Ahead of festival season, central
government will this month announce a hike in dearness
allowance to 90% from existing 80%, benefiting about 50 lakh
central employees and 30 lakh pensioners.
According to official source,
dearness allowance hike will be 10% and would be effective from July 1, this
year.
The sources further said the exact
amount of dearness allowance, as a proportion of basic pay, works out to over
90% after factoring in the revised all India Consumer
Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) for June.
According to revised data released
on August 30, retail
inflation for factory workers for June stood at 11.63%,
higher than provisional estimate of 11.06% for the month released on July
31.
Sources said that since the revised
estimate for the month of June is available, the finance ministry would soon
prepare a proposal for the purpose for seeking Union Cabinet nod.
They further said the proposal will
be moved this month. There would be a double digit hike in DA after about three
years. It was last in September, 2010, that the government had announced a hike
of 10% to be given with effect from July 1, 2010.
DA was hiked to 80% from 72% in
April, 2013, effective from January 1, this year.
As per the practice, the government
uses CPI-IW data for past 12 month or a year to arrive at a number for the
purpose of any DA hike. Thus, the retail inflation for industrial workers
between July, 2012 to June 2013 will be used to take a final decision.
Source : The Times of India
