It was from July 1, 2021, that Central government employees, as well as pensioners, started to get their increased Dearness Allowance (DA). While Central Government employees getting their Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) after 1.5 years was good news, there is still one front that the Central employees are still disappointed about.
It has been made clear by the Centre that there will be no increase in the monthly basic salary of the employees.
On July 28, the Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary made it clear in the Rajya Sabha that the Centre, as of now, is not considering any such scheme. In a written reply, the minister said that the fitment factor of 2.57 was implemented evenly for all categories of employees with the idea of fixation of pay in the revised pay structure based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.
The minister said this in the Parliament as he was fielding a question about the increase in monthly basic pay of the employees after the restoration of DA and DR as per the fitment factor on the basis of the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.
It is important to note that Central employees were getting 17% DA which was increased to 28% from July 1, 2021. DA was increased by 4% in January 2020, then by 3% in June 2020, and by 4% in January 2021. Now, these three installments have to be paid. According to the data of AICPI, there is going to be a 3% increase in DA in June 2021 under the 7th Pay Commission. If this happens, then the total DA will increase to 31% which will be paid with the salary of September.
In addition to DA, the government has also ordered to increase the House Rent Allowance (HRA) of Central employees. HRA has been increased because DA has exceeded 25%, therefore, the Centre has also increased the HRA to 27%.
