As per an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, in case of deputation within the same station, the deputation (duty) allowance will be payable at the rate of five per cent of basic pay subject to a maximum of Rs 4,500 per month.
The move of the Centre is based on the recommendation of the 7th Central Pay Commission.
The allowance will be payable at the rate of 10 per cent of basic pay, subject to a maximum of Rs 9,000 per month, in case of deputation involving change of station, the personnel ministry order said.
"The ceilings will further rise by 25 per cent each time dearness allowance is increased by 50 per cent," it read.
The deputation allowance at present are granted at the rate of five per cent of basic pay, subject to a ceiling of Rs 2,000 per month for deputation within the same station or 10 per cent of basic pay, subject to a ceiling of Rs 4,000 per month for deputation not within the same station.
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Meanwhile, further increase in the minimum pay is still in limbo as the government is yet make any announcement related to it. On the other hand, news are there that the fitment factor and minimum pay didn’t come under the National Anomaly Committee (NAC) and so there is no point in hoping that the minimum basic salary will be hiked in future.
It somehow put an end to all the rumours surrounding the news of further hike in the minimum pay of the Central government employees.
However, a government official rebuffed the news that there would not be further hike in the minimum pay. “The government is well aware of the demands of the employees and it is considering over that. Once the elections in Gujarat and Rajasthan are over, the government will take appropriate decision," the official stated.
Speaking at a press conference, Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister, Prakash Javadekar said that 7.58 lakh teachers will soon get the benefits of the seventh pay commission, effective from January 2016.
Assistant and Associate Professors of as many as 329 state universities along with 12,912 colleges will get the benefits along with the teachers of government-aided colleges. The revised pay package will also cover teachers of 119 Centrally Funded Technical Institutions like IITs, IISc, IIMs, IISERs, IIITs and NITIE, informed Javadekar.
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There has been an increase of 22% to 28% or Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000, depending on the category.
Assistant Professors who are presently getting Rs 47,000 (at entry level) will now get Rs 57,700. The Assistant Professors in the upper grade, who are getting Rs 56,000, will now get Rs 68,000 while a Senior Assistant Professor will now get nearly Rs 80,000.
Similarly, Associate Professors will draw a salary of Rs 1,31,000, Professors Rs 1,44,000 and Senior Professors Rs 1,82000. The Vice Chancellors of universities across the country will now get Rs 2,25,000.
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The government will have to bear an extra burden of Rs 1,400 crore for the revised pay of teachers in Central Universities and IITs while it will have to shell out Rs 8,400 crore more for payment to teachers in state universities and colleges. In total, the annual Central financial liability on account of this measure would be about Rs 9,800 crore.
"With this decision, the government has done justice to the lakhs of teachers. We need to attract more talent into academics and so, we must give a good salary package to retain talent," said Javadekar.
For the state government-funded institutions, the revised pay scales will require adoption by the respective state governments. The Central government will bear the additional burden of the states on account of revision of pay scales.
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The reason behind the expected slash of around 28% hike in minimum pay as against the demanded 45% hike by the Central government employees is likely due to the recent decline in the country’s GDP growth estimation.
Besides the plunge in the growth projection of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government is believed to be worried about a possible rise in inflation if it will increase the minimum pay by 45% and give arrears on the hiked pay too.
“The IMF has indeed lowered India’s growth projection to 6.7% this year which is 0.5 percentage points less than its previous two forecasts. But the burden should not be put on the employees neither should they be blamed for it. In every 10 years, pay commission happens and the concerned government has to make systematic planning. Central government employees are not responsible for the incompetency of a government in handling the financial situation of the country,” said a retired Indian Railways employee.
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“Demand was 45% hike and if we get only a 17% hike, will it serve the purpose? The financial system of the country is presently going through its worst phase. Along with us, people of the country supported the government in its demonitisation call and also the present GST implementation. But in return, we have got no benefit. Disappointing people with your every move is like forcing the other one to go against you and the present government at the Centre is doing the same. I doubt the future of the country,” said a Central Income Tax employee.
This year’s fiscal math is already stressed, public spending has been reduced, government employees are upset, feeling deceived; people are ambiguous and worried about the government’s policies and its ramifications. “Gosh… What more can we tolerate! All expectations simply got ruined,” he added.
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"To be candid, I have personally stopped brooding upon the pay and all these news and rumors related to it. We have got what the government felt enough, it's different that we hadn't expected it to dip so low. But now, the news of further hike in the pay is just an eyewash just like increasing petrol, diesel prices by Rs 5 and the very next day decreasing the rates by Rs 2. I don't have any expectations from this government as, I think, it feels that the middle-class is strong with extraordinary patience and will tolerate everything silently," said an Indian Navy employee.
Some, however, believe that pay commission recommendations always lead to financial instability, especially in the form of inflation and government must be given time to get rid of it.
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After withstanding some early pressure following the implementation of the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, the government has taken the decision to wipe out the brewing resentment among the employees.
"The news has, indeed, come as a relief for 50 lakhs employees and pensioners who have been eagerly waiting for the increase in minimum salary. However, it is to see, whether the government will pay heed to the demands of the employee unions or not," said a government employee.
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“The government already realized and know that it has to bring employees up tomorrow. So, it has to look at a pay hike to bring every employee up to par with raising fitment factor better than approved by the Cabinet on June 29,” India.com quoted a top official of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions as saying.
What Will Be The Increase?
The minimum pay is likely to be increased from the existing Rs 18,000 to Rs 21,000.
The government employees have been demanding an increase in the minimum pay to Rs 26,000 claiming that anything less than that will have no impact on their financial position and they will continue to suffer.
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However, the government will reportedly increase it to Rs 21,000 by raising the fitment factor to 3 times from the current 2.57 times.
Note: Of all being said, still, there is no clarity of what the final amount would be.
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Other Important Details
The new hike is expected to come into effect from January 2018 following which the salary fitment calculations will be changed.
Both the working employees and the pensioners will get benefited. However, the government may not consider giving arrears on the hike.
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With a large number of Central government employees eagerly waiting for an increase in their minimum pay (as they are not satisfied with the increase in the hike recommended under the 7th Pay Commission), the current situation is getting intense. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had promised to give a bonanza to the lakhs of employees but the so called ‘bonanza’ seems to have turned into a huge disappointment for them.
The Central government employees’ unions are demanding Rs 26,000 as the minimum pay as against the recommended Rs 18,000. However, if sources are to be believed, the NAC is mulling to increase the minimum pay to around Rs 21,000 which is much below the demand.
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The employees are already against the mere Rs 3,000 hike stating that it will have no impact on their financial position. “A hike of at least Rs 8,000 can be something for us to cheer about, putting aside other arrears issues,” said a Central government employee.
"If the NAC recommends raising the fitment factor to 3 times from 2.57 times, we will have nothing to celebrate. Expectations were high from the Modi government in terms of arrears, House Rent Allowances and pay gap issue too, but in vain. Since the NDA government coming to power, we have been put to extra work but we understand... that’s all for the people of the country; but in return, we were cheated and deceived in the name of the 7th Pay Commission," he added
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In case the committee meet this month, a hearing will be there on the hike in the minimum pay which has to be passed by a majority vote of all its stakeholders.
It will then make a detailed report of the same which will be later examined by the Department of Expenditure.
The new pay will be then, as considered by the department, come into force from January 2018.
If we look into the excuses being made by the government post-implementation of the 7th Pay Commission, it seems to be a fairy tale.
Even though the government had stated that there would be hike in the minimum pay at regular intervals as a sudden hike (Rs 26,000) was likely to put the country in a state of inflation, one can hope that after increasing the pay to Rs 21,000 in January further hike will follow.
However, separating the facts from the assumptions, it seems far from reality. Besides, nothing is clear for now as the government is still silent on the issue.
Once the new hike in pay comes into effect, the salary fitment calculations will be changed.
In such a case, not only the working employees but also the pensioners will get benefited.
Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning that the government may hike the minimum pay if recommended, but…“without arrears on the hike”.
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