Cabinet’s 2% hike in DA to benefit 1 cr Central employees, pensioners

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved additional two per cent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR), a move that will benefit about 1.1 crore Central Government employees and pensioners, an official release said.

The impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs 6,112.20 crore per annum and Rs 4,074.80 crore in the financial year 2018-19 (8 months from July, 2018 to February, 2019). The hike will be effected from July 1, 2018, the release said.

The hike will benefit about 48.41 lakh Central Government employees and 62.03 lakh pensioners.

The Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also approved 80 per cent increase in spending for India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) to Rs 1,435 crore, three days ahead of its slated mega, nation-wide launch. The Government-backed IPPB is set to go live with 650 branches and 3,250 access points across the country on September 1.

It will offer financial services in rural areas including savings and current accounts, money transfer, direct benefit transfer, bill and utility payments and enterprise and merchant payments.

The increase will take IPPB project outlay to Rs 1,435 crore from Rs 800 crore — giving it additional firepower to compete in the market with existing operators like Airtel Payments Bank and Paytm Payments Bank.

A mega-event has been lined up to mark the all-India launch of IPPB — while the PM will inaugurate the services of IPPB at Talkatora stadium in the Capital, various Chief Ministers, Governors, Central and State Ministers, and other senior Government functionaries will be present at the 650 branches that are slated to go live simultaneously (State Capitals, major cities and towns).

“This will be the most accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man. It will aim at financial inclusion for unbanked and under-banked population,” Communications Minister Manoj Sinha told reporters here. Government owns 100 per cent in IPPB, which has been set up under the aegis of Department of Post, and will offer products and services though multiple channels such as counter services, micro ATMs, mobile banking app, messages and interactive voice response.

The Cabinet also approved a scheme aimed at stepping up ocean research and setting up early warning weather systems, a Government statement said. The ‘Ocean Services, Technology, Observations, Resources Modelling and Science (O-SMART)’ scheme encompasses 16 sub-projects related to ocean development activities and science for implementation during 2017-18 and 2019-20 at an overall cost of Rs 1,623 crore, the statement said.

Under the scheme, the important deliverables envisaged in the next two years include strengthening of ocean observations, modelling, ocean services for fishermen, setting up marine coastal observatories for tracking marine pollution in 2018, setting up Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plant (OTEC) in Kavaratti in Lakshadweep.

The scheme also includes acquisition of two coastal research vessels, continuation of ocean survey and exploration of minerals and living resources, technology development for deep ocean mining- and setting up six desalination Plants in Lakshadweep, according to the statement. The O-SMART is expected to provide necessary scientific and technological background required for implementation of various aspects of Blue Economy.

This also includes setting up of the state-of-the-art Early Warning Systems to effectively deal with ocean disasters like tsunami, storm surges, the statement said.