President, PM, MPs To Take 30% Salary Cut; Rs 7,900 Cr MPLAD Fund Diverted To Fight Coronavirus

In wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the President, Prime Minister and the Members of Parliament (MPs) will take a 30 per cent cut in their compensation.

The decision came Monday after the Union Cabinet took a decision to cut the salaries for one year and divert MPLAD funds for two years --nearly Rs 7,900 crore--to fund the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Announcing the cabinet decision, Union minister Prakash Javadekar also said the President, the Vice President, governors of states have also voluntarily decided to take a pay cut as a social responsibility.

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The cabinet gave its nod to an ordinance amending the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954 reducing allowances and pension by 30 per cent from April 1 2020 for a year, he told reporters, adding this will include the prime minister and the Union ministers.

"Charity begins at home," he said.

While the salary of all parliamentarians, including ministers, is quite similar at around Rs One lakh per month there is a difference in allowances between ministers and common MPs. However, allowances have not seen any cut.

A government spokesperson clarified that only the salary and not the pension and allowances of the MPs will be cut.

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However, the suspension of the MPLAD (Member of Parliament local Area Development) fund has caused some uproar.

While there are 543 MPs in Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha has 245 members --788 in all. Each MP gets Rs 5 crore per annum as MPLAD and for two years it would be nearly Rs 7880 crores while by salary cut the government will save about Rs 29 crore a year.

The money will be put in the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) and used for "managing health and adverse impact of outbreak of COVID19" in the country, Javadekar said.

President, Vice President, PM, Governors, Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State, and MPs take a salary cut of 30% for the year 2020-21.

Approx 7900 Crs fund have been suspended for MPLAD funds for 2 yrs and transferred to #PMCaresFunds.

That¡¯s Commendable! pic.twitter.com/WbGFLrbXAS

¡ª Dipam Parmar (@dipamparmar) April 7, 2020

PM @narendramodi Cabinet decision to cut 30% MP salary and suspend #MPLAD for 2 years is welcome. In fact salary of non-performing babus/police officers/judges salary should also be cut. But will corruption come down by 30%? Hmm! Guess not!

¡ª Soumitra Das (@Soumitradas4Das) April 6, 2020

@suchetadalal
Scrap remodelling Rajpath - Central Vista = 20,000 cr

MPLAD funds for yrs for LS, RS MPs = 3000 cr

20% Salary cut for MPs

It adds up fast.

Move these to PM relief fund since this is all tax payers money and should not go to a trust.#Covid_19

¡ª WordTale (@WordTale) April 6, 2020

While the salary cut, not more than Rs 30,000 per month for each MP, may not be a big amount for most of the lawmakers, the suspension of MPLAD fund for two years will deny MPs their biggest tool to push development projects in their constituency.

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, known for his frank views which are at times at variance with his party, said he welcomed the cut, and added that the construction of new parliament building should also be postponed for a year, claiming that it will cost Rs 25,000 crore.

Congress welcomed the decision to cut MPs' salaries, but said suspending MPLADs, as the development fund scheme is known, will undermine the role of an MP and called for its review. CPI(M) also slammed the suspension of the MLAD scheme, while Trinamool Congress called it "whimsical".