18 Apr, 2013 07:54 PM

Its official - DA hike approved by the government

After long wait, the central government employees have finally got the approval for the hike in the dearness allowance. The government has announced the hike in the dearness allowance following the cabinet approval. The central government employees and the pensioners will be eligible for an 8% hike i.e. DA of 80% from January 2013. About 50 lakh employees and 30 lakh pensioners are to benefit from this hike. The employees and pensioners will be eligible for arrears for the three months.

The hike comes after a long wait. The staff associations have threatened protests on April 23 against the delay in DA hike. This was the first time since 1986, since the concept of Dearness Allowance was introduced for the central government employees, the announcement got delayed by almost four months.

Eventhough the hike is announced, the demand for the DA merger with the basic remains as main unresolved issue. As per usual practice, DA is merged with basic pay when it breaches the 50% cap. This helps employees get higher allowances as those are paid as proportion of the basic pay. Various unions including the Confederation of Central Government Employees while welcoming the move, demanded the merger. We demand that they should merge up to 50 per cent DA with the basic pay as per the practice and set up the seventh pay commission at the earliest", Secretary of Confederation , K K N Kutty said. As per the practice, the DA is merged with basic pay when it breaches the 50 per cent cap. This helps employees get higher allowances as those are paid as proportion of the basic pay.

The next DA hike that will be effective from July 2013 will be announced around September end. It is expected that the DA will be 90% then.

Watch this site for the hike orders as and when it is available..

2. : http://profit.ndtv.com/news/economy/article-cabinet-hikes-dearness-allowance-by-8-for-central-government-employees-321096