Every session of Parliament sees the same cycle being repeated. A bunch of MPs playing truant, a bunch of MPs holding the rest of the House to ransom on some silly issue, a stentorian speaker expressing his frustration, and self-righteous editorials wailing of the wastage of so many hours of time, translated into rupees.
Little wonder that only 20 per cent of Lok Sabha MPs participated in legislative debates in 2006. Little wonder,40 per cent of legislative bills were passed with less than one hour of debate. Yamini Aiyar, a consultant working on issues of governance reform, argues in the Indian Express that nobody talks of the “pitiful” resources an MP commands, which reflects in legislative performance.
“Office expense allowances for Indian MPs are a paltry Rs 14,000 per month—that’s less than Rs 500 a day. Compare this with the United States. Each member of the House of Representatives, the Lower House, is entitled to an annual personal allowance of $632,355; he can hire up to 18 permanent and four part-time staff members.
“US Senators, members of the Upper House, get more: an annual allowance starting at $1,000,000 for hiring administrative staff and legislative aides and assistants who are responsible for researching legislative and policy issues, drafting legislation and liaisoning with constituents and lobbyist groups.
“Plus, the US Congress has its own public policy research arm—Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS’s sole responsibility is to provide legislators with non-partisan analysis. The British parliament offers similar privileges to its MPs. A member of the House of Commons gets an annual staffing allowance of £ 90,000. Staff responsibilities include both constituency and parliamentary work.”
Read the full article: Quality at Rs 500 a day?
churumuri 
Nonsense comparison really.
Unlike a position in a company or a government office, MPs are not selected on the basis of merit alone, nor do applicants seek the post flaunting their skills of governance alone. We will not get better MPs by paying them better.
On the contrary, reform is really needed in the way money is raised for an election campaign. In the US, it is possible for candidates to legitimately raise large amounts of money to fund their campaigns, reach out to voters and ensure that their supporters turn up for elections.
In India, the outdated election laws ensure that money power is replaced by muscle power, caste, religion and regionalism. Lets get it out of our heads that elections are won on ‘merit’ alone, because in any democracy of our, it is about reaching out to lakhs of people and convincing them of your skills as a leader. This needs money, and if we acknowledge this, and allow politicians to raise lots of money legitimately, it will bring about a far greater reform and de-criminalize politics to a far greater extent than any no. of Election laws.
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this story would have us believe that our MPs’ statement of finances before and after a tenure remains the same, if not eroded. then again, you have believe in the statement of finances submitted in the EC to begin with.
Does any politician in India before or after tenure look like he/she’s living off Rs 500 a day?
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You are stuck with these monkeys regardless… I agree with TS’s take..
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Monthly pay Rs 12,000/-
Office expenses 14,000/-
Stationery 5,000/-
Stipendiary 500/- (per day when Parliament is in session)
For a rent of Rs 2000/- (annual) MPs gets a fully furnished apartment in Heart of Delhi
On Foreign junkets:- Free air tickets Plus living expenses (something similar to per day money)
Minimum Pension of Rs 3,000/- (Final amount depends on how many years MP has served his constituency or to put it in another way, for how many years his constituency served him)
SideKicks :-
Personal Assistant pay of Rs 10,000/-
Travel – 40 Indian Airlines Business class tickets per year. Unlimited free first class travel by train for MP, spouse and MP’s Assistant.
Phone – 17,000 local calls free
Electricity – 50,000 units free
The Jackpot: 2 CRORE every year for Area development
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“If you pay peanuts, all you will get are monkeys”
This holds good for Outsourcing companies .
However it is always Monkeys who contest elections no matter what you feed ’em
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With all the criticism they get and the fun they get made of, there are a significant number of MPs who have a decent education and many are well respected in their fields. However IMHO in most cases their education is held against them as far as their political career and so most get into the monkey act and occassionally flaunt their lack of education to show their closeness to the aam aadmi.
In addition the leaders of many parties either are relatively less educated or less qualified in fields other than politics and rely more on loyalty, sychophancy and factors that are not directly connected to competence.
I feel it is this factor along with the points mentioned by Alok and others that really are the root cause. In a way the system, politicians, media and all of us have to take the blame.
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Why not pay only peanuts when you only get monkeys
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In America they drive on the right side of the road. How about that?
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In America a president is banished for life after two elections. Why is Nehru family still there in India?
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