The high cost of wages has also slowed down the intake into the government and most departments are hugely understaffed

xThe composition of the Eighth Pay Commission has been announced. It will be headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai and IIM Bangalore professor Pulak Ghosh, with the heavy lifting provided by petroleum secretary Pankaj Jain, a senior IAS officer. It is tasked with finalising new pay scales for all government employees. The total number of government employees (all tiers) now numbers over 190 lakhs. These form the bulk of India’s upper and middle classes and are its prosperity midriff. The government is a high wage enclave and getting into this heavily gated community is the dream that inspires 10 lakh applicants, including PhDs, engineers and doctors,

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