Ahead of the 8th Pay Commission's Chandigarh meeting, employees have made a historic demand. They have proposed a three-month DA increase and demanded that 25% dearness allowance be merged into basic pay.

Big news on 8th Pay Commission

After Chennai and Puducherry, the 8th Pay Commission is now heading to Chandigarh. The Pay Commission will meet in Chandigarh between August 16 and 18. At the meeting in Chandigarh, various employee unions and pensioners' organizations from across North India will present their demands to the Commission. Issues of fitment factor, DA, and HRA may be raised. A subsequent meeting will be held in Bengaluru on October 7-8.

DA increased 4 times a year.

Under the current system, the dearness allowance (DA) of central employees is revised twice a year (January and July), but now, in view of the rising inflation, many employee organizations have demanded that the DA should now be reviewed four times a year, i.e., every three months, so that the impact of inflation can be avoided to some extent.

Merger of 25% DA on Basic Pay

The National Council (NC-JCM) and several other organizations have demanded that the dearness allowance (DA) be added to the basic pay once it reaches 25%. This will allow employees' salaries and allowances like HRA and TA to be calculated based on the increased base, leading to a rapid increase in salaries. It should be noted that the DA for central government employees currently exceeds 60%.

Some other demands of the employees

• The employees are demanding financial upgradation (MACP) every 5 years instead of every 10 years.
• Some organizations have demanded implementation of 3.83 fitment factor so that the basic pay also increases accordingly.
• In the 7th Pay Commission, the family unit was considered to be 3, which is now being demanded to be increased to 5 in the 8th Pay Commission.

It should be noted that the demands and suggestions made by the employee organizations are currently being considered. No final decision has been taken yet. The Commission is expected to submit its final report to the government by May-June 2027. However, it will be considered effective only from January 1, 2026.