House Rent Allowance to Central Government employees is now calculated on the basis of the population census of 2001. The cities and towns are classified as X, Y, and Z, based on their population. Employees in these towns are eligible for 30%, 20% and 10% House Rent Allowances respectively.

Population census is conducted once every ten years. The most recent census was held in 2011. Official information and findings of the Census was sent by the registrar General & Census Commissioner to the Finance Ministry a long time ago.

It is well known that the Confederation Secretary General had recently sent a letter to the Finance Ministry reiterating that the House rent Allowance must be recalculated on the basis of the new Census-2011 report.

Similarly, Transportation Allowance too is given in two categories A-1, A, and Other places. 13 towns are currently classified as A-1 and A categories.

The general feeling is that the demand for the revision of HRA based on the Population Census 2011 should come from all sides.

Take the cities of Ahmadabad and Pune, for example. Populations in these towns have crossed the 50 lakh mark (Ahmadabad’s population is 63,52,254; and Pune’s population is 50,49,968). Similarly, according to Census 2011, the population of many smaller towns have crossed the 5 lakh mark. There is no doubt that a revision of House Rent Allowance based on the 2011 Population Census will benefit hundreds of thousands of employees.

Click here for the details of the population and town classifications, based on the Population Census that is now in force.

Here is the difference in the Population Census of 2001 and 2011 for some of the major cities:

The Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation releases Consumer Price Indices (CPI) on base 2010=100 for all-India and States/UTs separately for rural, urban and combined every month with effect from January, 2011.

Provisional indices for the month of September 2012 and also final indices for August 2012 are being released with this note for all-India and for States/UTs.

All India provisional General (all groups), Group and Sub- Group level CPI numbers of September 2012 for rural, urban and combined are given in Annex I. The General Indices for rural, urban and combined are 125.6, 121.9 and 124.0 respectively.

Provisional annual inflation rate based on all India general CPI (Combined) for September 2012 on point to point basis (September 2012 over September 2011) is 9.73% as compared to 10.03 % (final) for the previous month of August 2012. The corresponding provisional inflation rates for rural and urban areas for September 2012 are 9.79 % and 9.72 % respectively. Inflation rates (final) for rural and urban areas for August 2012 are 9.90 % and 10.19 % respectively. Inflation for specified categories is indicated at Annex II.

State/UT-wise General provisional CPI numbers for rural, urban and combined are at Annex III. State/ UT wise Group level provisional indices are available in the Ministry’s website (www.mospi.gov.in).

Price data are collected from selected towns by the Field Operations Division of NSSO and from selected villages by the Department of Posts. Price data are received through web portals being maintained by the National Informatics Centre.