7th Pay Commission: As central government employees wait for big decision, govt term coming to end

7th Pay commission: The pressure on Centre from all sides, interested parties, lobbyists, teachers, Indian Railways employees and yes, even central government employees is getting intense. Reason behind that is the fact that each segment has made demands for sops and salary hikes and the results of this pressure are awaited. What is adding to the urgency is the fact that this government is at the fag end of its 5 years in office. General elections are looming.

What is more, there is much talk about holding elections early. If the polls are held early, then there is even less time left for the central government employees and the rest to get their demands met. In case that does not happen, all decisions are likely to be delayed and that too indefinitely as it takes a lot of time for the new government to be elected, to be sworn-in and thereafter, for the ministers and the rest to take charge of affairs. Many decisons, especially on sops, are therefore, delayed as more urgent decisions acquire primacy.

Fortunately. there are indications that 7th Pay Commission related decisions are acquiring strong momentum. A number of states have come out and passed the order to implement 7th Pay Commission report recommendations for the employees, causing their salaries and perks to spike. Also, recenlty, a huge number of teachers and retirees got good news of salary hikes from Union minister Prakash Javadekar.

Then there was the case of desperate Postal department Gramin Dak Sevaks going on strike to demand that their salaries be hiked and pay anomalies arising from 7th pay commission order be removed. Significantly, Centre cleared their pay hikes after days of strike ensured that mail was not delivered across nation. Also, farmers have received good news from the Centre as the MSP on crops has been hiked, indicating the government is well into poll mode.

The problem with the 7th pay commission is that not only does it involve the future of the central government employees, it also includes the fate of almost a similar number of retirees who too have been affected by their pensions being less.