From 1 January 2020 to 30 June 2021, the rate of DA was 17%, which has been increased to 28%. On this basis, the government said that no arrears will be given to the employees and pensioners on DA and DR.
Central employees can get Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) arrears. For this, the Indian Pensioners’ Forum (BMS) has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the Prime Minister himself should intervene in this matter and get the employees arrears for the last several months. Such demands have been raised by many other unions. However, the government has refused to give arrears.
In April last year, the Finance Ministry had banned the hike in DA. This ban was implemented from June 30, 2021. The government had banned the DA hike citing the Corona epidemic. This year the increase of DA has been restored. In July this year, the central government had increased the DA to 28%. This increase has been implemented from 1 July 2021. This will benefit 48 lakh central employees of the country. Apart from this, there are 65 lakh pensioners whose DR has been increased.
How much DA increased
From 1 January 2020 to 30 June 2021, the rate of DA was 17%, which has been increased to 28%. On this basis, the government said that no arrears will be given to the employees and pensioners on DA and DR. But there is a demand from the beginning of the employees that they should be added arrears. In this regard, BMS has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding arrears. It is written in the letter, you are requested to kindly intervene in this matter and direct the Ministry of Finance to release the DA and DR stopped from January 1, 2020, a little early.
What is the demand of BBM
BBM has said that during the period during which the DA hike has been announced, there has been a huge increase in inflation. Retail inflation has increased and fuel, edible oil and many pulses are witnessing a sharp rise in prices. It has been written in the letter that the purpose of DA and DR is to provide relief to the employees and pensioners and to reduce the expenditure. In such a situation, it is necessary to compensate the employees and pensioners due to increase in expenditure due to inflation.
Condition of people worsened by corona
BBM has said in the letter that the pensioners have become overage and need medical assistance. Due to Corona, the prices of many things have increased manifold as compared to earlier. The condition of many pensioners has become ‘hand to mouth’. The condition of pensioners is not good, so it is very important to give them relief. The pensioners who are senior citizens have been most affected by Corona and it would not be appropriate for the government to stop DR in this critical situation. It has also been said in the letter that the country is battling Kovid today and many pensioners have donated to the PM Cares Fund.
