Political Diary
New Delhi, 21 August 2010
Hell With Price
Rise
MPs MAANGE MORE!
By Poonam I Kaushish
Finally it’s official. Forget the CWG stadiums. Welcome to
the new akhara in town of garam-garam, teekha-teekha dadagiri. You
guessed right, India’s
high temple of democracy, Parliament. Which yet again became the battleground
for our Right Honourables to spew sheer contempt in their collective wisdom, no
matter that the very protectors had become its denigrators and destroyers.
Tragically, Friday last, another Parliamentary bastion was
knocked down to rubble when over 75 MPs held a “mock” session after the Lok
Sabha was repeatedly adjourned, over the increase in MPs’ salary and
emoluments. Dissatisfied with a 300% raise, our Oliver Twist MPs demanded more i.e.
it be raised to 500%. From Rs 16,000 to Rs 80,001, one rupee more than a
Secretary as they rank 21st against 23rd on the warrant of precedence.
In an unprecedented move, RJD’s Lalu and SP’s Mulayam
‘elected’ themselves Prime Ministers, anointed BJP’s Gopinath Munde as Speaker
and a junior MP as Opposition Leader and held an over hour long “mock” session.
The first act of ‘PM’ Lalu was to dismiss Manmohan Singh and his Government for
being “anti-people.” Said he, “I heard the views of the ‘House’ and the
people’s Government rejected outright all Bills passed today.” Sic.
Worse, there was no sense of shame or remorse the following
day. The issue of pay hike was again raised and resolved only after an
assurance was given by Finance Minister that he would look at the matter
afresh. Shockingly, our MPs are now going to cost the tax payer Rs.1.30 lakhs
per month, up from Rs. 56,000 in 2006.
Their basic salary has gone up from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000
per month, office expenses from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month, constituency
allowance doubled from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month and daily allowance
from Rs 1000 to Rs 2000. Pension benefits have also been increased from Rs
8,000 to Rs 20,000 per month.
Not only that. Every MP can avail 34 single air journeys
during a year with spouse, any number of companions or relatives and his wife
can now travel innumerable times in first class/executive class. The limit for
interest-free loan for buying a personal vehicle has been hiked to Rs 4 lakh
from Rs 1 lakh. Topping this, MPs are entitled to rent-free accommodation
including five acre bungalows in Lutyens Delhi. Costing the tax payer an extra
Rs 60 crore annually.
Needless to say, the issue has left a bitter taste in the aam aadmi’s mouth. Already grappling
with sky-rocketing prices, shrinking personal budgets, rising unemployment and
increasing poverty, the sight of chronically absent MPs showing up in full
force to increase their emoluments has only made him more cynical about are netagan.
There is no gainsaying that MPs’ have enormous
responsibilities, duties to their electorate and busy work schedules, be it
attending Parliament or their constituency and has to pay urgent attention
whenever a grave situation arises. The moot point: Do they deserve the hike? Do
they discharge their responsibilities honestly and honourably? How could they
be so audacious?
Not at all. Scandalously, about 315 of the 543 lawmakers in
the Lok Sabha are crorepatis (people
with assets over Rs 10,000,000). In fact, nearly 20% of MPs are worth over Rs 5
crores, the richest MP has a net worth of nearly Rs 800 crores. The less said
about the Rajya Sabha sadly today is known as the House of money bags. Wherein
a nomination can be “bought” for Rs 10-15 crore! The Congress Party, which
heads the UPA Government, has nearly 137 crorepati
MPs.
In fact, trust our MPs to spread a canard that they are the
lowest paid in the world. Nothing could be farther than the truth. If the
overall cost of an MP to the country is calculated, our legislators rank higher
than their counterparts elsewhere. An MPs total emoluments works-out to Rs 2.2
lakh, in Singapore it is Rs 2.1 lakh, Japan and Italy Rs 1.9 lakh .
More. If one goes by the per capita equation, our MPs cost
to the nation is 68 times what an average Indian makes, $3, 176. Way above the US, where the
ratio to per capita is 35. Thus,
obfuscating the harsh reality whether it behoves a poor country to pay such
high dividends to its undeserving Right Honourables. Also, when funding for
essential projects is becoming scarce, this hike is an unjustifiable
extravagance at the expense of the taxpayer.'
Undoubtedly, the hike is uncalled for and shows the
insensitivity of the MPs to the problems of the poor. Think. Session after
session, year after year the attendance is shrinking, House sittings are decreasing
with daily adjournments becoming the order of the day. And crores of tax payers’
hard-earned money is being swept aside by the verbal tide of Parliamentary
clashes.
Shamefully, for every hour when Parliament is in session,
the Government spends nearly Rs.14 lakhs of tax payers’ money. An analysis of
the winter session of the 15th Lok Sabha done by the Centre for Policy
Research, shows that 48% of MPs didn’t participate in any debate. The productive
time was 106 hours - only 76% of what had been scheduled, due to repeated
disruptions. The average attendance of the MPs was 66 % and 68% in the Rajya
Sabha.
Almost 14,207 times the Lok Sabha was interrupted by the
members and 102 times it had to be adjourned, the report added The cost of one
minute of Parliament functioning is approximately Rs 26,035. Abysmally, only
seven out of 545 members of the Lower House of Parliament have 100% attendance.
On crucial debates which decide the state and direction for the country only 77%
MPs show average interest and 50% have not even participated in any debate. And
93% have no interest in the powerful tool of Private Member's Bill.
The current Monsoon Session of Parliament has not witnessed
a single full-working day since it started on July 26. So is there any
self-introspection among the MPs? No. They
are not concerned with public interest but only interests of the prestige or
the longevity of their reign.
What kind of governance lies ahead? Clearly the time has
come for our Right Honourables to realize that any increase in compensation is
co-terminus with an increase in accountability along-with a performance
evaluation. This should be based on an annual appraisal policy system whereby
each MP is issued a report card on how he fared vis-à-vis attendance, questions asked, participation in debates et al rather than a status quo policy on
salary amendments for years together.
More than regular attendance in Parliament our MPs need to
discharge their responsibilities as jan
sevaks honestly and honourably. The MPs should be enjoined to spend a
minimum amount of time in the House, just as other office goers. To enforce
this, they should be made to sign their attendance twice a day. Once when they
arrive and again after lunch. If this does not work, they may even be asked to
sign every two hours, if not every hour. Any MP who disrupts the proceedings of
either House should be barred from drawing his daily stipend and his salary
should be deducted for non-productive activity. We should also adopt the
principle of “no work, no pay.” In an extreme case the right to recall should
be invoked.
Importantly, our Right Honourables need to recognize that
they must be deserving before they can desire. The writing is on the wall. If
our Right Honourables do not change they will become increasingly irrelevant. Gone
are the days when netas were revered,
today they symbolize everything that plagues India, warts and all. Will our so-
called jan sevaks rise to the
occasion? Or will they be remembered as the conversion of human energy into
solid waste! ---- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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