MERGER OF 50 PERCENT DA

Merger of 50 percent DA may soon be considered by Central Government –Sources

Sources close to the Central Government Employees Federations told that Merger of 50% DA will soon be considered by Central Government before the budget session of Parliament in February 2014. According to the sources, the central government is likely to consider the central government employees  demand for merging of 50 % DA, for the reason that the DA will be crossing 100% level after January 2014.

The rate of dearness allowance to be paid to govt servants has been increasing consistently due to the rise in the prices of essential commodities for the past two years. In 2011 the rate of DA was at 50 % level. Since then all the Federation demanded the central government to merge the 50 Percent DA with basic Pay. But the government did not accept this demand to merge the DA with basis pay, as it was not recommended by sixth CPC.

The demand would be considered in view of parliament elections

But federations kept on demanding the government that raising dearness allowance alone will not help to compensate the alarming rate of price rice. So they urged the government to consider their demand favorably. It is believed that after the defeat in the election of four state legislative councils, the UPA government has decided to reconsider about its decision on the issues which directly affects the common public. The high command of the ruling party thought that the reason for their defeat in the state election is mainly because of their government failed to contain the price rise. The gap between common public and UPA government has been considerably increased. To correct these failures the UPA government decides to do something to attract the voters.

After announcing the government’s proposal to constitute the 7th pay commission, the community of central government employees has been convinced to have soft view on this government. Further the 50 lakh central government employees would be made happy if the 50% DA is merged with Basic Pay. It is told that , as the central government staff association and federations demanding it very seriously, in case the government decides go with this demand, there will be around one crore voters will be in favour of UPA government. So the government may consider the demand of merging of 50% DA with basic Pay in view of forthcoming Parliament elections.

Allowances will have no impact on merging DA with basic Pay

The sources, associated with National Council JCM, said that the government initially was not willing to consider this demand as some allowance and advances have been raised by 25% whenever the DA crosses 50% level as per the sixth CPC recommendation. But federations insisted that the allowances, which are raised to 25 % level when DA crosses 50%, will have no impact on merging DA with basic pay. The only allowance will have an increase when Basic Pay increases are HRA. No other allowances will be increased and other entitlement of the respective Grade Pay will not be revised as the 50% DA to be merged will be kept under separate component like it was treated in 5CPC as Dearness Pay. “There is no need to worry about financial implications, as the 50% DA will be paid by just changing its nomenclature as Dearness Pay”, said sources.

50% DA merger to be decalered before DA crosses 100%

Further, it has been informed that it is good enough for the government to announce its decision before declaring the next additional installment of DA. Because the AICPIN for Industrial workers for the Month of December 2013 is awaited to determine the rate of dearness allowance to be paid from January 2014.The result of last 11 months AICPIN shows that DA will definitely be raised by 10 % from existing 90% level. So the rate of DA will be 100% with effect from 1st January 2014. After the DA increased to 100%, the demand for 50% DA merger will have to change its avatar. Probably the demand would be for 100% DA merger. So the federations expect the government may consider 50% DA merger soon.

However, decision if any in this regard should be taken before the announcement of election for parliament. It is expected that election announcement for parliament will be made by the end of February 2014. Before that,  the announcement of 50% DA merger is expected from central government.

One Rank One Pension for armed forces approved in budget

Great news for ex servicemen. Finance Minister in his interim budget granted Rs 500 Crores for implementation of OROP for the ex servicemen. It will be effected prospectively from 01.04.2014.
Chidambaram says the government has accepted the one rank one pension scheme for the defence forces. "Rs 500 crore will be transferred in 2014-15 for implementing the 'one rank one pay' decision,"

Rahul backs one rank, one pension for ex-servicemen

NEW DELHI: It's election season, and politicians are promising the one-rank, one-pension (OROP) to retired military personnel yet again. The latest to join the bandwagon is Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who on Friday told a group of ex-servicemen that he backed their long-standing demand. 

"I am on your side. I understand your concerns. You give your life for the country, I will do all that I can to see that your demands are met," said Gandhi, addressing a gathering of over 500 ex-servicemen in Delhi. 

But the fact remains that virtually all parties, including Congress and BJP, have time and again promised OROP to ex-servicemen in the run-up to elections but never implemented it once they came to office. 

Both the UPA-I and UPA-II, with Pranab Mukherjee and AK Antony as defence ministers, for instance, have refrained from granting OROP despite ex-servicemen holding many protest rallies and returning their medals in thousands in protest. 

OROP basically implies payment of uniform pension to personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement. Consequently, any further enhancement in pension rates will automatically be passed on to past pensioners. The UPA government has certainly revised military pensions, holding that several steps have been taken over the last three to four years to "improve the welfare of ex-servicemen" at the additional cost of Rs 2,200 crore annually, but it is not the OROP the military veterans have been demanding. 

The defence ministry in the past has contended that full OROP is neither financially nor administratively possible. As per one past estimate, full OROP implementation could mean an annual outgo of another Rs 1,200-1,300 crore, apart from payment of arrears in the range of Rs 4,000 crore. "There are also administrative reasons, with possible repercussions from the civil side, public sector and autonomous bodies," said an official. 

"Significant improvements in pension for armed forces personnel were made over and above the benefits that accrued out of implementation of the 6th Pay Commission. Of the additional annual Rs 2,200 crore, a major share amounting to Rs 1,636 core went towards further improving the pension of PBORs (personnel below officer ranks)," he added. 

But with elections on the horizon, it's time to woo the ex-servicemen with tall promises once again. The defence community of 14 lakh serving and 24 lakh retired military personnel swells into a sizable — albeit diffused — votebank of around 1.5 crore people if family members are also taken into account.

1 RANK 1 PENSION