The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved an additional 2 per cent hike in Dearness Allowance

NEW DELHI: The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved an additional 2 per cent hike in Dearness Allowance (

DA) and Dearness Relief (
DR) for central government employees. The hike will come into effect from July 1, 2018.

"The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister 

Narendra Modi

 has approved to release an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. 01.07.2018 representing an increase of 2% over the existing rate of 7% of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise," an official government release stated.