The government is tightening its belt to deal with the COVID-19 induced economic crisis in the country. It has decided to cut salaries and pensions of members of parliament as well as of the president, vice president and union cabinet ministers by 30 percent.
Even the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD) scheme has been kept in abeyance for two years, with the temporary suspension of funds for FY2020-21 and FY2021-22 to help channel money towards the fight against COVID-19.
“Cabinet members and MPs had said that they should set an example, as social responsibility. So keeping that in mind, the cabinet has decided to cut 30 percent salaries of MPs for one year. An ordinance will be brought out so that it is effective immediately. Even PM and cabinet will take the cut,” union minister Prakash Javadekar said at a briefing about the cabinet decisions.
“Even the president, vice president, and governors have also given their approval to cut their salaries by 30 percent. They are doing it voluntarily,” he added.
The money saved will go to the consolidated fund of India.
The second significant cabinet decision was to suspend the MPLAD fund for two years. “Earlier, some MPs had voluntarily given one crore each for PM fund. Now, two year MPLAD funds, Rs 10 crore each for an MP, for two years, will go into the consolidated fund of India,” the minister said.
“The consolidated amount of MPLAD Funds for two years—Rs 7,900 crore—will go to the Consolidated Fund of India,” he said.
Javadekar later tweeted that the Cabinet had approved the ordinance amending the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954 to allow a 30 per cent cut in the salaries of the prime minister, ministers and members of parliament for twelve months, effective from April 1.
Speaking on whether lifting of the lockdown was discussed, the minister said that the situation was changing very fast and an empowered group set up for this purpose would be discussing it.
When asked about how much money the government will save, Javadekar said it was not the amount but the sentiment behind it. The government is taking decisions and it is better to start with self, he said.
Restore MPLAD fund, says Tharoor
The government's decision to cut MPs' salaries has got support even from members of the opposition parties. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, however, asked the government to restore the MPLAD fund as it is the only means for an MP to help residents of their areas.
"Centre's decision to cut salaries and pensions of MPs is welcome. It's a good way for us to show solidarity with people suffering across the country. But the ordinance ending MPLADS funds for two years and pooling them into a Consolidated Fund run by the central government is problematic," Tharoor said.
Tharoor, an MP from Thiruvananthapuram, argued that the Centre had allocated Rs 157 crore from Disaster Response Mitigation Funds to Kerala, which has 314 COVID19 cases, while Gujarat, with only 122 cases, gets Rs 662 crore.
"Will this kind of imbalance also affect the reallocation of MPLADS funds? In order to avoid such injustice, it is essential that MPLAD money continues to be spent constituency-wise.
“I urge the government to revise this decision by allowing MPs to earmark these funds for COVID-19 related expenditure to meet local needs and benefit the vulnerable."