Recently, the government of Himachal Pradesh has increased the dearness allowance (DA) for state employees and pensioners by 3 percent. This move will benefit around 2.15 lakh employees and 1.90 lakh pensioners, who will now receive a DA rate of 34 percent, up from 31 percent previously. The decision to hike the DA has been made to provide relief to state employees and pensioners in light of the rising cost of living and inflation.
An official statement indicates that the increase in DA is anticipated to impose an extra burden of around Rs 500 crore on the state’s finances. This means that the state government will have to spend more money to fulfill its financial obligations towards its employees and pensioners.
Apart from the DA hike, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhi, Chief Minister, Himachal Pradesh, has also announced a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 to all women above the age of 18 in Spiti from June 2023, as promised in the Congress manifesto. This move is aimed at empowering women and promoting gender equality in the region.
In another development, media reports suggest that the central government has recently raised the DA by 4 percent effective January 1 and is likely to increase it by another 4 percent in July this year for central government employees.
The Ministry of Labour has made some changes to the way it calculates dearness allowance (DA) for employees. Specifically, it has revised the formula used for this calculation, and has also changed the base year for determining the DA in 2016. Additionally, the Ministry has introduced a new series of the Wage Rate Index (WRI) which has a base year of 2016=100, to replace the old series which had a base year of 1963-65.
