The government made important decisions in several respects over the weekend that saw an approval by the cabinet of a hike of two percent in the Dearness Allowance (DA) for employees of the central government. While the decision brings temporary respite to employees, it was taken against the backdrop of rising demands by employee unions for a complete revamp of the salary structure.
The National Council-Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) has already submitted a memorandum calling for the fitment factor to be raised to 3.83. In addition to the wage component, there is also an effort on the part of the council to broaden the scope of the term 'family' to include dependant parents, apart from setting lower caps on salary differentials and better allowances in terms of inflation linkage.If accepted, this would see the minimum basic pay jump from the current ₹18,000 to approximately ₹69,000.
In addition, there has been a welcome move in favour of the shipping industry with the announcement of the approval of the Sovereign Maritime Fund. With a corpus of ₹13,000 crore, the objective of this initiative is to ensure the provision of affordable insurance to both Indian flagged ships as well as those heading to or coming from Indian ports. It aims at reducing dependence on foreign insurance companies in this respect.
Finally, there is also continued support for infrastructure projects, particularly with regard to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, which has now been extended till 2028. An extra ₹3,000 crore has also been allocated for this purpose, which will help in making efforts to connect villages via all-weather roads.
Also read: SC says inflation affects all, pensioners too entitled to DA hike
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