7th Pay Commission – DA Merger Would have been more Beneficial

7th Pay Commission – DA Merger Would have been more Beneficial – Whether enough organizational pressure was there to get the demand accepted is now an academic issue for discussion only.

The 7^th Pay Commission submitted its report in November 2015. The Empowered Committee of Secretaries blocked it for 7 long months. Finally the cabinet approved the report without any modification, The Gazette Notification on the pay and allowances of employees was issued on 25-07-2016. The same minimum pay of Rs.18000/- The same multiplication factor of 2.57. Absolutely no change.

Let us now analyse what would have been the case, had 50% of Dearness Allowance / Dearness Relief been merged with pay / pension with effect from 01-11-2011. DA merger had taken place before implementation of 5^th and 6^th CPC Recommendations.

Though we had demanded it this time also, it was not agreed to. Whether enough organizational pressure was there to get the demand accepted is now an academic issue for discussion only. The DA / DR was 51% in January 2011. The percentage rates of DA/DR were 58, 65, 72, 80, 90, 100 107, 113, 119 and 125 during subsequent six monthly periods up to January 2016.

Now we shall workout the financial implication of the 50% DA/DR merger notionally.  A person with a basic pay / pension of Rs. 10,000/- would have got Rs. 1,06,500/- as difference in DA/DR for the period 01-01-2011 to 31-12-2015. That is the notional loss. It is easy to workout. For every 1,000 rupee as pay / pension, the benefit would have been Rs. 10650/- We cannot even dream of such an amount as pay revision “bonanza”.

The pay + DA of the lowest paid employee who was drawing Rs. 7,000/- (5,200 +1,800). On 01-01-2016 would have been Rs. 1,8375/- In that case, no Pay  Commission would have dared to recommend Rs. 18000/- as minimum pay as it would have been less than the actual pay + DA drawn by the employee.
Even if we accept the 14.29% increase recommended by the 7^th pay commission, the minimum pay would have been Rs. 21,000/- and so the multiplication factor would have increased to 3 instead of 2.57.
Employees and pensioners would have been benefitted significantly.

We were after the euphoria of a Pay Commission. We thought the 7th pay commission and the Government will deliver us good. It was a folly on our part in not clinching the demand of merger of 50% DA with effect from 01-01-2011. We shall blame ourselves for that. This is a lesson for us to be cautious in future.

Source: CGPA Kerala

7th Pay Commission – Non-settlement of demands – 11th July Indefinite Strike – NJCA writes to PM for intervention

7th Pay Commission – Non-settlement of demands – 11th July Indefinite Strike – NJCA writes to PM for intervention

Ph.: 23382286
National Council (Staff Side)
Joint Consultative Machinery
for Central Government Employees
13-C, Ferozshah Road, New Delhi – 110001
EMail: nc.jcm.np@gmail.com

NO.NC/JCM/2016/CS/PM

Dated: 14.06.2016

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India,
152, South Block,
Raisina Hill,
New Delhi-110011
Respected Sir,

Sub: Non-settlement of our demands – Decision to go on “Indefinite Strike” commencing from 11.07.2016 – Request for your intervention and support.

I write this on behalf of the apex level body of all the Central Government Employees Organizations who are participating in the Negotiating Forum; called the Joint Consultative Machinery. The JCM as a Negotiating Forum was conceived and implemented in 1966 after the prolonged discussions with the Staff Associations and the Federations in the Central Services in the wake of first industrial action in 1960. The idea of setting up the JCM was in realization of the absence of a platform to discuss, deliberate and settle the demands/issues/grievances/problems of the Civil Servants. Up to 1995-96 the JCM, which has a three level negotiating platform was functioning well, meetings were regular. However, after the promulgation of the new recognition Rules in 1993, the meetings at the Ministry level became few and far between and at the national level, the deterioration stepped in a little latter. The National Council, which was to meet thrice in a year did not meet even once in a year. The last meeting of the National Council was held on 15.05.2010 The organizations participating in the JCM were demanding the meeting to be held, but the pleas were ignored by the successive Cabinet Secretaries. The Charter of Demands (copy enclosed), in pursuance of which the strike is decided to be organized, has arisen due to long neglect of the grievances of the employees/workers.

When the 7th CPC was set up in February, 2014, no announcement for Interim Relief or DA Merger was made by the then government, which had all along been the practice whenever the government had set-up the Pay Commissions earlier. We fully co-operated with the Commission, submitted a memorandum detailing the issues and explained the reasoning behind each demand. The 7th CPC submitted report on 19.11.2015 to the government. In our communication dated 10.12.2015 (copy enclosed), we sought
improvement/amendment over the recommendations of the 7th CPC and explained our demands both in writing and orally before the Empowering Committee. Most of the meetings were monologues except perhaps the last one. What we have understood, is that, the Empowering Committee might not come forward to make any major changes. A fruitful meeting is supposed to be a dialogue where both parties at the negotiating table exchange their understanding, views and difficulties and reach a mutually acceptable position. In 1998, when the then Cabinet Secretary decided not to have such a dialogue with the Staff Side and unalterably issued the Government Notification on the 5th CPC recommendations, the then government did set up a committee of Group of Ministers. The GoM held discussions on all issues and averted the strike action. The 1998 situation establishes, without an iota of doubt, that, the Staff Side has always taken reasonable stand on all the issues and paved way for settlement.

The one and only recommendation made by the 7th CPC was to provide some relief to the past old pensioners. The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has unfortunately recommended to the Cabinet Secretary that, even that recommendation must be rejected on the specious plea that the requisite relevant records might not be available.

These developments have caused anguish, anxiety and anger amongst the workers. It is now more than six months that the Commission submitted its report. If the government comes forward to hold a meaningful discussion with the leaders of the NJCA, a mutually acceptable settlement can be brought about and the impending strike, slated to commence from 11.07.2016, can ultimately be avoided.

We seek your co-operation, supports and intervention in the matter

Yours faithfully,

sd/-
(Shiva Gopal Mishra)
Secretary(Staff Side),
NC/JCM

Source : National Council (Staff Side)

6th Pay Commission Dearness Allowance ends with 6% hike at 125%

6th Pay Commission Dearness Allowance ends with 6% hike at 125%

Cabinet approves 6 percent Dearness Allowance hike for Central Government employees

“In the 7th Pay Commission report, submitted to the government on 19.11.2015, it was mentioned that the DA is assumed to be 125 percent as on 1 January, 2016, the day from which the
Commission expects its recommendations to be implemented by the government. As calculated by the 7th Pay Commission, a six percent Dearness Allowance hike is being given to the Central Government employees.”

The Dearness Allowance (DA) is paid to Central Government employees to adjust the cost of living and to protect their Basic Pay from erosion in the real value on account of inflation. Presently, DA is based on the All India Consumer Price Index (Industrial Workers).

On 23.03.2016, Wednesday, the Centre decided to give a Dearness Allowance of 6 percent to the Central Government employees in order to enable them to manage the price rise and inflation.

On the occasion of Holi, a special cabinet meeting, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was held in New Delhi on 23rd March 2016. At the end of the meeting, Mr. Ravishankar Prasad, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, spoke to the reporters. He said, “The cabinet has decided to issue a Dearness Allowance of six percent to the Central Government employees and pensioners.”

The Dearness Allowance is expected to be calculated from January 1, 2016 onwards. This increases the total Dearness Allowance from 119 percent to 125 percent. More than 50 lakh Central Government employees and 58 lakh pensioners will benefit from this. The government will incur an additional financial burden of Rs.14,725 crores. Dearness Allowance is issued twice a year, based on inflation. The previous Dearness Allowance hike, of six percent, was issued in the month of September 2015, and had a retrospective effect from July 2015 onwards.

This is the last and final instalment of Dearness Allowance calculated by the recommendations of 6th Pay Commission. And, after implementation of 7th Pay Commission the new and first Dearness allowance from 1.7.2016 will be approved by the Cabinet in the middle of September 2016.