Good news for govt employees! Centre may hike DA in July-August

Government employees may soon get some positive news. The Union government may announce a hike in dearness allowance (DA) in July or August this year, as per reports. Employees are also hopeful that the House Rent Allowance (HRA) and Travel Allowance (TA) will be increased as well.The government announces changes in the DA and dearness relief (DR) twice a year, in January and July, on the basis of retail inflation data. As per reports, DA is likely to be hiked by four percent, bringing it to a total of 38 percent of the salary.What is DA?Dearness Allowance is given to government employees,  as a fixed component of their salary, to hedge the impact of inflation. DR is given to pensioners to mitigate the impact of price rise.Retail inflation in the country has surged to 7.79 percent in April, the highest since 2014. It marks the seventh straight month that the figures have risen. Due to the rising costs of food items and other basic necessities, central government employees are hopeful of another hike in DA in the coming months.When was the DA last hiked?Under the 7th Pay Commission, the Union Cabinet had approved a 3 percent hike in DA in March 2022, taking the figure to 34 percent of the basic income.“The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval to release an additional instalment of dearness allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. January 1, 2022,” according to a press release by the Prime Minister’s Office in March. The instalment represented an increase of 3 percent over the existing rate of 31 percent of the basic pay/ pension. The move benefited almost 68.62 lakh pensioners 47.68 lakh Central Government employees.Prior to that, the government had last increased dearness allowance back in July and October 2021, after freezing three instalments due to the coronavirus pandemic.Keywords: DA hike in July, DA hike, central government employees hra hike, retail inflation levels, Dearness allowance