New Delhi: Here comes a big update for the Central government employees at the Ministry of Defence. The ministry has revised the norms of minimum qualifying service required for the promotion of defence civilian employees. In a statement, the ministry said that these revised norms will be applicable to defence civilian employees who follow the 7th Pay Commission Pay Matrix and Pay Levels and whose salaries are being paid from defence service estimates.
Issuing an Office Memorandum recently, the ministry mentioned the minimum eligibility service required for promotion of defence civilian employees.
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Read Official Statement From Defence Ministry
“The same are also being uploaded on the Ministry of Defence/Department of Defence website under the link “Employees Corner > Seventh Central Pay Commission’ to facilitate the immediate implementation,” the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
The development comes at a time when the Central government employees are waiting for an announcement from the Centre on hike in dearness allowance and dearness relief.
DA Hike Likely by 3% This Time
In the meantime, reports suggest that the Centre could hike the dearness allowance (DA) for its over one crore employees and pensioners by 3 per cent to 45 per cent. Once implemented, the latest hike in dearness allowance will be effective from July 1, 2023.
While the Centre is yet to make any announcement on the matter, All India Railwaymen Federation General Secretary Shiva Gopal Mishra said that they are seeking a four per cent hike in dearness allowance.
“The CPI-IW for June 2023 was released on July 31, 2023. We are demanding a four percentage point hike in dearness allowance. But the dearness allowance hike works out to be a little over three percentage points. The government does not factor in hiking DA beyond the decimal point. Thus DA is likely to be increased by three percentage points to 45 per cent,” Mishra told PTI.
The Central government employees must note that the dearness allowance is revised twice a year once in March and secondly in July. The last DA hike revision was done on March 24, 2023, and was effective from January 1, 2023. And that time, the central government had increased the DA by four percentage points from 38 per cent to 42 per cent based on the percentage increase in the 12 monthly average of the All India Consumer Price Index for the period ending December 2022.
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When DA Hike Will be Announced?
Even as the exact date for DA hike has not yet been announced by the Centre, however, the decision is likely to be taken by the Union Cabinet after the expenditure department of the Finance Ministry formulates a proposal to hike DA along with its revenue implication. After this, the proposal will then be put up before the Cabinet for approval.
How is DA Hike Calculated?
The dearness allowance for Central government employees and pensioners is calculated based on factors in the latest Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) brought out by the Labour Bureau every month. The Centre grants dearness allowance to employees and pensioners to compensate for the rising prices on their existing salaries.
