New Delhi, Oct. 30 -- The Union Cabinet has increased the dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) by 3 percentage points each, benefiting 48.54 lakh central government employees and 68.71 lakh pensioners across the country.

The latest revision is expected to take the DA rate from 60% to 63% of basic pay, translating into extra allowance for central government employees every month. However, those with higher basic pay will receive a larger amount.

For example, an employee with a basic pay of Rs.18,000 will receive an additional Rs.540 per month, while someone with a basic pay of Rs.50,000 will get Rs.1,500 more per month following the latest DA rate revision.

An employee's HRA wouldn't change just because the DA has been revis...