FOCUS
IS POLITICS AN EMPLOYMENT? THE P3 FACTOR- PAY, PERKS & PRIVILEGES
Sharing a podium with an MLA many years ago revealed the thick skinned approach of most politicians, who have entered the election arena. This MLA was speaking at a function in one of the villages in his constituency. He boasted that ‘he had won 5 times to the assembly in the past, now he is fighting the election for the 6th time…..etc…etc...”. A social activist sharing the dais got up to speak when his turn came. He said “ Mr.MLA, has spoken like a true politician. He promised everything, knowing pretty well that he will never be able to fulfill them all, in his entire term. But then this is how most politicians speak, and our gullible people vote and these kinds of MLAs make it to the august assembly time and again. But I have a question to this honorable MLA, he just stated that this is his 6th assembly fight, having won already 5 times. My question is, all those who worked for the MLA, converting their blood into sweat, when will they get their opportunity to contest this assembly election and may be even become MLA?” Our MLA friend was not expecting this kind of questioning of his very legitimacy? He was clearly upset that a raw nerve was touched. He never liked his hegemony over the MLA seat being targeted. It is his right, or his family’s right. How can a non-entity like a social activist question his ‘divine right’ to be part of the ruling elite?
This is unfortunately not the only case. There are hundreds if not thousands who, given the opportunity will never want to give up. They want to ‘serve the country’. They want to perpetuate this right to ‘serve the country’.
Sometime in 2015, there was a report in the media “Raichur loses its much loved leader”. It was informing about the death of an MLA in a freak train accident. It also informed about him being a 4 term Member of Parliament and at the time of death he was an MLA within the parliamentary constituency he earlier represented. So the thought crossed the mind that he was large hearted enough to let go the M.P seat. But that was not so. He certainly did not have the generosity or the decency to let go the claim of the parliamentary seat to somebody else. Of course he did let it go, but to his elder son. So the right of ruling a portion of democratic India remained with his family. In his ‘zeal’ of serving the country and the society around him, this MP turned MLA, ‘much loved at that’, ensured that his other son was made the chairman of the District Co-operative Central Bank, which is the apex co-operative bank for all co-operative banks in the district. What an ‘exemplary service’ to the nation and society?!
But quite frankly, why media failed to see the promotional starkness of family fiefdom of one individual? This so- called gentleman politician was MP for 4 terms that is 20 years, and continued his ‘service to the country’ by becoming an MLA, but he ensured the continuity of his hegemony by ‘relinquishing’ his M.P seat in favour of his eldest son, and not any other ‘son of the soil’ of some other politician, while promoting and protecting family financial interest by making his 2nd son the president of DCCB. So that the family can get a lasting place in the psyche of Raichur as the ‘servants of people’ while continuing to promote and protect only one family tree, just like our former President of India, besides so many others in this Son Rise Industry among the political class of this country.
Of course, what we are quoting is only a tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of political families who have promoted their kith and kin in their ‘eagerness’ to be ‘exclusive’ in ‘serving the nation’. Numbers are far too many to be reproduced here.
But why people want to be in politics?
In the days before British left India for good it was basically to serve the nation that inspired people to enter politics. Post independence in 1947, the same spirit continued for many years, besides the attraction of power. As the years passed by, persons of different ideological moorings entered politics. Among these, socialists made some impression. However these socialists remained in politics for one generation. They did not promote any from the generation following them, to serve the nation. Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jaya Prakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and their ilk, left only their foot prints, no bank balance.
However post Indira Gandhi era, there has been a rush of professional ‘nation servers’ families. And they are spread across the country. Starting from Kashmir, Shekh Abdulla family tree, Badal family tree in Punjab, Lalu Yadav clan in Bihar, Mulayam Singh Yadav family in Uttar Pradesh, Charan Singh family in U.P, Pranab Mukherjee family tree in West Bengal, S.B Chawan, Sharad Pawar, Bal Thackeray families in Maharashtra. Karunakaran family in Kerala, Raje family tree in M.P and Rajasthan, Patnaiks in Orissa. Sangmas in Meghalaya, Devegowda family in Karnataka and Karunanidhi family empire in Tamil Nadu are into the business of serving the nation. And then there are little known families where father is an MP or MLA for 4 times, 5 times or even 6 times and then they want the son or daughter to be given a ticket to perpetuate their dominance. There are easily some hundred plus families in India, who have been promoting their kith and kin in ‘service of the nation’.
Why are they keen to serve the nation only as an MLA or MP or any government position? There is ‘Lucre’, and very comfortable at that.
Sometime in April this year, the apex court had questioned the ‘largesse’ granted to members of parliament in terms of ever increasing salaries and perks without any basis. Reportedly the country’s highest dispenser of justice had put the central government on notice, why not pension and other benefits to these MPs be scrapped?
There is this law, “Salaries, Allowances and Pensions of Members of Parliament Act 1954”. It has been amended some 28 times since then. This gives them certain power and privilege to influence the course of arithmatic regarding their pay and perks. After the last amendment in 2010, Narendra Modi government has recently set up joint parliamentary committee to go into the demand by a section of MPs to increase the pay and pension. Unfortunately, it is a case where these members of parliament are rewarding themselves continuously at the cost of the nation without any hindrances. This has been going on all these post independent years despite public in general are experiencing difficult financial situation.
Currently, an M.P is paid a basic Monthly Salary of `50,000/ p.m and a Constituency Allowance of `45,000/, sumptuary allowance of `15,000/ , office expenditure of `30,000/. These four payments come to `1,40,000/ . This is the fixed monthly payment an M.P gets, irrespective of session or no session, attendance or no attendance. Then there is this `2,000/ daily allowance when the parliament is in session. And most MPs have shown the audacity, or can we say pettiness, of drawing this daily allowance even when they were not in attendance. While in parliament, whether attending the session or not whether parliament is in session or not a member can use the parliament canteen. Describing this as ‘world’s biggest old age home with cheapest canteen’, a social media post says, ‘this is the only place in India where the food is not only served dirt cheap but also priced below cost, the Indian Parliament canteen. Prices are as follows: Tea: `1.00, Chapathi: `1.00, Dal: `1.50, Meals: `2.00, Dosa: `4.00, Biriyani: `8.00, Fish: `13.00, and Chicken: `24.50.
Besides these cash benefits on daily and monthly basis, a member is given free furnished accommodation with free water, electricity, laundry , free petrol for their vehicles, free telephone charges, 34 complementary air tickets to themselves and their companions to & fro constituency/ New Delhi and unlimited free AC train travel anywhere in the country. If these are ongoing perks & pays, there are terminal benefits of `20,000/- pension per month even if the member has served only a day and an additional `1500/- every year after a full term as member. He also gets to travel free, by train, along with a companion for life and the pension he gets, transferred to the spouse or a declared dependent after MPs death.
Now that there is this fresh demand from MPs for increase in their pay and perks, has come, a parliamentary committee has recommended a rise of 100% in both salary as well as constituency allowance, from 50,000/- to 1,00,000 salary, and from 45000/- to 90,000/- constituency allowances so also other allowances, to bring the monthly payment to 2,80,000 from the present 1,40,000/-. However, not quite prepared for the raise, the central government led by Narendra Modi has referred the matter to an independent three member commission to go into the demand and come up with some considered proposal.
However, all is not lost. There are Members of Parliament disturbed by this ever increasing demand from other members. And comes Varun Firoze Gandhi, the MP from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Reportedly he had told the LokSabha during zero hour “giving ourselves the authority to increase our own fiscal compensation is not in line with the morals of our democracy” while strongly disapproving the doubling of salaries of legislators by the Tamil Nadu Assembly, especially at a time when the farmers from the state are in deep distress.
“When matters regarding salary are raised recurrently, it makes me worry about the moral compass of the house. Nearly 18000 farmers have committed suicide over the last one year. Where is our focus?” Varun Gandhi is reported to have asked. “Indian parliamentarians had given themselves a 400% wage hike over the last decade as against the 13% increase in the salaries of their counter- parts in Britain”, he had lamented while asking “Have we really earned this massive increase ?, especially when LokSabha sittings have dropped abysmally and bills passed without discussion”?!
Questioning the Members of Parliament for their demand to hike their own salaries Sultanpur MP demanded, to set up an external statutory body to decide salaries of MPs, while appealing to members that they should forego the privileges for the remaining part of the 16th LokSabha, a period of some 20 months,considering the hardship faced by the common man.
It is true India is not the only country where people’s political representatives milk the system to their advantage at the cost of general public, the aam aadmi.
Look at the United Kingdom, a Member of House of Commons ( like our LokSabha) gets £ 74,962 as basic annual salary, that is over `70Lakhs in Indian rupees. He also gets around £ 25000 for office expenses plus cost of staff around £.1,45,000, accommodation allowance for living in London £.20,000, plus other allowances for travelling etc. Despite such huge payments, many of the greedy MPs are involved in expenses scandals claiming wrong expenses.
Similar is the case with most advanced countries, so also poor African nations. In fact poorer nations can be worst where political class have exploited the system to the hilt. For example in Nigeria, the law makers, or the peoples representative are paid $: 1,89,500/- per year which is reportedly more than 100 times the per capita GDP, while in Kenya it is 76 times the per capita GDP, at $: 74,500/-
Thus, prima facie, the elected political class, in India may have a case as compared to the rest of the world. But it is also true that matured democracies all over the world have taken initiative to establish a permanent body to oversee the pay and perks structure of their elected political representatives. Such a development in India too is needed for the accountability aspect of our elected MPs, MLA etc.
However, what is important and therefore relevant is the ordinary honest taxpaying Indian feeling let down by his elected representatives having it all good and is increasingly feeling the pinch for being honest. There are some posts in the social media which are indicative of the bitterness that an honest taxpaying ordinary Indian is harboring against these well paid, well looked after, but completely under performing political class within the portals of parliament and legislative assemblies and councils across the country.
Posts:
*Nani Palkhiwala* India's Most Eminent And Noted Jurist & Lawyer wrote ...long ago.
My dog sleeps about 20 hours a day.
He has his food prepared for him.
He can eat whenever he wants, 24/7/365.
His meals are provided at no cost to him.
By the way he does not need to pay for medical insurance.
He visits the doctor once a year for his checkup, and again during the year if any medical needs arise.
For this he pays nothing and nothing is required of him.
He lives in a nice neighborhood in a house that is much larger than he needs, but he is not required to do any upkeep.
If he makes a mess, someone else cleans it up.
He has his choice of luxurious places to sleep.
He receives these accommodations absolutely free.
He is living like a King, and has absolutely no expenses whatsoever.
All of his costs are picked up by others who go out and earn a living every day.
I was just thinking about all this, and suddenly it hit me like a brick in the head.......
My dog is like the *Indian POLITICIAN*
(No offence intended- to dogs.)
************************
Blast of the day:
Best Answer given by an Indian Citizen:- My Income Tax return form has been sent back because, In response to a question for 'Number of Dependents on you?', I replied :---
"65% of population who doesn't pay taxes, 21 million illegal immigrants, 9,00,000 criminals in over 1382 prisons and above all 544+ MPs in parliament"and 4000 MLA's of states.
They said, this is not an acceptable answer.
I am still wondering..... Who the hell did I miss out!!.
Dedicated to all tax payers.
************************
This one is awesome ....
A driver was stuck in a traffic jam on the road.
Suddenly, a man knocks on the window.
The driver rolls down the window and asks,"What's going on?"
"Terrorists have kidnapped the entire politicians , and they're asking for a $100 million dollar ransom.
Otherwise, they're going to douse them all in petrol and set them on fire. We're going from car to car, collecting donations".
"How much is everyone giving, on an average?" the driver asks...
The man replies, "Roughly 2 litres."************************
If the first one represents disgust from one of the most brilliant minds of his time, the 2nd one expresses an honest man’s exasperation and 3rd one represents desperation borne out of helplessness.
Of course this may be an extreme kind of expression but indicates fairly clearly where the wind is blowing, the VOX POPULI. Then there is another dimension to the loot of the system by the entrenched babu / politician nexus. There is ‘n’ number of established MLAs & MPs making all kinds of money from all kinds of ways from all kinds of sources, from Bofors to Sukh Rams to Sharad Pawars to Karunanidhis to just about any of them. There is unfortunately a growing sense of helplessness leading to question the very legitimacy of the democracy as a way of political craft.
Sharing a podium with an MLA many years ago revealed the thick skinned approach of most politicians, who have entered the election arena. This MLA was speaking at a function in one of the villages in his constituency. He boasted that ‘he had won 5 times to the assembly in the past, now he is fighting the election for the 6th time…..etc…etc...”. A social activist sharing the dais got up to speak when his turn came. He said “ Mr.MLA, has spoken like a true politician. He promised everything, knowing pretty well that he will never be able to fulfill them all, in his entire term. But then this is how most politicians speak, and our gullible people vote and these kinds of MLAs make it to the august assembly time and again. But I have a question to this honorable MLA, he just stated that this is his 6th assembly fight, having won already 5 times. My question is, all those who worked for the MLA, converting their blood into sweat, when will they get their opportunity to contest this assembly election and may be even become MLA?” Our MLA friend was not expecting this kind of questioning of his very legitimacy? He was clearly upset that a raw nerve was touched. He never liked his hegemony over the MLA seat being targeted. It is his right, or his family’s right. How can a non-entity like a social activist question his ‘divine right’ to be part of the ruling elite?
This is unfortunately not the only case. There are hundreds if not thousands who, given the opportunity will never want to give up. They want to ‘serve the country’. They want to perpetuate this right to ‘serve the country’.
Sometime in 2015, there was a report in the media “Raichur loses its much loved leader”. It was informing about the death of an MLA in a freak train accident. It also informed about him being a 4 term Member of Parliament and at the time of death he was an MLA within the parliamentary constituency he earlier represented. So the thought crossed the mind that he was large hearted enough to let go the M.P seat. But that was not so. He certainly did not have the generosity or the decency to let go the claim of the parliamentary seat to somebody else. Of course he did let it go, but to his elder son. So the right of ruling a portion of democratic India remained with his family. In his ‘zeal’ of serving the country and the society around him, this MP turned MLA, ‘much loved at that’, ensured that his other son was made the chairman of the District Co-operative Central Bank, which is the apex co-operative bank for all co-operative banks in the district. What an ‘exemplary service’ to the nation and society?!
But quite frankly, why media failed to see the promotional starkness of family fiefdom of one individual? This so- called gentleman politician was MP for 4 terms that is 20 years, and continued his ‘service to the country’ by becoming an MLA, but he ensured the continuity of his hegemony by ‘relinquishing’ his M.P seat in favour of his eldest son, and not any other ‘son of the soil’ of some other politician, while promoting and protecting family financial interest by making his 2nd son the president of DCCB. So that the family can get a lasting place in the psyche of Raichur as the ‘servants of people’ while continuing to promote and protect only one family tree, just like our former President of India, besides so many others in this Son Rise Industry among the political class of this country.
Of course, what we are quoting is only a tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of political families who have promoted their kith and kin in their ‘eagerness’ to be ‘exclusive’ in ‘serving the nation’. Numbers are far too many to be reproduced here.
But why people want to be in politics?
In the days before British left India for good it was basically to serve the nation that inspired people to enter politics. Post independence in 1947, the same spirit continued for many years, besides the attraction of power. As the years passed by, persons of different ideological moorings entered politics. Among these, socialists made some impression. However these socialists remained in politics for one generation. They did not promote any from the generation following them, to serve the nation. Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jaya Prakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and their ilk, left only their foot prints, no bank balance.
However post Indira Gandhi era, there has been a rush of professional ‘nation servers’ families. And they are spread across the country. Starting from Kashmir, Shekh Abdulla family tree, Badal family tree in Punjab, Lalu Yadav clan in Bihar, Mulayam Singh Yadav family in Uttar Pradesh, Charan Singh family in U.P, Pranab Mukherjee family tree in West Bengal, S.B Chawan, Sharad Pawar, Bal Thackeray families in Maharashtra. Karunakaran family in Kerala, Raje family tree in M.P and Rajasthan, Patnaiks in Orissa. Sangmas in Meghalaya, Devegowda family in Karnataka and Karunanidhi family empire in Tamil Nadu are into the business of serving the nation. And then there are little known families where father is an MP or MLA for 4 times, 5 times or even 6 times and then they want the son or daughter to be given a ticket to perpetuate their dominance. There are easily some hundred plus families in India, who have been promoting their kith and kin in ‘service of the nation’.
Why are they keen to serve the nation only as an MLA or MP or any government position? There is ‘Lucre’, and very comfortable at that.
Sometime in April this year, the apex court had questioned the ‘largesse’ granted to members of parliament in terms of ever increasing salaries and perks without any basis. Reportedly the country’s highest dispenser of justice had put the central government on notice, why not pension and other benefits to these MPs be scrapped?
There is this law, “Salaries, Allowances and Pensions of Members of Parliament Act 1954”. It has been amended some 28 times since then. This gives them certain power and privilege to influence the course of arithmatic regarding their pay and perks. After the last amendment in 2010, Narendra Modi government has recently set up joint parliamentary committee to go into the demand by a section of MPs to increase the pay and pension. Unfortunately, it is a case where these members of parliament are rewarding themselves continuously at the cost of the nation without any hindrances. This has been going on all these post independent years despite public in general are experiencing difficult financial situation.
Currently, an M.P is paid a basic Monthly Salary of `50,000/ p.m and a Constituency Allowance of `45,000/, sumptuary allowance of `15,000/ , office expenditure of `30,000/. These four payments come to `1,40,000/ . This is the fixed monthly payment an M.P gets, irrespective of session or no session, attendance or no attendance. Then there is this `2,000/ daily allowance when the parliament is in session. And most MPs have shown the audacity, or can we say pettiness, of drawing this daily allowance even when they were not in attendance. While in parliament, whether attending the session or not whether parliament is in session or not a member can use the parliament canteen. Describing this as ‘world’s biggest old age home with cheapest canteen’, a social media post says, ‘this is the only place in India where the food is not only served dirt cheap but also priced below cost, the Indian Parliament canteen. Prices are as follows: Tea: `1.00, Chapathi: `1.00, Dal: `1.50, Meals: `2.00, Dosa: `4.00, Biriyani: `8.00, Fish: `13.00, and Chicken: `24.50.
Besides these cash benefits on daily and monthly basis, a member is given free furnished accommodation with free water, electricity, laundry , free petrol for their vehicles, free telephone charges, 34 complementary air tickets to themselves and their companions to & fro constituency/ New Delhi and unlimited free AC train travel anywhere in the country. If these are ongoing perks & pays, there are terminal benefits of `20,000/- pension per month even if the member has served only a day and an additional `1500/- every year after a full term as member. He also gets to travel free, by train, along with a companion for life and the pension he gets, transferred to the spouse or a declared dependent after MPs death.
Now that there is this fresh demand from MPs for increase in their pay and perks, has come, a parliamentary committee has recommended a rise of 100% in both salary as well as constituency allowance, from 50,000/- to 1,00,000 salary, and from 45000/- to 90,000/- constituency allowances so also other allowances, to bring the monthly payment to 2,80,000 from the present 1,40,000/-. However, not quite prepared for the raise, the central government led by Narendra Modi has referred the matter to an independent three member commission to go into the demand and come up with some considered proposal.
However, all is not lost. There are Members of Parliament disturbed by this ever increasing demand from other members. And comes Varun Firoze Gandhi, the MP from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Reportedly he had told the LokSabha during zero hour “giving ourselves the authority to increase our own fiscal compensation is not in line with the morals of our democracy” while strongly disapproving the doubling of salaries of legislators by the Tamil Nadu Assembly, especially at a time when the farmers from the state are in deep distress.
“When matters regarding salary are raised recurrently, it makes me worry about the moral compass of the house. Nearly 18000 farmers have committed suicide over the last one year. Where is our focus?” Varun Gandhi is reported to have asked. “Indian parliamentarians had given themselves a 400% wage hike over the last decade as against the 13% increase in the salaries of their counter- parts in Britain”, he had lamented while asking “Have we really earned this massive increase ?, especially when LokSabha sittings have dropped abysmally and bills passed without discussion”?!
Questioning the Members of Parliament for their demand to hike their own salaries Sultanpur MP demanded, to set up an external statutory body to decide salaries of MPs, while appealing to members that they should forego the privileges for the remaining part of the 16th LokSabha, a period of some 20 months,considering the hardship faced by the common man.
It is true India is not the only country where people’s political representatives milk the system to their advantage at the cost of general public, the aam aadmi.
Look at the United Kingdom, a Member of House of Commons ( like our LokSabha) gets £ 74,962 as basic annual salary, that is over `70Lakhs in Indian rupees. He also gets around £ 25000 for office expenses plus cost of staff around £.1,45,000, accommodation allowance for living in London £.20,000, plus other allowances for travelling etc. Despite such huge payments, many of the greedy MPs are involved in expenses scandals claiming wrong expenses.
Similar is the case with most advanced countries, so also poor African nations. In fact poorer nations can be worst where political class have exploited the system to the hilt. For example in Nigeria, the law makers, or the peoples representative are paid $: 1,89,500/- per year which is reportedly more than 100 times the per capita GDP, while in Kenya it is 76 times the per capita GDP, at $: 74,500/-
Thus, prima facie, the elected political class, in India may have a case as compared to the rest of the world. But it is also true that matured democracies all over the world have taken initiative to establish a permanent body to oversee the pay and perks structure of their elected political representatives. Such a development in India too is needed for the accountability aspect of our elected MPs, MLA etc.
However, what is important and therefore relevant is the ordinary honest taxpaying Indian feeling let down by his elected representatives having it all good and is increasingly feeling the pinch for being honest. There are some posts in the social media which are indicative of the bitterness that an honest taxpaying ordinary Indian is harboring against these well paid, well looked after, but completely under performing political class within the portals of parliament and legislative assemblies and councils across the country.
Posts:
*Nani Palkhiwala* India's Most Eminent And Noted Jurist & Lawyer wrote ...long ago.
My dog sleeps about 20 hours a day.
He has his food prepared for him.
He can eat whenever he wants, 24/7/365.
His meals are provided at no cost to him.
By the way he does not need to pay for medical insurance.
He visits the doctor once a year for his checkup, and again during the year if any medical needs arise.
For this he pays nothing and nothing is required of him.
He lives in a nice neighborhood in a house that is much larger than he needs, but he is not required to do any upkeep.
If he makes a mess, someone else cleans it up.
He has his choice of luxurious places to sleep.
He receives these accommodations absolutely free.
He is living like a King, and has absolutely no expenses whatsoever.
All of his costs are picked up by others who go out and earn a living every day.
I was just thinking about all this, and suddenly it hit me like a brick in the head.......
My dog is like the *Indian POLITICIAN*
(No offence intended- to dogs.)
************************
Blast of the day:
Best Answer given by an Indian Citizen:- My Income Tax return form has been sent back because, In response to a question for 'Number of Dependents on you?', I replied :---
"65% of population who doesn't pay taxes, 21 million illegal immigrants, 9,00,000 criminals in over 1382 prisons and above all 544+ MPs in parliament"and 4000 MLA's of states.
They said, this is not an acceptable answer.
I am still wondering..... Who the hell did I miss out!!.
Dedicated to all tax payers.
************************
This one is awesome ....
A driver was stuck in a traffic jam on the road.
Suddenly, a man knocks on the window.
The driver rolls down the window and asks,"What's going on?"
"Terrorists have kidnapped the entire politicians , and they're asking for a $100 million dollar ransom.
Otherwise, they're going to douse them all in petrol and set them on fire. We're going from car to car, collecting donations".
"How much is everyone giving, on an average?" the driver asks...
The man replies, "Roughly 2 litres."************************
If the first one represents disgust from one of the most brilliant minds of his time, the 2nd one expresses an honest man’s exasperation and 3rd one represents desperation borne out of helplessness.
Of course this may be an extreme kind of expression but indicates fairly clearly where the wind is blowing, the VOX POPULI. Then there is another dimension to the loot of the system by the entrenched babu / politician nexus. There is ‘n’ number of established MLAs & MPs making all kinds of money from all kinds of ways from all kinds of sources, from Bofors to Sukh Rams to Sharad Pawars to Karunanidhis to just about any of them. There is unfortunately a growing sense of helplessness leading to question the very legitimacy of the democracy as a way of political craft.
J. Shriyan
Comments