Parliamentarians to get 100% salary hike

Members of Parliament can expect a steep hike in salary soon as the Centre has decided to give a 100% raise, taking their basic pay from Rs 50,000 to a lakh per month.

The Prime Minister’s Office is learnt to have agreed to consider a recommendation made by the Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament, which is headed by BJP MP Yogi Adityanath. The PMO is believed to have agreed to revise not only Parliamentarians’ salary, but also their allowances.

The basic compensation for a lawmaker will climb from Rs 1,90,000 per month to Rs 2,80,000 per month (salary along with constituency and office staff allowances). The government had last revised MPs’ salary in 2010.

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier was of the view to set up a separate commission for reviewing the salary, instead of MPs themselves, he abandoned it following pressure from the MPs, government sources aware of developments told DH.

The government has also taken a call to increase the President of India’s salary from the existing Rs 1.5 lakh per month to Rs 5 lakh, and governor’s salary to Rs 2.5 lakh per month from existing Rs 1.10 lakh.

The government is planning to bring separate bills in the winter session of Parliament, which is starting from November 16, to give affect to salary hikes for President, governors and MPs. In the same session, the government will also seek Parliament nod to raise the salary of the vice-president, who is also chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

As per the accepted proposal, an MP’s constituency allowance will go up to Rs 90,000 from existing Rs 45,000 every month, the secretarial assistance and office allowance will get a jump from Rs 45,000 to Rs 90,000 per month.

Annual furniture allowance for MPs’ official homes will double to Rs 1,50,000 a year and free broadband worth Rs 1,700 per month will be provided at parliamentarians’ official homes in their constituencies. The monthly pensions for former MPs will also go up from Rs 20,000 to Rs 35,000 per month. Even those who have served for more than five years would get an additional amount in pension — the number of years multiplied by Rs 2,000.

At present, the additional amount is the number of years multiplied by Rs 1,500.
Besides salary, the MPs are also entitled for government accommodation, air travel and train travel facilities, besides three landline telephone connections and two mobile phones. They also get a loan of Rs 4 lakh to buy a vehicle.