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| Do lawmakers deserve wage hike in India ? | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 13: Do the lawmakers deserve a wage hike? The lawmakers deserve a wage hike because they have to lead a luxurious living for five years and prepare for the next election when the election campaign for the Lok Sabha seat costs no less than Rs. five to Rs. 10 crores. And the campaign for Assembly seat costs several lakhs of rupees..
Members of Parliament and members of state legislature seek enhancement of their salary and other perks. And there is a possibility that the salary and perks of members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha are being enhanced shortly.
Well whether MLAs or MPs they have no problem in seeking enhancement of their monthly salary because they are the law makers. They make laws and ensure that the executive agencies enforce those laws.
It is their right to seek increase in their monthly salary. But what about their perks which are, by any standard, a lucrative sum as MPs enjoy free phone, rent free houses, constituency allowance and daily allowance during the time the Houses are in session. Free medical aid and other facilities. Even their personal staff gets paid from the Government. If these are the facilities that the law makers enjoy is there any justification for enhancing their monthly salary ?
Here one is reminded of a servant and driver's story. The driver normally gets a monthly salary in private sector to the tune of Rs. 15000 to Rs. 20000. A servant gets from his employer a meagre salary of Rs. 5000 to Rs. 6,000 per month. Who is a bigger beneficiary ?
A servant feels the driver is quite lucky because he gets a fat monthly salary. However, the driver treats the servant a lucky guy because he has been provided with a room free of rent by his master, free food, free clothing and the employer even pays for his hair cut and other expenses. Against this the driver has to pay Rs. 3000 to Rs. 4000 as rent for the room he has hired. He has to spend another Rs. 5000 to Rs. 7000 on his food. This way he can send a few thousand rupees to his family while the servant’s saving is his monthly salary. This story shows that when law makers enjoy several perks is there any need for increase in their monthly salary? Let this question be debated by none other than the law makers.
Now the central Government plans to help employees to take home bigger amount of money if the Finance Ministry's proposal, moved during the budget session is adopted.
Under the plan the Union Budget 2016-17 is likely to announce measures to put more money into the hands of employees with a monthly income up to a certain threshold, like Rs. 10,000, for instance, by doing away with their mandatory 12 per cent contribution for Provident Fund (PF) savings.
The Government is in favour of waiving the employees' contribution altogether up to a certain level of income. This will boost the take-home salary of such employees rather than force them to park so much of their monthly income into their EPF account for retirement. The plan was debated in a Committee of Secretaries, set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that has endorsed the idea.
Presently, 24 per cent of salaries of all employees in the formal sector earning up to Rs. 15,000 a month, are deducted towards the employees' PF account - with 12 per cent counted as employer's share and 12 per cent as employee's contribution.
Employers would continue to pay their 12 per cent share towards employees' retirement savings account and other administrative charges, including those related to the employees' deposit-linked insurance scheme that EPF account holders are automatically enrolled into. EPF contributions are mandatory for all firms employing twenty persons or more. |
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