7th Pay Commission: Worst in 70 years, only panel not to reduce 7th CPC pay gap

7th Pay Commission: Worst in 70 years, only panel not to reduce 7th CPC pay gap

Employee unions are engaging in talks with the government after every central government employee has expressed dissatisfaction with the 7th Pay Commission recommendations. The pay panel reduced the HRA and employees are upset since it constitutes a substantial part of their salary. The Commission had recommended HRA at the rate of 24 per cent, 16 per cent and 8 per cent of basic pay of the central government employees. The government decided to go ahead with the HRA.

Give HRA as per 6th Pay Commission

Employees cite the HRA recommendations made by the 6th Pay Commission. The previous commission had recommended HRA at the rate of 30 per cent, 20 per cent and 10 per cent for X, Y and Z category of cities respectively. The employees say that they want the HRA as per the previous commission.

Why HRA hike is needed

A hike in the HRA would mean the central government employees take more salary home. HRA constitutes a substantial part of the salary. Moreover central government employees are unhappy that the arrears on allowances were not given. The cabinet had approved the allowances from July 2017 as opposed to the July 2016 demand by the employees.

7th Pay Commission did not bridge the gap

The previous commissions had bridged the pay gap where the basic pay between lower paid employees and top bureaucrats were concerned. The 2nd pay commission had done it in the ratio of 1:41 while in the case of the 6th Pay Commission it was 1:12. The 7th Pay Commission recommended a minimum basic pay for Central government employees of Rs 18,000 with a maximum pay of Rs 2.50 lakh per month. While other pay commissions reduced the gap, the latest pay panel increased it to 1:14.

Lowest hike in 70 years

The 7th Pay Commission had recommended a 14.27 per cent hike in the basic pay. The reason why central government employees are so distressed is because this is the lowest in 70 years. The previous had recommended a 20 per cent hike, which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008.