Sixth Pay Panel approved by Union Cabinet

Five months after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced that a Sixth Pay Commission for Central government employees was on the way...

Five months after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced that a Sixth Pay Commission for Central government employees was on the way, the Union Cabinet today formally approved the setting up of the panel, despite strong opposition from BJP-ruled states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

After the PM8217;s announcement earlier this year, the Finance Ministry had written to all state governments seeking their views on the constitution of a new Pay Commission as a change in wages for the Centre8217;s employees leads to demands of parity from state government employees.

Sixteen states have already sent in their views to the Centre. While BJP-ruled states have opposed the move, six states, including Karnataka, where BJP is sharing power with the JD-S, want the Centre to share the financial burden that the move will impose on them.

The other states who are okay with the Commission but want the Centre8217;s help are Assam, Tripura, Orissa, Manipur and Nagaland.

The Fifth Pay Commission, which was constituted in April 1994 and implemented in 1997, created an additional burden of Rs 17,000 crore per year on government8217;s finances. Some states couldn8217;t bear the burden of the hike at the time, forcing the Centre to devise a financial bailout package for them. The present Commission is likely to cause an additional burden of Rs 20,000 crore per year on the Centre.

The three-member Commission will have a period of 18 months to deliver its report 8212; the timing would allow the government to increase employees8217; salaries before the next general elections, if it so desires.

While the Commission will examine the usual issues of pay, retirement benefits, service conditions and promotion policies for the 3.3 million Central government employees, it will also examine the need for providing interim relief to workers.

Fiji, India pact gets nod

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NEW DELHI: An agreement to enhance bilateral cooperation between India and Fiji Islands in the field of health and medicine was approved by the Union Cabinet on Thursday. The Cabinet meeting, chaired by PM Manmohan Singh, gave its ex-post facto approval for signing of the agreement between the two countries for a period of five years, I038;B Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said. A pact to promote cultural relations and exchanges in the fields of arts, education, science and technology, public health and mass media between India and Ireland was also approved by the Cabinet on Thursday. 8212; PTI