8th pay commission
8th Pay Commission: When the Central Government issued the notification of the Eighth Pay Commission (8th CPC) on 3 November 2025, it was expected that the faces of government employees and pensioners across the country would light up. This commission, which comes every ten years, is no less than a festival for government employees. But this time, as soon as the notification arrived, questions replaced celebration. The root of the controversy is a deep fear, has the government excluded nearly 69 lakh central pensioners and family pensioners from the benefits of the Eighth Pay Commission?
This question is not out of thin air, but has emerged from the specifics of the documents. All India Defense Employees Federation (AIDEF) has immediately opened a front regarding this. In a letter written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Federation has clearly said that discrimination against pensioners will not be tolerated. His argument is simple, amendment in pension is the constitutional right of the elderly, not a dole.
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After all, what has changed between the 7th Pay Commission of 2014 and the 2025 Pay Commission? 8th pay commission among? Why is it being said that the security that was there in the old commission is missing this time? Come, let us understand this entire matter in detail.
1. Pension Reassessment
The biggest concern is regarding the ‘Terms of Reference’ (ToR) i.e. the working conditions of the Commission. When a pay commission is constituted, the government tells it in writing what issues it has to consider.
There is no clear and direct mention of ‘Pension Reassessment’ in the resolution of the Eighth Pay Commission. This is being interpreted to mean that the Commission may not even consider increasing the pension of old pensioners. Although, it has been said to review the concerns under National Pension Scheme (NPS) and Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), but the situation is not clear for millions of people who are in the old pension system. This ambiguity is the cause of fear.
2. Gratuity and NPS-UPS problem
It is not that the word pension has not been used, but its context has changed. According to the responsibility given to the 8th Pay Commission, it will review the ‘Death-cum-Retirement Gratuity’ (DCRG) of the employees covered under the National Pension Scheme (NPS) and the recently introduced Unified Pension Scheme (UPS).
Apart from this, it has also been said in the Term of Reference that the Commission will also review the pension and gratuity of those employees who are outside the purview of NPS and UPS. But the catch is that there is no clear mandate (order) to increase the pension of ‘existing pensioners’, as was the case in previous commissions. This change in technical language is like an alarm bell for the common pensioner.
3. What was different in the 7th Pay Commission?
If we compare, the picture becomes clearer. When the 7th Pay Commission was constituted on 28 February 2014, the government’s order was very clear. The resolution at that time clearly stated that the Commission would “examine the principles for determining the structure of pension and other retirement benefits.”
The 7th Pay Commission was also given the responsibility to review the pension of the employees who had retired before the date of implementation of its recommendations. On this basis, demands like One Rank-One Pension (OROP) were considered. The 7th Pay Commission had also accepted that the employees recruited after January 1, 2004 come under NPS, but the old rules were applicable for those recruited before that.
4. Allegation of discrimination
The real reason for the controversy is the lack of clarity in this notification like the 7th Pay Commission. There are many things in the notification of the 8th Pay Commission, but the strong promise of ‘pension revision’ is missing, which gives strength to the elderly to fight inflation.
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AIDEF says that if pensioners are not clearly included in the scope of the commission, it will be injustice to senior citizens. At present the ball is in the government’s court. It remains to be seen what clarification the Finance Ministry gives on this, but it is certain that unless the ‘Terms of Reference’ is improved, the heartbeats of the 69 lakh pensioners of the country will continue to increase.