The dearness allowance (DA) of Central and state government employees applicable from July to December this year has been increased by 3 percent as the national consumer price index has risen from 335 percentage points to 342.92. Consequently, the Central DA will go up from 28 to 31 percent and state DA from 9 to 12.
The Central Government had decided that the DA hike, which had been frozen over the last one-and-a-half years owing to the COVID-19 situation, would be implemented from July. As a result, Central employees would receive a DA of 28 percent this month instead of 17 percent they were being paid. The Centre is expected to announce the new hike of 3 percent late in August or early September.
At the same time, state government staff are receiving a DA of 7 percent only even though they are eligible for 9 per cent. In fact, there is an arrear of 2 percent DA on the revised salary from January this year. With a new 3 percent hike in DA being cleared, there is uncertainty over when the state government would implement the proposal.