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For lakhs of Central Government employees, such a news to the 8th Pay Commission is coming out, which has increased everyone’s heartbeat. Now the discussion is not only based on what will be the fitment factor or how much will the salary increase, but the matter has gone much beyond this. In fact, the employee organizations have presented a ‘master plan’ before the government, which if approved, will drastically change the salaries of lower level employees overnight.

Actually, this time a proposal has been made for Pay-Level Merger i.e. merging different pay levels. This news is like a lifeline for those employees who have been working on the same post and limited salary for years. If this formula comes to fruition, then it is certain that the employees posted on smaller posts will directly get the benefit of bigger pay scale.

What is the new formula for pay-level merger?

Employee organizations argue that in the current pay matrix, there are a large number of employees at lower levels, but the pace of promotion there is like a tortoise. To remove this discrepancy, it has been suggested to reduce the initial six pay levels to three larger levels.

According to the proposal, a new level can be created by combining Level-1 and Level-2. Similarly, there are preparations to merge Level-3 and Level-4 together and to merge Level-5 and Level-6 into one. It is being said that the biggest objective of this change is to reduce the salary gap and to rapidly move up the career graph of the employees.

There will be a ‘lottery’ for Level-1 employees!

Suppose you are working in Level-1, where currently the starting basic salary is Rs 18,000. Whereas, the basic salary of Level-2 starts from Rs 19,900. If these two are merged, then the salary of the Level-1 employee will be directly fixed as per the upper level i.e. Level-2.

After this, when the new fitment factor of the 8th Pay Commission will be implemented, the employees are excited by just imagining the jump in the total salary. Its direct benefit will be to thousands of Multi Tasking Staff (MTS), Clerks and Group-C employees who have been waiting for salary hike for a long time.

There will be a break on the slow pace of promotion

There is often a complaint in government jobs that it takes one’s entire youth to reach from one level to another. But with the implementation of level merger, the promotion ladder will be reduced. This means that employees will be able to reach higher positions in less time. Experts say that this will not only increase the salary but will also improve the designation. Apart from this, it will also have a positive impact on the gratuity and pension received at the time of retirement.

What is the movement in the files of the Commission?

Employee organizations have submitted their detailed draft list to the government regarding the 8th Pay Commission. At present, the Commission is busy visiting different states and departments to understand the ground reality. The good thing is that the Commission has also extended the deadline for submitting suggestions, so that the views of every section can be heard. The organizations strongly demand that these new recommendations should be implemented from January 2026 itself.

Overall, this time the 8th Pay Commission can become not just a means of salary increase but a means of resetting the entire system. However, the final decision will depend on the government’s treasury and its intentions, but at the moment the expectations of the employees are sky high.