NEW DELHI: Good news for Central Government Employees. The Union Cabinet
on Wednesday cleared a proposal to increase dearness allowance (DA) to 119%
from 113%, which will potentially benefit over one crore government employees
and pensioners.
The
proposal to increase DA by six percentage points was taken at a meeting by the
Union Cabinet. DA is paid as proportion of the basic pay. Earlier
in April, the government had hiked DA by 6% to 113% of their basic pay with
effect from January.
The
proposed DA hike will take effect from July, 1. As per the agreed formula, the
DA rate increase is an average of 12-month consumer price index-industrial
workers from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015.
The
proposed hike is in accordance with the accepted formula based on the
recommendations of the 6th pay commission, which will benefit 48 lakh
government employees and 55 lakh pensioners.
Last
month, the Cabinet had given approval for the extension of the term of the 7th
Central pay commission by four months up to December, 31.