7th Pay Commission: Nearly 50 lakh govt employees wait for good news on allowances as Modi cabinet meets today

7th Pay Commission: Nearly 50 lakh govt employees wait for good news on allowances as Modi cabinet meets today

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to table the report in front of the Cabinet today and among various issues the increase in House Rent Allowance (HRA) is likely to be discussed. 

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned home from his US visit last night, nearly 50 lakh Central government employees are waiting with bated breath to get the good news on allowances today.
Narendra Modi-led Cabinet will meet today and is likely to discuss and decide on the revised allowance structure under the Seventh Pay Commission for government employees.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to table the report in front of the Cabinet today and among various issues the increase in House Rent Allowance (HRA) is likely to be discussed.

According to some reports, Narendra Modi met Arun Jaitley before leaving for the US and had suggested that there should not be further delay in announcing allowances for Central government employees.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT REVISED ALLOWANCES UNDER SEVENTH PAY COMMISSION:

1. For Central government employees, the wait for allowances has been a long one after the Modi cabinet cleared the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission in June last year.
2. The Seventh Pay Commission recommended doing away with 53 of the 196 allowances for Central government employees and merging another 36 allowances.
3. The pay commission also suggested reducing the House Rent Allowance (HRA) rates for government employees by 2-6 per cent for X, Y, Z cities. For metros, it suggested bringing down the HRA from 30 per cent to 24 per cent. 
    
4. The recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission did not go down well with Central government employees who got a 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay, the lowest in 70 years.
5. As protests against pay commission's report intensified, the Modi government constituted a committee under Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa in July last year to review the recommendations on allowances.
6. The Ashok Lavasa committee, after several extended deadlines, submitted its review report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on April 27. Before submitting the report, the Lavasa committee held discussions with various stakeholders.
7. The Lavasa report was then sent to the Department of Expenditure for the first round of screening before it was presented to the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS).
8. The Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS) met on June 1 to discuss the Ashok Lavasa panel's report and suggest changes to it, if any. After the meeting, the report was forwarded to Cabinet which would take the final call on allowances.
9. While some reports suggested that the government was keen on implementing the revised allowance structure from July 1, the NJCA general secretary also informed government employees about assurance from Cabinet Secretary on roll out of allowances from next month.
10. Cabinet Secretary, in a meeting with government employees' representative NJCA a fortnight ago, said that "things are in the process and most probably would be placed in the next Cabinet meeting".
11. Several reports suggest that the HRA rates are likely to fixed at 27 per cent, 18 per cent and 9 per cent respectively for X, Y and Z cities. The final call on HRA, however, is likely to be taken at today's Cabinet meeting.