Acche Din: It’s raining cash on Central Govt employees!

THE Union Cabinet on June 29 approved the Seventh Pay Commission's recommendations regarding increasing the salaries and pensions for government employees.
Here are 15 key facts...
about the pay rise.
1. Salaries and allowances of over 1 crore central government employees and pensioners will be hiked by at least 23.5 per cent.
2. This is built around the recommendation for a 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay.
3. Implementation of new pay scales will put an additional burden of Rs. 1.02 lakh crore on the exchequer annually or nearly 0.7 per cent of GDP. The hike, however is the lowest in last seven decades
4. The last major hike in 2008 saw an average raise of nearly 50 percent.
5. Panel headed by Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha was set up to study the recommendations of the pay commission headed by Justice AK Mathur. The committee has submitted its report to the Finance Ministry.
6. The changes are likely to be implemented from January 1, 2016
7. Based on the proposed rate of hike, Rs. 73,650 crore of the total payout will come from the general budget, while Rs. 28,450 crore will come from the Railways.
8. Arrears will be paid within this year, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
9. One of the key changes suggested by the pay commission has been the 'New Pay Structure', under which the existing system of pay bands and grade pay will be ejected and a new pay matrix will be brought in to bring about more transparency.
10. The 6th Pay Commission had recommended a 20 percent hike which was eventually doubled when it was implemented in 2008.
11. The highest pay is pegged at Rs. 225,000 per month for apex scale and Rs. 250,000 per month for cabinet secretary and others at the same pay level.
12. The rise will be more than double as the current pay in this scale is Rs. 90,000 per month. With this hike several senior government posts will get a salary higher than lawmakers in Parliament.
13. The move has led to the discontent among the lawmakers who allege disparity. However, the government is also considering a hike in salaries and allowances of lawmakers.
14. The minimum pay recommendation is Rs. 18,000 per month. This too is more than double of the present Rs. 7,000.
15. The commission has also recommended a hike in the annual increment rate to 3 per cent from the existing 2.5 per cent, increased HRA and enhanced gratuity.