8th pay commission
The drafting committee of the National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) has given a common memorandum of its demands to the 8th Pay Commission. The big demand of the committee is that the minimum basic pay which is Rs 18,000 in the 7th Pay Commission, should be increased to Rs 69,000. This will be an increase of about 3.83 times, hence the committee has asked for a fitment factor of 3.833. Fitment factor means the multiplier for increasing salary and pension. At first glance, this seems like a huge increase, because it is almost 4 times the basic salary.
The drafting committee has mentioned two important factors in its logic. First, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a person doing physically hard work needs about 3,490 kilocalories of energy every month. On this basis, the food expenses of a family unit of 5 people have been calculated, so that the basic needs of an average family can be met. Secondly, while in the 7th Pay Commission, 3 family units were considered as the basis, for the 8th Pay Commission it has been increased to 5 family units, so that the total expenditure can be estimated in a more realistic manner.
Minimum monthly expenditure figure
NC-JCM has given the list of minimum monthly expenditure as per January 2026 to the committee, in which the average price of 2025 has been made the basis. In this list, the monthly expenses for a 5 unit family have been calculated by adding different needs. First of all, food items like rice, pulses, vegetables, fruits, milk, oil, meat and eggs cost around Rs 24,443, which increases to around Rs 26,887 if other food items are added. After this, after adding the cost of clothes, dressing and sewing i.e. clothing and tailoring, the total amount reaches approximately Rs 32,577.
Further, by adding 7.5% of the housing expenses i.e. house rent, this amount becomes around Rs 35,020. Then if electricity, water and fuel expenses are included i.e. about 20%, the total expenditure reaches above Rs 42,000. Finally, after adding expenses related to skill development, social needs like wedding, festivals, entertainment and technology, the total monthly expenditure of a family comes to around Rs 68,947. If the government considers this scale then there will be a possibility of salary increasing up to Rs 69 thousand.
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