Jaipur, Sep 10: Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Rajasthan, the state government on Monday increased the Dearness Allowance (DA) for state government employees by 2%. With the latest DA hike, the allowance rises from 7% to 9% with effect from July 1, 2018. It is believed to benefit around 8 lakh employees and nearly 3.5 lakh pensioners. The move comes a day after the state government reduced the VAT on petrol and diesel by 4 per cent.

It must be noted that the Dearness Allowance (DA) is a cost of living adjustment allowance paid to Government employees, Public sector employees (PSE) and pensioners in India. The allowance is calculated as a percentage of a person's basic salary to mitigate the impact of inflation on people.

According to a government release, the increased amount for the period between July 1, 2018, and August 31, 2018, will be credited to the General Provident Fund Account of the respective employees and cash payment shall be admissible from September 1, 2018.

The release further added that the arrear of dearness allowance from July 1, 2018, to August 31, 2018, to the employees recruited to civil services on or after January 1, 2004, and who are governed by Contributory Pension Scheme will be paid in cash.

In August, the Centre had cleared the release of an additional 2% of dearness allowance (DA) to its employees and dearness relief (DR) to pensioners from 1 July 2018. The latest DA hike is believed to benefit about 4.84 million central government employees and 6.2 million pensioners.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 10, 2018 09:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).