7th Pay Commission: On October 16, the Modi government gave a big good news to about 1 crore central employees and pensioners of the country. The government has increased dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) by 3%, increasing it from 50% to 53%. After this announcement, the discussion has started again whether DA will now be merged into the basic salary of the employees. This issue is important because it can cause a big change in the salary of the employees.
Will 53% dearness allowance be added to the basic salary?
Earlier also there was speculation that when DA crosses the limit of 50%, it will be added to the basic salary. In the 6th Pay Commission, it was recommended that when DA exceeds 50%, it should be included in the basic salary. Responding to this matter, the government has said that they are considering the issue. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that the government is currently discussing it. However, no decision has been taken on this yet.
Government permission is required
The reports of the Fifth and Sixth Pay Commission also suggested that dearness allowance should be merged with the basic salary to form dearness salary. In 2004, based on this recommendation, 50% of the DA of the basic salary was merged into the basic salary so that it could be used in the calculation of retirement and other benefits. However, since then, changes have been made to this rule and it has not been implemented every time. The decision to merge DA and DR into the basic salary will be implemented only after the permission of the government.
This will affect the salary
Employees will now get dearness allowance at the rate of 53%. When DA was increased to 50%, it was still expected that it would be included in the basic salary. Now that DA has reached 53%, the discussion on this has heated up again. The merger of DA in the basic salary of central employees will bring a permanent change in their salary structure and this may also affect the calculation of future allowances and benefits. The government has not yet taken any final decision on this matter, but it is expected from the minister’s statement that the government is seriously considering it.
