Less than one percent will rejoice at the cost of the rest of 99%

In order to benefit a vast army of civilian public servants and comparatively a small number of Army men the Union Cabinet on Thursday accepted the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission with some modifications. The state governments, too, are expected to follow suit.
Financial prudence will say the Centre hasn’t chosen the best opportunity to do so. The raging inflation in the country is already taking its toll. The pay hikes will only lead to worsening of the situation, governmental assertions not withstanding.
Nearly 50 lakh employees will benefit at the cost of more than 110 crore tax-payers. The hapless people will have to fork-out an additional more than Rs. 22,000 crore annually. A sum over Rs. 29,373 crore will also has to be paid as their arrears.
The pay-packets of about 50 lakh government employees have gone up by at least 21 per cent.
The revised pay scales will come into effect from January 1, 2006 and the revised rates of allowances from September 1 this year. The arrears will be paid in cash in two installments, the first one of 40 per cent during 2008-09 and the remaining in the next financial year.