INDIAN MP, MLAs SHOULD LEAD THE WAY
THE QUALITY OF INDIAN MP, MLA, DM, SARPANCH
IS CAUSE FOR CONCERN
BUT BLAME MODIJI FOR THE ACTION OF OTHERS WHO HAVE NOT ASK HIS PERMISSION BEFORE COMMITTING A CRIME OR INJUSTICE
THE QUALITY OF INDIAN MP, MLA, DM, SARPANCH
IS CAUSE FOR CONCERN
BUT BLAME MODIJI FOR THE ACTION OF OTHERS WHO HAVE NOT ASK HIS PERMISSION BEFORE COMMITTING A CRIME OR INJUSTICE
There is a need for us to look at an opening paragraph highlighting 1) Reason 2) Purpose 3) Objectives
4) Outcomes 5) Parliamentary Sessions
6) Reform Raj Sabha
4) Outcomes 5) Parliamentary Sessions
6) Reform Raj Sabha
MP SHOULD LIVE BY EXAMPLE TO MAKE INDIA A PROUD DEMOCRACY AND NATION
INTROSPECT, REFLECT AND NETRO-SPECT OF THEIR RESPONSIBILITY & DUTY TO THE NATION
by
By Subhash C. Kashyap
and Some Thoughts by Deva
and Some Thoughts by Deva
We have the privilege of going through your what we have called "An Open Letter" to the Indian MPs, very closely.
We feel extremely happy, and are, in effect, rejoicing on this, because it so happens we had on September 26 this year sent out a circulatory mail on the same subject, under the caption "Loot Of The Nation By Indian MPs" and followed that up by another mail on the subject, "MP's Salary Fixation" on October 9, addressed to Shri Chandrasekharji, with copy to both the former addressees. Copies of these two mails were marked the office of the Prime Minister.
The first mail was jointly addressed to the honourable Speaker, Lok Sabha and the honourable Chairman, Rajya Sabha. After giving them the facts received from a friend, we humbly submitted to them to surrender the uncalled for privileges, setting example for junior/newer breed of MPs to emulate. In the second mail, we also requested them to bring our submission to the honourable Prime Minister also to join them. We had also urged them to pass on our suggestions to the members of the independent Committee, whose names were not disclosed, set up for the pay fixation of the MPs, for appropriate consideration.
Sir, you have now hit the nail hard in your facts-and-examples-filled write-up, referred to by us. Sir, it may not be irrelevant to cite, in this context, what we had seen on the internet quite some years back in 2004. That was titled,
"Can Any One imagine Working For The Following Company?":
INDIAN PARLIAMENT DEPOSITION
It has a little over 500 employees with the following statics:
29 have been accused of spouse abuse.
7 have been arrested for fraud.
19 have more than tree criminal cases pending against them.
117 have been charged and are being investigated for murder, rape, assault, extortion and robbery.
71 cannot get credit or loans due to bad credit histories.
21 are current defendants on various lawsuits.
84 have been involved in offenses and have paid fines.
Can you guess what mighty organisation this is?
It is the 545 members of the Lower House of parliament of India that works for you and me. The same group cranks out hundreds upon hundred of laws designed to keep the rest of us in line
Unquote (.)
(Source: THE INTELLIGENCE IMPERATIVES FOR INDIA" by D C Nath, page 117-118)
All this notwithstanding, the fact remains that we still have some honest and hard working MPs, but for whom the system would have collapsed.
Sir, since we intend sharing the contents of your write-up to our esteemed readers, we are attaching a copy of it with this mail. We are highlighting below some of the thrust-points of it as below:
· An Emoluments Commission for members of Parliament is under consideration. Our lawmakers, both at the Union and state levels, are the only group of people who determine their own salaries, allowances and other perks while being paid from the public exchequer. As such, they are judges in their own case. This clearly violates the basic dictum that any outgo from the public funds must be with the approval of an authority other than the one likely to be the beneficiary. The idea of setting up an autonomous salaries commission for MPs was, in principle, accepted by the government during the 14th Lok Sabha, but nothing came of it.
· At present, every MP is entitled to a basic salary of Rs 50,000 per month, as well as Constituency and Office Allowances of Rs 90,000 per month. For days of parliamentary sittings, MPs receive a further Rs 2,000 as a daily allowance. In addition, every member is entitled to many other perks, cash immunities and subsidies. The variety of payments and perks are difficult to document in terms of what these actually cost. Also, former MPs receive pension for life, without any requirement of a minimum period of service, which, in effect, means that if one has been a member even for a day, she will be entitled to pension for life.
· The late Nanaji Deshmukh, a distinguished member, wrote “with a feeling of deep anguish and sorrow but out of a sense of responsibility” that while fellow countrymen were toiling under extreme poverty and unemployment, our “so-called representatives” were “getting richer and richer” and “shamelessly piling up more burden on the country by increasing their own perquisites”. This brought our democracy “to disrepute and shame”. Based on Nanaji’s estimates, the present monthly cost of an MP must work out close to some Rs 10 lakh per month or more, which would be much higher than the per capita income of an average Indian. Any increase in the emoluments of MPs immediately impacts the states, and if the expenditure incurred on the state legislators is also taken into account, the cost of Indian legislators would be colossal.
· There may be differences on whether members are underpaid or overpaid but it is a legitimate public expectation that membership of Parliament should not be converted into an office of lucrative gain. It must remain an office of service. Also, if payments are really low, why the terrible scramble for tickets and their alleged sale and purchase for crores of rupees?
· In a democratic polity, nothing can be sadder than public representatives losing the respect of the people by frequently seeking to increase their emoluments and perks. Something has to be done to restore public faith in the MPs’ worth to society at large. Every politician has to ask herself and honestly answer the question: Why is she in politics? With the new government claiming to be wedded to principles of good, clean, corruption-free, citizen-friendly governance, the timing is ideal to make sacrifices and make a new start in public life. One way of tackling the menace of corruption would be to make political offices and memberships of legislatures less lucrative.
· It is to be hoped that the proposed emoluments commission will not be merely a ruse for justifying further increases in emoluments in cash and kind. If the report of a similar body for Delhi MLAs is any guide, there is genuine cause for apprehension. Voluntary cuts in salaries, allowances, travels, seen and unseen perks and subsidies need to be announced. It is all very well to ask ordinary citizens to sacrifice for the poor by surrendering gas subsidies, but a beginning ought to be made by the people’s representatives by surrendering many of the extraordinary perks and subsidies enjoyed by them. Sacrifice must begin, and must be seen to begin, at the top, with our honourable MPs. Their leadership is bound to impact legislators at the state level. Moreover, this will win tremendous goodwill and acclaim from the people. As the first step, a national debate is in order.
REFORM PARLIAMENT
THE CONDUCT AN BEHAVIOUR OF MPs IS ATROCIOUS AND THEIR CONDUCT IS UNBECOMING OF A CIVILIZED NATION
The Reform Act of 2014 Should consider the following.
There is a need for us to look at an opening paragraph highlighting
1) Reason 2) Purpose 3) Objectives
4) Outcome 5) Parliamentary Session
6) Reform Raj Sabha
A closing Paragraph highlighting the quality of members of Parliament their payments and other questionable benefits
TIME to EQUALIZE THE PENSION SCHEME
There is a need for us to look at an opening paragraph highlighting
1) Reason 2) Purpose 3) Objectives
4) Outcome 5) Parliamentary Session
6) Reform Raj Sabha
A closing Paragraph highlighting the quality of members of Parliament their payments and other questionable benefits
TIME to EQUALIZE THE PENSION SCHEME
1. No Tenure / No Pension:
Parliamentarians collect a salary while in office but should not receive any pay when they're out of office.
Why should they get pension just after 5 years of service when the Army need to put thrice as much for minimum pension and 20 years for full pension? Abolish this anomaly
Parliamentarians collect a salary while in office but should not receive any pay when they're out of office.
Why should they get pension just after 5 years of service when the Army need to put thrice as much for minimum pension and 20 years for full pension? Abolish this anomaly
2. Parliamentarians should purchase their own retirement plans, just as all Indians do.
3. Parliamentarians should no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Their pay should be linked to the CPI or 3%, whichever is lower.
Have a Pay review Commission
4. Parliamentarians should lose their current Health Care Benefit System as more are choosing to go abroad for Health Care as tax payers expense.
First they should participate in the same Health Care System as the Indian people do. Pay for overseas Health Care
5. Parliamentarians with tainted records, criminal charges & convictions, past or present should be summarily banned from the Parliament and fighting any election on any pretext or the other.6. Parliamentarians should equally abide by all laws they impose on the Indian people.
7. All contracts with past and present Parliamentarians should be void effective 1/1/15
The Indian people did not make this contract with them. Parliamentarians made all these contracts for themselves.
Serving in Parliament is an honour, not a lucrative career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
No surrender of subsidies like LPG by citizens unless all subsidies available to MPs and MLAs withdrawn including subsidized food in Parliament canteen
MP OVERSTAYING IN EXPENSIVE HOTELS
PARLIAMENT IS NOT IN SESSION BUT 27 MP LIVES IN EXPENSIVE HOTEL AT TAXPAYERS EXPENSES:
TIME TO TEACH MPs A LESSON OF PROBITY WHERE IS RAHUL GANDHI CONGRESS, LALOO, MAMTA, MULAYAM, MAYAWATIE, NITISH ON THESE ISSUES ?
PARLIAMENT IS NOT IN SESSION BUT 27 MP LIVES IN EXPENSIVE HOTEL AT TAXPAYERS EXPENSES:
TIME TO TEACH MPs A LESSON OF PROBITY WHERE IS RAHUL GANDHI CONGRESS, LALOO, MAMTA, MULAYAM, MAYAWATIE, NITISH ON THESE ISSUES ?
They Stayed Thus They Should Pay! Why The Taxpayer Should Suffer?
27 parliamentarians together racked up a bill of 5.6 crore rupees by overstaying in a luxury hotel without approval. Now they expect India’s taxpayer to foot the bill. But the Lok Sabha Secretariat is yet to approve their expenses. So let’s unite now to say:#Not From Our Pockets! |
27 parliamentarians racked up a ridiculous hotel bill of 5.6 crore rupees by overstaying in Delhi’s luxurious Ashok hotel and now they expect the taxpayer to foot the bill! Let’s unite to say: #NotFromOurPockets!
These MPs extended their hotel stays without permission, finally vacating only after two warning letters from the Housing Committee. Many even had homes in Delhi! The Lok Sabha secretariat has not yet approved their expenses -- if we raise a massive outcry now, we can put them all on notice, telling them if they stay, they pay!
When we get to 30,000 signers, we’ll deliver a bill to each of these MPs for the amount they’ve spent, with all our signatures on it! Sign and share urgently before they quietly try passing the bill on to taxpayers:
Official residences were made available to these MPs but they chose to go live in a hotel instead without getting their expenses approved beforehand. The Lok Sabha secretariat that is responsible for arranging the accommodation of MPs has therefore now stalled the payment. These Parliamentarians had their cake and ate it too -- taking possession of their new houses while refusing to check out from the luxury hotel!
The condition of many of the homes that they are given is often not up to scratch. And many MPs complain that the previous occupier leaves behind a huge mess. But instead of raising their concerns these MPs extended their stay without getting the additional expenses approved first. In most jobs, if you decide to spend a few more days at a fancy hotel you would be made answerable straight away.
And it’s a story that repeats itself often until an RTI query blows the lid and temporarily embarrasses our netas. But after the attention passes, the secretariat is forced to pay out with the public’s cash. Not this time.
Let’s teach our MPs that just like other professionals, they need to pick up the tab for things they are not entitled to: why taxpayer pay their bill, force our MPs to learn to pay their bills from their pocket:
These MPs extended their hotel stays without permission, finally vacating only after two warning letters from the Housing Committee. Many even had homes in Delhi! The Lok Sabha secretariat has not yet approved their expenses -- if we raise a massive outcry now, we can put them all on notice, telling them if they stay, they pay!
When we get to 30,000 signers, we’ll deliver a bill to each of these MPs for the amount they’ve spent, with all our signatures on it! Sign and share urgently before they quietly try passing the bill on to taxpayers:
Official residences were made available to these MPs but they chose to go live in a hotel instead without getting their expenses approved beforehand. The Lok Sabha secretariat that is responsible for arranging the accommodation of MPs has therefore now stalled the payment. These Parliamentarians had their cake and ate it too -- taking possession of their new houses while refusing to check out from the luxury hotel!
The condition of many of the homes that they are given is often not up to scratch. And many MPs complain that the previous occupier leaves behind a huge mess. But instead of raising their concerns these MPs extended their stay without getting the additional expenses approved first. In most jobs, if you decide to spend a few more days at a fancy hotel you would be made answerable straight away.
And it’s a story that repeats itself often until an RTI query blows the lid and temporarily embarrasses our netas. But after the attention passes, the secretariat is forced to pay out with the public’s cash. Not this time.
Let’s teach our MPs that just like other professionals, they need to pick up the tab for things they are not entitled to: why taxpayer pay their bill, force our MPs to learn to pay their bills from their pocket:
Deva Sarran Samaroo
[ Tri Services India ]
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