7th Pay Commission: Central govt employees may get a DA hike ahead of Holi, check details

According to media reports, the central government may declare a 3% hike in DA. 

New Delhi: The government may declare a hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) before the end of this month, which will result in a significant increase in their wage.

The government announcement expected by the end of the month will benefit more than 1 crore central employees and pensioners. The government is expected to transfer the money for the higher DA boost and arrears from the previous two months along with the March salary. A 3% increase in DA means that the overall DA of Central Government employees will be 34%. It translates to an annual dearness allowance of Rs 73,440 for a Central government employee with a basic pay of Rs 18,000 If the dearness allowance is raised to 34%, the salary will increase from Rs 73,440 to Rs 2,32,152 20 thousand.

Dearness Allowance is a component of government employees' and pensioners' salaries. In order to keep up with rising inflation, the federal government revises DA and DR benefits twice a year, in January and July. Employees are paid differently depending on whether they work in the urban, semi-urban, or rural sectors.

When the government raised DA in October, it benefited 48 lakh central government employees and 65 lakh retirees across India.

Central government employees are receiving a Dearness Allowance of 31%. The most recent increases were made in July and October 2021, following a months-long halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In October, the Union Cabinet increased dearness allowance and dearness relief by 3% to 31% to help 47.14 lakh Central Government employees and 68.62 lakh retirees.