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India's Millionaire Lawmakers Unhappy Over Trebling of Salary
India agreed to treble the salary paid to federal lawmakers, triggering demands for even more in a parliament where the average wealth of members who contested last year’s election exceeded $1 million.
Members of parliament in the lower house today forced repeated adjournments hours after the cabinet approved raising their pay to 50,000 rupees ($1,070) a month from 16,000 rupees. Irate lawmakers say they are among the worst-paid in the world and are demanding their state salary should at the least match the 80,000 rupees handed to senior ministry bureaucrats.
“Look at what most of us spend on tea per day, on attending visitors and the amount we use to visit constituencies and helping distressed people,” Prasanna Kumar Patasani, a lawmaker from the Biju Janata Dal, a party from the eastern state of Orissa, said. “If you want MPs to lead a decent life and not indulge in corruption, you have to increase their salary.”
In India, as elsewhere, those representing the country’s 1.2 billion people in New Delhi have wealth far outstripping their meager incomes. Average assets -- an indicator measuring property, cash and other income -- of 304 lawmakers who fought for re-election to the 545-member lower house in 2009’s poll were 48.6 million rupees ($1.04 million), according to a study by the New Delhi-based Association For Democratic Reforms.
Candidates’ wealth more than doubled from 19.3 million rupees five years earlier, the organization calculated using data voluntarily declared to the Election Commission by re- contesting parliamentarians. In India, 828 million people live on less than $2 a day, the World Bank says.
‘Wasting Time’
“Please see the perks they are getting, how much time they are wasting in parliament, the growth in their assets and the money they use to fight elections,” said Anil Bairwal, a coordinator at the association, which says 162 lower house MPs have pending criminal charges against them. “What is the guarantee that a salary increase will force them to work sincerely and remove the influence of money and crime in politics?”
More than half of the 137 hours in the budget session of parliament to May 7 were lost due to interruptions and adjournments forced by lawmakers’ protests.
Lawmakers get a constituency allowance of 20,000 rupees and office expenses of the same amount per month. They are also entitled to some free train travel and a rent-free flat.
Matching Pay
“The salary hike of MPs is justifiable as every expenditure has increased,” said Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, adding he didn’t agree with the argument that lawmakers’ pay should match that of government secretaries. “Why the comparison? They are government servants and we are public servants.”
India’s benchmark wholesale price inflation rate rose 9.97 percent in July, after staying above 10 percent since February.
“To attract young, talented people into political life, we should pay enough for a decent living,” said C.V. Madhukar, director of the New Delhi-based think tank PRS Legislative Research.
“But their salary should be decided by an independent panel,” he said. “And they should perform better in parliament.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.net
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