Pay offs

The fifth and final year of the United Progressive Alliance-II government sets the countdown rolling to the next general elections; and in view of the regime's philosophy of making people happy, it is reportedly targeting government employees. In line with its other populist measures, the buzz in the corridors of power is that the government may soon set up a new pay commission. Normally, a pay commission takes two years to submit its report, as it did in 1996 and 2008, but if those generous handouts are an index, a bonanza can be reliably expected. That's in addition to the dearness-allowance-linked pay that government servants already enjoy thanks to high inflation.