7th Pay Commission: Days after the Lok Sabha election results, the West Bengal government has hiked dearness allowance for over one million state government employees. The DA hike ranges between 4% to 42% and will be effective from April 1. This means that employees will get 2 months’ arrears when they receive their June salary.
Earlier it was announced that the DA hike will be effective from May 2024. But now it will be effective from April. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya had announced a hike in DA for employees in the state budget. “They will get it from the June 1 salary,” news agency PTI quoted an official from the state finance department as saying.
7th Pay Commission: Allowance increased to 46 percent
The Sikkim government also approved a proposal to hike DA by 4% for its employees and pensioners. According to a PTI report quoting officials, the hike in dearness allowance will be implemented retrospectively from July 1, 2023. This decision to increase DA was taken in the first cabinet meeting of the second Sikkim Krantikari Morcha government on Monday night.
The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang After a 4 per cent hike in DA, dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners in Sikkim has increased to 46 per cent. The report said that the hike in DA will cost the state exchequer Rs 174.6 crore in the current financial year.
7th Pay Commission: Increase in DA
Central government employees are now waiting for the second DA hike of the year. In March this year, the dearness allowance for central government employees was increased by 4% to 50%. This hike came into effect from January 2024. The Center reviews DA twice a year. First for the period from January to June and second for July to December.
The next DA hike is expected to be announced around Diwali this year. However, over 50 lakh central government employees and over 68 lakh pensioners will get the arrears from July 2024.
Also, there is speculation that the government will merge DA with the basic pay, as it will exceed the 50% limit after the next hike. In 2004, during the fifth term of the Remuneration Commission, when DA had reached the 50% limit, the central government merged it with the basic pay. This was the only occasion when DA was merged with the basic pay. After this, the Sixth Remuneration Commission did not recommend any such measure.
7th Pay Commission: Calculation of DA hike
DA for employees and dearness deduction for pensioners are calculated based on the All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI). The government reviews DA and DR twice a year in January and July respectively.
Charity Allowance % = ((Average AICPI for last 12 months (base year – 2001 = 100) -115.76)/115.76) *100
