NEW DELHI:To counter criticism over Members of Parliament deciding their own salaries, the government has proposed to set up an independent three-member Emoluments Commission, which would recommend salary and other allowances for the lawmakers.
The proposal will come up for discussion at the two-day All India Whips’ Conference to be held at Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.
The proposal to set up the panel comes after the government shelved the recommendations of a parliamentary committee for a 100 per cent hike in MPs’ salary from the current Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh, and massive hikes in other allowances. The outrage over these recommendations
appears to have prompted the government to propose an alternative to decide on the hike for the parliamentarians.
According to the new proposal, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has suggested three general principles. “Salary should not be so low as to defer suitable candidates or so high as to make pay the primary attraction for the job; salary should reflect level of responsibility; and those with outside interests should not be deterred from entering Parliament, those who chose to make Parliament a full-time career should be adequately rewarded to reflect their responsibilities,” said the guiding principles.
Salary Certificate
Rs 50,000 Current basic salary of MPs
Rs 2,000 Daily allowance
Rs 45,000 Constituency allowance per month
MPs entitled to govt accommodation, air and train travel, besides three landlines and two mobile phones