Will central government employees and pensioners receive the dearness allowance (DA) arrears, as various staff unions and associations demand? After the return of Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre after the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the Centre has received yet another proposal regarding the payment of DA arrears withheld during the COVID-19 pandemic period.
What is this demand for arrears all about?
These DA arrears pertain to the three hikes that were expected every six months but did not take effect as the pandemic struck the country in early 2020. The central government hikes DA twice a year, in January and July. The Modi government froze the DA hike for 18 months due to the financial impact amid the economic logjam during the pandemic.
The latest proposal has come before the Prime Minister from Shiva Gopal Mishra, Secretary, National Council (staff side), Joint Consultative Machinery for Central Government Employees.
In a letter to Modi, Mishra pressed for 14 long-standing demands, including clearance of 18-month DA arrears.
“As a secretary (Staff Side) of the National Council (JCM), it is my duty to draw your kind attention to some of the major issues which are agitating the minds of the central government employees and pensioners,” he wrote to the PM.
The letter requested the government “to release the 18 months DA arrears frozen during the COVID-19 pandemic to the Central Government Employees and Pensioners”.
This demand has been raised despite the government ruling out the possibility of paying DA arrears to employees and pensioners on a couple of past occasions, citing financial viability.
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What did govt say earlier on payment of DA arrears?
In January this year, the Finance Ministry received a proposal on the matter of pending DA arrears for the period from January 2020 to June 2021. Mukesh Singh, General Secretary of Bharatiya Pratiksha Mazdoor Sangh, wrote to the government and drew attention towards “the sacrifices and contributions” made by government employees and pensioners during the pandemic.
Last year during the Modi 2.0 tenure, then Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in the Lok Sabha, “…arrears of DA/DR, which mostly relate to the challenging FY of 2020-21, are not regarded as feasible due to the negative financial impact of the pandemic in 2020 and the funding of the welfare measures implemented by the government having a fiscal spillover beyond FY 2020-21.”
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Reasons govt cited for freezing DA arrears
Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Chaudhary had said that the decision to freeze three instalments of DA to central government employees and pensioners due from January 2020 to June 2021 was taken in the context of COVID-19, which caused economic disruption.
As the adverse financial impact of the pandemic in 2020 and the financing of welfare measures taken by the government had a fiscal spillover beyond FY 2020-21, arrears of DA/DR which mostly pertain to the difficult FY of 2020-21 are not considered feasible, the minister said. “Even now the fiscal deficit of the Government is running at more than double the level envisaged in the FRBM Acct,” he added.
