7th Pay Commission DA Arrears: In what comes as a news to cheer for central government employees regarding the dearness allowance arrears, is that the Modi government can give DA arrears of 1.5 years i.e. 18 months to the employees at a single go, as a one time settlement of Rs 2 lakh, said Moneycontrol.com (Hindi) citing media reports. Although, there has been no statement from the government on this, but discussions are going on. Central employees have been continuously demanding the withheld DA from January 2020 to June 2021.
According to Shiv Gopal Mishra, Secretary (Staff Side) of the National Council of JCM, the council has placed a demand from the government but no solution has been found so far. According to Moneycontrol.com sources, talks have been held with the cabinet secretary. Meanwhile, the labor union demands that one time settlement of dearness allowance arrears should be done.
According to Mishra, a joint meeting of the JCM with the officials of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure is to be held soon. It is expected that 18 months DA arrears will be discussed in this meeting and due to elections, assurance can be given on 18 months arrears from the government.
How Much will be the DA Arrears from January to June 2020?
In an earlier report, Zee Business quoted Shiv Gopal Mishra of the National Council of JCM, who said that the DA arrears of Level-1 employees range from Rs 11,880 to Rs 37,554. On the other hand, for Level-13 (7th CPC basic pay scale Rs 1,23,100 to Rs 2,15,900) or Level-14 (pay scale), the DA arrears of the employees will be Rs 1,44,200 and 2,18,200 respectively. If the Union Cabinet gives a green signal to it, the central employees along with over 65 lakh pensioners will further enjoy the linked benefits.
What is DA and What we Know so Far?
Dearness Allowance is a component of salary of government employees and pensioners. To cope up with the rising inflation, the central government revises DA and DR benefits twice every year – in January and July. DA varies from employee to employee based on whether they work in urban sector, semi-urban sector or the rural sector.
The government’s last move had benefitted early 48 lakh central government employees and 65 lakh pensioners across India when it hiked DA in October.
As of now, central government employees are paid a Dearness Allowance of 31 per cent. The most recent hikes were given in July and October 2021, after a months-long freeze in the allowance due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Union Cabinet in October had hiked dearness allowance and dearness relief by 3 per cent to 31 per cent to benefit 47.14 lakh Central Government employees and 68.62 lakh pensioners.
DA Calculation for Central Government Employees
Dearness Allowance percentage = ((Average of AICPI (Base Year 2001=100) for the past 12 months -115.76)/115.76) x 100. Here, AICPI stands for All-India Consumer Price Index.
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