8th Pay Commission News: Amid the uncertainty over pension revisions in the 8th Pay Commission a union representing central government has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to direct the Finance Ministry to amend the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the 8th CPC (8th Central Pay Commission) to allow the revision of pensionary benefits for What are the employees demands? The central government employees seek revision of pension and pensionary benefits under various in the 8th Pay Commission and the restoration of Old Pension Scheme (OPS) as well as a comprehensive review of NPS/UPS. The employees have also urged the government to extend all retirement benefits to autonomous bodies and rural postal workers and provide an immediate 20% interim relief  to pensioners. Further they demand that facilities like CGHS should be expanded and made available to autonomous bodies. They also seek the 8th Pay Commission recommendations to be implemented from January 1 2026. Why employees sought PM Modis intervention? The employees letter to PM Narendra Modi comes amid speculations about benefits for pensioners under the 8th Pay Commission as the ToR does not provide clarity on matters related to retirees such as pension revision pension parity or other pension-related benefits for the existing 69 lakh pensioners including family pensioners under the OPS Integrated Pension Scheme and National Pension System. Notably earlier in a major relief for pensioners the Union government clarified that the Finance Act 2025 will not revoke DA hikes and 8th Pay Commission benefits from retired central government employees. In a post on X the fact check unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said the viral social media claim about retirees being excluded from 8th Pay Commission and DA hike benefits was fake and no such policy changes have been made. When will Centre implement 8th Pay Commission? Earlier this month on November 3 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.