8th Pay Commission: Central Government Steps Up Preparations, Big Announcement Soon:

Suspense Crime,Digital Desk: 8th Pay Commission: The preparations for forming the 8th Pay Commission have been accelerated by the central government. As per the government insiders, the ToR for the commission will be published in a month’s time. With this, the name of the chairman and other members of the commission will also be made public.

Common memorandum will be drafted

Before the start of the 8th Pay commission a common memorandum is to be prepared which encompasses all the distinctive features of the commission. This was announced by NC-JCM. The aim of this memorandum will be to detail the demands and recommendations regarding the fitment figure, basic pay, salary range, other compensations, promotion, and advance within the structure.

A drafting committee has been set up under the guidance of Shiv Gopal Mishra who is the Secretary General of Staff Side of NC-JCM. This will be a 13-member committee whose members will be chosen by the recognized employee unions. This particular committee is expected to hold a session in June to draft the memorandum. This was a resolution of the last Staff Side in New Delhi.

The report will be ready in a year

For the commission to prepare the report, the government will allocate a minimum time frame of a year. During this period, meetings will occur with the central and state governments, public sector undertakings as well as other key stakeholders. After receiving the report, it is proposed that the revised salary and pension will be implemented effective January 1, 2026.

Expenditure pressure will increase on the government

The government’s expenditure has been increasing considerably even with the 7th Pay Commission. During the 2016-17 budgetary year, there was an increase of approximately 23.55% in the salary and pension expenditure which cost the government an additional Rs 1.02 lakh crore. There is a strong possibility that this will occur again which puts the government in a difficult position when managing their budget.

Above 5 crore people will benefit

The estimated beneficiaries of the 8th Pay Commission will include around 50 lakh central government employees and 65 lakh pensioners who will receive direct benefit. In addition to this, several thousand employees from various state and union territories will enjoy this because they usually follow the decisions made by the Center.

New salary structure

With 7th Pay Commission, a new pay matrix was introduced where the minimum salary was set at Rs 18,000 and maximum salary capped at 2.5 lakh per month. Similarly, 8th Pay Commission will also consider inflation and rising prices while deciding the new fitment factor. During the previous review a fitment factor of 2.57 was applied.

After implementing the 7th Pay Commission, there was an increase in government expenditure by 9.9% in 2016-17 as compared to pre-salary revision when expenditure was only increasing at the rate of 4.8% thereafter. This will also be the case with 8th Pay Commission where they are likely to have an impact on the government budget.