Cabinet to decide on DA hike, tomorrow, govt employees to get Holi gift

The cabinet meeting regarding increase of dearness allowance of central government employees could take place on March 16, thus meaning that the Modi government will have a good Holi gift for the employees, as per media reports. The DA of the Central government employees is expected to increase by an additional 3% from the current 31 percent to 34%. According to reports, the government was to make an official statement any time before Holi. However a fresh report in Zeebiz states that a big decision on the same could infact come on March 16 i.e before Holi itself. Few other media reports say that Central employees will be paid full payment of new DA along with the March salary after Holi. The employees will get the arrears for the last two months. So, assuming your basic salary is between Rs 18000 to Rs 56900 and you calculate DA at the rate of 34 percent, then your DA will turn out to be Rs 19,346 per month. At the same time, employees could also be getting Rs 17,639 as DA arrears.

The central employees are also waiting for the Modi government to announce a hike in the fitment factor which will in turn push the minimum wages of central employees higher. The central government employees unions have long been demanding for hiking  minimum pay of Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000 and fitment factor be raised from 2.57 times to 3.68 times. According to media reports, the fitment factor of central employees can be decided soon. This means that there will be a big increase in the basic salary of the government employees. On Tuesday, the Union Government responded to various questions related to DA/DA like why Central Government Employees’ Dearness Allowance hike has remained static at 3% while the rate of inflation has been apparently high? Will the Government consider giving DA/DR in accordance with prices? 

According to the Central Government, the DA and DR hike to central government employees is calculated based on the rate of inflation as per the All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers. In the last two quarters the average rate of inflation has been around 5%. “Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) to the Central Government Employees and pensioners respectively is calculated on the basis of rate of inflation as per All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (AICPI0IW), released by Labour Bureau, M/o of Labour and Employment,” Union Minister of State in Finance Ministry Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to queries on DA and DR hike in the Rajya Sabha today (15th March 2022). Responding to the query on “whether the Government would consider giving DA/DR in accordance with the prices and would not maintain DA/DR at static 3%, Chaudhary said the issue “does not arise” in view of above.