DA Hike 2025: Government employees have been waiting for a long-awaited increase in dearness allowance. Central government employees and pensioners have been awaiting a hike in DA and DR for a long time. It is being said that the government may increase the dearness allowance before Diwali. Dearness allowance is revised twice every year, from January to June and from June to December. This year, the government revised the dearness allowance in January. It was expected that the June-to-December revision would be released in June.

For a long time, employees and various unions had hoped that the dearness allowance arrears withheld during the pandemic would be paid at any time. Furthermore, unions repeatedly raised the issue and wrote letters to the government. However, a recent development has made it clear that receiving the arrears for this period seems almost impossible, as employees have seemingly given up hope.

Why was the dearness allowance withheld during COVID-19?
In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought economic activity to a standstill in the country, the central government froze dearness allowance (DA/DR) for central government employees and pensioners for 18 months. The government stated that the country’s economy was under unprecedented pressure at that time and required significant expenditure on several key fronts.

Other issues discussed at the meeting:

– Restoration of the commuted pension after 12 years (instead of 15 years)

– Increasing the quota for compassionate appointments by 5%

– Formation of the 8th Pay Commission (CPC)

– Reducing the residency period for promotion.

This increase in dearness allowance will benefit approximately 5 million government employees and 6.5 million pension beneficiaries. Government employees’ salaries include several allowances, including dearness allowance. The purpose of providing a dearness allowance is to ensure that employees are not financially affected by annual inflation.

How much will dearness allowance increase?
According to media reports, this time the dearness allowance could be increased by 3% to 4%. Currently, the dearness allowance is recorded at 55%. Accordingly, the dearness allowance could be 58% or 59%.

How much will the salary increase be?
The basic salary of ₹18,000 could increase by ₹540, and the basic pension of ₹9,000 could increase by ₹270. The Cabinet will take the final decision on this between September and October.