DA Hike News: The wait is over! Center announces increase in DA for government employees

Ending all speculations, DA has increased for central government employees. DA hike of 4 percent has been announced by the Centre. Union Minister Anurag Thakur announced this DA increase on Friday. As a result DA of central government employees increased from 38 percent to 42 percent.

The news of the DA hike has been confirmed by the Union Minister. Reportedly, the Center has sanctioned Rs 12,815 crore in this DA increase.

On Friday, the Union Cabinet gave the green signal to increase the DA. As a result, the central government employees will get the outstanding DA from January by the end of March. 47.58 lakh central government employees and 69.76 lakh pensioners will benefit from this decision of the Centre.

Incidentally, the DA of central government employees is increased twice every year. One in January and the other in July. The January DA increase was in March this year. However, central government employees will receive the money as arrears from January. The last time the DA rose was in September. Even then, the Center had approved a 4 percent DA hike. As a result DA of government employees increased from 34 percent to 38 percent.

The increase in DA will also increase the amount of money available to central government employees. Assuming the salary of a grade D worker is Rs.18,000. In that case, he used to get Rs 6840 per month as a dearness allowance at 38%. Which is 42 percent will increase to 7560 rupees. That means a salary increase of Rs 720 per month. Which will be 8640 rupees at the end of the year. Similarly, if a central government employee's salary is Rs 25,000, he will get an increase of Rs 10,710 per year due to this increase in DA or Dearness Allowance.

As a result of this increase in DA by the Centre, the gap between the DA of state and central government employees widened further. However, how consistent is the claim of DA at the central rate by working in the state government? Many have questioned it. But the state government employees are currently adamant about the DA hike movement.