New Delhi:
The Union Cabinet has cleared a 300 per cent salary hike for MPs that will take their salaries from Rs 16,000 a month to Rs 50,000 a month. But some MPs say this is not enough.
Forum:Will higher salaries for MPs help reduce corruption?)Their daily allowance of Rs 1000 when Parliament is in session has been doubled. Their monthly constitution allowance has also doubled from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000.
For their office expenses, they now get Rs 40,000 - twice what they were entitled to so far.
More good news for them. Their conveyance allowance has gone from 1 lakh to 4 lakhs.
Spouses are entitled to free train travel from their place of residence to Delhi. Spouses also get upto eight free plane tickets from their place of residence to Delhi.
Lalu Prasad Yadav had led the campaign for new salaries after the Cabinet indicated it wanted to defer a hike. Ministers who said the timing was not correct for higher salaries included Home Minister P Chidambaram and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni.
They believe that the recent hike in petrol prices as well as the bevy of corruption allegations for the Commonwealth Games make it tough to justify a raise at this point. However, MPs pointed out that they are among the lowest-paid public representatives in the world.
MPs UNHAPPY? UPROAR IN LOK SABHA OVER SALARY HIKESamajwadi Party (SP), Baujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) members on Friday forced adjournment of the Lok Sabha for an hour voicing dissatisfaction over the quantum of proposed salary hike for MPs.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned for an hour on Friday as SP, BSP and RJD members voiced dissatisfaction over the quantum of proposed salary hike for MPs.
Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP) and Lalu Prasad (RJD) were on their feet during Question Hour claiming that the government had insulted Parliament by rejecting the recommendation of its Committee to raise the basic salary to Rs 80,001 per month.
The Cabinet, at a meeting, approved a proposal to raise the basic salary of MPs to Rs 50,000 from present level of Rs 16,000.
"The government decision is an insult of Parliament. The bill should be torn to pieces," Yadav said in the Lok Sabha.
SP members, led by Yadav, backed Prasad and trooped to the well demanding that the MPs' Salary Bill be taken back.
BSP members and a lone JD(U) member who was present were also seen on their feet supporting the issue.
As members were unrelenting, Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the proceedings till noon.
Amidst the ruckus, the government got two bills passed - the medical council of India bill and the trade mark bill. BJP MPs, especially Uday Singh and Kirti Azad protested over the manner in which the government got the bills passed and RJD and Samajwadi Party MPs were upset over the quantum of the salary hike and refused to leave the House after it was adjourned.