7th Pay Commission: List of allowances that were doubled by Union Cabinet

7th Pay Commission recommendations accepted by Union Cabinet had good news for employees who are entitled to the list of following allowances which are now doubled than their previous amounts.

The revised salaries of nearly 50 lakh government employees will be credited to their accounts from the end of July 2017. 

As per the revised pay, the government has increased the minimum wage of the central government employees from Rs 7,000 per month to Rs 18,000 per month.

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The 7th CPC had adopted a three-pronged approach in examining a total of 197 allowances which involved an assessment of the need for continuation of each allowance, appropriateness of the set of people covered by the allowance and rationalisation which involved clubbing of allowances with similar objectives. 

Based on the examination on these lines, the 7th CPC recommended that 53 allowances be abolished and 37 be subsumed in an existing or a newly proposed allowance.

While talking about the allowances, there are seven kinds of allowances which has been doubled post 7th Pay Commission, as per India.com. Here's the list:

House Rent Allowance

The HRA has been increased between 106% to 157% under the modifications accepted as part of 7th Pay Commission.

The Cabinet had said that HRA which is currently paid 30% for X (population of 50 lakh & above), 20% for Y (5 to 50 lakh) and 10% for Z (below 5 lakh) category of cities. 7th CPC has recommended reduction in the existing rates to 24% for X, 16% for Y and 8% for Z category of cities. 

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As the HRA at the reduced rates may not be sufficient for employees falling in lower pay bracket, it has been decided that HRA shall not be less than Rs 5400, Rs 3600 and Rs 1800 for X, Y and Z category of cities respectively. 

Medical allowance

To pensioners, rate of Fixed Medical Allowance (FMA) for Pensioners has been increased from Rs 500 per month to Rs 1000 per month, a rise of 100%. Constant Attendance Allowance on 100% disablement increased from Rs 4,500 per month to Rs 6,750 per month.

Education allowance:

Children Education Allowance increased from Rs 1500 pm/child (max.2) to Rs 2250/child and Hostel Subsidy increased from Rs 4500 pm to Rs 6750 pm. 

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Siachen Allowance

7th CPC had placed Siachen Allowance in the RH-Max cell of the R&H Matrix with two slabs of Rs 21,000 and Rs 31,500. Recognizing the extreme nature of risk and hardship faced by officers / PBORs on continuous basis in Siachen, the Government has decided to further enhance the rates of Siachen Allowance which will now go up from the existing rate from Rs 14,000 to Rs 30,000 per month for Jawans & JCOs (Level 8 and below) and from Rs 21,000 to Rs 42,500 per month for Officers (Level 9 and above). With this enhancement, Siachen Allowance will become more than twice the existing rates.

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Allowances paid to D/o Posts

The recommendations of 7th CPC to abolish Cycle Allowance, granted mainly to Postmen and trackmen in Railways, has not been accepted. Keeping in view the specific requirement of this allowance for postmen in Department of Posts and trackmen in Railways, the cycle allowance is retained and the rates have been doubled from Rs 90 per month to Rs 180 per month. This will benefit more than 22,200 employees.

Further, the 7th Pay Commission news has released 58 concordance tables. The central government employees can calculate their revised salaries based on their Grade Scale. You can check here.