DA merger: Will dearness allowance be merged in basic salary, information about work for government employees

DA merger Update: DA of lakhs of central employees has recently been increased by 2 percent under the 7th Pay Commission. Now the total DA of the basic salary is 55%.

Employees are awaiting the latest Pay Commission (New Pay Commission) as the government constituted the 8th Pay Commission in January.

This gives hope to the employees that DA can be merged in the new pay commission, which will give a big increase to their salary (DA merge news). The government has also responded to this; see the latest update about this.

Government's reply on DA merger—

In view of inflation, the National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery has demanded inclusion of DA in the basic salary. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in the Rajya Sabha that the government has no plans to include DA in the basic salary right now. It will be kept separate from the basic salary.

When was DA merged into basic salary-

At the start of the 5th Pay Commission, DA was added to the basic salary, which was more than 50% at that time. There was no support for merging DA into the basic salary in the subsequent 6th Pay Commission. The same happened in the 7th Pay Commission as well.

Employees are currently receiving 55% DA (when will DA be merged), but in the 8th pay commission, 50% or the entire DA can be merged.

Calculation of DA may change-

Experts say that the basis of DA calculation may also change if the government merges DA into the basic salary in the next pay commission.

The data of All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI) calculates it. To control inflation, the government changes the DA (DA latest news) of employees every six months. On this basis, changes are also made in the DR of pensioners.

How much fitment factor can be applied-

No new principle has been formulated yet for calculation of DA and salary-pension revision under the 8th Pay Commission. This will be known only in the recommendations of the newly established Pay Commission. The government will take the final decision on this.

However, as per the 7th Pay Commission, the basis for the increase in salary and pension in the 8th Pay Commission will be the fitment factor. This can be based on the All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI-IW) or any other basis. The fitment factor this time can be from 1.90 to 2.86.

Inflation year will also change-

The 7th Pay Commission started in 2016. Then 2016 was fixed as the base year for calculating AICPI-IW according to the increased inflation. 

After this, inflation has increased a lot, so the base year may change. However, the government has to take a decision on merging the base year or DA into the basic salary.

It will depend on the recommendations of the new Pay Commission and the final decision of the government if any other measures are adopted in the pay or salary revision (8th CPC). The government has not made any official announcement in this regard.