Chandigarh, November 7: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday announced a 40-percentage-point hike in the dearness allowance (DA) of 6,507 computer teachers working under the Punjab Information and Communication Technology Education Society (PICTES), raising their DA from 181% to 221%, Punjab Newsline and Nation Press reported. Mann announced the decisions in a post on X, presenting them as a Diwali gift for employees.
Source: Punjab Newsline
Posting in Punjabi, Mann said the Punjab government is fully committed to the welfare and secure future of its employees, and he extended Diwali greetings to all employees, Nation Press reported. Diwali falls on Sunday, November 8, this year.
Source: Nation Press
What the hike means in rupees
Following the DA revision, a computer teacher drawing a basic salary of ₹15,000 will receive an additional ₹6,000 per month, a teacher on ₹25,000 basic will get ₹10,000 more, and one on ₹35,000 basic will see monthly earnings rise by approximately ₹14,000, Punjab Newsline reported. The increase is calculated on the basis of the difference in the revised DA rate.
Source: Punjab Newsline
Second decision: 1,007 Samagra Shiksha staff
In a second decision announced in the same post, salary-related benefits will be given to 1,007 non-teaching employees working under the Samagra Shiksha scheme. According to the government, the services of these employees had already been regularised some time ago, Punjab Newsline reported, and Live 24 Punjabi reported the same — that their services were regularised earlier and salary-related benefits have now been decided for them.
Source: Live 24 Punjabi
The previous hike, and the wider DA picture
This is the second DA revision for PICTES computer teachers in under two years. Earlier, in January 2025, the Punjab government had increased their DA from 148% to 181%, effective from January 1, 2025; at that time a teacher on ₹15,000 basic received ₹4,950 more a month, one on ₹25,000 received ₹8,250 more and one on ₹35,000 received ₹11,550 more, Punjab Newsline reported.
Source: Punjab Newsline
PICTES computer teachers are deployed in government schools across Punjab and have historically worked on society-based terms outside the mainstream service rules, which made DA revisions a long-standing demand of the cadre, Nation Press reported.
Source: Nation Press
The announcement comes days after Mann announced a separate 3% DA hike on November 4 for Punjab government employees and pensioners, taking their DA to 53%. Reports in The News Air and Sadda Punjab say employee and pensioner organisations have called that 3% hike insufficient and that a case over about ₹22,818 crore in pending DA-DR arrears is before the Punjab and Haryana High Court — those are the organisations' claims and the reported court position, not findings of this desk.
Source: The News Air
What happens next: the reports did not give an effective date for the PICTES revision or the Samagra Shiksha benefits. The finance department's formal orders implementing the revised DA and the salary benefits will set the date from which the higher amounts are paid.