Diwali Gift: Dearness Allowance Hiked By 3%, 47 Lakh Employees To Benefit

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved an additional release of Dearness Allowance (DA) instalment to the Central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to the pensioners. The decision will be effective from July 1, 2021.

The DA and DR hike announcement will benefit around 47.14 lakh Central government employees and 68.62 lakh pensioners respectively.

Impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be around Rs 9,488.70 crore per annum.

Earlier in September, the Department of Expenditure, under the Ministry of Finance, had issued a memorandum stating the retired central government employees will receive cash payment and gratuity.

Prior to this, the Centre had approved an increase in DA and Dearness Relief (DR) given to central government employees and pensioners from 17 per cent to 28 per cent.

In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government had frozen additional instalments of the DA and DR.

The Centre's DA hike, effective from July 1, had implied that the employees won't get any arrears on non-revision of DA for the previous period.