Do MPs need salaries?
There is a
proposal of having an Emoluments Commission to recommend salaries and
allowances for Members of Parliament. It is better than having the legislators fixing
their own salaries and thus suffer loss. The proposal of the Ministry of
Parliamentary Affairs to establish an independent, three-member commission to
fix the pay and allowances of parliamentarians is a good sign. This will de-link
members of the legislature from the process of fixing their emoluments.
Members of
Parliament currently draw a monthly salary of Rs. 50,000, a constituency
allowance of Rs. 45,000 and a sumptuary allowance of Rs. 15,000. They may also
hire secretarial assistance for Rs. 30,000. They are entitled to daily
allowances and travel concessions besides other perquisites.
In United Kingdom,
an Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has been created by law to
oversee and regulate ‘business costs’ or the expenditure incurred by lawmakers
in their parliamentary functions, and fix their pay and pension. But in a
country where parliamentary representation is seen as a means to amass wealth,
it will be tempting to wonder why lawmakers need a salary at all. It takes 33 years for a government servant
to get pension. But netas gets it in 2 years.
India cannot be
compared with civilized and cultured democracy like UK or USA where rule plays
the role of solutions whereas in India, power, influence and positions plays
and solves the problem of any kind. Parliamentarians do not need salaries.
Unbridled greed makes them amass wealth that would last a few generations. Salary
is peanuts compared to what they really make.
The ethical
commitment of the members is degrading day by day due to the entry of anti
social elements and criminal forces into the houses. The election system in
India has become totally money based. Huge amounts are spent during elections
despite having election commissions norms and code of elections. When the
Parliamentarians are not serious about their responsibilities, do they deserve
hike in their salaries and allowances? Do they have right to misuse public
money? There is a need to debate the issue before constituting emoluments
commission.
Surely it’s a
welcome step to fix the payment of Netas, however, other facilities like 150000
free calls, free railway warrants, unutilized reserved seats in trains, air
tickets, electricity and other perks may also be looked into by the committee.
This step of
having an Emolument Commission could have been devised by the law makers
themselves so as to escape from the criticism that they themselves set the
salaries. Now, they can simply say that an 'independent' body is the one which
is deciding it and that it has to take in the responsibility. But we as
citizens know how 'independent' these bodies will be. So once this
'independent' body decides a huge hike for the MPs we will be left with no one
to protest to.
Let there be a
tribunal to tell the people how much it costs an MP to function and to
reevaluate and fix their pay and emoluments and the currently more than
generous perquisites. The independent body constituted for determining the pay
and allowances and perks of our parliamentarians should also evolve terms of
service and code of conduct that should include a provision that any M.P.
disrupting the smooth functioning of any of the houses will be subjected to the
principle of 'no work, no pay' and the amount so cut should be displayed to the
public with the name of the parliamentarian on a daily basis through TV
channels. That will enable the public in their constituencies to evaluate the
performance standards of their representatives in the parliament.
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