As the 2024 heading to bid adieu in about 15 days, the buzz around the formation of the 8th Pay Commission is intensifying with each passing day. Over 1 crore central government employees and pensioners are anxiously waiting for the announcement of the formation of the new pay commission.
Recently, the Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to form the 8th Central Pay Commission without further delay. This request comes at a time when there are delays in the formation of a new pay commission. The workers’ union, in its letter, told the Prime Minister that the central government employees have been waiting for a wage revision for nearly nine years. It is worth noting that the government had done the last pay revision in January 2016.
“After the pandemic situation, the prices of essential commodities and also the non-essential commodities have increased manifold including manufacturing industries, construction, health, service sector, etc. The higher interest rates are also adversely affecting employees/pensioners, the inflation is in the range of 4 % to 7% on an average is about 5.5 %. Due to higher inflation rates, the real money value has gone down considerably in the past 9 years, especially after the Covid situation,” said the Confederation.
Furthermore, the employees body urged to the Prime Minister that the pay structure for the central government employees should be revised every five years.
8th Pay Commission: Other Details
Recently, the Union Finance Ministry informed the Rajya Sabha that for now, it has no plans for the establishment of a new pay commission. Meanwhile, Shiv Gopal Mishra, secretary of the staff side of the National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM), had earlier said that the upcoming 8th Pay Commission will recommend a fitment factor of “at-least 2.86”.
If the 8th pay commission is happening and the government OKs this fitment factor, the minimum basic pay of the central government employees will surge from Rs 18,000 to Rs 51,480. This is a remarkable 186% pay hike. Similarly, the minimum pension of the central government pensioners will rise to Rs 25,740 from Rs 9,000, if the same fitment factor is implemented.
However, few media reports suggest that the government may permanently forgo the formation of the 8th Pay Commission. According to media reports, the government may come up with a new mechanism to raise the salary and pension of the central government employees. Speculations aside, the future needs a close attention as the Pay Commission will decide the future salaries of the central government employees.
