Good news for central government employees! Hike in DA likely

NEW DELHI:

The employees of the Central government may get good news soon as the Centre is likely to hike Dearness Allowance (DA) of its staffers under 7th Pay Commission.

The salaries of the employees may increase just before Diwali, as the Union government is planning to change the base year for the consumer price index for industrial workers (CPI-IW). The move is likely to benefit 48 lakh central government employees.

According to media reports, a senior official of the Labour Ministry on the condition of anonymity said, "The government is going to prepare a new Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers. The base year maybe 2016. The change in the base year directly affects DA of the staffers.”

ALSO READ: PM Modi addresses the nation: Key pointers

If everything goes well, the government will make its base year 2016, thus paving the way for a possible hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) of central government employees.

According to a media report, this move will lead to a direct hike in salary of central government employees since their dearness allowance (DA) is directly dependent on the way CPI-IW is calculated.

Currently, increment in DA had been delayed till June 2021 due to Coronavirus pandemic and central government employees are being paid DA at the previous rate of 17% interest only. This also implies that increment in salary of central government employees might take some time.

Earlier, the government had increased DA of central government employees by 4% in March. However, in April, the government decided to implement this change from June 2021 instead of April this year.