New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday announced a six per cent hike in Dearness Allowance for its employees, raising it to 35 per cent from 29 per cent .

The increase will come into effect retrospectively from January this year. At the same time, the government also announced dearness relief for pensioners.

The Centre also announced that the retirement age for teaching staff of Centrally-funded technical institutes will be raised from 62 to 65 years.

The decisions were taken at meeting of the Union Cabinet on Thursday night.