Kochi: State government employees and teachers in Kerala will likely see their dearness allowance go up by 3 per cent in the first half of this year. The state government employees will receive a dearness allowance equivalent to 9 per cent of their basic pay as the Consumer Price Index rose to 261.42 on an average last year.
The rise in the index should result in a 6 per cent increase in dearness allowance payable to the central government employees. Though the increased allowance should be the equivalent of 125 per cent of basic pay, the central government employees may not receive the allowance until July since the seventh central pay revision commission has recommended merging the allowance into the basic pay.
In case the central government is unable to implement the recommendations of the commission immediately, the 6 per cent increase in dearness allowance may be announced in March.
The announcement by the Kerala government will only come after that. The assembly elections a couple of months away may also delay the announcement in Kerala.
The Tenth Kerala Pay Revision Commission had recommended dearness allowance of 3 per cent for the first half of 2015 and 6 per cent for the latter half.
The state commission revises pay as per July 2014, calculating an annual average reading of 239.92 on the Consumer Price Index. For the central commission, the reading would be 261.42, based on its effective date in January this year.
Both the central and state governments would announce the dearness allowance for their employees based on further rise in the index from the levels they have marked for calculation.
The central government’s dearness allowance has increased from 119 per cent to 125.83 per cent. This would mean a 6 per cent rise since the central government does not round off the figures for the purpose of calculating dearness allowance.
The central pay revision commission has recommended the merging of 125 percent dearness allowance into the basic pay. This would mean employees would see a loss of 0.83 percent from their basic pay, unless the central government increases the levels recommended by the commission, as its predecessor had done.
Though the state government employees’ dearness allowance is supposed to go up to 8.96 per cent of basic pay, it has been rounded off to 9 per cent. The commission has recommended a 3 per cent rise in dearness allowance in place of the defaulted 2.92 per cent from January to June last year.