There is something to be said for public perceptions. Everyone is agreed that rising prices have hit people hard, and wage-earners asking for a raise are looked upon with sympathy even if their demands are likely to be turned down. The sympathy seems to evaporate, however, when the “wage-earner” seeking a rise in emoluments happens to be a member of Parliament. Ire then replaces understanding. This draws from the low esteem in which politicians have found themselves in public estimation in recent decades. MPs — since most are politicians — are apt to be asked: do you do an honest day’s work (like those of us lucky to have a job — any job)? It is insulting for a hardworking man to hear senior political figures and prominent MPs say when they plead for a pay hike that their salary is less than that of a clerk in the government. Why should it not be? The real point is — why do MPs presume superiority over the clerk. Like other white collar employees, a clerk puts in much longer hours that an Indian MP. In any case, if perks are taken into account, MPs are not worse off than senior professionals in any field. A house which is almost rent-free in Lutyens’ Delhi, huge numbers of free phone calls, passes for the railways and air travel for themselves, their spouse and frequently hangers-on, not to mention subsidised canteen food and top-class health facilities which are free, besides a clubhouse. All this adds up to quite a bit to the national exchequer. Thus an MP’s cost-to-company (which is how earnings are calculated in the private sector) is nothing to sniff at. In addition, of course, there is the daily allowance for each day of Parliament attended — despite the face that many MPs, after signing the register, then skip out. In any case, as far as perceptions go, the work of an MP is to exercise his/her lung power, and little else. This is a pity and shows lack of understanding of the complexities and subtleties of political activity. But it cannot be gainsaid that even in terms of scheduled parliamentary sessions, the number of days that our MPs work is way below the average in most functioning democracies, particularly those in the West.
Our MPs have demanded a threefold increase in their pay, which will take it to Rs 50,000 per month. The Union Cabinet is divided over this. This has made the MPs cross, and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav exemplified this when he took up the matter in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. It was also amusing to see Rajiv Shukla, a media baron-cum-MP, expound the cause of his politician brethren with glib efficiency, if not necessarily with feeling. Vijay Mallya, who owns a liquor company and an airline, among other things, and is a member of the Rajya Sabha, was at least not greedy when he said he wasn’t complaining (in the matter of salary). The Left parties quite rightly think MPs should not plead the cause of salary raises for themselves in Parliament. Instead, as Sitaram Yechury put it, there should be an independent commission — along the lines of the Pay Commission for government employees — that will automatically index their salary hikes to rises in cost of living. This is a more graceful way of pleading the MPs’ case. What the government might consider doing is to give MPs a raise while whittling down some of their perks so that there is less outgo of taxpayer funds than might otherwise be the case. Once an exasperated Jayapraksah Narayan had said that the IAS was the most powerful trade union in the country! Now it appears that the baton has been passed on to our MPs.