Government employees are in trouble! Green signal to 8th Pay Commission, bumper increase in salary up to ₹ 2 lakh?

New Delhi: The biggest good news of the year has arrived for central employees and pensioners. After the approval of the Eighth Pay Commission by the Central Government, it has now been implemented in the country. This step will not only fill the pockets of the employees, but will also bring a smile on the faces of lakhs of elderly people waiting for pension after retirement. Let us know how much change is going to happen in your salary and allowances after this decision.

How much will your basic salary increase?

With the implementation of the Eighth Pay Commission, there is going to be a major revision in the salaries, allowances and pensions of both serving and retired employees. Although the government has not yet officially announced the exact percentage of salary increase, but according to media reports, a direct increase of ₹ 18,000 to ₹ 51,000 can be seen in the basic pay depending on the fitment factor. This decision will directly benefit about 50 lakh serving employees and 65 lakh pensioners, including defense sector employees.

Mathematics of fitment factor and calculation of new salary

‘Fitment factor’ plays the most important role in deciding the salary of employees. In the 7th Pay Commission it was 2.57, which is now being discussed to be increased to between 2.8 to 3.0. Let us understand this with an example – if the basic salary of an employee is currently ₹ 35,000 and the new fitment factor is fixed at 2.11, then the new basic salary will increase to ₹ 73,850.

If the fitment factor is set at the level of 2.15, the salary at different levels may increase as follows:

• Level 1: Increase from current ₹18,000 to ₹38,700 (profit of ₹20,700)
• Level 5: Increase from current ₹29,200 to ₹62,780 (profit of ₹33,580)
• Level 15: Increase from current ₹ 1,82,200 to ₹ 3,91,730 (profit of ₹ 2,09,530)
• Level 18: Increase from current ₹2,50,000 to ₹5,37,500 (profit of ₹2,87,500)

Will DA be merged with basic pay?

Employee unions had been demanding for a long time that in view of rising inflation, Dearness Allowance (DA) should be merged with Basic Pay. The unions argue that wage revision should take place every 5 years instead of every 10 years. However, the government has now cleared these apprehensions and made it clear that the basic pay will not be merged into the basic salary. Despite this, there is sure to be a huge increase in allowances like Dearness Allowance (DA) and House Rent Allowance (HRA) under the new commission, because all these are decided on the basis of basic salary.

More than 1 crore people will get benefits

It is noteworthy that the government constitutes a pay commission every ten years so that the salaries of the employees can be evaluated according to the rising inflation and economic conditions. There was no major change in the salary structure since 2015, but now about 1.15 crore families of the country are expected to get financial strength through the 8th Pay Commission.