Tamil Nadu on Wednesday announced a hike in the rate of Dearness Allowance (DA) by 4 percent for government employees, including teachers, pensioners and family pensioners under 7th Pay Commission. The revised DA hike from 38 percent to 42 percent will come into effect retroactively from April 1, 2023. This decision will benefit 16 lakh government employees, teachers and pensioners.
The hike will cost the exchequer an additional expenditure of Rs 2,366.82 crore.
“Chief Minister M K Stalin has ordered to implement the hike from April 1 considering the continuous requests of government staff and teachers,” said an official release.
Earlier,
Uttar Pradesh government also hiked DA for its employees and dearness relief (DR) to its pensioners by 4 percent from January 1, 2023. The decision was taken by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday night. The DA and DR hike would reportedly benefit 16.35 lakh employees and 11 lakh pensioners in the state.
In April, this year, the Bihar government also announced that the government will increase the DA of the state employees and pensioners by 4 percent.
Dearness Allowance (DA) is the cost-of-living adjustment allowance which the government pays to the employees of the public sector as well as pensioners of the same. On the other hand, dearness relief (DR) is the same as allowance and is given to central government pensioners.
At central level, government usually revises the DA/DR rate every six months. This is done to compensate for the loss in purchasing power of the monthly salary/pension wealth due to inflation. In line with this, the state government announces bi-annual hike in DA and DR, usually in January and July.
(Edited by : Anshul)
First Published: May 18, 2023 9:35 AM IST
