Cabinet defers decision to hike MPs' salaries

The proposal was to increase the base salary by three times, from  Rs.16,000 to Rs.50,000
‘Decision will not go down well at a time of inflation, high prices  and corruption allegations'


    NEW DELHI: With a vocal section of the Union Cabinet stressing that it  would be politically unwise to enhance the salaries and allowances of  Members of Parliament by three times at this stage, the government on Monday  deferred a decision on the subject.

   At a meeting of the Cabinet, Ministers opposing the move pointed out that  at a time when the ‘aam aadmi' was battling inflation and high prices, and  farmers' suicides and allegations of corruption in the Commonwealth Games  were hitting the headlines, such a move would evoke a negative reaction.
 
  The discussion on the Bill on MPs' salaries and allowances was steered by  Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal and backed strenuously by  Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, among others. Mr. Sharma, sources said, pointed out that it was important to enhance  the salaries of MPs to attract a better quality of person to politics, but  he was cut short by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who asked him to be  brief.

   Leading the charge against the hike was Minister for Overseas Indian  Affairs Vayalar Ravi. The others who opposed the increase were Home Minister  P. Chidambaram, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Information and Broadcasting  Minister Ambika Soni, and Minister of State for Environment and Forests  Jairam Ramesh — all of whom felt that such a decision would not go down well  with the people at the moment. If the Cabinet had cleared the Bill on Monday, it would, in all  likelihood, have been brought to Parliament in this session, but now,  sources said, this was unlikely. Currently, MPs get Rs.16,000 per month as salary. The proposal was to  increase it three times so that the base salary is Rs.50,000.

   In addition, an MP gets a daily allowance of Rs.1,000 when Parliament is  in session or a sitting of a House committee is scheduled; a monthly  constituency allowance of Rs.20,000; and a monthly office expense allowance  of another Rs.20,000. Also, MPs are entitled to a certain number of air travel journeys, AC  first class train travel, and a rent-free flat or hostel accommodation. A Joint Parliamentary Committee, headed by Congress MP Charandas Mahant,  had recommended that an MP's salary be fixed at Re.1 more than that of a  Secretary to the Government of India, at Rs.80,001, taking into account the  Consumer Price Index and the wage index for skilled urban labour. However,  the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry scaled it down to Rs.50,000.Other members of the committee included the BJP's S.S.Ahluwalia, AIADMK's
V. Maitreyan, Samajwadi Party's Ramgopal Yadav, and Congress's Rajiv Shukla. ‘Lowest in the world'
The decision to postpone the verdict on hiking MPs' salaries has not gone  well with elected representatives. While Mr. Shukla told journalists that  “the salary of Indian MPs is the lowest in the world…less than a clerk in  the government,” Mr. Ahluwalia made an appeal to “understand the problems of  MPs.”


SOURCE - THE HINDU