8th Pay Commission: 10 lakh pensioners seek quarterly DA revision, merger with basic pay at 25%

Nearly 10 lakh pensioners across the country represented by the Bharat Pensioners Samaj (BPS) are seeking dearness allowance (DA) revision on a quarterly basis, and the merger of DA with Basic Pay once it hits 25%, under the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC).

Currently, DA is revised on a half-yearly basis as per the calculation approved by the 7th Pay Commission.

As the 8th CPC is seeking inputs from various stakeholders, employees' and pensioners' associations have so far shared their concerns with the pay panel while suggesting changes that could make their lives easy.

What the BPS said

In their presentation to the 8th CPC, the BPS made the following suggestions related to dearness allowance:

1. "There should be no discrimination between similarly placed pensioners merely on the basis of their date of retirement. We, therefore, request equitable revision and parity between pre-01.01.2026 and post-01.01.2026 pensioners."

2. "Inflation affects employees and pensioners continuously. BPS requests revision of DA/DR every three months, based on a three-month average with point-to-point compensation."

3. "We have also requested examination of the merger of DR with basic pension once DR exceeds 25%."

Central government employees are currently awaiting second DA hike for the year 2026. The first hike became effective from January 1, 2026.

What is BPS?

Bharat Pensioners Samaj (BPS) was established in 1955 by Justice (Retd.) Shankar Saran, N.P. Srivastava, IAS (Retd.), and M. Ruthnaswamy. It is recognised by DoP&PW and NITI Aayog and represented on SCOVA. BPS represents nearly one million (10 lakh) pensioners across the country with 245 affiliated associations.