Cabinet hikes dearness allowance to 28% for Central govt employees

In a major relief to Central government employees and pensioners, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR)

In a major relief to Central government employees and pensioners, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) to 28 per cent. Till now, central government employees used to get DA of 17 per cent on their basic salary.

This was announced by Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday.

As per an official release, the increased Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief, which will come into effect from July 1, will be 28 per cent representing an increase of 11 per cent over the existing rate of 17 per cent of the Basic Pay/Pension.

The Union Minister added that this move will impact 48.34 lakh central government employees and 65.26 lakh government pensioners.

Last year, the Cabinet had approved a 4 per cent hike in Dearness Allowance for central government employees. However, the increment was stalled due to the pandemic.

In view of the unprecedented situation which arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cabinet has decided to freeze three additional instalments of DA to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief DR to pensioners, which were due from January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021.

The rate of Dearness Allowance/Dearness Relief for the period January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, shall remain at 17 per cent,” the release added.

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