The Union Cabinet on Wednesday hiked the pension for freedom fighters, including those who were imprisoned in the Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands or suffered outside British India, by around Rs 5,000 each.
The increase will be around 20% to all categories of freedom fighters, their spouses and dependents. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The revised scale of pension has taken effect from August 15. “The revised total amount of pension will be taken as basic pension for the respective categories of freedom fighter pensioners for calculating “Dearness Relief”, an official statement said. “The existing Dearness Relief system based on the All India Consumer Price Index for industrial workers, which was so far applicable to freedom fighter pensioners on an annual basis, is being discontinued and replaced by the Dearness Allowance system applicable to Central government employees twice a year. This will be termed as Dearness Relief, the appropriate term in case of pensioners,” it stated.
Published 21 September 2016, 09:34 IST