7th Pay Commission: Bonanza for govt employees! Basic pay likely to be hiked by at least Rs 9,000 from July; DA will start from…

financialexpress.com:

7th Pay Commission News: The Centre is expected to merge the dearness allowance of government employees and dearness relief of pensioners into the basic pay from July when the next scheduled revision in DA takes place.

Central and state government employees get dearness allowance (DA) and pensioners receive dearness relief (DR) as a cost-of-living adjustment. There are over 50 lakh central government employees and 67 lakh pensioners who will be benefited from this revision in DA and its possible merger into basic pay.

In March this year, the Modi government hiked the DA for government employees by 4% to 50%, which triggered speculation that the allowance would now be merged into the basic pay. The basis of this speculation was an earlier instance of 5th Pay Commission in 2004 when the government had merged DA into the basic salary after the allowance hit the 50% ceiling. However, there were no such measures recommended by the 6th Pay Commission.

Also read: 7th Pay Commission: Big hike in basic pay on the cards for govt employees! DA will start from ‘ZERO’ after THIS revision

Experts citing the past instance of 2004 and current inflationary situation are saying that the Centre might consider merging DA into the basic pay. Other allowances like house rent allowance, children’s education allowance, special allowance for childcare, hostel subsidy and gratuity ceiling got revised automatically post DA hike to 50% early this year.  

According to these experts, it is highly likely that DA-basic pay merger will be announced once the new government is formed at the Centre. The next hike in DA is due in July. After the DA is merged into the basic pay, this allowance will again start from ‘Zero’.

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