Paycheques and Imbalances

PARLIAMENT8217;S oldest member says MPs are overpaid and underworked. Pushing 90, Nanaji Deshmukh Nominated, Rajya Sabha wrote a letter i...

PARLIAMENT8217;S oldest member says MPs are overpaid and underworked. Pushing 90, Nanaji Deshmukh Nominated, Rajya Sabha wrote a letter in mid-January to all fellow MPs 8212; sending copies to leading businessmen, editors and NGOs 8212; detailing the 8216;8216;unacceptably8217;8217; high cost of Parliament and the government edifice.

Nanaji, an old RSS hand who gave up politics in 1977 and now runs an alternative development network in Chitrakoot, had two associates do background research for his letter. It has now been published as a booklet by the Deendayal Research Institute he heads.

The letter is fairly harsh: 8216;8216;The law fixing the salaries and allowances admissible to Members of Parliament, enacted in 1954, has undergone 25 revisions/amendments till 2002 8230; The approval of Parliament has always been a mere formality 8230; Salaries and allowances have gone up by 90 times.8217;8217;

Calling this 8216;8216;improper usurping of the powers 8230; by the beneficiaries themselves8217;8217;, Nanaji writes, 8216;8216;The direct monthly expenditure on an MP comes to the tune of Rs 3 lakh 8230; 150 times the per capita income of an Indian. There are several other indirect costs.8217;8217;

He arrives at this figure after adding perks such as phone calls, travel tickets and medical facilities to the basic Rs 36,000 that 8216;8216;the government pays in cash every month8217;8217;. Only Rs 12,000 of the amount is taxable, he says, and saving schemes can easily redress that too.

Adding the cost of 5,269 MLAs and MLCs in the states, Nanaji warns of an 8216;8216;unbearable burden8217;8217;: 8216;8216;The expenditure incurred for the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister in the last year was Rs 122.52 crore, which is nearly half of the expenditure for the Lok Sabha and Rs 30.29 crore more than the expenditure for the Rajya Sabha.8217;8217;

Factoring in the SPG budget of Rs 79.46 crore, Nanaji says India has 8216;8216;extremely high-cost public institutions8217;8217;

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TALKING to The Sunday Express, the Emergency-era veteran pointed out, 8216;8216;The Privy Purses were abolished because it was felt princes were serving no public purpose. How can one then justify pensions for MPs and ex-MPs, even their widows 8230; Houses and perks for ex-presidents and prime ministers?8217;8217; He wondered if these were the 8216;8216;new Privy Purses8217;8217;.

Four pages of Nanaji8217;s booklet are devoted to MPs8217; emoluments, comparing current numbers to those when the particular perk was introduced. For instance, On June 1, 1954, MPs were given a monthly salary of Rs 400, with no attendant constituency or secretarial allowances. Today, the gross amount is Rs 36,000.

Daily allowance, when the House met, was Rs 21, paid for three days before and after the session too. Today, it is Rs 500. The six-day cushion was meant to facilitate travel to Delhi from far-off constituencies, by road or train or both. Today, MPs fly, but retain the grace period.

With effect from August 21, 1969, MPs were entitled to one air ticket per session. Today, they are allowed 32 a year.

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From September 9, 1976, former MPs were awarded a monthly pension of Rs 500 for a completed five-year term, plus Rs 50 for every additional year. Now the corresponding figures are Rs 3,000 and Rs 600. Should an MP die in harness, his spouse will get Rs 1,500 per month for the next five years.

NANAJI calculates India8217;s VIP subsidy 8212; for the President, vice-president, prime minister, MPs and all their predecessors 8212; was Rs 558.68 crore in 2003-04. He says he first thought of the issue when MPs8217; salaries were hiked in 2002. He prot-ested, but was a lone voice. To date, he has stuck to his pre-2002 entitlements: 8216;8216;The excess is donated to the Prime Minister8217;s Relief Fund.8217;8217;

Having written to everybody from the prime minister downwards, including his former colleagues in the BJP, Nanaji has been disappointed by the response. Only Sports Minister Sunil Dutt sent an acknowledgment. Arun Shourie text messaged one of Nanaji8217;s aides. Fali Nariman communicated he was planning to write back.

As Nanaji walks into Parliament for the Budget Session, he is hoping for more feedback. 8216;8216;Is this type of politics helping the country?8217;8217; he asks. An old man with failing eyesight, a gentle gait, but a sharp mind, Nanaji wants his answers soon. His six-year term ends in December.