NEW DELHI: On Friday, Parliament approved a bill to reduce MPs’ salaries by 30 percent for one year “to meet the demands arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The bill was passed in Rajya Sabha with voice vote.
Lok Sabha had passed the 2020 Members of Parliament (Amendment) Salary, Allowance and Pension Bill earlier this week.
It will replace the Members of Parliament Wages, Allowances, and Pension Ordinance, 2020, which was passed by Cabinet on April 6 and promulgated the following day.
The Upper House also passed the Ministers’ Salaries and Allowances Bill (Amendment) 2020, which proposes to reduce the salaries and allowances of ministers by 30 percent for one year.
Minister of State for Household G Kishan Reddy introduced the 2020 Ministers’ Salaries and Benefits Bill (Amendment).
Both bills were treated simultaneously and approved by voice.
While supporting the salary cuts, most of the opponents who participated in the discussion urged the government to review its decision to suspend for two years the Local Area Development scheme of the deputies to Parliament (MPLAD) saying that it was necessary to carry out works of development in their respective electoral districts.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said it was a temporary suspension.
During the debate, Joshi said it didn’t matter how much money was saved through member pay cuts. “Charity must start from home and that is the concept we have started. It is not a saving of 4 million rupees as the DMK member said, but 53.9 million rupees per year from the salary of the members,” he said.
DMK member P Wilson had previously said during discussion that the move would entail savings of just Rs 4 crore.
On various opposition members who called on the government to halt various projects such as the bullet train and the construction of a new Parliament building to cut costs, Joshi said: “First, you say that public spending should be increased and now you are demanding all these projects stop. ” .
“At least we didn’t pay a private trust from the PM Relief fund. These people raised similar issues in the 2019 election and people have responded,” Joshi said.
Reddy said that COVID-19 has impacted the income of people who work in the private sector, which is why the Prime Minister initiated this bill that involves a 30 percent reduction in the salaries of ministers.
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that around 70 percent of MPs depend on their salaries and must bear all expenses through these emoluments only.
He said that MPLAD funds are intended to care for people in need in their constituencies and are used for various things, such as buying ambulances, building small roads and community centers.
“(MPLAD) should not be suspended for two years. How did you suppose the crown will continue for two years? Even if it had to, it should have halved it to 2.5 crore rupees. My suggestion to the government will be to cut it down to a year and in that year the fund of 2.5 million rupees will be maintained, “he said.
Similarly, Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (SP), V Vijaysai Reddy (YSRCP), K Somaprasad (CPI-M), Fauzia Khan (NCP), Veer Singh (BSP), Nazir Ahmed Laway (PDP) while supporting the reduction of wages , they sought restoration of the MPLAD scheme.
Wilson said the Center is suspending the MPLAD scheme while several infrastructure projects such as the Central Vista project were still underway.
Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD), while supporting the bill to cut wages, called on the government to set its priorities properly. He asked if the construction of a new Parliament building was necessary when the country was going through a difficult stage.
Ram Chandra Prasad Singh (JD-U) sought the creation of a special corpus to deal with pandemics in the future.
Previously, Rajya Vice President Sabha Harivansh allowed joint debate on both bills after members of the Upper House, crossing party lines, suggested that since the content and purpose of both bills were the same , should be discussed together.
At the beginning of the debate, Rajiv Satav (Cong) welcomed the move towards salary cuts for deputies, but questioned the government’s decision to suspend the MPLAD scheme. “He is talking about ordinary people and he has suspended the MPLAD scheme, which was intended for the welfare of the people,” he said.
Satav said the government’s efforts to deal with the pandemic are a “living example of mismanagement and failure” and that no chief minister was consulted before the shutdown.
“In 2014, the GDP growth rate was 7.4% and now it has reached minus 23.9%,” he said, adding: “Instead of being crown-free, the country has become crown-free. employment (Crown mukt ke jagah Rojgar Mukt ho gaya) ”.
Pointing to the bottom of PM CARES, Satav said “no one knows who cares.”
He also pointed to government spending during the pandemic on projects such as Central Vista, the Bullet train, and a special Rs 850 crore plane for the PM.
Shwait Mallik (BJP) said that previous governments had not worked on disaster management. He said that all states were consulted by the Center when imposing the closure and the PM had considered their suggestions.
Trinamool Congressman Dinesh Trivedi said that the bill for the reduction of member salaries was decided only by some MPs on WhatsApp.
A Vijayakumar from AIDMK welcomed both bills and said the government should clear the arrears of some ongoing projects under MPLAD.
Prasanna Acharya (BJD) said that MPLAD should not be suspended and all arrears from previous projects should be cleared.
The bill was passed in Rajya Sabha with voice vote.
Lok Sabha had passed the 2020 Members of Parliament (Amendment) Salary, Allowance and Pension Bill earlier this week.
It will replace the Members of Parliament Wages, Allowances, and Pension Ordinance, 2020, which was passed by Cabinet on April 6 and promulgated the following day.
The Upper House also passed the Ministers’ Salaries and Allowances Bill (Amendment) 2020, which proposes to reduce the salaries and allowances of ministers by 30 percent for one year.
Minister of State for Household G Kishan Reddy introduced the 2020 Ministers’ Salaries and Benefits Bill (Amendment).
Both bills were treated simultaneously and approved by voice.
While supporting the salary cuts, most of the opponents who participated in the discussion urged the government to review its decision to suspend for two years the Local Area Development scheme of the deputies to Parliament (MPLAD) saying that it was necessary to carry out works of development in their respective electoral districts.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said it was a temporary suspension.
During the debate, Joshi said it didn’t matter how much money was saved through member pay cuts. “Charity must start from home and that is the concept we have started. It is not a saving of 4 million rupees as the DMK member said, but 53.9 million rupees per year from the salary of the members,” he said.
DMK member P Wilson had previously said during discussion that the move would entail savings of just Rs 4 crore.
On various opposition members who called on the government to halt various projects such as the bullet train and the construction of a new Parliament building to cut costs, Joshi said: “First, you say that public spending should be increased and now you are demanding all these projects stop. ” .
“At least we didn’t pay a private trust from the PM Relief fund. These people raised similar issues in the 2019 election and people have responded,” Joshi said.
Reddy said that COVID-19 has impacted the income of people who work in the private sector, which is why the Prime Minister initiated this bill that involves a 30 percent reduction in the salaries of ministers.
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that around 70 percent of MPs depend on their salaries and must bear all expenses through these emoluments only.
He said that MPLAD funds are intended to care for people in need in their constituencies and are used for various things, such as buying ambulances, building small roads and community centers.
“(MPLAD) should not be suspended for two years. How did you suppose the crown will continue for two years? Even if it had to, it should have halved it to 2.5 crore rupees. My suggestion to the government will be to cut it down to a year and in that year the fund of 2.5 million rupees will be maintained, “he said.
Similarly, Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (SP), V Vijaysai Reddy (YSRCP), K Somaprasad (CPI-M), Fauzia Khan (NCP), Veer Singh (BSP), Nazir Ahmed Laway (PDP) while supporting the reduction of wages , they sought restoration of the MPLAD scheme.
Wilson said the Center is suspending the MPLAD scheme while several infrastructure projects such as the Central Vista project were still underway.
Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD), while supporting the bill to cut wages, called on the government to set its priorities properly. He asked if the construction of a new Parliament building was necessary when the country was going through a difficult stage.
Ram Chandra Prasad Singh (JD-U) sought the creation of a special corpus to deal with pandemics in the future.
Previously, Rajya Vice President Sabha Harivansh allowed joint debate on both bills after members of the Upper House, crossing party lines, suggested that since the content and purpose of both bills were the same , should be discussed together.
At the beginning of the debate, Rajiv Satav (Cong) welcomed the move towards salary cuts for deputies, but questioned the government’s decision to suspend the MPLAD scheme. “He is talking about ordinary people and he has suspended the MPLAD scheme, which was intended for the welfare of the people,” he said.
Satav said the government’s efforts to deal with the pandemic are a “living example of mismanagement and failure” and that no chief minister was consulted before the shutdown.
“In 2014, the GDP growth rate was 7.4% and now it has reached minus 23.9%,” he said, adding: “Instead of being crown-free, the country has become crown-free. employment (Crown mukt ke jagah Rojgar Mukt ho gaya) ”.
Pointing to the bottom of PM CARES, Satav said “no one knows who cares.”
He also pointed to government spending during the pandemic on projects such as Central Vista, the Bullet train, and a special Rs 850 crore plane for the PM.
Shwait Mallik (BJP) said that previous governments had not worked on disaster management. He said that all states were consulted by the Center when imposing the closure and the PM had considered their suggestions.
Trinamool Congressman Dinesh Trivedi said that the bill for the reduction of member salaries was decided only by some MPs on WhatsApp.
A Vijayakumar from AIDMK welcomed both bills and said the government should clear the arrears of some ongoing projects under MPLAD.
Prasanna Acharya (BJD) said that MPLAD should not be suspended and all arrears from previous projects should be cleared.
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