New Delhi, February 6: Despite the Union Budget 2020-21 falling short of meeting the much-awaited expectations of a section of central government employees, reports are still speculating a hike beyond the 7th Pay Commission recommendations. According to a Hindi daily, the government is "seriously considering" to hike the Dearness Allowance (DA) for the workforce. Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh Employees to Get Allowances of 7th Pay Commission.

Government sources which spoke to Jansatta said a DA hike is still under consideration, despite no monetary allocation announced in the Budget by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Ahead of the rollout of fiscal policy, reports citing officials had claimed that the allowance has been raised from 17 to 21 percent.

The four percent DA hike speculation was boosted by a similar measure taken by the governments of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha -- where the allowance was raised by 5 percent. The announcements were issued by the respective state governments ahead of the rollout of their Budgets.

If the Centre decided to revise the DA, a similar largesse would have to be extended to the pensioners in form of the Dearness Relief (DR) hike. The key allowance is aimed at offsetting the impact of inflation -- which has rose exponentially over the past quarter. The vegetable inflation peaked to 60,5 percent in December 2019.

Apart from the DA hike, the central government employees are also awaiting a hike in the entry-level minimum salaries. The employee unions have demanded the government to revise the minimum wages from Rs 18,000 at present to Rs 21,000. The Finance Ministry had, in 2018, told the Parliament that it is not considering to raise the salaries beyond the 7th CPC recommendations.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 06, 2020 10:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).