Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget for 2024-25 in Parliament on July 23. Different sectors have their own expectations regarding the full budget. Meanwhile, there is speculation that the central government may announce the implementation of the 8th Pay Commission for employees and pensioners.
In fact, SB Yadav, General Secretary of the Central Government Employees and Workers Confederation, wrote a letter to the Cabinet Secretary of the Government of India demanding the formation of the 8th Pay Commission. The letter also raises the demand to restore the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), release 18 months’ dearness allowance and give relief to employees and pensioners stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When should the 8th pay commission be implemented?
Usually the Central Pay Commission is constituted every 10 years. It recommends review and revision of salaries, allowances as well as benefits of central government employees. These recommendations are made keeping in mind inflation and other external factors. Let us tell you that the Seventh Pay Commission was constituted by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 28 February 2014 and it submitted its report on 19 November 2015. The recommendations were implemented on 1 January 2016. Accordingly, if we look at the ten-year pattern, the 8th Pay Commission should be implemented from 1 January 2026. However, no official announcement has been made on this yet.
Announcement on 8th Pay Commission possible in Budget 2024
The Central Government Employees and Staff Federation has demanded immediate formation of the 8th Pay Commission, abolition of the New Pension Scheme (NPS) and release of 18 months’ DA/DR frozen during the Covid-19 pandemic to employees and pensioners.
Let us tell you that the Union Budget 2024-25 will be presented in Parliament on July 23. This will be the seventh consecutive budget of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The interim budget presented on February 1 took care of the financial needs of the period till the formation of the government after the Lok Sabha elections, after which the full budget is to be presented by the new government in July.
