mps | Voice from the rooftop

Parliament Paralysis

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Since 23/11/2011 Parliament is disrupted day after day. MPs do not do work. There is talk of no work, no pay for MPs. No MP has openly opposed it but opposition MPs blame government for disruption and vice versa. Some say cutting 2,000 rupees of daily allowance will not make a difference to MPs as they have other sources and resources.

There are two points. First, it is immaterial whether cutting 2,000 rupees of daily allowance makes a difference to MPs or not. Parliament did not function and they should not get daily allowance.

The world is not enough for MPs

Posted on August 21, 2010 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

The cabinet decided to increase MPsâ€™ salaries from Rs.16,000/- to Rs.50,000/- p.m. and double some allowances. Many MPs want more. They want Rs.80,000/- p.m. Very few MPs like Gurudas Dasgupta have opposed pay hike for MPs. He said MPs are not employees and those who can not afford should not become MPs.

The decision to increase MPsâ€™ salaries from Rs.16,000/- to Rs.50,000/- p.m. was itself unjustified. They get many allowances and when everything is considered they are well paid.

If MPs want Rs.80,000/- p.m. because Government Secretaries get Rs.80,000/- p.m. there should be compulsory retirement for MPs when they become 60 years old. In a previous article I had written about MPsâ€™ salaries.

Defence by MPs of their demands

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

MPs have come out with defence of their demands for increase in salary and benefits. In my previous article I had proposed that salaries of MPs be made Rs.86,000/- p.m. and their allowances and benefits be abolished and I stick to that. There are two types of MPs: Lok Sabha MPs and Rajya Sabha MPs….

Salaries of MPs

Posted on May 11, 2010 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

MPs want increase in salaries. A committee of MPs has recommended that salaries of MPs should be on par with that of Secretaries of Government of India.
For secretaries the salary is Rs.80,000/- p.m. It is not known what allowances and perks they get apart from salary.
For MPs the salary is Rs.16,000/- p.m. They get a constituency allowance of Rs.20,000/- p.m., daily allowance of Rs.1,000/- when Parliament is in session, free accommodation, phones, water, power, healthcare, railway travel and 34 free single air journey tickets.

Budget 2010

Posted on February 27, 2010 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

On 26/2/2010 Pranab Mukherjee presented Indiaâ€™s budget for the Financial Year 2010-11. Since 1992 prices used to come down after budget or did not go up. This time prices went up. Previously prices used to increase 15 days before the budget or some days after the budget or during the year and the government of the day used to claim that there is no increase of prices in the budget.