In a good news for the state government employees and pensioners, the Uttar Pradesh government has hiked the rate of dearness allowances and dearness relief by 4 per cent with effect from January 1, 2023.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in a late-night decision on Tuesday, said that the increase in the dearness allowance and dearness relief would benefit 16.35 lakh employees and 11 lakh pensioners in the state.
“In the larger interest of 16.35 lakh state employees and 11 lakh pensioners serving in the Uttar Pradesh government, the state government has decided to increase the rate of dearness allowance and dearness relief by 4 per cent –from 38 per cent to 42 per cent –with effect from January 1, 2023,” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted on Tuesday.
Earlier on March 24, the Central government had hiked the dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) by 4 per cent with retrospective effect from January 1, 2023 for 48 lakh Central government employees and 70 lakh pensioners.
The DA is calculated as per the latest consumer price index for industrial workers. It is revised periodically twice a year and was last revised in September 2022, and was effective retrospectively from July 1, 2022.
At the Central level, the government usually revises the DA/DR rate every six months. This is done to compensate for the loss in purchasing power of the monthly salary/pension wealth due to inflation. In line with this, the state government announces bi-annual hikes in DA and DR, usually in January and July.