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| Serving people or self serving | | | Shiban Khaibri | 10/23/2010 11:13:22 PM |
| Most of our politicians say that the aim of their entry into politics is to serve the people while most of the people say that it is their gainful profession, not even a vocation, and that they are paid very handsomely and taken care of fully, by the people through the taxes, direct and indirect, which they have to pay come what may.
It is just a hypocrisy, if not a ruse, that while campaigning and asking for votes, politicians claim to serve the people and promise to make concerted efforts consistently to better their lot . We
However, know about great politicians like Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Nehru, Sardar Patel, Lal Bhadur Shastri, Dr. Ambedkar, Jai Prakash Narayan and the like , whose words and deeds matched with unflinching steadfastness of highest standards of morality and integrity. They were in politics with an aim only to serve the people .Besides, each one of them had to face discomforts and hardships in various forms whilst serving the country men but none of them or many more who followed them even up to early seventies , ever raised any sort of hue and cry for being not “adequately paid “ or clamoured for better perks and facilities , free travel , fool proof security , better residential facilities and then claiming better pensions and other monetary lump sum benefits while demitting office like Late Jyoti Basu and many others. They never lived in 5 star luxurious hotels pending allotment of official mansions and ridiculed traveling by economy class in planes as “cattle class”. What levels have the present day legislators and parliamentarians reached that they agitate for salary revision, stall parliament proceedings, hold mock parliament inside the august house, raise slogans and agitate and then they call off their pay stir only after getting a firm assurance from
the Finance Minister that their demand for more enhancement would be looked into. It is astonishing to see that on various issues concerning the country, MPs are very rarely seen in unison with one another but on salary hike, their full unity and speaking in one strong voice,has become our envy and their pride. The agitating Hon’ble MPs were led by Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh, Gopi Nath Mundey etc. A 300% salary hike from Rs. 16,000 to Rs.50,000 was announced by the government but the same was refused by the MPs as they were demanding plus Rs. 80000, the salary drawn by union secretaries and bureaucrats.
Earlier, President Smt. Pratibha Devi Singh Okayed the hike of 300% in her own salary from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1.50 lac per month on Sept.11, 2008. Similarly the salary of the Vice President was increased from Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 1.25 lacs per month. Post retirement benefits and emoluments for former Presidents and Vice Presidents were also sanctioned as also more facilities for the spouses of the Late Presidents and Vice Presidents. Payment of arrears in lacs of rupees with effect from 1.1.2009 , were drawn by the President and the Vice President respectively on account of hike in their salaries. Needless to add, the government (read voters), otherwise, take care of all the expenses of the Rashtrapati Bhawan including its occupant , in its exclusive budget of Rs. 22.50 crores per year.
The salaries of the Governors too have been raised from Rs. 36,000 to Rs. 75,000. per month.
Is this hike in salaries and perks, justified in a country where 37.2% people live even below the poverty line . BPL is measured as per the UN estimates of individual earning of US $1.25 per day , otherwise by Indian standards, it is reckoned as to how much of
our population can afford one square meal a day that meets the minimal nutrition needs. In other words, the graph of BPL takes an upward trend of more than 43%. The social infrastructure in our country is abysmally low and much of the exchequer’s money goes into the upkeep of Ministers and their posse of security. How many people in our country go to bed hungry? More than 40% of our population suffers from malnutrition and the diseases associated therewith.
We may compare ourselves with the most advanced countries of the world to justify the increase under reference but that stand is the outcome of a flawed logic. However, it is not to be construed that our politicians should not be paid reasonably well. But the question is under which mechanism or set rules and further, who should decide what a genuine rise is? Obviously, not the beneficiary MPs themselves.
We speak a lot about the Father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi but only for rhetoric or for debates or on occasions like 15th August , 26th January , on his death anniversary or on his birth day etc; we take oaths and pledges to pursue his path and follow his principles but do we appear to do sincerely any thing in practice ?That apart, how many of our Parliamentarians really know about the Mahatma and his invaluable contribution in social, economic, moral, ethical and spiritual areas of our country? His message of simplicity, austerity and self control has been criminally but conveniently forgotten by us and while the Mahatma spiritualized politics, we helplessly see how much is it criminalized now. He had said, “’Be a satyagrihi. Be ready to sacrifice your life and wealth for the sake of a noble cause. Service to the poor and the distressed is service to God.”
Pt. Nehru’s father had created wealth and then he gave it away to help the poor. Even the”Anand Bhawan “ became nation’s property.
This writer had the privilege of more than once visiting” Patel House” in Ahmedabad . Seeing the inventory of the “property”, left by the Iron Man of India after his death , made me bow my head in reverence to that great Indian. What a Tyagi , a true politician, a beloved of the masses he was, whose aim was their service ? Once, a scribe dared ask his sister the reasons of not getting married. She replied,”who shall take care of Bhaiya, when Bhaiya is taking care of the countrymen?”
In Indian perspective, entering politics was construed to be guided by the high spirit of service of the people and the nation. Money power, muscle power, caste considerations, avoidable appeasements etc; were unheard of.
How can 315 crorepati MPs of the present Lok Sabha justify pay hike when 70% of Indians are living on an income of just Rs. 20 a day ? Farmers in debt trap, are committing suicides like a remedy to their ills and hunger is still haunting millions. Out of these 315 very fortunate MPs, 146 are from Congress, 59 from BJP, 14 from SP and 13 each from BSP and DMK. One of the most under developed states of India, UP has the distinction of having the highest number of as many as 52 crorepati MPs. If democracy seems to have not delivered, it is mainly because of the deficit, if not total absence, of sincerity and honesty in our political system. The consequences could be perilous in the near future if the trend does not undergo a revolutionary change.
Can our country really afford payment of over Rs. 37 lacs a year to an MP? An MP is thus earning nearly 70 times more than what an average Indian earns annually. An elite group of crorepatis clamouring for more financial benefits and numerous perks seems totally unsustainable. All this speaks of why most of the politicians want their progeny to be inducted into politics , in fact as many their family members as possible, to induct in this coveted well paying industry.
It needs to be noted that Indian voters are watching how many of their very adequately paid elected MPs attend the Parliament when in session, how many raise very important issues, how many speak and take part in purposeful debates. In other words, time has come when payment of Indians’ tax money to these MPs has to be commensurate with their performance and hard work. We cannot afford financial extravaganzas and wastages for deliverance of political dispensation. It is high time the principle of “no work –no pay “, as a matter of precedence, should be applied to the elected representatives also. Their annual performance needs to be appraised by a committee of non-parliamentarians of eminence and high integrity.
Moreover, we have to avoid and oppose lakhs of rupees to be wasted in avoidable expenses. In Railway Ministry , for example, Rs. 11.24 lacs were sent down the drain ,this year, on expenses incurred by 5 top Railway officials to fly from Delhi to Kolkota and back, very frequently , only to get files cleared from the Absentee Railway Minister , who appears to be more home addict, treating Kolkota as a jewel and New Delhi , perhaps ,as a trinket. Another Union minister who happens to be son of a Chief Minister is reported to know neither Hindi nor English and prefers to very frequently travel to and spend maximum time in his home town
which amounts to an escapism or detachment along with deep attachment .The level of the performance of his Ministry can be any one’s guess as the ministry is dependent on the staff members, right from his PS; down to a junior clerk.
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