7th Pay Commission: More pain than gain; hopes crushed?

Putting an end to all the rumours surrounding the news of further hike in the minimum pay of the Central government employees, a finance ministry source has confirmed that there will not be any hike in the employees' basic pay against what has already been recommended by the 7th Pay Commission.

The news has indeed come as a major setback for the lakhs of Central government employees who had high hopes on the Modi government that it would not disappoint the issue highly impacting their financial position.

This source, while referring to a Department of Personnel Training letter that said that fitment factor and minimum pay didn’t come under the National Anomaly Committee (NAC), stated that there is no point in hoping that the minimum basic salary will be hiked in future, Business Times reported.

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This source, while referring to a Department of Personnel Training letter that said that fitment factor and minimum pay didn’t come under the National Anomaly Committee (NAC), stated that there is no point in hoping that the minimum basic salary will be hiked in future.

“We never expected of getting cheated by the BJP government even though it took too long in the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission. But the latest news related to the hike is disappointing. This is not the way we want to get treated,” said an upset Central government employee.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had promised during the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission that there would be further hike in the minimum pay but he didn’t keep his words, he alleged.

“The government’s intention was to avert protests by the employee unions and for that only it put us in dark and stretched the issue by giving us false hope of hiking the minimum pay through a high-level committee,” alleged another employee.

“It’s difficult for the employees to meet their financial needs with what they are getting. I doubt if the government knows even that pay commission happens once in 10 years and for the next 10 years the employees have to deal with the rising costs. What’s the gain in implementation of anti-employee policies?” questioned a retired government employee.

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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 added.

The Central government employees are expecting the minimum pay to be increased to Rs 26,000 from the present Rs 18,000.

Earlier, reports were there that NAC would submit its report to the cabinet for approval on the revision in the minimum pay by mid December this year and with the approval of the cabinet, the new hike in the minimum pay was expected to be implemented from April 2018.