The Samrat Choudhary-led Bihar government approved a 2 percentage point increase in dearness allowance for state government employees and pensioners during a cabinet meeting in Patna on Wednesday. According to reports from NDTV Profit, the meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and attended by all 34 ministers at the state secretariat. The DA increase has been made effective from January 1 this year, bringing the total rate to 60% of basic pay for employees under the 7th Pay Commission. This decision comes shortly after the Centre announced its own DA revision for central government employees, with the Union government approving a 2% increase that benefited nearly 1.2 crore central government employees and pensioners. The Railway Board has also followed suit, announcing that railway employees and pensioners will receive 60% DA and DR effective from January 1, 2026, following the Centre's decision.
The DA hike will benefit approximately 9 lakh state government employees and pensioners across Bihar, providing a significant financial boost. As reported by NDTV Profit, since the revised rate is effective from January 1, employees will also receive arrears for the months since the start of the year, providing a lump-sum financial boost along with the revised monthly salary. The revised rates will benefit serving railway employees, retired railway staff, and family pensioners across the country. The increase means a higher monthly take-home salary for serving employees, while pensioners will see a corresponding rise in Dearness Relief (DR), offering some cushion against inflation. DA serves as a cost-of-living adjustment paid to government employees and pensioners to offset inflation impact, with the benefit not limited to serving employees as pensioners receiving Dearness Relief linked to the same rate structure will also see an increase in monthly pension payouts.
Under the Seventh Pay Commission, the DA has been raised from 58% to 60%, bringing state employees on par with central government employees who also received a 2-percentage-point hike to 60% earlier this year. As reported by NDTV Profit, for employees and pensioners under the Sixth Pay Commission, the rate has been raised from 257% to 262%, while under the Fifth Pay Commission it has been increased from 474% to 483%. This alignment ensures uniformity across all pay commissions in Bihar, with Bihar's DA level at 60% currently similar to the level maintained by the Centre, though DA structures can differ across governments depending on adoption timelines and pay commission formulas. Dearness allowance is calculated as a percentage of basic pay and revised twice a year — in January and July — on the basis of the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers.
This decision marks one of the first significant financial decisions of the Samrat Choudhary government, which came to power on April 15 after former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stepped down to contest the Rajya Sabha elections. As reported by NDTV Profit, Choudhary is the first BJP leader to hold the chief minister's post in Bihar. The cabinet meeting came just days after a major expansion at Gandhi Maidan on May 7, where 32 ministers — including JDU leader and former CM Nitish Kumar's son Nishant Kumar — took oath, completing the formation of the NDA government in the state. The meeting also approved 17 other proposals covering borrowing targets, policing, higher education, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence and industrial investment, marking an active start to the Samrat Choudhary cabinet's policy agenda.
The meeting approved 18 agenda items covering borrowing targets, policing, higher education, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence and industrial investment, marking an active start to the Samrat Choudhary cabinet's policy agenda. According to NDTV Profit, Bihar has traditionally kept its DA revisions aligned with central government announcements, with the allowance calculated as a percentage of basic pay and revised twice a year on the basis of the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers. This alignment ensures uniformity across all pay commissions in Bihar, with the decision coming at a time when inflation continues to affect household budgets, especially healthcare and essential expenses for retirees. The latest announcement has also brought focus on the DA disparity between the Centre and West Bengal, where state government employees currently receive 22% DA compared to the Centre's 60% rate, with the gap now widening to 38% following the latest hike.
