A round of discussions has started regarding Dearness Allowance (DA) and salary hike for central employees. Presently the employees are waiting for the recommendations of the Eighth Pay Commission, but before that many questions are arising in their minds.
Why is there confusion?
The 10-year cycle of the Seventh Pay Commission ends on 31 December 2025. The next Dearness Allowance (DA/DR) to be received after this will be outside any active Pay Commission cycle for the first time. At the same time, it will take at least one and a half years for the report of the Eighth Pay Commission to come. Because of this, a similar situation may arise for employees thrice by January 2026, July 2026 and January 2027.
Major issues ignored in the Term of Reference (ToR)
The government has recently released the ToR of the 8th Pay Commission, but many important points have not been included in it. The staff side of the National Council (NC-JCM) and other employee unions have objected to this. They say that they had already submitted their detailed charter to the government, but many of their key issues were ignored in the ToR.
When can the government answer?
Employees hope that clarity can be found on this issue in the Parliament session starting from December 1. Experts believe that till then DA will continue to be calculated on the basic salary of the existing 7th Pay Commission. At present the DA of central employees is 58 percent, which is likely to increase to 61-62 percent by March 2026.