Last year, due to Corona, the Central Government had stopped the additional amount of Dearness Allowance (DA) of employees and Dearness Relief (DR) of pensioners. With this decision, the central government saved Rs 34,402.32 crore. This information was given by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in the House.
He has told in a written reply to a question that the decision to freeze DA and DR was taken due to the economic difficulties caused by Kovid-19. Due to this decision, an amount of Rs 34,402.32 crore has been saved. Along with this, Pankaj Choudhary said that the government has increased the rate of DA payable to central government employees from 17 per cent to 28 per cent with effect from July 1, 2021.
This increase covers the additional installment due on January 1, 2020, to July 1, 2020. Pankaj Chaudhary told the House that from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, the DA rate will remain at 17 per cent. Let us tell you that due to the increase in dearness allowance, there has also been an increase in the House Rental Allowance (HRA) of central employees. According to the rules of the 7th Pay Commission, when the dearness allowance is more than 25 percent, then the house rent allowance (HRA) will also have to be increased. This is the reason why HRA has increased.
Apart from this, the amount of provident fund i.e. PF and gratuity will also increase. About 48 lakh central employees will benefit from the increase in DA. At the same time, more than 63 lakh employees are expected to benefit from the increase in DR.
