Overview
- The Cabinet on October 28 approved the Terms of Reference and appointed a three-member panel led by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai with Pulak Ghosh as part-time member and Pankaj Jain as Member-Secretary.
- The commission must submit its report within 18 months, with accepted changes effective from January 1, 2026 and implementation expected by late 2027 or early 2028, though officials suggest it may not arrive before 2028.
- Roughly 47–50 lakh central employees and about 68–69 lakh pensioners stand to be covered, taking the total affected beneficiaries to around 1.15–1.2 crore.
- Central spending on pay, pensions and allowances is estimated at over ₹7 lakh crore in 2025–26, about 18% of revenue expenditure, with annual pension obligations reported above ₹2.6 lakh crore.
- A new mandate requires the panel to keep in view the unfunded cost of the Old Pension Scheme while weighing state-level impacts and pay parity, as economists push for productivity-linked increments.