Srinagar, Feb 19: The 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 government is expected to increase the DA by 4 per cent which will increase the Dearness Allowance to 21 per cent. Currently, the DA provided to the central government employees is at 17 per cent. The hike in DA will increase the in-hand salary of around 48 lakh employees of the Central government. Apart from this, the government is also expected to announce a hike in dearness relief (DR) which is expected to benefit over 65 lakh, central government pensioners.
Media reports also suggest that the government is mulling to provide 4 per cent arrears also, which will increase the DA to 25 per cent. However, no official announcement has been made yet. 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.
Relief to Divyang Dependents
The government has issued a directive in the budget regarding the pension of those children/siblings of deceased government servants/pensioners who are mentally or physically disabled. If the total family eligible family pension is less than 30 per cent of the last salary drawn by the deceased government servant/pensioner, then they will be eligible for a family pension for the whole life. They will also be eligible for dearness relief.
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.
