Ahead of the festive season, the Cabinet on Wednesday decided to
hike Dearness Allowance of government employees by 5 per cent to 17%.
The move was announced by Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and will
benefit 50 lakh government employees and 62 lakh pensioners.
The DA now stands at 17%, an increase from last year's 12%,
Javadekar said, calling it a "Diwali
gift" for employees. The proposal
is set to cause cost the exchequer a total of Rs 16,000 crore.
Dearness allowance is a cost of living adjustment allowance paid
to government employees, public sector employees and pensioners and is
calculated as a percentage of basic salary to mitigate the impact of
inflation.
Javadekar also said the Cabinet has decided to relax till
November 30 the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar seeding for release of
benefits under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi after August 1.