As expected the Union Cabinet on Friday approved the bill to hike MPs' salary from current Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000. With Union Cabinet approving the bill, it will be placed in the Parliament for the final approval. It is as if our elected representatives are taking the cue from the recent Revision of Pay (RoP) implemented for government employees. In the last six months, almost all Legislatures across the country have gone ahead and given themselves a substantial pay hike. In Nagaland as well our elected MLAs have voted for pay hike. The question is whether pay hike for our politicians can be justified in the same manner as the RoP hike for government employees. The most common argument given in favour of pay hike even for politicians is that they too are affected by inflation. Besides MPs and MLAs point out that they are among the lowest-paid public representatives in the world, which is indeed true. Therefore in this circumstance, there is no reason why salaries of politicians should not be increased. However how much, is a point that will have more debates and viewpoints?
The Union Cabinet while increasing the pay hike seems to have taken a middle way. Initially the recommendation was for a hike from Rs 16,000 to Rs 80,000. But obviously this has been rightly rejected. The other problem area when it comes to our politicians is that they enjoy a range of perks and other freebies all at the cost of the exchequer. Given this, whether a 300% hike in salary is at all justified. For instance even in the last hike the government also increased office expenses of parliamentarians from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 40,000 per month. The constituency allowance has also been doubled from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 40,000 per month. The limit for interest-free loan for MPs for buying a personal vehicle has been hiked four-fold to Rs 4 lakh from the present Rs 1 lakh. The government has also hiked road mileage rate for vehicles used by MPs from Rs 13 per km to Rs 16 per km. Spouse of a parliamentarian can now travel any number of times in first class or executive class. Pension benefits have also been increased from Rs 8,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. So with all these extra emoluments the total salary could match even those of our CEOs.
But then the point that should not be missed is simply this. We cannot stop pay hikes whether for our politicians, bureaucrats, teachers or other employees of the State. However each rise in salary must be matched by performance. If someone is getting Rs 50,000 per month then he or she must work that much harder. Our elected representatives with all the extra perks must be inspired to serve the people even more. Salary hike should be a time to introspect for our MPs and MLAs, the privilege they are enjoying and the more important duty and responsibility to serve the people. It is a call to their conscience to give their outmost for the people who they should serve with sincerity and honesty. It also demands that our elected representatives must not be allowed to reduce our Parliament and Legislature to a sham. Disruption, unruly, undemocratic scenes and even violence inside the House cannot be tolerated. In study a few years ago it was calculated that it took about Rs 25,000 to run Parliament for a minute. According to news reports the disruptions and adjournments during the recent Budget session of Parliament cost the taxpayer about Rs 180,000,000! This is unacceptable. The House must reprimand undisciplined members and impose fines and other cuts in allowances so that this will act as deterrence. If a pay hike is welcomed and justified, it makes sense to enforce some kind of accountability also.
