New Delhi, July 4 -- The proposal to raise the minimum basic pay of central government employees from the current Rs.18,000 to Rs.69,000 under the 8th Pay Commission has become one of the most talked-about demands ahead of the panel's deliberations. While much of the discussion has centred on the proposed fitment factor of 3.833, the Rs.69,000 figure is based on a much broader wage calculation.

The Staff Side of the National Council-Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) has suggested revising several assumptions used to determine minimum pay, arguing that the existing methodology no longer reflects present-day living costs.

Rather than relying on a single parameter, the proposal recalculates the need-based living wage by updating multip...