Govt Staff Body Meets Jitendra Singh To Discuss 8th Pay Commission Issues

Late evening on Tuesday, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh, met representatives of the Government Employees National Confederation (GENC) to discuss a host of issues related to their service. 

According to officials in the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), the issues that came up for discussion included the constitution of the 8th Pay Commission, rationalisation of Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) benefits, and further clarity on Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) norms. 

Clarity, Morale, And Other Intangibles

All these issues were taken up in the context of employee welfare and administrative efficiency, they added.

A senior officer of the department said, “The employees appreciated the proactive approach of the DoPT in clearing the backlog of promotions across different services, which has brought greater clarity and raised the morale among staff.”

GENC representatives said they have “submitted a memorandum, expressing their views on several service matters, offering inputs on key policy areas impacting government employees”. 

DoPT officials said that the discussions largely focused on “ensuring timely redress of staff grievances, strengthening institutional mechanisms for consultation, and advancing employee welfare through systemic reforms”.

The officials added that GENC representatives also shared inputs on broader systemic reforms and pressing employee concerns, adding that matters pertaining to the 8th Pay Commission were taken up, and a request was made to bring in greater clarity to the issue by an early announcement of the terms of reference for the pay panel before it is constituted. 

GENC Plays A Proactive Role

The GENC plays an important role in voicing concerns of lakhs of government employees, as it includes representatives of diverse sectors like defence production, postal services, autonomous bodies, and central secretariat staff. 

A key focus of the GENC is the “fitment factor” — the multiplier used to adjust pay scales. While the 7th Pay Commission used a factor of 2.57, there are rumours that the 8th could propose a factor of 2.28, potentially raising the minimum basic salary of government employees across sectors from Rs 18,000 to Rs 21,600 and pensions from Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,800, per month. 

Along with basic salary adjustments, other allowances like house rent allowance (HRA) and travel allowance (TA) are also expected to be revised, based on location and job-related travel. This would mean two employees on the same pay level may receive different gross earnings due to varying allowances.

The hike in pay will also have an impact on the National Pension System (NPS) contributions, as central government employees contribute 10 per cent of their basic pay and dearness allowance (DA) to the NPS, while the government contributes 14 per cent. Both contributions will increase following salary revisions. The charges under CGHS will also be updated, based on the revised salary levels.

(For our previous reports on the 8th Pay Commission, check out here and here)