The central government on Wednesday decided to restore Dearness Allowance (DA) and for its employees and Dearness Relief (DR) for its pensioners from July 1, 2021. It increased the rate of allowance to 28 per cent from the existing 17 per cent of the basic pay/pension.

Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said the move will benefit about 48.34 lakh central employees and 65.26 pensioners. In view of the pandemic, the Centre had frozen the three additional instalments of the DA and DR that were due from January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021.