Government announces 5% DA hike for employees & pensioners

October 9: The hike in Dearness Allowance was expected since the couple of months. Finally, on Wednesday, the Cabinet has hiked dearness allowance by 5 percent. Union Minister Prakash Javdekar announced the hike and termed  it a “Diwali gift”.

The move raises dearness allowance to 17 percent from 12 percent, and is likely to benefit 50 lakh government employees and 62 lakh pensioners. The proposal will cost the exchequer a total of Rs 16,000 crore. Dearness Allowance is a component of salary paid to employees to counter the effect of inflation.