News from the 7th Pay Commission: Restoring DA and DR benefits, simplifying 7th CPC pension regulations, and more are just a few of the recent statements made by the center to make life easier for the over 1.12 million central government employees and retirees.
Various relief measures have been proposed by the central government for around 52 lakh central government employees and around 60 lakh retirees. Some of the most recent statements made by the center include the restoration of 7th pay commission DA (Dearness Allowance) and 7th CPC DR (Dearness Relief) benefits, as well as the simplification of 7th CPC pension laws.
According to a declaration made in the Rajya Sabha by the Minister of State (MoS) in the Ministry of Finance, the 7th pay commission DA and 7th pay commission DR benefits for central government workers and retirees would be restored from July 1, 2021. The government has yet to make a declaration about the reinstatement of the 7th CPC DA and 7th CPC DR benefits. However, the National Council of JCM, a GoI-recognized body that advocates for central government personnel, claims that a Cabinet Minister has guaranteed them that DA and DR will begin in September 2021.
To assist central government employees who wish to build their own homes, the central government introduced the House Building Advance (HBA) incentive to all central government employees in June 2020. (CGS). The base interest rate for this HBA is 7.9%, and the HBA benefit will be accessible until March 31, 2022. The HBA rules for central government workers were recently modified with the 7th pay commission salary matrix and 7th CPC approval conditions in mind.
The Central Government has stated that the time limit for submitting Travel Allowance (TA) applications will be extended from 60 to 180 days. The decision to modify the time restriction for submitting TAs after retirement took effect on June 15, 2021. The decision is anticipated to benefit retiring central government personnel, as filing TA claims within 60 days was a time-consuming process for the government.
The national government has instructed pension disbursing banks to give pension slips to pensioners with a total split up in order to ensure ‘Ease of Living’ for over 60 lakh retirees. The center also instructed the banks to send pension slips to the pensioners’ registered cellphone numbers through SMS. Pension disbursing banks are also recommended to send pension slips to the pensioner’s provided email address and, if necessary, to use social media platforms such as WhatsApp. This initiative will take effect on July 1, 2021.
The central government recently stated that the regulations for central government employees’ family pensions will be simplified.
Union Minister Dr. Jitendraa Singh announced changes in rules made by the Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare (DoP&PW), saying that under the new rule, provisional family pensions will be granted immediately upon receipt of a claim for Family Pension and a Death Certificate from an eligible family member, without the need to complete any other formalities or procedural requirements.
