All non-gazetted Central Government employees, including those in defence and paramilitary forces, will get bonus equivalent to one month's emoluments this week. The money will be given in a single instalment before Vijaya Dashami.
With that, the government has ended the uncertainty over the issue in the ensuing festive season. In the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak, there had been concerns about whether the government will offer bonus.
Earlier this year, as the lockdown started, Dearness Allowances or DA was suspended for Central government employees. A chunk of employees in various state governments had to also forego a part of their salary.
This will be apart from the productivity-linked bonus, which is being given to all central commercial establishments, including railways, ports, posts and defence.
The Union Cabinet has approved the bonus for the year 2019-20, which will benefit 30.67 lakh employees and ordered its immediate disbursal, announced Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar in a press briefing.
The largesse will cost the exchequer Rs 3,737 crore.
Finance ministry sources said the Cabinet did not put any cap on the bonus, as in the past, to allow the employees to have more money in their hands during the festival season, which in turn will boost the economy.
The productivity-linked bonus (PLB) was introduced in the public sector and government's commercial establishments long ago as an incentive for better performance.
Javadekar said the bonus will be given in a single instalment with no strings attached, as had happened in the case of encashment of the leave travel concession announced early this month by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
One of the riders to the LTC concession was a stipulation which obliged the employees to spend thrice the amount on purchasing goods to give a fillip to the market.
