what the Members of Parliament get and how much they cost a citizen

I have been chatting on current happenings in India – issues, events and so on. But I found the blog lacking in giving some interesting information about India as and when it comes out in the form of a new official document, a survey, a report. Though I have already talked of two surveys so far, I used them to draw inferences, not as information capsules.

So friends, I am going to start India chat info nuggets with this one on MPs’ salaries and perks in India. The information is based on newspaper reports and other public documents.

An MP gets the following salary and perks after the recent raise:

• Basic salary: Rs. 50,000 per month
• Office allowance: Rs. 45,000 pm
• Constituency allowance: Rs. 45,000 pm
• Interest free loan to buy vehicle: Rs. 5 lakh
• 1,50,000 free phone calls a year
• Road mileage from home to airport @ Rs. 16 per km, up to Rs. 8,000 per year
• 50,000 units of electricity in a year
• 4,000 kilolitre water in a year
• Furniture worth Rs. 60,000 per term and non-durable furniture worth Rs. 15,000 per term
• 34 free J class air tickets
• First class railway ticket for visiting constituency and Delhi any number of times; also unlimited free tickets to spouse
• Accommodation in prime Delhi location: rent for flat comes to over Rs. 1 lakh per month. Senior MPs get bungalows whose rent is computed to be no less than a few crores. Maintenance is done free by CPWD and MPs are charged a notional sum.
• Pension Rs. 20,000 per month with an increment for every year served as an MP beyond one term
• Free washing of sofa covers, curtains etc.
• Daily allowance of Rs. 2,000 for signing register in the House for which elected, as mark of attendance, during session
• Facilities of subsidised canteen, sitting fee and other provisions for being memeber of many committees

MPs also have a constituency fund of Rs 2 crore a year for carrying out development works in their constituency.

With Nagpur as the central reference point, the package of an MP per year comes to Rs 57 lakh in terms of pay and perks, plus Rs 30 lakh to Rs 9 crore a year as rental for residence.

In terems of cost to country in PPP $ terms [it means, $ value if it purchased the same amount of goods and services in different countries], Indian MPs are a much bigger burden to the citizens than the legislators in the US, the UK and France! Do look at the figures below [courtesy TOI]

Country cost to country How many times an MP costs as
(PPP $ per year; in thousand $) compared to per capita GDP
US 1658 35
UK 320 9
France 281 8
India 217 68
Singapore 208 4
Japan 200 6
Italy 191 7
Pakistan 46 17

[with inputs from reports in some papers, especially the Times of India]