8th Pay Commission: Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has given an update on the formation of the pay panel and says no proposal for its establishment is being considered at present.
Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has given an update on the formation of the 8th Pay Commission and said no proposal for its establishment is being considered at present. He said this on December 3 in response to a query in the Rajya Sabha.
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Members of Rajya Sabha, Javed Ali Khan and Ramji Lal Suman, had asked whether the government was thinking of making an announcement about the new pay commission in the Union Budget 2025-26. The Budget is likely to be presented on February 1, 2025.
8th Pay Commission: Joint Consultative Machinery Meeting Soon
Employee unions have been raising demands for the constitution of the 8th Pay Commission. The demand was also made in the last Budget 2024-25 with employee unions approaching the Cabinet Secretary and the finance ministry with their demands.
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Now, the meeting of the National Council of the Joint Consultative Machinery is expected to take place in December. The meeting was earlier expected to take place this month but has now been postponed till December.
The National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM), the highest body representing employee grievances, in July 2024 also submitted a memorandum, requesting immediate steps to establish the Commission. Another appeal was made in August 2024.
8th Pay Commission: What Are The Broad Expectations?
There are expectations of a decent hike in salaries of the central government employees.
Shiv Gopal Mishra, Secretary (staff side) of the National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery (JCM), has said he expects a fitment factor of at least 2.86. It is 29 basis points (bps) higher as compared with 2.57 fitment factor under the 7th Pay Commission.
It is important to note that these are just speculations, there is no official announcement on that.
If the government approves the fitment factor of 2.86, the minimum salary of government employees will shoot up by 186 per cent to Rs 51,480, compared with the current payout of Rs 18,000, according to media reports.
Any further hike in fitment factor will lead to commensurate rise in the salaries.
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A hike in fitment factor raises both pension and salaries of the employees.
Under the 8th Pay Commission, pensions are also expected to increase by 186 per cent to Rs Rs 25,740, compared with the current pension of Rs 9,000. This calculation holds true if the currently expected fitment factor of 2.86 gets through.
7th Pay Commission: When Was It Formed?
The 7th Pay Commission, which led to a substantial jump in government employees’ salaries, was formed in February 2014. Its recommendations were implemented from January 1, 2016. The key recommendations included raising the minimum basic pay from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000; revising the pay structure, allowances, and pensions; introducing a health insurance scheme for employees and pensioners; and revising the pension formulation for those retired before January 1, 2016.
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Generally, a pay commission is formed every 10 years, though there is no legal provision for that. It is a practice.
Currently, there are over 1 crore central government employees and pensioners.
