7th Pay Commission: Before Holi, the central government may announce a festival advance of Rs 10,000 to the employees.
The Special Utsav Advance Scheme was announced as a one-time measure to stimulate demand. All central government employees were allowed to get an interest-free advance of Rs 10,000, which was to be spent by March 31, 2021, on the festival choice of the employee.
7th Pay Commission: Government may announce special festival advance scheme for central employees before the festive season of Holi. According to media reports, the central government may announce a grant of Rs 10,000 to central employees under the Special Festival Advance Scheme with the aim of stimulating consumer spending in the economy in an effort to fight the slowdown due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The report said that the interest-free advance will give a big boost to the employees, who can spend the amount for the upcoming festivals. This is not the first time that the government is giving festival advance. If she does this year. In 2020, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the revived Special Mahotsav Advance scheme as a one-time measure for both gazetted and non-gazetted employees.
The Special Utsav Advance Scheme was announced as a one-time measure to stimulate demand. All central government employees were allowed to get an interest-free advance of Rs 10,000, which was to be spent by March 31, 2021, on the festival choice of the employee. Interest free advance will be recovered from the employee in maximum 10 installments.
According to the news published in Zee News, a pre-loaded RuPay card of advance value was provided to the employees. The government also bears the bank charges for the card. Disbursement of advance through RuPay card ensures digital mode of payment, resulting in tax revenue and encouraging honest businesses. The one-time disbursement of the Special Utsav Advance Scheme (SFAS) is estimated at Rs 4,000 crore.
In a news related to the 7th Pay Commission, government employees are also eagerly waiting for the hike in dearness allowance, which will lead to a huge increase in the salaries of the central government employees. At present, central employees get 31 percent DA, while they expect a further increase of 3 percent in DA. With this, the total DA will become 34 percent. After the COVID-19 crisis, all eyes are on the government’s announcement.
The DA is calculated by multiplying it by the basic pay. As per the DA calculation, the government keeps changing the DA every 6 months or so, As a result, there is an increase in the salaries of the employees so as to tackle inflation. In October last year, the DA was increased from 28 per cent to 31 per cent.
