The Union Cabinet has approved 4 per cent increase inDearness Allowance (DA) for Central government employees under the 7th PayCommission. The move will raise the salaries of all centre governmentemployees.

Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, in a writtenreply in the Rajya Sabha last week, had said DA and DR of Central governmentemployees under the 7th Pay Commission had been due from January 1.

"Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief are granted toserving employees and pensioners of the Central Government respectively eachyear with effect from 1st January and 1st July and normally paid in March andSeptember, respectively," he stated.

He added the DA was calculated based on a rise in inflationand essential commodities' price. The government takes into account the AllIndia Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers for calculating forcalculating DA/DR, he added.