7th pay commission: From central government employees, their state colleagues to teachers and non-teaching staff and many more, all of them have been making demands for a salary hike, but with mixed results. While certain states like Maharashtra, Tripura and others have cleared the 7th pay commission report recommendations for their employees, central government employees, who have been asking for a salary hike in excess of what was recommended by the report panel, have yet to receive any news about it at all. There is complete silence in the corridors of power at the Centre. Elsewhere, in Bihar, teaching and non-teaching staff were demanding the implementation of the seventh pay commission for long. Considering that the state government was turning a blind eye to their demands, they were looking to highlight their plight by taking the extreme step of going on a strike.

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This would have been a big blow for the students and it left the state government scrambling for solutions. Taking advantage of a convocation, Bihar deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi stepped in and tried to cool temperatures before a strike call notice was issued. Whether his words will ensure  that staff is satisfied is still unclear. However, Modi said that the CM Nitish Kumar led state government in Bihar has constituted a 3 member panel, which will look into the various demands of the teachers sympathetically and it will soon deliver its findings.

Modi was speaking at a valedictory function of Patna University at Bapu Sabhagar during its centenary celebrations. Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar too was present there. In fact, Modi went to the extent of assuring the teaching and non-teaching staff by saying that revised salaries according to the 7th pay commission recommendations would be given to them.

This is how 7th Pay commission raises salaries:

Minimum pay had risen from Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 18,000 p.m.

Lowest starting salary for newly recruited employees - Rs. 18,000

For a freshly recruited Class I officer - Rs. 56,100

Status of employee hitherto determined by grade pay, to be determined by level in Pay Matrix

No new level introduced, no level dispensed with

Fitment factor of 2.57 will be applied across all Levels for revision of pay, pension

Defence Pay Matrix was improved by enhancing Index of Rationalisation

Gratuity ceiling - from Rs. 10 to 20 lakh, will increase by 25% whenever DA rises 50%

Ceiling of House Building Advance advanced from Rs. 7.50 lakh to 25 lakh

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Notably, central government employees are not happy with these amounts under the 7th Pay Commission report recommendations and want a salary pay hike via a fitment factor of 3.68 times that would raise minimum salaries at the lowest level to Rs 26,000.

Significantly, PM Narendra Modi led Cabinet has hiked central government employees and pensioners dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) by 2 per cent today. Reason is to protect their salaries from the ill-effects of price rise.