Ahead of Diwali festival, the Cabinet had approved Dearness Allowance for its employees by 4 percent. Apart from this, the central government had hiked the dearness relief (DR) for pensioners with same percentage.
Dearness Allowance is the cost-of-living adjustment allowance which the government pays to the employees of the public sector as well as the pensioners. It is paid by the government to help employees cope with stubbornly rising prices which is due to high inflation. The DA is calculated as a percentage of the basic salary of government employees.
Between, 1 January, 2020, to June 30, 2021, the central government did not pay DA to its employees for 18 month. The DA hike has been a long pending demand by the government staff.
List of states that announced DA hikes for government employees ahead of Diwali:
1. Jharkhand: On 10 October, the Jharkhand cabinet had approved a proposal to hike the dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees and the dearness relief (DR) for its pensioners by 4 percent with effect from July 1 this year. It will benefit around two lakh government employees and 1.35 lakh pensioners, an official said. The council of ministers approved the proposal for enhancing the dearness allowance payable to the state government employees to 38 per cent from the existing rate of 34 per cent with effect from July 1, 2022.
2. Chhattisgarh: On 14 October, CM Bhupesh Baghel hike DA by 5 per cent, taking it to 33 per cent. The hike will benefit around 3.80 lakh state government employees. will benefit from the hike. The hike will be effective from 1 October 2022.
3. Haryana: Ahead of Diwali, the Haryana government for its employees drawing their salaries as per the 7th Pay Commission structure by 4 per cent to 38 per cent. The increased DA will be paid to the employees with the the pay of October 2022, and arrears for the July-September period will be paid in November, the Finance Department of the Haryana Government said in a release on 18 October.
4. Uttar Pradesh: On 18 October, the UP government had issued an order to increase DA and dearness relief of its employees and pensioners from 34% to 38% with effect from 1 July. According to a tweet by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s office, “UP CM Yogi Adityanath has decided to increase the rate of dearness allowance and dearness relief from the present 34% to 38% with effect from 01.07.2022 keeping in mind the wider interest of the state employees and pensioners/ family pensioners.”
5. Delhi: On 7 October, the Delhi government issued an order to increase the DA of its employees by 4 per cent. The decision to increase the dearness allowance of the Delhi government employees was taken in accordance with the decision of the Central government.
6. Rajasthan: Rajasthan government also approved a four per cent increase in the dearness allowance to state employees and pensioners. In a tweet, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said, “In line with the central government employees, dearness allowance has been increased by four per cent for state employees as well. Now, 38 per cent dearness allowance will be payable to state employees and pensioners from July 1, 2022.” CM also said that the state will be spending an additional amount to implement the hike. “An additional expenditure of ₹1,096 crore will be incurred from the state fund in implementing today’s announcement made in the interest of employees,” he said.
7. Punjab: On 21 October, the Punjab government decided to restore the old pension scheme for its employees, with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann terming it a Diwali gift for the state staff. In another decision, the state Cabinet decided to give 6 per cent DA to employees and pensioners, with effect from October 1 this year, a statement said. The statement also added that employees will be given the option of adopting the old pension scheme or the current one.
How to calculate Dearness Allowance
For central government employees: The DA is calculated as — {(Average of the All-India Consumer Price Index (Base year -2001 =100) for the last 12 months -115.76)/115.76} x 100.
Meanwhile, for central public sector employees, the DA is calculated as — {(Average of the All-India Consumer Price Index (Base year -2001 =100) for the last 3 months -126.33)/126.33} x 100
