According to a recent announcement, the Union Cabinet has hiked the Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief of Central Government employees and pensioners from the existing 46% to 50%. On the other hand, several petitions to the Labour Commission for a hike in the pension of over 45 lakh pensioners under the EPS-95 pension scheme have been turned down on some pretext or the other.
Whatever little hopes were there have now been severely dashed, as even the plea to double the existing minimum pension from Rs 1000/ p.m to Rs 2000/ p.m has been rejected outright. What shamefulness and insensitivity exhibited by the BJP government, to say the least, even as sops are being freely doled out before the grand 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
