8th Pay Commission: The biggest benefit of the 8th Pay Commission is missing! This is how it differs from the 7th Pay Commission..

8th Pay Commission: When the central government issued the notification for the 8th Pay Commission (8th CPC) on November 3, 2025, it was expected that government employees and pensioners across the country would be overjoyed. This commission, which comes every ten years, is considered a festival for government employees. But this time, as soon as the notification arrived, celebrations were replaced by questions. The root of the controversy is a deep-seated fear: Has the government excluded approximately 6.9 million central pensioners and family pensioners from the benefits of the 8th Pay Commission?

This question is not based on the air, but stems from the nuances of the documents. The All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF) has immediately launched a campaign against this issue. In a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Federation has clearly stated that discrimination against pensioners will not be tolerated. Their argument is straightforward: pension revision is a constitutional right of the elderly, not a charity.

What has changed between the 7th Pay Commission of 2014 and the 8th Pay Commission of 2025? Why is it being said that the security that existed under the old commission is missing this time? Let's understand this issue in detail.

1. Pension Reassessment
The biggest concern is the Commission's "Terms of Reference" (ToR). When a Pay Commission is formed, the government informs it in writing about the issues it will consider.

The Eighth Pay Commission's resolution makes no clear and direct mention of "pension reassessment." This is being interpreted as suggesting that the Commission may not consider increasing the pensions of old pensioners. While it does mention reviewing concerns under the National Pension Scheme (NPS) and Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), the situation remains unclear for millions of people under the old pension system. This ambiguity is a cause for concern.

2. The Gratuity and NPS-UPS Conundrum
It's not that the word pension hasn't been used, but its context has changed. The 8th Pay Commission has been given the mandate to review the death-cum-retirement gratuity (DCRG) of employees covered by the National Pension Scheme (NPS) and the recently introduced Unified Pension Scheme (UPS).

Furthermore, the terms of reference also state that the Commission will review the pensions and gratuities of employees outside the scope of the NPS and UPS. However, the problem is that it lacks a clear mandate to increase the pensions of "existing pensioners," as was the case with previous commissions. This technical jargon is a red flag for ordinary pensioners.

3. What was different in the 7th Pay Commission?
The picture becomes clearer if we compare them. When the 7th Pay Commission was constituted on February 28, 2014, the government's mandate was clear. The resolution at that time clearly stated that the Commission would "examine the principles for determining the structure of pensions and other retirement benefits."

The 7th Pay Commission was also tasked with reviewing the pensions of past pensioners who retired before the date of implementation of its recommendations. Demands such as One Rank, One Pension (OROP) were considered on this basis. The 7th Pay Commission also acknowledged that employees recruited after January 1, 2004, are covered under the NPS, but the old rules applied to those who joined before that.

4. Allegations of Discrimination
The lack of clarity in this notification, unlike the 7th Pay Commission, is the root cause of the controversy. The 8th Pay Commission's notification contains many points, but the strong promise of pension revision, which empowers the elderly to fight inflation, is missing.

AIDEF states that if pensioners are not explicitly included in the Commission's scope, it would be unfair to senior citizens. For now, the ball is in the government's court. It remains to be seen what clarification the Finance Ministry provides, but it is certain that until the Terms of Reference are revised, the hearts of the country's 6.9 million pensioners will continue to be tense.

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