7th Pay Commission: Latest DA news, 5 per cent hike recommended

New Delhi, Sep 05: A DA hike of 5 per cent under the 7th Pay Commission has been announced for scores of employees.

The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has recommended a 5 per cent hike in Dearness Allowance for its officer grade employees. If this recommendation is accepted then the employees would get an additional Rs 5,000 every month.

If the recommendation is accepted by the government, then the DA of the officers would go up from 57.4 per cent to 62.4 per cent. The DA is hiked keeping in mind the Consumer Price Index.

Meanwhile, a decision by the Central Government on the DA hike for the Central Government employees is still awaited. There were reports that a decision would be taken in September itself.

The government is expected to take a decision on the 5 per cent DA hike this month.

What CG employees must bear in mind is that the Dearness Allowance may be increased by 5 per cent. This could be the good news that may be on the way as a result of which the government did not take into account the demand for a hike in the basic minimum pay.

Harishankar Tiwari, Former Secretary and Assistant Secretary of All India Audit and Accounts Association, AG Office Brotherhood had said an increase in the DA is possible.

Tiwari who also calculates the government employees' DA said that there is a possibility that the DA may be increased by 5 per cent. There is a tangible reason behind it and that is because, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, inflation has increased in April 2019. However, there is a little uncertainty as CPI statistics for June, 2019 are yet to come and this will be revealed by the end of July, the report also said.

If the government decides to hike the DA, then it would stand at 17 per cent and this would be the highest DA increment since 2016. It may be recalled that the government had hiked the DA by 3 per cent in January 2019. At that time the AICPI stood at 301 and the DA at 10.36 per cent. If the index increases by 2 points then the DA calculation will be based on 17 per cent.

CG employees have been demanding that their basic minimum pay be increased to Rs 26,000. The 7th Pay Commission had however recommenced that the basic minimum pay is at Rs 18,000.