EDITORIAL
Pay commissions are good, but administration must also move towards improvement
Across the country, government servants have an eye on the 8th Pay Commission. Naturally so, as salary hikes are always eagerly awaited. Although New Delhi has approved the formation of the 8th Pay Commission, most reports see it as unlikely that its recommendations will be implemented before 2027; pay commissions take a year or two to prepare their report and another year for roll-out. However, it could be implemented retrospectively.
The main issues affecting the 8th Pay Commission nationwide include uncertainty over the fitment factor, which determines how much salaries will actually rise. There have also been concerns about fiscal stress on both, the Centre and the states. Then, there’s the debate over whether the government should shift to a new performance-linked or inflation-indexed pay system instead of the traditional commission model. Employee unions are pushing for a 30-35% hike, but economic advisors warn that such increases could strain budgets, more so of smaller states.
Most Indian states usually follow Central Pay Commission recommendations, at times with delays or adjustments. Goa has consistently done the same, implementing the 5th, 6th and 7th Pay Commissions, even if with some time lag and staggered arrears due to financial constraints. Even if these matters may be beyond the public eye, Goa itself has to consider its own fiscal position, or even political considerations, while implementing each commission’s recommendations for its employees and pensioners.
From Goa’s perspective, the main constraints in implementing new Pay Commission recommendations are its limited revenue base, significant dependence on Central grants and the state’s already high salary-and-pension burden. The last is known to consume a large share of the budget.
With mining revenue still unstable, tourism fluctuating and borrowing limits tightened by the Centre, Goa often struggles with cash flow and fiscal deficit pressures. This, when taken together, makes it difficult to immediately absorb large pay hikes or arrears. Additionally, Goa’s small size means it cannot easily expand its tax base or industrial output to offset increased expenditure. So, any major salary revision needs to be timed in a way that avoids straining finances or forcing cuts in public services and development spending.
In recent decades, the gap between the desirability of a government job in Goa, compared to other jobs, has sharply widened. Government service is considered to be stable and well-paying. State jobs play a disproportionately large role in Goa’s economy, anchoring middle-class incomes and driving local spending in a state with only a limited number of large-scale industries.
It is fair for the staff to expect their payment to grow proportionately with inflation and, sometimes, aspirations. There is no doubt that there has to be a hike in the salary. But what is also needed is a closer look at what citizens expect from their rather large per capita officialdom.
Goa’s bureaucracy suffers from a mix of chronic issues that cannot be ignored: slow and inconsistent service delivery, widespread delays in file movement and a tendency toward procedural rigidity rather than problem-solving.
Recruitment can at times be politicised. This means poor accountability or uneven skill levels. Frequent transfers disrupt continuity. Many departments still rely heavily on outdated paper-based systems. Add to this a culture of complacency. Weak supervision and limited performance evaluation are other issues. Together with salary hikes, such issues also need to be kept in mind and worked on if the state as a whole is to gain. If Goa has to have a chance to flourish into a modern, fast-changing state, then the administration has to be streamlined. The service delivery has to be professional.
