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8th Pay Commission update: In a major relief for nearly 69 lakh pensioners the Central government has clarified its position on pension revision in the 8th Pay Commission stating that it will be part of 8th CPC recommendations along with other allowances. What did govt say about pension revision in 8th CPC? In his reply to an Unstarred Question in the Rajya Sabha Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary clarified doubts on pension revision being omitted from the Terms of Reference of the 8th Central Pay Commission (8th CPC). “The 8th CPC will make its recommendations on the various issues viz. Pay Allowances Pension etc. of the central government employees the minister said in his reply ending the ambiguity on whether pension revision had been removed from the 8th Pay Commission. Why concerns were raised over pension revision? The concern over pension revision stemmed from the lack of explicit mention of the said term in the ToR of the 8th CPC triggering fears among nearly 6.9 million pensioners as speculations spread that they would not receive 8th Pay Commission benefits unlike the previous Pay Commissions. The terms of reference included the term “unfunded cost of non-contributory pension schemes” which employees unions flagged as is misleading and insulting to retirees while noting that pension is not a bounty but a constitutional right. In a series of letters to the Union government including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman workers bodies sought amendments in the ToR to include pension revision warning that its omission would “historic departure” which would prove detrimental to millions of pensioners. Will govt merge DA with basic pay? Meanwhile in a setback for nearly 1.2 crore central government employees and retirees the Union government has clarified that there is no proposal currently under consideration to merge the dearness allowance (DA) or dearness relief (DR) with the basic pay which has been a long-standing demand of employees. Responding to a query on the matter in the Lok Sabha on Monday MoS Pankaj Chaudhary said the central government has notified the constitution of the 8th Central Pay Commission (8th CPC) and as of now there is no proposal to merge DA or DR with basic pay. “No proposal regarding merger of the existing dearness allowance with the basic pay is under consideration with the government at present. In order to adjust the cost of living and to protect basic pay/ pension from erosion in real value on account of inflation the rates of DA/ DR are revised periodically every six months on the basis of the All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (AICPI-IW) released by Labour Bureau Ministry of Labour and Employment the minister said in his response. When will Centre implement 8th Pay Commission? Last month Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union Cabinet approved the terms of reference (ToR) of the 8th Pay Commission which will benefit 50 lakh central government employees and 69 lakh pensioners and will have implications on the emoluments of the staff of state governments. If we go by the implementation of previous pay commissions the government usually takes about 18 to 24 months to implement the recommendations of the commission. Thus its unlikely that 8th Pay Commission would be implemented before mid-2027 while reports suggest that the next CPC implementation might be pushed back to early 2028.