7th Pay Commission: Diwali bonanza For Karnataka state employees as DA hikes by 3%

Karnataka state government has announced a hike in the dearness allowance (DA) by 3%.

New Delhi: In what could be good news for Karnataka government employees, the state government, on Wednesday (October 27), announced a hike in the dearness allowance (DA) by 3%. With the latest revision, the state government employees will receive DA at the rate of 24.5 per cent of their basic pay, up from 21.5 per cent. 

The latest DA hike is the second in the ongoing financial year. The State Finance Department has announced that the DA hike will come into effect retrospectively from July 1. This means that employees will receive DA arrears for the month of July, August, and September 2021. 

Besides government employees, pensioners will also benefit from the move. The DA hike will apply to “full-time government employees, employees of Zilla Panchayats, work-charged employees on regular time scales of pay, full-time employees of aided educational institutions and universities who are on regular time scales of pay.” the department said in its official order. 

Moreover, current and former employees on UGC/AICTE/ACAR scales of pay will also get the benefits of the hike, the state finance department added in its order. Overall, the latest DA hike is expected to benefit as many as six lakh employees, in addition to 4.5 lakh pensioners.

The Karnataka government's 3% DA hike has come after the Central government, early this month, announced the increase in dearness allowance and dearness relief of Central government employees and pensioners by 3%. The announcement was made by Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Anurag Singh Thakur. Also Read: Paytm IPO: Offer size increased to Rs 18,300 crore as Chinese investor plans to sell more stake

The central government’s decision to increase the DA by 3% will put an annual burden of Rs 9,488 crore on the exchequer. Previously, the Central government had increased the DA and DR of its employees and pensioners from 17 per cent to 28 per cent. Also Read: Air India sale: Centre asks ministries, departments to clear dues, make payments for tickets