Cabinet hikes dearness allowance for central govt employees by 3%

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the hiking of dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) for central government employees by 3 per cent to 34 per cent, an official statement said.

The move will benefit about 4.8 million central government employees and 6.9 million pensioners and will be effective from January 1, 2022.

The statement said this was to compensate for price rise and was “in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission.”

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of increase in DA and DR will be Rs