8th Pay Commission: The Narendra Modi government at the Center announced the Eighth Pay Commission in January 2025. Since this announcement, central employees and pensioners are eagerly waiting for the appointment of two committee members and the chairman. It is expected that the government will announce the names of the panel members in April. Since the term of the 7th Pay Commission is ending on 31 December 2025. In such a situation, the big question in the minds of the employees is whether the government will be able to implement the new pay commission from January next year or not.
What is the pattern?
Looking at past examples, it looks extremely unlikely that the recommendations of the 8th Pay Commission will be implemented from January 2026, as previous pay commissions usually took more than a year to finalize their reports. This time, due to the delay in the announcement of the Pay Commission compared to previous pay commissions, it is more likely that the implementation of the recommendations will be seen only in the financial year 2026-27.
Government gave information
In the Lok Sabha, BJP MP Kangana Ranaut and Trinamool Congress MP Sajda Ahmed raised questions about the formation of the Eighth Pay Commission to revise the salaries and pensions of central employees. Their question was whether the government has set any time limit for submitting the report of the Eighth Pay Commission. These MPs also asked about the progress made on the terms of reference for the Pay Commission.
In response to their questions, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the time limit for submitting the report and the progress on the terms of reference will be decided in time. Another question was about the estimated number of central government employees and pensioners at the Seventh Pay Commission level who are likely to benefit from the 8th Pay Commission, which will boost consumption and promote economic growth across the country including Odisha.
In response to this question, Nirmala Sitharaman said that the estimated number of Central Government civilian employees and pensioners/family pensioners is 36.57 lakh (as on 01.03.2005) and 33.91 lakh (as on 31.12.2024) respectively. She said that defense personnel and pensioners will also Hu get benefits.