8th CPC: Pensioners propose Rs 69K as minimum pay

The 8th Pay Commission in Bengaluru held discussions with various pensioner associations regarding reforms to central government employee pay and benefits. The Karnataka Posts and Telecommunications Pensioners Association proposed several key recommendations to the commission. They suggested a minimum basic pay of Rs 69,000 for central employees, which is significantly higher than the Rs 18,000 currently set by the 7th Pay Commission.

This new minimum pay would be calculated as 3.833 times the fitment factor. Based on this factor, the association also recommended a minimum pension of approximately Rs 34,470, or 3.83 times the current Rs 9,000 minimum pension. To streamline the system, the pensioners' body suggested merging the 18 existing employee levels from the 7th Pay Commission into seven new pay scales.

Additionally, they proposed updating the Aykroyd formula, the standard method used to calculate revised pay, to better reflect the increased costs of living in the digital era. The pensioners' body also advocated for treating a family unit as 5 members instead of 3 in the pension calculations, and increasing the annual increment rate from 3% to 6%.