Days after Chief of National Joint Council of Action (NJCA), Shiv Gopal Mishra confirmed that the Narendra Modi government is serious and is considering a hike in the minimum pay of the Central government employees, speculations are rife as to what will be the hike.
The CG employees, who are presently getting a minimum pay of Rs 18,000, have been demanding a hike of Rs 8000 or an increase in the fitment factor by 3.68 times from the existing 2.57 times.
So, to encapsulate, they are demanding to increase the present minimum pay to Rs 26,000. But the big questions lies- will the Modi government accept their demand?
"It's not about accepting the demand entirely as it would have an impact on the inflation rate among others. The Modi government is considering the demand of the employees and it will definitely come up with something in this regard. The burden on the state exchequer is going to be huge, one should keep patience.," said a financial expert.
As elections are round the corner, the government will not take the risk of disappointing the CG employees. Their number is huge and it can have a positive or negative impact on the prospects of the ruling-BJP, he added.
Meanwhile, speculations are also rife that the hike will be announced ahead of the 2019 polls and a decision in this regard will be taken this month. However, there is no confirmation in this regard.
The only update is that Shiv Gopal Mishra, in his Facebook post, mentioned that Home Minister Rajnath Singh has taken up the initiative to calm down the brewing resentment among the Central government employees and so, he has called for a meeting of the central government employees unions with the interim Finance Minister on February 8.