Congress calls 7th Pay Commission ‘worst pay hike’

Congress calls 7th Pay Commission ‘worst pay hike’

7thpayNew Delhi, (IANS) Terming the 7th Pay Commission increment announced by the government on Wednesday as “lopsided and inadequate”, the Congress termed it the “lowest pay hike in the last seven decades”.

“The Sixth Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike in salaries and allowances but the then Congress government doubled it to 40 per cent. The 7th Pay Commission recommended a hike of 14.29 per cent and Modi government merely raised it to a pittance of 15 per cent,” Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said.

He pointed out that the ratio between the lowest and the highest salary has increased.

“For example, the highest salary has increased from Rs.90,000 to Rs.2,50,000 but the lowest salary has been increased from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000 only. The ratio is 1:14, earlier it was 1:12,” he said.

“Naturally, employees at the lower rung of the salary will suffer the most,” he added.

Surjewala said the hike in salaries and allowances is “mere 15 per cent on basic pay and not 23.5 per cent as is being wrongly claimed” by the government.

7th pay panel report burdens government expenditure: Jaitley

7th pay panel report burdens government expenditure: Jaitley

7th pay panelNew Delhi : (IANS) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said fiscal 2016-17 would be extremely challenging because of additional burden on the government on account of the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission.

“The Seventh Central Pay Commission has submitted its report. Following the past practice, a committee has been constituted to examine the report and give its recommendations. In the meantime, I have made necessary interim provisions in the budget,” he said, presenting the Union Budget 2016-17 in the Lok Sabha.

The Seventh Pay Commission has recommended hike in salaries of central government employees. Implementation of its recommendations is expected to add about half a per cent of the GDP to the central government’s wage bill.