7th pay commission: Waiting period of central government employees to end soon?

7th pay commission: Even as about 50 lakh central government employees have so far patiently waited for hike in their minimum basic pay and fitment factor, following the assurances of several Union ministers including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the wait may end as speculations in the power corridors hint that government may come out with a concrete move over their long pending demands. Reason behind is that speculation has grown strong that the same may be granted in one of the upcoming national holidays. However, no concrete assurances have emerged from official sources as yet.

There are reports that the government is also toying with the idea of preponing the general elections and may go for simultaneous polls with that of state assemblies slated by end of this year. This step may perhaps also be reason for the government to extend sops for central government employees as the latter form a big chunk of vote bank and the ruling dispensation may not like to annoy this segment.

However, there is heavy expenditure on general elections may dither the government to go ahead but others say this argument does not hold ground as the government has already announced minimum support price for the produce of farmers. This was decided apparently to ensure better economic fundamentals for farmers. The Indian economy has already hit a 7-quarter high of 7.7% in the three months ended March 2018 and that bodes well for Centre's drive to dole out sops all around.

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Notably, central government employees are seeking a hike in 7th CPC based fitment factor by 3.68 times from the current level of 2.57 times. If the government agrees to their demands, it would incur Rs 26,000. The employees are hopeful as many state governments including J&K, Tripura and Madhya Pradesh, have already taken steps to give their employees benefits as per the 7th CPC.