8th Pay Commission: Great news for central employees and pensioners eagerly awaiting the 8th Pay Commission! There’s a significant boost on the horizon for their basic salaries and allowances. Recently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shared some key updates in Parliament regarding the 8th Pay Commission.
What did Sitharaman say?
During her response to the discussions on the Appropriation (No. 3) Bill 2025 and the Finance Bill 2025, Sitharaman announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the green light for the 8th Central Pay Commission, which will review the salaries and benefits for central government employees and pensioners starting in January 2025. She mentioned that all central government pensioners who retired before January 1, 2016, are currently receiving pensions equivalent to those who retired after that date. She acknowledged that, based on the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations, some disparities among pensioners are unavoidable, and these will be addressed through revisions and validations.
Importantly, she clarified that the validation rules won’t alter the existing pension structure for current civil pensioners and have no impact on defense pensioners, who are governed by different regulations. The Finance Minister emphasized that this is not an amendment to any pension rules but merely a reaffirmation of the existing guidelines established since June 1, 1972, when the CCS (Pension) Rules were enacted.
DA has gone up by 2%
Just to keep you in the loop, last Friday, the Central Government approved a 2% hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) for its current employees under the 7th Pay Commission. This means that the DA for central government employees will rise from 53% to 55% of their basic salary. It’s worth mentioning that this DA adjustment, which happens every six months, also boosts other salary elements like HRA (House Rent Allowance) and TA (Travel Allowance). Employees will receive this increased DA for January and February 2025 as arrears along with their March salary.