Central govt pensioners to get DR installments frozen? Here’s what govt says

New Delhi: According to a report, the central government has denied pensioners' plea to release the dearness relief (DR) that was held during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The money was set aside to cover additional immediate expenses during the lockdown. Here's everything you need to know about recent developments in dearness allowance (DA), which is paid to government employees, and dearness relief (DR), which is paid to retirees:

In light of the exceptional scenario created by the COVID-19 epidemic, the central government withheld three installments of DA and DR for January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021. The DA and DR are updated twice every year, in January and July. In a written response to a Rajya Sabha question in August last year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that withholding DA and DR saved "about Rs 34,402 crore."

The freeze was lifted in July 2021, and the DA and DR allocations have since been raised three times.

The DA and DR have just been raised by the government. Since the freeze was lifted in July 2021, DA and DR have witnessed three rises and nearly doubled.

After a long gap, the Centre boosted the DA and DR for central government employees and pensioners to 28% and 17%, respectively, in July 2021. Again in October 2021, central government employees saw a 3% increase in Dearness Allowance. The DA for central government employees was then increased to 31%, beginning July 20, 2021. From January 2022, DA and DR will be paid to salaried employees at a rate of 34%, an increase from the previous rate of 31%.

Here’s how to calculate DA:

In 2006, the central government revised the mechanism for calculating DA for central government employees and pensioners.

Dearness Allowance percent = ((Average of All-India Consumer Price Index (Base Year 2001=100) for the previous 12 months -115.76)/115.76)*100 for central government employees.

Dearness Allowance percent = ((Average of All-India Consumer Price Index (Base Year 2001=100) for the previous three months -126.33)/126.33)*100

According to the latest data from the All-India Consumer Price Index, federal government employees should expect a 3% increase in their Dearness Allowance.