Exclusive: Good News! Cabinet clears 78-day bonus for railway employees

Railway employees bonus news: Ahead of Dussehra, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved 78-day production-linked bonus (PLB) for railway employees for 2021-22, sources told Zee Business. Around 11 lakh non-gazetted railway employees will benefit from this move.  It will put an additional burden of Rs 2,000 crore on the Indian Railways.    

Besides, in a big development, the government also given a go-ahead to a four per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) for the government employees under seventh Pay Commission.  

Earlier, in 2021, the Union Cabinet had approved a productivity-linked bonus equivalent to 78 days' wage to eligible non-gazetted Railway employees, benefitting about 1.156 mill­ion non-gazetted Railway employees, Union mini­ster Anurag Thakur had told PTI.    

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कैबिनेट से रेलवे कर्मचारियों के लिए 78 दिन का बोनस मंजूर

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केंद्रीय कर्मचारियों के महंगाई भत्ते में बढ़ोतरी को मंजूरी

DA में 4% बढ़ोतरी को भी कैबिनेट से मंजूरी मिली pic.twitter.com/vKXUVzC5wm

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An expenditure of nearly Rs 1,985 crore was incurred on productivity-linked bonus the previous year. The bonus is usually announced ahead of Dussehra and Puja festivities.    

The wage calculation ceiling prescribed for payment of PLB to the eligible non-gazetted railway employees is Rs 7,000/- p.m. The maximum amount payable per eligible railway employee is Rs 17,951 for 78 days.    

The Productivity Linked Bonus on Railway covers all non-gazetted railway employees, excluding RPF/RPSF personnel, spread over the entire country.  

Railways was the first departmental undertaking of the Government of India, wherein the concept of PLB was introduced in the year 1979-80, as per the Ministry of Railways. 

The main consideration at that time was the important role of the Railways as an infrastructural support in the performance of the economy as a whole. In the overall context of Railway working, it was considered desirable to introduce the concept of PLB as against the concept of Bonus on the lines of 'The Payment of Bonus Act -1965'.   

Even though the Payment of Bonus Act does not apply to the Railways, yet the broad principles contained in that Act were kept in view for the purpose of determining the "Wage/Pay Ceiling", definition of 'Salary'/'Wage', etc. The PLB Scheme for the Railways came into force from the year 1979-80 and was evolved in consultation with the two recognized Federations namely, All India Railwaymen's Federation and National Federation of Indian Railwaymen and with the approval of the Cabinet. The scheme envisages a review every three years.