While a hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) is set to be announced soon for central government employees, there is also increasing buzz around considerations on 8th Pay Commission moving forward. There has been demand for talks of replacement of 7th Pay Commission rules with 8th Pay for a while.
Earlier, reports had speculated that the Centre may give some news regarding 8th Pay Commission implementation plan in Union Budget 2023. However, no such welcome piece of good news came for government employees on February 1, 2023.
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Latest reports have again sparked expectations among government employees regarding 8th Pay Commission replacing 7th Pay Commission next year. Typically, pay commission rules are changed for government employees every 10 years. The same pattern was observed in the implementations of the recent 5th, 6th and 7th Pay Commissions.
While there is no official news on movement on 8th Pay Commission, recent reports claim that the government may start work on it and make an announcement in 2024. There are two different scenarios being suggested by reports.
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One claim is that the government may announce 8th Pay Commission ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections of 2024, thereby bringing a massive pre-poll boost for lakhs of government employees. On the other hand, reports also claim that talks will only reach a serious stage after the election results are declared and a new government is formed.
In both scenarios, the announcement of 8th Pay Commission replacing 7th Pay Commission could be made by 2024 end. If this happens, the recommendations could be implemented by 2026. The 8th Pay Commission will give government employees a massive pay boost from the lowest to highest levels of salary scale, an increase in basic salary, fitment factor and allowance.
