7th Pay Commission: Govt may soon fulfill long-pending demand of 9 lakh paramilitary personnel

The government may announce these changes in the upcoming full Budget 2019, which will be presented by the new government at the Centre.

After the 7th Pay Commission's recommendation, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has agreed to look into a long pending demand of army personnel, which includes the exemption of ration money, and risk and hardship allowance from taxes. As per reports, jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel will immensely benefit from the changes in existing rules.

The government may announce these changes in the upcoming full Budget 2019, which will be presented by the new government at the Centre. In all, the move will benefit over 9 lakh army personnel. The 7th Pay Commission, in its report, said allowance given as part of free ration to jawans should be exempted from the income tax.

Besides, the MP government has also increased dearness allowance (DA) for pensioners as part of the 7th Pay Commission's recommendations. The revised DA will be applicable from May. The government will also take a final decision on the arrears from January 2018 to April 2019 after the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. DA is a cost of living adjustment allowance that is calculated as a fixed percentage of a person's basic salary or pension and paid to compensate for price rise stemming from inflation.

The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions had recently approved an increase in incentives of highly qualified central government employees under the 7th Pay Commission. A five-fold increase will be made in the one-time incentives given to the employees if they acquire a higher degree while serving in their respective departments, as per the notification. A lump sum amount of Rs 2,000-Rs 10,000 would be given to those acquiring fresh higher educational qualifications.

In March, the Uttarakhand government also announced a hike in the DA by 3 per cent, taking it to 12 per cent. The decision would benefit over 2.5 lakh government employees and pensioners. The order will be applicable with retrospective effect from January 1, 2019. The state government also announced to waive off pending water bills estimated at Rs 70 crore of around 10,000 people rehabilitated at NewTehri due to the construction of the Tehri dam.