President, PM, MPs take pay cut

The Union cabinet on Monday decided to cut 30 per cent salary of all MPs for one year, and divert MPLAD funds for two years –nearly Rs 7,900 crores–to fund the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Announcing the cabinet decision, Union minister PrakashJavadekar also said the President, the Vice President, governors of states havealso voluntarily decided to take a pay cut as a social responsibility.

   

The cabinet gave its nod to an ordinance amending theSalary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954 reducingallowances and pension by 30 per cent from April 1, 2020 for a year, he told reporters,adding this will include the prime minister and the Union ministers.

“Charity begins at home,” he said.

While the salary of all parliamentarians, includingministers, is more or less same at around Rs one lakh per month, there is adifference in allowances between ministers and common MPs. However, allowanceshave not seen any cut.

A decision of more financial import and likely muchpolitical heartburn, is the temporary suspension of the MPLAD (Member ofParliament local Area Development) fund scheme during financial years 2020-21and 2021-22..

While there are 543 MPs in Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha has245 members –788 in all. Each MP gets Rs 5 crore per annum as MPLAD and fortwo years it would be nearly Rs 7880 crores while by salary cut the governmentwill save about Rs 29 crores a year.

The money will be put in the Consolidated Fund of India(CFI) and used for “managing health and adverse impact of outbreak ofCOVID19” in the country, Javadekar said.

All the revenue received by the government by way of taxeslike income tax, central excise, customs and other receipts flowing to thegovernment are credited into the CFI. All government expenditure is incurredfrom this fund and no amount can be withdrawn from the CFI withoutauthorization from Parliament.

While the salary cut, not more than 30,000 per month foreach MP, may not be a big amount for most of the lawmakers, the suspension ofMPLAD fund for two years will deny MPs their biggest tool to push developmentprojects in their constituency.

BJP president J P Nadda welcomed the decision to cut salary,saying national interest has always been supreme for his party. He made nomention of the decision to suspend the MPLAD fund.

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, known for his frank views whichare at times at variance with his party, said he welcomed the cut, and addedthat the construction of new parliament building should also be postponed for ayear, claiming that it will cost Rs 25000 crores.

Congress welcomed the decision to cut MPs’ salaries, but saidsuspending MPLADs, as the development fund scheme is known, will undermine therole of an MP and called for its review. CPI(M) also slammed the suspension ofthe MLAD scheme, while Trinamool Congress called it “whimsical”.

The measure may upset some of the BJP MPs as well but thereis a view within the party that the cabinet decision will strengthen the Modigovernment’s image of being decisive and not afraid to take hard decisions forthe larger good.

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