Almost 68-years after Independence, the Indian government has announced seven central pay commission on a regular interval. In this 68 years, since India got its Independence from British Raj there has been an impressive hike in the salaries of senior staffers working under the payroll of Central Government.
But it is quite noteworthy that the minimum wage – under which 83 per cent of the government fall – has not seen ay big changes. The salaries of junior most Central Government officials’ has increased from Rs 55 (under the 1st Pay Commission) to Rs 18,000 (under the 7CPC).
On the other side the senior most government staffers salaries have been hiked from Rs 2000 (under 1CPC) to Rs 2.5 lakh (under 7CPC). Due to this ‘inequality’ in wages most of the government officials are unhappy with the decision and had threatened for an indefinite strike several times.
After India became Independent in 1947, the minimum wage of central government employees was Rs 55 per month for next 10 years while most of the senior central government staffers took home a handsome salary of Rs 2,000 per month. In 1957 when the 2nd Pay Commission was implemented the minimum wage was increased to Rs 80 per month while maximum salary was increased to Rs 3,000 per month. The minimum wage entered into four digit under the 5th Pay Commission where the take home salary of junior most staff was increased to Rs 2,550 while at the same time senior government officials salary was increased to Rs 26,000.
After 6th Pay Commission came into effect the minimum wage came up by Rs 7000 per month from Rs 2,550 whereas the monthly salary of senior government officials rose to Rs 90,000.
Under the 7th Pay Commission slab – which was implemented almost eight years after the previous pay commission the salaries of the government employees saw a significant rise. The basic pay under the 7CPC the lowest salary was increased to Rs 18,000 from Rs 7,0000 while the salary of the senior government officials has gone up to Rs 2.50 lakh from Rs 90,000. But due to rising inflation and price rise, the junior staffers had already demanded for a hike of more than three times which is: Rs 25,000 per month.
Experts believe that in last 68 years, the government has increased the minimum wage of its central government employees by 32,727 per cent (from Rs 55 to Rs 18,000). While the salary of senior staffers has seen a drastic increase of 12,500 per cent, from Rs 2,000 per month to Rs 2.50 lakh per month. But experts believe that the disparity in the minimum wage has been a problem since British Raj, where junior staffers were paid less.
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