In his last full-year budget presented to parliament before the 2019 General elections, Finance Minister ArunJaitley has not only rolled out pay hikes for President, Vice President and members of parliament but also sought to change the law to give lawmakers an automatic hike. This amendment would ensure that the lawmakers would not have to come back to parliament for a salary hike again.
“The law will provide automatic adjustment of emoluments every five years based on inflation,” Jaitley said as he presented the Budget 2018 proposals in the LokSabha.
Jaitley’s decision to include a salary hike for President Ram NathKovind, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Governors and Members of Parliament is unusual because their salaries and allowances are governed by different laws.
The revised emoluments for the President would go up from Rs 1.5 lakhs to Rs 5 lakhs, for the Vice President from Rs 1.25 lakhs to Rs 4 lakhs and for governors, from Rs 1.1 lakhs to Rs 3.5 lakhs. The hike would address the anomaly that has existed after bureaucrats got their hikes: President Ram NathKovind has a lower take home salary than his key aides.
“There has been considerable public debate with regard to emoluments paid to Members of Parliament. The present practice allows the recipients to fix their own emoluments which invites criticism. I am, therefore, proposing necessary changes to refix the salary, constituency allowance, other expenses payable to Members of Parliament with effect from April 1, 2018,” MrJaitley said.
Jaitley did not specify the extent of the hike that lawmakers – members of the LokSabha and RajyaSabha – would get. But changing the law to index their salaries to the price index is a huge concession.
Lawmakers have been demanding for years that an independent body should be set up, quite like the pay commission for bureaucrats, which gives them a hike. PTI