The 17th Lok Sabha session gets underway today on June 17 and after spending several crore in fighting tooth and nail to get elected, it's time now for the 542 Lok Sabha MPs to literally cash in on all their effort. Being an MP, or even a former MP, it seems, is an extremely rewarding proposition. Let's talk cash: Each Lok Sabha MP gets a salary of Rs 1 lakh per month — and much more in allowances. A Lok Sabha sits for 468 days on an average during its 5 year term — which entitles an MP to Rs 2,000 per day as daily allowance. Add to that Rs 70,000 per month as constituency allowance, Rs 60,000 per month as office expenses allowance and Rs 40,000 per month paid by the Parliament towards hiring of a secretary — and the total emoluments of an MP work out to over Rs 1.71 crore for the entire 5 year term. Out of this, only the salary and the office expenses allowances are taxable — that too, not at source since they are considered salary from other sources.
Let's talk kind: Given the current weather and water scarcity facing most cities in India, imagine being entitled to 4,000 kilolitres of free water supply in a year — when a Delhi resident is entitled to 240 kilolitres a year of free watersupply. In case a husband and wife MP couple share the accommodation — possible scenario in the case of Sukhbir Badal and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal — their entitlement becomes 8,000 kilolitres of free waterevery year — and in case they are unable to consume the entire quota, the balance is carried forward to the next year. Given that an average household consumption of water is 136 to 150 kilolitres annually, one wonders what an MP does with all that water. That's not all — against an average power consumption of 516 units of electricity by a Delhi household in a year, an MP is entitled to 50,000 units of free electricity annually, with the facility of carrying forward unutilised units to the next year over a five year term. Other perks include allowances for air, rail, steamer and rail travel, plus medical facilities. Let's talk losers: Even if a sitting MP loses an election — for example, Jyotiraditya Scindia and former PM H D Devegowda, both of whom lost in 2019 — the money and the perks don't stop flowing in. Each MP gets Rs 25,000 per month as pension for any period of time served — in addition to which, they also get Rs 2,000 per month for each additional year over the five year term. For purposes of calculation of extra years served, a period of 9 months is taken as a full year — which means, in cases like that of Scindia, who served four terms, or Devegowda, who served six terms, they will get a pension of Rs 65,000 and Rs 91,667 per month respectively. Ex-MPs are also entitled to free rail travel and medical facilities on the same terms as serving MPs. Roland Francis 416-453-3371
