Govt. hikes dearness allowance by 5% for employees & pensioners

| Published on:

The Union Cabinet raised dearness allowance by 5% in a move that will benefit 50 lakh government employees and 65 lakh pensioners. The hike, based on the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, will cost the exchequer Rs 16,000 crore and will be effective from July, this year.

Cabinet has also relaxed the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar-seeded data as a precondition for release of funds to the beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme to November 30, enabling immediate release of funds to farmers who were deprived on this account.

“The government has increased the DA from 12% to 17%,” Union Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar said. “It is one of the highest raises in last several years,” he said, adding this is a gift for the employees ahead of Diwali.

According to Shri Javedkar, previously dearness allowance had been raised by 2-3% but this time it has been raised by 5% in one go.

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme provides income support of Rs 6,000 per year to landholding families, subject to certain exclusions.
Under this scheme, instalments released after August 1, 2019, would have been on the basis of Aadhaar seeded database only.