While increasing the rate of allowance to 28 per cent, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to restore Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief for central government employees and pensioners from July 1, 2021.
Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur told reporters after the cabinet meeting, the increase in the DA and DR will impose an additional annual burden of Rs 34,401 crore on the exchequer.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government had frozen the three additional instalments of the DA and DR which were due from January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021.
The move, Thakur said, will benefit about 48.34 lakh central employees and 65.26 pensioners.