The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval to release an additional installment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners from 1st January 2018 representing an increase of 2% over the existing rate of 5% of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise.

This will benefit about 48.41 lakh Central Government employees and 61.17 lakh pensioners.

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief would be Rs 6,078 crore per annum and Rs 7,091 crore in the financial year 2018-19 (for a period of 14 months from January 2018 to February 2019).

Source: PIB