PRE AND POST FIRST PAY COMMISSION

Pre and Post first Pay Commission

Differences between the pay structure recommendations prior to the 1^stPay Commission and after constitution of the 1^stPay Commission

The Government of India constitutes, as a matter of convention, Pay Commissions every ten years to review and make recommendations on the wage structure of Central Government employees including Defence personnel , Railway employees and the Pensioners.

Prior to the constitution of the First Pay Commission in 1946, the 1934 pay scales were continued. Even though the Islington Commission Report of 1912 was available by then, it seems that it was not implemented. Pay scales were arbitrarily fixed and there no rationale was followed. There was no ‘minimum – wage’ concept in practice. Since by then there was British rule, unionism was either thin or may be non-existent or the basic needs of humans were limited and necessities of life were reasonably plenty, to demand or request for still better scales.

The First Pay Commission was constituted in May 1946. Since the pre and post 1^st Pay Commission periods were under British administration, probably there would not have been any interference of the Employees’ Unions even as a suggestive mechanism. However, there was a shift in the outlook of the British government for rationalising the pay scales of Government employees. Taking inspiration from the Islington Commission Report of 1912 under the Chairmanship of Lord Islington, the concept of living wage meaning that in no case an employee’s wage be less than the living wage to suit the conditions prevailing then was taken into consideration in formulating the recommendations of the 1^st Pay Commission. The Commission recommended that the lowest rung employees should get the minimum wages. It is a major shift from the earlier practice.