Festive bonanza for central govt employees: Dearness allowance hiked to 17%
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to hike the dearness allowance given to central government employees by 5% with effect from July 1, 2019, Union Minister Prakash Javdekar said. The move will benefit nearly 50 lakh central government employees and 65 lakh pensioners, the minister said.
With the current increase, DA has increased to 17% from 12% earlier. The decision to hike DA will cost the government Rs 16,000 crore annually.
In another announcement, Javadekar said that the government has decided to double the remuneration of Asha workers from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000. The Cabinet has also decided to relax the deadline for the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar seeding for release of benefits under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme to November 30, 2019.
The decision was taken in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Cabinet has decided to relax till 30th November 2019, the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar seeding for release of benefits under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi after 1st August, 2019,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told media after the meeting.
The date has been extended to help farmers ahead of rabi (winter) sowing, he said adding that over 7 crore farmers have already benefited under the PM-Kisan scheme, under which Rs 6,000 is being provided to each farmer in three equal installments.
