7th Pay Commission – Government starts releasing arrears for Defence Pensioners.

7th Pay Commission – Government starts releasing arrears for Defence Pensioners.

In some good news for defence pensioners, disbursing agencies have started releasing the 7th Pay Commission arrears due to them.

The amount released and the number of pensioners to be benefitted from this are still being calculated. The information was shared by Union Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre in a written reply to AIADMK MP M Vasanthi in Lok Sabha recently.

According to a state-wise tabulation of the number of defence pensioners as on April 1, 2016, Punjab and Haryana lead the pack with 2,77,985 and 2,71,034 pensioners respectively.

Defence pensioners from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra too form a sizeable number with both states together accounting for 4,21,530 retired personnel.

All you need to know on Seventh Pay Commission:

1. Central government employees are reportedly upset at no mention of them in the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 1.

2. Government employees were expecting some announcements on allowances and an increase in the minumum wages. The Seventh Pay Commission has increased the minimum wages from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000. The National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) wants it to be further raised to Rs 26,000.

3. In some cheer for autonomous organisations, a revision of salary as per the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission was approved recently for the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

4. Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan approved the revised pay scales, benefitting more than 1,500 employees and pensioners of BIS.

5. The Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations cover 47 lakh Central government employees and 53 lakh pensioners. This includes 14 lakh serving employees and 18 lakh pensioners in defence forces.

6. The Narendra Modi government had approved the report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission in June 2016. Over eight months later, the Central government is yet to fully implement the recommendations of the commission, especially on allowances.

7. Employees are, however, hopeful that the government will make some positive announcement on April 1, 2017, which marks the beginning of the new financial year.

Source: India Today