a DA hike of up to 3-4 percent for central employees. This increase in DA will be considered effective from July 1, 2024. Last year also, the DA hike was done in the first week of October.
During the last DA hike in March 2024, the government had increased dearness allowance by 4 percent to 50 percent of basic pay. Also, dearness relief (DR) for pensioners was also increased by 4 percent. DA and DR are increased twice every year, with effect from January and July. DA is given to central employees, while DR is given to pensioners.
What will happen to the DA arrears stuck during COVID-19?
Recently, during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary clarified that the government is not looking at the possibility of releasing the 18 months of DA and DR arrears that were withheld during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to a question, Minister Pankaj Chaudhary said, ‘No’, when he was asked whether the government is considering releasing the 18 months of DA/DR arrears of central employees and pensioners, which were withheld during COVID-19.
Due to the economic distress caused by the COVID pandemic, it was decided to withhold the three instalments of January 2020, July 2020 and January 2021, to ease the government’s financial pressure. Therefore, at the moment there are no plans by the government to release these arrears, and central employees will have to wait for further DA hikes.
