7th Pay Commission Latest News Report: To Raise Minimum Pay of Central Government Employees or Not in Budget 2018? Government Faces Tough Choice
New Delhi, Jan 19: The Union government has to choose between two difficult decisions when it presents Budget 2018– to approve the demand of Central government to increase their basic pay further than what was recommended by the 7th Pay Commission or to approve their demand. Both the decisions are precarious for the government and have their merits and demerits. The Central government employees will set their eyes when the Budget 2018 speech is read out to know whether the government has given them the benefits of 7th CPC or not.
The Seventh Pay Commission had recommended that the minimum basic pay for Central government employees will be increased to Rs 18,000 from Rs 7,000. The maximum pay under 7th CPC was increased from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh. However, it didn’t impress the employees much. They now demand the fitment factor to be increased from 2.57 to 3.68 times. This will make minimum basic pay to be Rs 26,000.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had told the Rajya Sabha on July 19, 2016, that the minimum pay was Rs 18,000 but the Central government will consider hiking it with all stakeholders. This was after the Central government employees went on a strike in June. The high level committee that was given the job of addressing their concerns formed a national anomaly committee in September 2016.
The government now has to counterbalance its political game with national economic concerns. Many state assembly elections will happen in 2018. In 2019, general elections will be held. By not heeding to their demand, the government runs a danger of losing the support of the employees.
On the other hand, the GDP growth is dwindling due to massive economic reforms the government introduced. The implementation of the 7th pay commission recommendations is already a burden on the exchequer. Enhancing the minimum pay will increase inflation and will be an added burden on already stressed coffers. Experts have advised the government against any economic misadventure now.
Meanwhile, conflicting reports have come out government decision in this regard. It will interest whether government plays the gamble or not.
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