7th Pay Commission DA hike news: Central government employees may get dearness allowance boost of up to 5 pct; highest jump of Rs 12,500

7th Pay Commission DA hike news: Centre is likely to make an announcement to increase dearness allowance (DA) for central government employees. The dearness allowance (DA) is expected to increase by 5 percent. This has been stated by Harishankar Tiwari, former president of DA calculator AG Office Brotherhood, Allahabad, and Assistant Secretary General of All India Audit and Accounts Association. Tiwari told Zee Business Digital that June month's data of All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI) (Number) has come, which is in favor of government employees. According to this, the DA, in all likelihood, is expected to increase by 5 percent this time. This increase will be effective from July, 2019.

According to Tiwari, inflation has increased in AICPI for April 2019. It increased to 314 in May 2019, compared to 312 points in April, and in June 2019, this reached 316 points. Government sources say that increased DA will be implemented in the 7th pay commission linked salaries of October or November along with arrears.

DA still 12 per cent

The central employees currently avail 12 per cent DA on monthly basis, said Tiwari, adding that if the government increases this by 5 per cent, it will reach 17 per cent. Following this hike, the salary of a lower level official, who has a monthly income of Rs 18,000, will increase by about Rs 900 per month, while the highest level official, pay Level 18, will get an increase of Rs 12,500 per month.

Uniform DA 

Ever since the implementation of the 7th pay commission pay scale, the DA of government servant at each level increases uniformly. According to the pay matrix of 7th Pay Commission, the dearness allowance from Level 1 to Level 18 will be equal in proportion to their wages. Level 1 belongs to the entry level of government service, while Level 18 is related to the official at the cabinet rank. 

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What is dearness allowance?

Dearness allowance is part of Basic Salary being given to the employee to fight inflation. This is attached to the employee's cost of living (CoL) i.e. the city in which he lives, and is related to expenses incurred there. It is linked to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and it revised from time to time by the Central government. The DA is calculated in percentage considering Basic Pay as standard.