The Central government is mulling to implement the hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) for over 1 crore employees of the Central Government before Holi, next month. This will come as a double dose of happiness for the central government employees, who are waiting for the hike for the last few months.
According to media reports, the Centre is expected to increase the dearness allowance of its employees by 4 per cent which will increase the Dearness Allowance to 21 per cent. At present, dearness allowance is 17 per cent.
The hike in DA will increase the in-hand salary of around 48 lakh employees of the Central government. According to media reports, apart from the DA hike, the government may also announce a hike in dearness relief (DR), which is expected to benefit over 65 lakh, central government pensioners.
The increase in dearness allowance is likely to be in accordance with the accepted formula, based on the recommendations of the seventh Central Pay Commission. The hike in DA and DR will cost Rs Rs 12,510.04 crore and Rs 14,595.04 crore respectively in Financial Year 2020-21 (for a period of 14 months from January 2020 to February 2021). The decision will benefit 48.34 lakh central government employees and 65.26 lakh pensioners.