8th Pay Commission, Has been in the headlines continuously for the last one month. On November 3, the government had released its Terms of Reference (ToR), after which many questions are being raised among the employees and pensioners.
A question on this issue was asked in the Lok Sabha on December 1, the very first day of the winter session of Parliament. MP Anand Bhadauria asked whether the government has formally notified the 8th Pay Commission and whether there is any proposal to merge DA with basic pay as a relief amid rising inflation. In its reply, the government confirmed the formation of the commission, but clearly refused to merge DA-Basic pay.
Government’s reply in Parliament
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that the 8th CPC has been formed through a gazette notification issued on 3 November 2025. Justice Ranjan Prakash Desai is the chairperson in this three-member commission, Prof. Pulak Ghosh is a part-time member and Pankaj Jain is a member-secretary. But on the question of merging DA and DR in basic pay, he said that at present the government does not have any such proposal. That means the earlier system of DA/DR revision on the basis of AICPI-IW every six months will continue. For this reason many employee groups are looking disappointed.
Why are employees and pensioners angry?
After the release of ToR, employee unions have raised several objections. The biggest displeasure is that this time there is no clear mention of pensioners in the ToR, whereas it was clearly included in the 7th Pay Commission. Unions are saying that this weakens the scope of pension revision. Apart from this, it is not even written in ToR as to when the new pay structure will be implemented. Is it from January 1, 2026 or some other date? Also, the staff side JCM says that the government did not include their demands like the formula for fixing minimum wages, solution to the problem of wage compression and principles of wage revision in the ToR. The union alleges that the language used this time is more limited than that of the 7th Pay Commission.
ToR continues, unhappiness also continues
The 8th Pay Commission will now begin the process of gathering data, discussing with departments and taking suggestions from unions during its 18-month tenure. However, the growing resentment over ToR clearly indicates that employee organizations will raise their voice further in the coming months. On the other hand, the government’s clear refusal on expectations like merging DA and basic pay has made the employees more worried, especially when inflation has remained high for the last two years. 2026 is the year when the new Pay Commission recommendations generally come into effect, so the issue of 8th Pay Commission is going to be more heated in the times to come.