8th Pay Commission: There is another update revealed regarding DA.The central government approved the formation of the 8th Pay Commission in January. The timeline of the 7th Pay Commission will end on 31 December 2025. At the same time, the new pay commission is to be implemented from January 1, 2026. However, after the formation of the panel, it may take about 15-18 months for its final report to come.
According to sources, the panel can submit its recommendations by April-May 2026. But, it will take some more time for the final report to come. For this, it is expected to be implemented by the year 2027. But, will the dearness allowance be merged with the basic salary when the new pay commission comes or can the situation remain as it is? There is also a discussion that the government can change the calculation of dearness allowance on the new pay commission. For this, the base year of dearness allowance (DA Base year) can be changed.
Panel may be formed in May
The wait of central employees is about to end. The panel of the 8th Pay Commission may be formed in early May. The government had given the green signal to it in January itself. The term of the 7th Pay Commission is ending on 31 December 2025. The new commission is to be implemented from 1 January 2026. However, it may take 15-18 months for the final report to come, that is, the implementation may also be delayed till 2027.
The biggest debate is whether the current dearness allowance (DA) will be added to the basic salary when the new pay commission comes or will everything remain the same? Another big discussion is that the government can change the method of calculation of dearness allowance in the 8th Pay Commission.
If sources are to be believed, the government can change the base year for DA calculation. This will change the entire calculation. At present, dearness allowance is calculated on the basis of AICPI-IW index and its base year is 2016. It was changed when the 7th Pay Commission was implemented.
Experts believe that inflation has increased rapidly in the last decade. Therefore, the current base year (2016) is now outdated. The new base year will give a correct estimate of inflation. It is expected that when the 8th Pay Commission will be implemented (January 1, 2026), the government can make the same year i.e. 2026 as the new base year.
If the base year is changed, the current dearness allowance will become zero and the calculation of DA will start afresh on the basis of the new base year. It is estimated that the current DA can reach 61% by January 2026. If the base year is changed, then this old DA can be merged into the basic salary. However, these are just speculations. Every small and big update related to the 8th Pay Commission, how much will be the increase in salary and what will happen to DA, all this will be decided only when the panel submits its report.