As the name implies, a Pay Commission advises the government on how to set up the structure of the employees of the vast machinery of the Government of India. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving the greenlight on January 16 to set up the 8th Pay Commission, the expectation for upward revision of the salary, allowances and pension of about 50 lakh employees of the GoI and 65 lakh pensioners, have been formally set in motion.
Records state that the first Pay Commission was set up before Independence and 6 Pay Commissions submitted their reports in Independent India. The years when these commissions were set up are as follows: January 1946, 1957 (2nd PC), 1970 (3rd PC), 1983 (4th PC), 1994 (5th PC), 2006 (6th PC) and 2014 (7th PC).
Pay Commission History
But do you know that the first Pay Commission for central government employees was set up before India won Independence – in January 1946. The commission submitted its report well ahead of Independence – in May 1947. Perhaps more interesting to the current generation will be the minimum and maximum salary set by the first Pay Commission. While the minimum salary was Rs 55 a month – an amount that perhaps can just buy a meal at a roadside stall now – the maximum salary was set at Rs 2,000/month. Records mention “living wage” being the basis on which the recommendations were drawn up. A jurist Srinivasa Varadacharia (1881–1970) chaired the first Pay Commission.
The 2nd Pay Commission was set up 10 years after Independence – in August 1957 and it took 2 years to submit its report. Jaganath Das, who headed the second PC, recommended raising the lowest salary to Rs 80/month – a rise of 45.45% on the first lowest salary. The driving vision was a socialist pattern. By this time, the number of central government employees and pensioners stood at about 25 lakh.
The 3rd PC was set up in April 1970 and it submitted it report nearly 3 years later in March 1973. The minimum pay was revised upwards at Rs 185/month. The number of employees and pensioners had by them swelled to about 30 lakh. The 4th Pay Commission took more than 3 years to submit its report. Set up in September 1983, it submitted its recommendations in December 1986. It came up with a lowest salary recommendation of Rs 750/month. It was led by P N Singhal, who served both the bureaucracy and judiciary.
First Pay Commission after the economic reforms
The 5th Pay Commission was set up after India inaugurated the economic reforms. Set up in April 1994, this PC headed by S Ratnavel Pandian, a member of the judiciary, submitted its report in January 1997. This was for the first time that the lowest salary rose above the four-figure mark. It was set at Rs 2,550/month. Its target was about 40 lakh employees.
The 6th Pay Commission was set up in the 21st century – in October 2006 – and the report came in March 2008. The commission, headed by justice B N Srikrishna, set a minimum salary of Rs 7,000 a month but the maximum salary was yet to reach the six0figure mark – it stopped at Rs 80,000. The report also spoke of performance-related incentives.
The 7th Pay Commission, whose recommendations are currently in force, was active between February 2014 and November 2016, when the report was submitted. It set the lowest pay at Rs 18,000 a month and the highest pay was at Rs 2.5 lakh. More than 1 crore employees and pensioners were the target of this Pay Commission.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving his nod for setting up the 8th Pay Commission for salary and pension for about 1,15 crore central government employees and pensioners, all eyes are on the latest Pay Commission. But do you when was the first Pay Commission set up? Read on. Biz News Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
