7th Pay Commission: Latest news and updates on reduction of pay gap

7th Pay Commission: Latest news and updates on reduction of pay gap

The issue of pay gap following the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission has become a major issue. The government on one hand says it was looking into it while on the other some are in no mood to address this issue. This is probably for the first time that a pay panel has not reduced the pay gap. Union leaders say that they are realistic about this issue, but would continue to fight for the reduction of pay gap.

Will continue the fight

For the sake of a better living, Central Government employees need a reduction in the pay gap. Leaders say that it is a difficult situation, but they would continue to fight for it. We know that the government is not in any mood at the moment, but we will press for our demand.

Why government won't reduce pay gap

Sources in the government say that the issue is being examined. However the government has other plans. It is proposing an annual pay hike instead of setting up pay commissions. These issues would be sorted out at that time, the source also said. The government has further put aside the demand by central government employees to reduce the pay gap. The government says that no decision will be taken to reduce the pay gap under the 7th Pay Commission. Government employees have been demanding for a long time to pay ratio should be minimised. They have also demanded that Rs 25,000 should be the minimum pay in the new pay scale and the fitment factor will be higher than the 2.57 times approved by the government based on the pay commission recommendations.

The pay commissions of the past 

All pay commissions in the past had made up the pay gap between the lower paid employees and the top officials from second Pay Commission 1:41 ratio to 6th Pay Commission 1:12. In the first pay commission, the pay of the top bureaucrats was 41 times higher than the employee earning the lowest. The future pay commissions however reduced the ratio from 1:41 in 1947 to about 1:12 in 2006.

7th Pay Commission notification

As per the notification there were 18 pay matrices that were approved. The notification said, the highest pay matrix (Level-18) for the Cabinet secretary to the Union government is Rs 2,50,000 (fixed), which was Rs 90,000 (fixed) in the immediate past under 6th pay commission recommendation. The rate of increase is 178%. The pay matrix in the lowest grade (Level-1) is Rs 18,000 which was Rs 7,000 under 6th pay commission recommendation. The rate of increase is 157%. The ratio of pay between the highest declared pay matrix (Level-18) and the lowest grade (Level -1) in the 7th Pay Commission recommendations is 1:13.9, which was 1:12 as per the previous pay commission.

 OneIndia News