Parliamentarians’ pleasure

We often talk about VIP culture and how the political class benefits from the perks and privileges of the powerful but what usually goes unremarked on is the greatest power of all: getting to decide your own salary. Even the CEOs of multinational corporations are subject to the whims of a board of directors and shareholders. Our MNAs, though, just decide how much they want to be paid. The National Assembly has just accepted a report by a House standing committee calling for a near tripling of their basic salary as well as phenomenal increases in allowances. While the basic salary of a parliamentarian were relatively normal, they would receive outsized perks in the form of housing allowances, utility allowances, business class travel and the rest. These allowances, of course, would be untaxed even though they would be equal to many times the basic salary. Now, the MNAs seem poised to do away with even that pretence and bring the basic salary up to Rs 200,000 a month while keeping all their additional allowances – and, in fact, even adding to them.

Of course, it is not just their own salaries that MNAs control. Last year, they increased the minimum wage from Rs 12,000 to Rs 13,000 a month, an increase of less than 10 per cent or about 290 percentage points lower than the increase they are trying to give themselves. They also do nothing to enforce the minimum wage but never forget to take advantage of all their allowances. This is why, in the new salary package the MNAs are giving themselves, they want to increase the number of business class tickets they are allotted from 20 to 30, for family members to be allowed to use these tickets and, if any are left unused at the end of the year, for the MNA to be permitted to encash them. Since corruption is high on the agenda of politicians these days, let it be made clear to them that this too is a form of legalised corruption. The pay of our elected representatives should be decided by independent figures and not the representatives themselves. That reform may take time to enact but meanwhile the National Assembly should follow the lead of those in the Senate who rejected any salary increases for senators. Being a parliamentarian should be an honour and not a cash cow.