According to an HT report, the central government has turned down the request of pensioners to release Dearness Relief (DR) that occurred during the initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The amount was held back to meet other immediate expenses during the lockdown. Here’s what you need to know about the recent developments on Dearness Allowance (DA) given to government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) given to pensioners:
Why DA and DR were stopped?
The central government had withheld three installments of DA and DR for January 1, 2020; July 1, 2020; and in view of the unprecedented situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic on January 1, 2021. DA and DR are revised twice a year – January and July. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha in August last year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said withholding DA and DR resulted in a saving of “about Rs 34,402 crore”.
The freeze was lifted in July 2021, and the DA and DR allowances were increased three times since then.
Government will not release the DR withheld earlier
The 32nd meeting of the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies for Review and Rationalization of Pension Rules under the chairmanship of Union Pensioners Welfare Minister Jitendra Singh was held on Monday. During the meeting, “a representative of the Department of Expenditure (DoE) specified that the amount of DA and DR frozen will not be restored”, HT report quoted a source as saying.
DA and DR. recent increase in
The government had recently increased DA and DR. Since July 2021, when the freeze was lifted, there has been three hikes in DA and DR and nearly doubled.
In July 2021, the Center had increased the DA and DR for central government employees and pensioners from 17 per cent to 28 per cent, respectively, after a long pause. Again in October 2021, central government employees saw a hike of 3 per cent in dearness allowance. Then, the DA for central government employees increased to 31 per cent, with effect from July 2021. Now, from January 2022, DA and DR will be paid to the salaried at the rate of 34 per cent, which was increasing at the rate of 31 per cent earlier. Percent.
DA Hike: How DA is Calculated
The central government changed the formula for calculating DA for central government employees and pensioners in 2006.
For Central Government employees: Dearness Allowance % = ((Average of All India Consumer Price Index (Base Year 2001=100) for the last 12 months -115.76/115.76)*100.
For Central Public Sector Employees: Dearness Allowance % = ((Average of All India Consumer Price Index for last 3 months (Base Year 2001=100)-126.33)/126.33)*100
Now, according to the All India Consumer Price Index data, central government employees are seeing a 3 per cent hike in their dearness allowance after the latest hike.
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