7th Pay Commission: Central government employees are likely to take home higher salaries from next year as the Centre is expected to restore a Dearness Allowance (DA) hike that was put on hold in April due to the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic.
While the central government approved a four percent DA hike for its employees in March this year, it was put on hold till July 1, 2021, in April due to the ongoing crisis.
In order to survive, companies have resorted to slashing salaries and laying off staff. Others have put employees on indefinite leave without pay or put freshly hired staff on hold. According to a survey, every two in 5 employees are facing salary cuts. The huge slowdown had even forced the government to slash the Dearness Allowance (DA) at the previous rate. The Dearness Allowance paid to the central government employees and pensioners was slashed to 17 % as against the earlier 21%, due to the pandemic and effect of the crisis on the state exchequer. However, this is temporary and the arrangement is believed to be implemented till June 2021. Post that, the government might give relief on DA and the employees will start getting more salary, while the pensioners will get more pension.
Employees are pensioners are hopeful that the government will increase the DA after July 1, 2021. For employees, the salary will increase after the hike, while retired individuals will see a rise in pension.
The central government usually hikes DA twice a year to compensate employees for price incenses and inflation. The last proposal to hike the DA by four percent was floated in January and it was later approved by the Union Cabinet in March.
The DA hike came as a major relief for nearly 50 lakh employees and over 60 lakh pensioners, but they did not get the hiked DA due to the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
While the government has not clearly said whether it will give hiked DA to employees and pensioners from July 2021, its earlier order indicates that employees are likely to get 21 percent DA from next year.
Meanwhile, India recorded 22,890 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total caseload to over 99.79 lakh. The number of fresh infections is 4.6 percent down since Thursday. Up to 338 more deaths were reported in this time, taking total fatality to 1,44,789.
The total recovered cases of the country crossed 95 lakh, with over 31,087 recoveries since yesterday, the health ministry said.
India will produce about 300 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines next year, a Russian official was quoted as saying, nearly three times the previously known number as deals have been signed with more manufacturers.
Meanwhile, The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it is “rapidly” working towards granting emergency approval of Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate. A week ago, the same panel backed a vaccine from Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE, leading to an FDA emergency use authorization (EUA) a day later.
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