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Central government employees have been demanding that the basic minimum pay be hiked from Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000 per month. While 2017 saw the Central government implementing the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission on allowances, nearly 50 lakh employees are now hoping that the government this year considers their demand for a hike in minimum basic pay.








Central government employees have been demanding that the basic minimum pay be hiked from Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000. Following the implementation of Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations, the basic pay was increased from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000 based on a fitment factor of 2.57 with effect from January 1, 2016.




However, representatives of government employees’ unions have demanded that the fitment factor be increased to 3.7 so as to ensure that the basic pay is hiked to Rs 26,000 per month. Some media reports in September last year suggested that the Central government was considering increasing the minimum basic pay from Rs 18,000 to Rs 21,000.
However, a few months later, some media reports citing Ministry of Finance sources scotched earlier speculations and said the Ministry has no plans to revise the minimum basic pay for Central government employees. Narendra Modi-led Cabinet approved the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission on House Rent Allowance (HRA) and other allowances for 48 lakh Central government employees on June 28 last year. The pay commission’s recommendations were cleared with 34 modifications.




Subsequently, several state government also okayed revision in salaries of employees based on the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission. While Naveen Patnaik-led Odisha government announced revision in pay scales for 8 lakh employees and pensioners in September, Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan announced revision in salaries from November.