Updated: Jan 25, 2018 | 09:40 IST | ET Now Digital
Fair hike for Central Government employees may come into effect by April | Photo Credit: BCCL
New Delhi: In what seems to be a relief to employees working for the Central government,
a pay hike to provide "just and fair' compensation will come into force
from April, according to a report on The Sen Times. The same was
confirmed to the online publication by a top government official, who
went on to say that the pay hike will be replacing pay and fitment
formula for lower-level employees up to matrix level 5. The same had
been recommended by the 7th Pay Commission and was approved by the Cabinet as well.
Quoting the official, the report on the online
publication stated: "This (pay hike) will be put into the Gazette in
next financial year and will be implemented from April 2018." It may be
noted that the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission to increase
minimum pay from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000 and the maximum pay from Rs
90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2016.
As per the report, the pay panel recommendations met
with several roadblocks, including pay ratio increase. Past pay
commissions had managed to reduce the pay ratio, thus bridging the gap
between low-earning employees and top bureaucrats in the government from
1:41 in 2947 to 1:12 in 2006. However, the 7th Pay Commission increased
the ratio to 1:14.
This angered the central government employees'
unions, who have demanded minimum pay of Rs 26,000 from Rs 18,000. In
2016, these unions even threatened to go on an indefinite strike over
the issue of the pay hike. The unions backed out when Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley promised to look into the matter and identify the core
demands that were made. While it has been two years already, it seems
the finance ministry is now edging closer to solve the existing
anomalies.
Income disparity in India has been a raging problem,
with a significant wealth gap between the lower-income group and the
top brass. An Oxfam study released recently showed that one percent of
"rich Indians" generated 73 percent of the country's total wealth in
2017 as compared to low-salaried employees.
The report shows the anomalies and differences in
pay. The study also stated that 67 crore Indians, comprising the
population's poorest half, witnessed their wealth rise by just 1
percent. It also showed that the wealth of India's richest one percent
increased by over Rs 20.9 lakh crore in the year ended 2017, which is an
account of the total budget of the central government in 2017-18.
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