The government has pushed through two bills to temporarily reduce the salaries and allowances of legislators and ministers in light of the austerity measures in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, a good time to take a look at the real footprints of paychecks. of our parliamentarians and ministers.
According to article 106 of the Constitution, Indian legislators set their own salaries. Lok Sabha passed a bill on Tuesday to cut legislators’ salaries by 30% for a year. Rajya Sabha will examine the 2020 Ministers’ Salaries and Allowances Bill (Amendment) Bill for consideration and approval on Wednesday. The bill amends the Ministers’ Salaries and Allowances Act 1952, the law that stipulates how much ministers, including the Prime Minister, are paid.
The subsidy bill cuts by 30% the monthly luxury subsidy of ministers for a period of one year, effective as of April 1, 2020. The luxury subsidy is the legislators’ equivalent to the reimbursement of entertainment of the visitors, a common salary in the business world. Here are the changes
Legislators
The austerity measures mean that the “salary” of MPs is now 70,000 rupees a month, up from 100,000 rupees previously. The next head on your paychecks is a “constituency allowance.” This is now revised down to Rs 49,000 per month from Rs 70,000 a month earlier.
Legislators also receive an allowance for office expenses. This will now be 54,000 rupees from 60,000 rupees before. (Of this, MPs can withdraw Rs 40,000 as secretarial assistance and Rs 14,000 as office expenses.)
Also read: Lok Sabha agrees to the bill for a 30% salary cut for deputies for a year due to the Covid crisis
Ministers and PM
The Ministers’ Salaries and Benefits Bill (Amendment) 2020 cuts luxury benefits. The prime minister’s sumptuary allowance has been reduced to 2,100 rupees a month from 3,000 rupees the previous month.
The sumptuary allowance for cabinet ministers now stands at 1,400 rupees compared to 2,000 rupees the previous month. A similar allowance for ministers of state, or a junior minister, is now 700 rupees from the previous 1000 rupees.
Do Indian MPs Get Better Profits?
In India, lawmakers review their salaries every five years, a review that is indexed for inflation. In countries such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand, MPs’ salaries are set by independent authorities, according to New Delhi-based think tank PRS Legislative Research.
In the UK, the independent authority is made up of a former MP, a former judge and an auditor. Salaries are reviewed annually according to the average income of the public sector.
Different benchmarks adopted by different countries make it difficult to compare wages. The advantage that Indian MPs enjoy is housing, while countries like the UK do not offer housing to MPs.
“Indian MPs earn much less compared to the salaries in the corporate world of senior executives,” said Supriya Dutta of chief executive firm CEOTrack.
Also read: Covid-19: Fake news led to the exodus of migrants, says the Interior Ministry
MPs versus other key officials
Members’ “salary” (excluding allowances) before the current review was Rs 100,000 per month. In comparison, the salary of a Supreme Court judge is Rs 2.5 lakh (minus allowances) per month. A secretary of the Union government earns a salary of Rs 2.25 lakh per month. The salary of the Governor of the Reserve Bank is Rs 2.50 lakh.
Reducing the salaries and allowances of MPs and ministers will save the government Rs 54 million. “This is less than 0.001% of Rs 20 lakh crore, which is the amount of the special economic package announced by the center, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a PRS Legislative research note.
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