7th Pay Commission: Once the DA hike is announced, it will be effective from July 1, 2024.

7th Pay Commission Latest News: Here comes another piece of good news for the Central government employees ahead of the festive season. They are likely to get 3% DA hike in September after the Union Cabinet approves it, a report by News 18 claimed. Once the DA hike is announced, it will be effective from July 1, 2024. Sources told News 18 that a 3 per cent DA hike is sure, but it can also increase to 4 per cent. However, everything will be clear once the Union Cabinet takes the decision in this regard.

The 4% DA hike will depend upon inflation conditions, the sources added. Right now, the dearness allowance will stand at 50 per cent of the basic pay.

The same report suggested that there are talks that the DA will be merged with the basic pay as per the 7th Pay Commission.

The sources further told the news portal that the DA will not be merged with the basic pay in case of dearness allowance beyond 50 per cent and will continue as it is until the 8th Pay Commission is formed.

In the earlier DA hike in March 2024, the Central had hiked the dearness allowance by 4 per cent to 50 per cent of the basic pay. The Centre also increased dearness relief (DR) by 4 per cent.

The Central government employees must be knowing that the DA is granted to government employees, while DR is given to pensioners. Notably, the DAs and DRs are hiked twice a year – once in January and then in July.

Apart from 7th Pay Commission DA hike, there are also talks going on about 8th Pay Commission and the Confederation of Central Govt Employees and Workers in July made several demands ahead of the Budget 2024, including the immediate constitution of the 8th Pay Commission and restoring the old pension scheme.

However, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary made it clear that two representations have been received for constitution of the 8th Central Pay Commission in June 2024 and no such proposal is under consideration by the government.