Govt staff’s salary doubled in last seven years: Report

Govt staff’s salary doubled in last seven years: Report

Pensions Eat Up Expenditure Too: Committee

KP.Saikiran@timesgroup.com

Thiruvananthapuram: 20.06.2020

An interim report submitted by a committee appointed by government to rationalize revenue expenditure in the state has found that salaries, pensions and interest payments form around 70% of total revenue expenditure of the state. The salaries of government employees alone forms 30% of the expenditure, and these three components together contributed to 51% of the increase in total revenue expenditure of the state in the last 10 years.

The report, prepared by the team led by Centre for Development Studies director Sunil Mani, has found that the average salary of a state government employee has almost doubled over the last seven years, from Rs 25, 458 per month in 2011-12 to Rs 49, 657 per month in 2018-19.

The salary accruing to teachers at aided colleges, schools and polytechnics account for about a third of the total salary bill of the state, though there has been a significant decline in the growth rate of the salary in this sector, the committee found. The pensions are eating up a significant revenue expenditure too. While the state has only 46% population when compared to Tamil Nadu, which has the highest absolute amount of pension payments among the states, Kerala’s absolute pension figures are 69% of that of Tamil Nadu, the committee observed.

Around 65% of publicsector employees are concentrated in education, police and public health, of which the education sector alone forms 46% of the total number of government employees. The committee found that around 25,000 people join the state government service every year, and if the state government consider paying only 75% of the emoluments during the probation period, around Rs 66 crore can be saved.

According to the budget figures for 2020-21, the state is estimated to spend Rs 73,845 crore on payment of salaries, pensions, and interest. This is 4% higher than the revised estimate of 2019-20 (Rs 70,903 crore). These committed liabilities eat up 64% of the state’s revenue receipts.

The committee also found that a lot of built-up spaces are lying unused under government departments and organisations. An inventory of all properties under with government should be maintained and unutilized spaces can be used optimally across departments and organisations instead of taking new office spaces on lease. The recent decision of the government to occupy a new space in a private building on lease for Rebuild Kerala Initiative had invited staunch criticism.