Dearness Allowance: Tripura declares 5% DA hike for state government employees and pensioners — All we know

Tripura last week announced 5% hike in Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief (DA and DR) for state government employees and pensioners, increasing the salary component's part in basic pay to 41%, according to a PTI report.

The hike is effective from 1 April 2026, according to the announcement made Chief Minister Manik Saha last Monday.

Notably, the Tripura government's decision comes after various states, including Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, and Bihar, announced 2% DA and DR hikes for their respective state government employees and pensioners.

Tripura hikes DA — What we know

• Saha said that 1,02,563 state government employees and 81,019 pensioners will benefit from the increase.

• He added that the state government will spend an additional ₹500 crore annually to provide 5% DA to the government workforce.
• “We are continuously trying to increase the DA for the employees to narrow the gap with their central government counterparts,” he stated, as per the report. This is in reference to the Centre providing 60% DA to central government employees as of last month and 58% prior to that.
• According to state finance minister Pranajit Singha Roy, around ₹15,000 crore will be spent to meet salaries and pension out of the Tripura's total budget of ₹34,212.31 crore for FY2026-27.

Some criticism from opposition

Meanwhile, senior Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman criticised the CM for announcing the DA hike after the finance minister's budget speech.

“We are happy that the government declared a 5% hike in DA for employees, but the way the chief minister made the announcement is against the spirit of assembly proceedings. The finance minister could have mentioned it in his budget speech,” he said.

DA hikes from Finance Ministry, Railways and IBA

The Finance Ministry on 22 April hiked DA for central government employees and pensioners by 2%, w.e.f. 1 January 2026.

This was followed by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) on 2 May, which revised DA for bank employees for the months of May, June and July 2026 — increasing salaries for workmen and officer employees across levels. Thus, for basic salaries between ₹48,000 and ₹1,17,000, the DA increase ranges from ₹435 to ₹1,050.

On 13 May, Indian Railways also revised DA and DR for employees and pensioners by 2%, effective from 1 January 2026, thereby taking the component to 60% of basic pay from 58% earlier. This followed the finance ministry notice which stated that the Defence and Rail Ministries would issue separate orders for their personnel and employees, respectively.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra this week approved payment of DA arrears for state government employees for November and December 2025 and January 2026 under the 5th, 6th and 7th central pay commissions (CPC), amounting to a total payout of ₹800 crore, as per reports. The arrears will be disbursed along with salaries for May 2026.

What are the demands from employee groups?

Three major employee representatives have submitted detailed proposals to the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC) broadly seeking a substantial overhaul of salaries, pensions and allowances for central government employees and pensioners.

• The National Council – Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) wants DA tweaked: Inflation-linked wage model.
• The Maharashtra Old Pension Organisation wants DA tweaked: Minimum 4% DA hike and DA merger at 50%.
• The All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF) wants DA tweaked: Inflation-adjusted compensation demands.

Around 50 lakh central government employees and around 65 lakh retired central government pensioners (including defence and railway employees and retirees) are set to be impacted by the 8th CPC's decisions.

(With inputs from PTI)

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