8th Pay Commission: There are over 49 lakh central government employees and nearly 65 lakh pensioners.
8th Pay Commission: The establishment of the 8th Pay Commission to update central government employee pay and pensioner benefits was authorised by the Union Cabinet on Thursday.
The decision to set up the 8th Pay Commission was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.The minister informed that the chairman and two members of the Commission will be appointed soon.Consultations will also be held with central and state governments and other stakeholders, the minister added.
To update the pay scale for its employees, the central government appoints a pay commission once every ten years. Each pay commission has a term of reference (ToR), which generally outlines its purpose, in addition to updating the pay structure. Pension payments are sometimes determined by pay commissions. Nearly 65 lakh people are pensioners and more than 49 lakh work for the central government. Established in 2016, the 7th Pay Commission will conclude its tenure in 2026.
Who is covered under pay commissions?
According to the 7th Pay Commission, central government employees are all persons in the civil services of the central government and those who are paid salaries out of the consolidated fund of India, which is the account in which government collects its revenues.
Employees of public sector undertakings (PSU) and autonomous bodies, and gramin dak sevaks are not under the remit of the 7th Pay Commission. This would mean someone working in Coal India will not be covered .Depending on the project they are working on, PSU staff have different pay packages.
What were the changes in the 7th Pay Commission?
Employee unions demanded a 3.68 fitment factor when it came to salary revision for the 7th Pay Commission, but the government decided on a fitment factor of 2.57. The fitment factor is a multiplier used for calculating salaries and pensions. This led the minimum basic pay to become ₹18,000 per month, compared to the ₹7,000 in the 6th Pay Commission.The minimum pension also rose from ₹3,500 to ₹9,000.The maximum salary became ₹2,50,000 and the maximum pension became ₹1,25,000.