7th Pay Commission windfall for this state government employees announced; implementation soon

7th Pay Commission: It is nothing short of a major victory for government employees who have been vehemently demanding that their demands be met by this state government. And what is more, this pressure looks to have hit its mark as things are moving and the government has indicated its willingness to pay heed to the warnings. We are talking about the Maharashtra government and considering that other states may take its actions as template and replicate it elsewhere, this ensures all eyes are fixed on what is happening there.

Maharashtra Assembly saw the presentation of the state budget yesterday. while many things were discussed, proposals made and expenditure detailed, there was some good news too for those waiting to hear more about the 7th Pay Commission. State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar speaking in the assembly said that the 7th CPC report recommendations would be implemented from the current year. Surely, some 11,00,000 government employees and 700,000 retirees must have smiled collectively in triumph! The state will have to pay Rs 23,000 cr for this exercise even as the budget itself ear-marked Rs 10,000 cr for the current fiscal.

Of course, another matter of critical interest was implementation of 7th CPC report. Well, it was announced that the 7th Pay Commission will be implemented with retrospective effect from 01/01/2016. The Maharashtra government on Friday presented the 2018-19 budget with over Rs 15,000 crore revenue deficit and the FM said one of the key reasons for this is the Rs 34,000-crore farm loan waiver announced last year. 7th Pay Commission outgo too will affect things.

Reacting to the presentation of the Maharashtra budget, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who is a Congress MLA, said it was a "hollow" one and that it will not be able to boost the state. "Jugglery of numbers," the MLA termed it. Be that as it may, while state government servants are happy at the 7th pay commission announcement that the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis led BJP government in Maharashtra has made, elsewhere there is anxiety about other aspects. At the central level what every government servant wants is for the PM Modi administration to issue a fiat for a hike in minimum wages to Rs 26,000 based on fitment factor of 3.68x rather than what is currently on offer (3x).