7th Pay Commission: 23.5% salary hike; minimum Pay of Rs 18,000

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Nov 19: The seventh Pay Commission, headed by Justice AK Mathur, on Thursday submitted its report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The recommendations, once cleared by the Cabinet, will lead to a substantial hike in salaries of central government employees and pensioners with effect from January 1, 2016.

 

Here are 10 big recommendations of the seventh Pay Commission:

1. Basic pay of employees will go up by 14.27 per cent, while allowances will rise by 63 per cent. As a result, the overall hike in salaries will be 23.55 per cent. The sixth Pay Commission had recommended a 35 per cent salary hike for central government employees.

2. Pension of central government employees will go up by 24 per cent, according to the recommendations of the seventh Pay Commission.

3. A virtual one-rank-one-pension (OROP) for civilians has also been proposed for the first time. This is likely to be along the lines of the recently approved OROP for armed forces.

4. The minimum salary for central government employees has been fixed at Rs 18,000 per month. The maximum salary has been capped at Rs 2.25 lakh per month. However, the salary of cabinet secretary (the highest-ranking civil servant) has been fixed at Rs 2.50 lakh per month.

5. Central government employees will get an annual increment of 3 per cent. The seventh Pay Commission has also recommended the abolition of grade pay and pay band for central government employees. 52 allowances have been done away with.

6. Introduction of a health insurance scheme has been recommended. Many steps have been recommended to improve the New Pension Scheme (NPS).

7. The seventh Pay Commission has recommended a uniform retirement age for all paramilitary forces at 60 years.

8. The government will have to provide an additional Rs 1.02 lakh crore in its Budget for higher salaries and pension recommended by the seventh Pay Commission. Of this, Rs 28,000 crore will go for salary hikes of railway employees.

9.  According to the finance minister, the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission will impact the fiscal deficit by 0.65 per cent of GDP.

10. The recommendations of the seventh Pay Commission will impact 47 lakh serving government employees and 52 lakh pensioners, including defence personnel, Mr Jaitley said.