They need more...for what?

‘Sakhi Saiyan ta khubai kamaat hai, Mahngai Daian khaye Jaat hai’,(Dear friend, husband earns more than enough, but witch inflation  eats of all)  It is a co incident , when this chorus of film ‘Peepli Live’is being sung everywhere in the country like national anthem, our politician are busy in raking up the issue of their salary rise. They want more and more …For what? For service cause, for the sake of the prestige of peoples’ representative, for reward of their democratic concern…! in the name of Jan Seva!..... Really ,they mean it?   

The basic pay of Members of Parliament was hiked by more than 300%, from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000 by the government of India. Several other emoluments for them also doubled. But SP, BSP and RJD members forced adjournment of Lok Sabha on 20th August for voicing dissatisfaction over the quantum of proposed salary hike for MPs.

According to Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP) and Lalu Prasad (RJD), government had insulted Parliament by rejecting the recommendation of its Committee to raise the basic salary to Rs 80,001 per month. According  to these socialist leaders,  Parliamentary Committee which had said the MPs should get more than government secretaries as the former are above them in hierarchy.

They forgot,  government has also increased office expenses of parliamentarians from Rs 20,000 to Rs 45,000 per month. The constituency allowance has  more than  doubled from Rs 20,000 to Rs 45,000 per month. Both are non-taxable allowances. If we include all annual packages of our MPs with flat facility in Delhi it would amount to  Rs 56,93,000, if they live in bungalow the package increases  and touches  Rs 9,26,93,000. 

A country like India where the average income of an Indian is only Rs 44,345 per annum, most of Indian middle class earns between Rs 1000 and Rs 2000 per person per month, only 0.0009% earn more than Rs 10000 a month. How viable then is the demand of our leaders? As per some political analysts  it was a stage managed drama of MPs for creating sympathy for themselves and not inviting  direct wrath of the people thereby creating dilemma in the minds of people about the hike.

Only the Left members kept themselves aloof from the issue, as their parties have been historically opposing any move by Parliament to decide on the salary and allowances of members and instead have favoured an independent commission. Each and every one enjoyed Yadav’s vociferous insistence for salary rise.

Two days before the government move, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav blamed the media that they  were debating the issue without considering the present day realities and were "humiliating" MPs by asking why was the hike when they are not working.

Describing the MPs as "true protectors" of democracy and public servants, Prasad said, "We work 24 hours a day and serve as MPs for five years. MPs have to serve tea and feed a lot of people. Our houses are like ashrams where several hundred come and stay, and we have to take care of all of them. The number of phone calls we have to make and the number of letters we have to write everyday for official purposes too is huge."

"We are being criticised for seeking hike in salaries by certain persons, who stash away black money in Swiss banks. There are people who stay in five-star hotels and they are the ones who criticise us for seeking a realistic salary that matches our official expenses," he said.

 "En logon ke ghar jao to gate ke aage 'kuttey se savdhan' likha hota hai, yehi Kuttey ke saath sotey hain aur kuttey ko kiss karten hai. (When you go to their houses, the warning on the gate says 'beware of dogs'. These people sleep with their dog and also kiss their dogs)," he said without identifying anyone.

Good ! why should anyone have the right to object our honorable parliamentarians perks and salaries?Many of them come from poor families,are born and brought up as farmers and after become an MP, they become prosperous, live life king size, make millions and billions, some of them facing criminal cases and many of them face cases of disproportionate wealth and property.But what is objectionable in it.They are new kings,they are rulers!  

Earlier Indian President Pratibha Patil approved the law giving her a 300 percent hike in salary taking her monthly pay cheque to Rs 150,000 from Rs 50,000 per month.

She also gave her assent to another law that will hike the monthly salary of Vice-President MH Ansari’s salary from Rs 40,000 to Rs 125,000 per month.

Interesting fact of all the hike comes close on the heels of government announcing a bonanza for its employees by implementing the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission report under which a secretary at the centre will draw Rs 80,000 a month. But what about the common man?

The salary of President of India , which was fixed at Rs 10,000 in the constitution, was gradually raised to Rs 50,000 a month in 1998 with effect from January 1, 1996. Almost everything that the President does or wants to do is taken care of by the annual Rs 22.5-crore budget that the government allots for his upkeep.

Can any Indian citizen have courage to even think to live life like our First citizen, like our  public servant, MPs? Everybody knows Lalu Prasad’s and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s assets. Even courts are surprised. How a middle class person joins politics, initially rides a bicycle, gets elected as an MP and becomes a  millionaire.….. He travels in big imported  cars, has bungalows in big cities, enjoys unlimited  power, takes tax free salary and perks , is entitled for doing all those things that have been  prohibited for common man.

Thanks to democracy, thanks to common man. Think again, is any other industry as fruitful as politics?