8th Pay Commission: AIDEF demands Rs 69,000 minimum pay, 3.83 fitment factor and 11-year pension commutation period

The All India Defence Employees’ Federation (AIDEF) has submitted fresh justifications to the 8th Pay Commission (8th CPC) related to its four key demands that can impact lakhs of central government employees and pensioners. The AIDEF, which represents defence civilian employees, in a series of letters written to the 8th CPC, has justified its stance on advocating for increased family units for 8th CPC pay calculation, restoration of commuted pension after 11 years of period, restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), and amending the 8th CPC Terms of Reference (ToR) to include the issues of pensioners who retired before January 1, 2026.

Based on five family units, the AIDEF has recommended a 3.83 fitment factor and a minimum pay of Rs 69,000 for all central government employees in the 8th Pay Commission.

What AIDEF wrote to the 8th Pay Commission in justification of demands


The AIDEF, in a series of letters sent to the 8th Pay Commission on September 21-22, 2026, has justified its four key demands for the 8th Pay Commission.

AIDEF wants 5 family units, minimum pay of Rs 69,000 and 3.83 fitment factor

The defence civilian employee body says that the pay calculation in the 7th Pay Commission was based on three family units, which includes children but doesn’t include parents of the employee.

The AIDEF argues that many employees may have responsibility not only for their children but also for their parents. It says that larger family needs higher consumption requirements and so the demand for higher pay and a high fitment factor is justified.

The AIDEF says that, based on higher expenses, the minimum pay in the 8th Pay Commission should increase to Rs 69,000 and a fitment factor of 3.83 should be given.

AIDEF’s recommendations for 5 family units

Family member	Existing units (7th CPC)	Proposed units (8th CPC)	Change
Employee	1	1	—
Spouse	0.8	1	0.2
Two children	1.2	1.6	0.4
Dependent father	—	0.8	0.8
Dependent mother	—	0.8	0.8
Total	3	5.2 (rounded to 5)	2.2

Restoration of Old Pension Scheme for central government employees

The AIDEF says that central government employees who joined their service on or after January 1, 2004, get their pension under the National Pension System (NPS). The NPS replaced the Old Pension Scheme, which was a defined-benefit, non-contributory pension arrangement.

The AIDEF argues that the NPS has created uncertainty about the retirement corpus since the eventual corpus depends on the employee and employer’s contributions, investment returns and economic conditions prevailing at the time of the employee's retirement.

So, it has asked the 8th Pay Commission to abolish the NPS and the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) and restore the OPS.

AIDEF demands commuted pension restoration period to cut to 11 years

Central government employees can commute up to 40% of their pension at the time of retirement. They get a lump sum amount in place of that, but their pension is cut to half for the next 15 years. The AIDEF wants this period to be trimmed to 11 years.

The AIDEF has cited a decision by the Himachal Pradesh High Court, where it has highlighted commuted pension-related parameters that have changed over the years. The AIDEF says that factors that determine the commuted pension duration, such as commutation factor, interest rate, life expectancy, inflation, post-retirement expenses and the economic environment, have changed since the rules were last revised. Based on the changed parameters, the AIDEF has demanded an 11-year pension commutation period.

Inclusion of past pensioners in 8th CPC terms of reference

The AIDEF has requested the 8th Pay Commission to amend its terms of reference and include pension-related issues for pensioners who retired before January 1, 2026. The AIDEF says that the 8th CPC ToR should cover areas like revision of pensions of past pensioners, revision of family pensions, parity between past and future pensioners and review of retirement benefits.