All our doubts will be cleared and queries will be answered after submission of 7th pay commission report to Finance Minister today.
The VII Pay commission was appointed on 28th February 2014 to revise the pay and allowances of central government employees and the commission took twenty months time to complete its tedious but sensitive task. On 18th November 2015, the official website of Seventh pay commission informed that the commission is prepared to submits its report to Finance Minister on 19th November 2015 at 19:30 Hrs.
7th CPC Recommendation on Pay Structure, Annual Increment, HRA, DA, MACP, Promotion ,Pay Fixation Benefit will be known
The news created buzz over internet and government staffs expectation went sky high because of many reasons.
The result of recommendations of 7th pay commission to be submitted to the government today will decide the financial future of the 35 Lakh Central government employees and 50Lakh pensioners. And of course it will impact 185 Lakh government employees of Central and state together, since the seventh pay commission recommendation will be followed by state government also.
All the central government employees very keen to know the 7th Pay Commission recommendation on the following important matters.
1.Amount of Increase in Basic Pay
There were many news and rumours circulated about the amount of Increase over Basic Pay. It is now expected 15 to 30 % increase will be there in the recommendations of Pay commission.
2. 7th CPC Pay Structure
Whether existing system [Pay Band and Grade Pay] continues or not ?.
Federations claimed that pay commission accepted to drop the Grade Pay and Pay band System and old Pay Scale system with open ended Pay scale would be recommended. This would be a critical decision as both the systems has its own advantages and dis advantages.
3.Annual Increment
How much it will be granted?
At least 5% of the Basic Pay has been expected as annual increment in 7th Pay commission. Some doubts are there that Performance based Increment and Promotion will be recommended by the Pay commission. But it is not feasible for implementing this proposal in Govt Sector.
4. MACP in 7th Pay commission
Federation demanded 5 MACP to be ensured in ones career. But it expected 4 MACP s will be granted. But the main plea of Central government Federation is MACP should be granted on Promotion hierarchy instead of Grade pay hierarchy.
5.Pay Fixation on Promotion
In the existing system it is reported that Pay fixation on promotion created anomaly and and it lead to Junior gets higher Pay than Senior Govt servants. There should be definite Pay Scale and Pay for respective promotion is expected with the benefit of 10% increment on pay fixation
NCJCM Proposal demanded 60%,40% and 20% of HRA instead of 30%,20% and 10%. But it is not known how much the 7th pay commission decided to grant on HRA
7. Dearness Allowance
DA Calculation will be revised and it is expected the pay commission to recommend merger of dearness Allowance whenever DA reaches 50%
7. All other Allowances
All the other allowances including CCA, TA to be proportionate to the amount of increase in rate of Dearness Allowance.
All the above matters will be cleared by this evening and let us wait for 8 more hours to know the all the information. But whatever it is recommended in the 7th pay commission report is not final and it is subject to modification based on the impact and objections and responses both sides from central government and government servants, unions and Federations.
Job pattern of Group ‘B’ officers and those at the entry level in Group A, in almost all the Government Departments, are very similar and there could be hardly any reason, except the legacy of India’s colonial past, for persisting with two classes of officers in the Government. It only instills sense of class difference in the officer’s cadre, which thoroughly demoralises the officers at cutting edge level, striking a fatal blow at the very roots of quality governance. There should be only two cadres viz. Gazetted and Non-Gazetted.
India needs government employees more than the existing with decent pay package for effective governance.
Statistics of Government employees across the world reveals that India has 1622 government servants (Central and State government employees) for every 100,000 citizens. In stark contrast, the United States has 7,681 government servants for 100000 citizens. If we look into the statistics in respect of central government employees only, there are 254 central government servants for every 100000 citizens in India. But the US federal government has 840 government servants for every 100000 population.
The above fact implies India need to recruit more government servants to increase the effectiveness of the government.
The wage bill should not be construed an expense, since it is paid for service done by government staff to run the government machinery. Without this work force government cannot function. Unless a decent pay package is provided to government Officers & staff, the government cannot ensure good and effective governance.
Though various methodologies had been adopted to arrive at a minimum Wage, the intrinsic value of the job content of each grade and post at the intermediary level has not been given due consideration by any Pay Commission. It has to be assessed by an expert committee. Hence, there is need to appoint an expert committee for assessing the intrinsic value of the job content of each grade and post at the intermediary level.
Various anomalies arising after the implementation of the recommendations of the Pay Commission are mainly due to lack of scientific assessment of Job content of the each Grade in the Gazetted Officers Post. Pending finalization of such a study, the Commission should maintain the presently existing vertical and horizontal relativities.
The Seventh Central Pay Commission has announced that it will submit the report to the Government of India on 19.11.2015 at 19.30 hours.
Finance ministry has indicated that the Seventh Central Pay Commission was mindful of the fiscal concerns of the Govt. Finance ministry has already communicated its concerns with regard to sustainability of public expenditure to Pay Commission.
Finance Secretary said that after submission of VII CPC report, it would be scrutinised by a secretariat to be set up in the Finance ministry.
Finance Minister already said that VII CPC, OROP will not impact fiscal deficit.
When the Pay Commission itself was ready to submit the report in stipulated time initially, the Central government gave four months extension upto December 2015.
The VII CPC recommendations should be implemented w.e.f 01.01.2014.
A culture of human exploitation and disrespect for the law prevails, and we are expected to enforce government machinery at cheaper cost without any claim for the recognition and benefits. Disrespect for human beings is in the DNA of the current system. While slavery is, of course, the most extreme situation in the field level offices, the truth is that the Gazetted officer is being ruthlessly exploited.
Our Officers perform backbreaking work, at the very low pay scales; have no benefits and virtually no protection to their self-respect. Historically Gazetted Officers have been and continue to be excluded from Indian fair labour standards and are prevented from unionizing. The cruelty of modern-day slavery prevailing in the Government has motivated our officers to continue fighting for their rights, prompting the Government agencies to support our demands that include better pay scales and working conditions and new environment.
Pay commissions have been viewed, or at least have been portrayed, as a stable watch dog of our economy, looking out for everyone’s good like a kind of gentle Big Brother. We wouldn’t survive without the Pay Commissions, is what most of our Gazetted officers believe. What we fail to see is the reality that the door to the Pay Commission is a revolving one with the Finance Ministry of India. What we do not see is that the Pay commission is a Government agency that manufactures policy in the interests of Government. Our job now is to unite every resource available and put every shoulder to the wheel. A strong united movement of Gazetted officers alone can change the status of the Gazetted officers and render Justice.
Our thirst for justice has been remaining unquenched for six decades. In fact, it has been deliberately allowed to aggravate by repeated injustice by the Pay Commissions and by the Authorities who seem to have taken upon themselves the task of suppressing us further and further in to virtual slavery. Our thirst for justice is real acute and painful. We can quench our thirst for a fair deal, only when we, every one of us, establish emphatically that we are capable of sustained struggle. Our thirst will be quenched when every one of us demonstrate that “it is nobler to take arms against the sea of trouble and by opposing end them”