Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Thursday announced an additional 8 per cent Dearness Allowance to the State Government employees and pensioners. He made the announcement on the Independence Day in Mandi after the ceremonial march past. It would be an additional burden of Rs.400 crore on the State exchequer with an immediate effect. The Chief Minister has recently pleaded with the Finance Commission team for removing the cap fixed by the 13th Finance Commission of only 35 per cent expenditure of the total revenue on the salaries of government employees. The employees and pensioners have been given a raise of over 15 per cent DA per year against the 6 per cent DA presumed by the Finance Commission while fixing a cap. In another major announcement Chief Minister reduced the age to 18 years from 25 and educational qualification from Class 12 to Class 10 and no proof of being unemployed by the magistrate for the ‘skill upgradation scheme’ for the youth. The scheme that consists of an allowance to the unemployed while being given training in a trade had hardly attracted any applications from the youth here and had instead invited criticism from the opposition and experts on its non-viability. Mr. Singh said that these amendments were made to enable more youth to develop and upgrade their skills in the sector of their choice, obtain employment and that would eventually lead to their empowerment. He also announced the increase in honorarium from Rs.7,500 to Rs.10,000 for the freedom fighters of the State and an increase to Rs 5,000 from Rs 3,500 for their widows. He said the social security pension has been enhanced to Rs.500 from Rs.450 earlier and for citizens above 80 years to Rs.1,000 per month. But what about our AP?
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 05:35:35 +0000
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