These days discussions have intensified regarding the 8th Pay Commission and the one thing that has made the most headlines at the moment is the fitment factor. In fact, since the announcement of the panel, there has been speculation that the fitment factor in the 8th Pay Commission can be increased to 2.86, which was 2.57 in the 7th Pay Commission. With this, the minimum basic salary increased from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000, which was an increase of 2.57 times.

Let us tell you that the fitment factor is the multiplier by which the new basic salary of government employees is decided.

What are the demands of the employees?

According to reports, the employee side of the National Council Joint Consultative Machinery (NC JCM) has this time demanded a fitment factor of more than 2.57. NC JCM is a group of employee-side representatives who negotiate with the government on behalf of central government employees. The employee side had put forward 15 demands in February this year, which are expected to be implemented this month.

Apart from these demands, the employee side wants the Pay Commission to examine and change the salary, allowances, pension, and retirement benefits of central government employees including industrial and non-industrial employees, All India Services, defense and paramilitary forces, rural postal workers, and other categories.

Will the Pay Commission meet the demands of the employees?

However, there is little chance that the Pay Commission will meet all these demands. According to reports, former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg also believes that the government can settle for a fitment factor of 1.92 for changes in the salary of employees. That is, there is little hope of the fitment factor increasing to 2.86 in the 8th Pay Commission.

How much was the increase in the 7th Pay Commission?

When the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commissions came in the year 2015, the employee side strongly demanded to increase in the minimum salary to Rs 26,000. This was about 3.7 times more than the basic salary of Rs 7,000 at that time. However, the commission did not fully accept these demands. Their calculations were done based on the Acroyd formula and the minimum basic salary was fixed at Rs 18,000 and the fitment factor was 2.57.

What happened in the 6th Pay Commission?

Earlier, when the Sixth Pay Commission came, even then the employee side had demanded to increase the minimum basic salary to Rs 10,000. They said that if public sector employees are working on this salary, then why discriminate against central government employees? But the commission rejected this demand as well and fixed the minimum basic salary at Rs 5,479. However, later it was slightly increased to Rs 6,600 and then to Rs 7,000.

What are the expectations this time?

This time the burden of inflation is very high, which is affecting the pockets of the employees. The demand of the employee side is that at least this time the government should increase the salary and pension in view of the current economic reality of the country. While the last two pay commissions had made recommendations less than the expectations of the employees, this time the current and retired employees of the central government are hopeful that they will get some relief.

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