The Human Resource Development Ministry is preparing to drop the controversial norm under which centre cannot fund state governments in order to implement salary hike under Sixth Pay Commission. The ministry will table the proposal in Cabinet to allow it to pay state governments up to 80% of the additional financial burden imposed by hiked University Grants Commission teacher salaries, informed top government sources. If the proposal gets cabinet nod, it will benefit over 4.5 lakh teachers across India's state universities and affiliated colleges. These teachers will receive a long overdue pay bonanza which was stuck due to fund crisis. The norm that was introduced in the UGC pay package which was notified on December 31, 2008 has taken only central universities in its ambit excluding the state universities. The norm allows the Centre to financially assist only those states that raise the retirement age of their college and university to 65 years. Different states at present have different retirement ages norms. The centre will have to bear an amount of up to Rs. 8, 000 crore a year if it pays 80% of the additional cost for salary hikes to the states. “But this is the same amount we were earlier too preparing to pay
