Revision of Minimum Pay and Fitment formula due to increased revenue collections of the Central Government
Comrades,
Today
none of the 7th CPC related demands of Central Government Employees are
settled. The assurance given by the Group of Ministers to the NJCA
leaders regarding increase in Minimum Pay and Fitment formula is in
paper even after a lapse of 20 months. Now the Finance Minister has
replied in Parliament that "no change in Minimum Pay and Fitment formula
is at present under consideration".
To avert the 11th July CG
employees strike the Hon'ble Prime Minster had instructed the group of
Hon'ble Ministers including Shri Rajnath Singhji, Hon'ble Home Minister,
Shri Suresh Prabhuji , Hon'ble Railway Minister and Shri Arun Jaitelyji
, Hon'ble Finance Minister to hold discussions with the Staff Side
(JCM) on 30th June 2016 and the Shri Arun Jaitelyji , Hon'ble Finance
Minister had published a written assurances in the Government website on
6th July 2016 leading to deferment of the strike .
Pay Commission Objective:
It is the endeavour of every pay commission to ensure that the pay and
allowances of employees should be ‘fair and reasonable'. The pay
structure should also motivate the employees to reasonable levels of
performance in the tasks assigned to them, so that the general public
derive the benefit of their service as intended.
Our demand of revision of Minimum Pay and Fitment formula is quite justified.
Comparison
of earlier wage hike we can observe that the fitment factor of 2.57
times is the lowest comparing to other pay commissions. If we make a
study of earlier pay commission.
| Pay Commission | Year | Minimum wage ( old ) | Minimum wage (revised) | Increase |
| 2nd CPC | 1959 | Rs 55/- | Rs 80/- | 1.45 times |
| 3rd CPC | 1973 | Rs 80/- | Rs 196/- | 2.45 times |
| 4th CPC | 1986 | Rs 196/- | Rs 750/- | 3.82 times |
| 5th CPC | 1996 | Rs 750/- | Rs 2550/- | 3.40 times |
| 6th CPC* | 2006 | Rs 2550/- | Rs 7000/- | 2.74 times |
| 7th CPC * | 2016 | Rs 7000/- | Rs 18000/- | 2.57 times |
Comparative picture of pay of Central Government and State Government in regards to minimum wage as on 1.7.2017
Many
of the State Governments are following the Central Government pay
scales, but a few state Governments have improved upon the Central
Government pay scales. The examples are as under:
| Government Agency | Group "D" Basic pay in Rs | Add Skill 25% from Group "D" to Group "C" | Group "C"
Basic Pay in Rs | DA% | Add DA Amount in Rs | Basic Pay in Group "C" in Rs |
| Govt. of India | | Nil | 18000 | 5 | 900 | 18900 |
| AndhraPradesh & Telangana | 13000 | 3250 | 16250 | 24.1 | 3916 | 20166 |
| Kerala | 16500 | 4125 | 20625 | 14 | 2887 | 23512 |
| Karnataka | 17000 | 4250 | 21250 | Nil | | 21250 |
The
financial position of the Central Government is very good. Even the GDP
(Gross Domestic Product) has shown increase in last few years which is
around 7% , the Indian economy is fastest growing and placed 7th in the
world ( which is at 2,250.987 billions of $ ), comparing to wages paid
in the world our wages are at lower level. The Government fiscal budget
deficit equal to 3.50 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product in
2016. Compared to 2008 where the fiscal deficit was at 7.8%, but today
the fiscal deficit is contained at 3.5%. This is also a healthy sign of
the economic status of the Central Government financial status, the
budget fiscal deficit is always below 4%.
Direct tax collections
in 2017-18 at Rs 9.95 lakh crore, exceeded the revised budgetary target
of Rs 9.8 lakh crore. Also, 6.84 crore income tax returns filed in the
year against 5.43 crore in the previous year signalling a rise of 26% . A
net of 99.5 lakh new assesses were added to the tax net.
Net collection from corporate tax went up 17.1 per cent while that from personal income tax rose 18.9%.
The
revenue collection from Goods and Services Tax (GST) exceeded Rs 1 lakh
crore in April 2018, GST revenue collected in April 2018 came at Rs
1,03,458 crore.
With the improved economic climate, introduction
of e-way bill and improved GST compliance, GST collections would
continue to show a positive trend.
The wage bill of the Central
Government on in its employees is less than 10% or 3.4% of the GDP,
which is less compared to various countries world wide.
Vacancy
of the Central Government is about 15% , more than 4 lakhs vacancies are
existing in the Central Government the work load is being carried out
by the existing employees. The Government being a model employer should
pay for its employees and motivate them to work more for implementation
of its policies.
Hence due to the improved revenue earning of the
Central Government, as assured to the staff side JCM by the Group of
Ministers in respect of increase of Minimum Pay and Fitment formula, the
Central Government should increase the Minimum Pay and Fitment formula.
Source: COC Karnataka
