Nagaland employees seek nod on pay hike

Employees serving under the Nagaland government have demanded implementation of the 6th Central Pay Commission recommendations which has already been accepted by the Government of India and given the nod to by some of the State governments. In a letter addressed to the Chief Secretary of Nagaland, the Confederation of All Nagaland State Services Employees Association (CANSSEA) explained that the Central government had already accepted the report of the 6th Pay Commission and therefore urged the Nagaland government to implement the same. Some of the demands include revised pay bands, fixation of initial pay in the revised pay structure, merger of Dearness Allowance, Non Practicing Allowance, Assured Career Promotion Scheme, Annual Increment, Performance Related Incentive Scheme, House Rent Allowances, Special Compensatory (Remote) Locality Allowances, Special Compensatory (Hill Area) Allowance, Transport Allowance, Children Education Allowance, Risk Allowances, Maternity Leave/Child Care Leave, Pensionary Benefit of Employees, etc.
The CANSSEA, which reportedly met in November 2008 deciding to write to the Chief Secretary, maintained that it was essentially necessary to accept the 6th Pay Commission Recommendation given the high rate of inflation which had reached an unprecedented upward trend of 12.44% in August 2008. It was argued that the ability of employees to purchase has eroded enormously thereby having a negative impact on the market as well. As such, the CANSSEA letter has sought for an expeditious decision towards successful implementation of the pay commission scales along with financial benefits as mentioned in the report.
Meanwhile, sources have informed that the Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of Nagaland cadre have already written to the State government for implementing the new pay structure. The Indian Administrative Services (IAS) Nagaland cadres are likewise reportedly planning to officially approach the government. Others like the All Nagaland Government Colleges Teachers Association (ANGCTA) are also anticipating something favourable to come out from the government side.
It may be mentioned that several State governments have already given the nod to accept the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission for its State employees. For instance, the Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced recently to give a new year gift to about 3.5 lakh employees of the State Government by announcing to implement the recommendations of the Pay Revision Committee (PRC) constituted under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to work out the modalities for the implementation of the recommendations of the sixth pay commission. Haryana is reportedly the first State in the country to have implemented the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission from January 1, 2006, and to have paid arrear in cash to its employees. However with the revision of the pay scales of the employees, net additional burden in the year 2008-09 and 2009-10 would be Rs.6431.26 crore.
However, it is the smaller States facing the dilemma as it is facing a resource crunch besides having to balance between its development objectives and keeping its State employees happy. It was reported that striking employees in Manipur are already demanding assurances from Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh. The CM has reportedly expressed his inability to implement the recommendations of the sixth Pay Commission. About 60,000 employees have been protesting since November 6 demanding payment fixed by the commission.

In this backdrop, there have also been reports that States will ask the Centre to bear 50% impact of implementation of the sixth pay commission. It was learned that an empowered committee of finance ministers of all states has been formed. This committee reportedly met in Delhi and decided to request the Centre to bear 50% of the implementation of the sixth Pay Commission recommendations. The West Bengal Finance Minister reportedly heads the committee.