4% dearness allowance, MSP hike in 6 rabi crops cleared by Cabinet

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, October 18

The Central Government on Wednesday announced a hike of Minimum Support Price (MSP)  for Rabi season crops, including that of wheat by Rs 150 and Mustard seed by Rs 200.

The MSP for wheat would now stand at Rs 2,275 per quintal while that of rapeseed and mustard would be Rs 5,650 per quintal.

The MSP for other crops like pulses and grams have also been raised.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur  announced the new MSP okayed by the Cabinet and the Cabinet Committe on Economic Affairs CCEA that met under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Thakur said the hike would not correspond into a price hike for the consumer.

The CCEA also okayed a 4 per cent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) for central government employees and pensioners

It will mean the DA now stands at  46 per cent of the basic salary and will add a burden of Rs 12,857 Crore  on the exchequer.

The Modi led Government also okayed a bonus equal to 78 days of salary for

Non-gazetted Railway employees. There are more than 11 lakh non-gazetted Railway employees.

It will cost Rs 1,969 crore.

The CCEA also okayed a grid-power line of 5 giga watt capacity at the cost Rs 20,773 crore to evacuate power from the 13 giga watt solar power project in Ladakh.

The Union Government will bear Rs 8, 947 crore cost of the project from Central grants the rest of the money would be raised by Powergrid, an entity under the Ministry of Power. The line is expected to be completed in seven years .