7th Pay Commission Latest News: The DA rate is going to increase by 3 percent. Under which the Central Government will now increase the House Rent Allowance (HRA). Hence, with the revision of DA, HRA is still expected to increase by 3 per cent anytime soon.
The Central Government has recently reduced Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) for lakhs of government employees and pensioners at the rate of 17 per cent to 28 per cent of their basic pay. Now the government is preparing to increase the DA and DR of the employees again. This time the rate can be increased by 3 percent. This means that central government employees and pensioners can soon get DA and DR equal to 31 per cent of their basic pay.
The Central Government is now increasing the House Rent Allowance (HRA). Usually, HRA gets increased automatically when DA exceeds 25 per cent. Hence, with the revision of DA, HRA is still expected to increase by 3 per cent soon. Employees get 27 per cent, 18 per cent and 9 per cent HRA depending on the category of the city.
HRA is deposited in the bank accounts of central government employees on the basis of class of cities – X, Y and Z. Central government employees in X category will now get HRA more than Rs 5400 per month. Y category and Z category employees will get Rs 3600 per month and Rs 1800 per month as HRA respectively.
Meanwhile, the central government has also increased the limit of family pension from Rs 45,000 to Rs 1.25 lakh. The decision is aimed at bringing “ease of living” to the family members of the deceased employees and providing them adequate financial security.
Apart from this, in June 2020, the central government also announced the House Building Advance (HBA) scheme to provide loans at affordable rates to government employees who are planning to build their own homes. Central government employees can get loans at an interest rate of 7.9 percent. In another good news for pensioners, the government has started sharing pension slips directly on the registered details of pensioners through SMS, email and WhatsApp for the convenience of pensioners.
