The gains from cutting the salaries of the Prime Minister, ministers and MPs by 30 per cent for a full financial year would not amount to much. What could be mobilised in the Consolidated Fund of India is just about Rs 30 crore, which in the larger scheme of things is a pittance.

But for an MP, if s/he is not rich and has no other means of income, this salary cut would mean a lot. It will severely curb her outreach programmes, and could limit her influence. Some of them might even be forced to suspend the services of some of their office staff.

And even if they manage to survive a salary cut, it is said an MP would find it hard to stay relevant after the two-year suspension of the MP Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS).

Paltry gains

The 'salary' component of an MP's monthly remuneration is Rs 1 lakh; the constituency allowance (Rs 70,000), establishment charges (Rs 20,000), daily allowance of Rs 2000 while Parliament is in session and 36 free flights are additional benefits.

So taking away 30 per cent of the salary would mean an MP would stand to lose Rs 30,000 every month. Since there are 795 MPs (545 Lok Sabha and 250 Rajya Sabha), Rs 2.39 crore will be the monthly saving of India's Consolidated Fund by way of the cut.

Now that the decision is to sustain the salary cut for a year, it would free up Rs 28.62 crore, an amount insufficient to construct even two state-of-the-art COVID care centres.

But as Information and Broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar said while announcing the salary cut on April 6, this was not about the volume of money that could be found for the fight against COVID-19. “It is about the message it sends to the country about the will of the MPs,” Javadekar said.

Kollam MP NK Premachandran

Salary challenge

Kollam MP N K Premachandran said the decision would indeed test the willpower of an MP. “If you are not a businessman or without any other means of legal or illegal income, it will be extremely tough,” Premachandran said. “Even now I am finding it extremely hard to maintain my two offices, one in Delhi and the other in Kollam, pay the rent and do all my local travels. The salary cut would make it virtually impossible to keep up my earlier pace,” he said.

Premachandran said he would require between Rs 35,000 to Rs 50,000 a month for the fuel and maintenance expenses of his official vehicle alone. Besides the office rent, he also pays an average of Rs 15,000 as salary for the four people he had posted in his two offices; the state government pays for the drivers of all MPs.

Idukki MP Dean Kuriakose said he would require at least Rs 3000 a day for diesel and other travel expenses. “I am on the road at least 25 days a month and this would cost me between Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 a month,” Dean said.

Idukki MP Dean Kuriakose

Zero home transfer

He has seven Assembly constituencies to look after and so Dean has rented two offices, one in Idukki and the other in Thodupuzha. Besides a rent of Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000, there is also huge power and water bills to meet. “Every month I invariably find myself short of Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000. Now with the cut I have no idea how I would do things,” the first-time MP said.

In the case of Alappuzha's CPM MP A M Ariff, apart from the usual expenses of an active MP, he also has to pay a monthly interest of Rs 33,000 for a Rs 12-lakh-plus car he had purchased on loan; an MP gets an interest-free advance of up to Rs 4 lakh for taking a vehicle. Premachandran has to pay interest on a building advance.

Most MPs will have nothing left for their homes. “I don't think any MP in Kerala would be able to keep apart anything from his salary for his home. We mostly survive because our partners are working,” Premachandran said.

Consolidated pay

All MPs get a consolidated pay of Rs 1.89 lakh in their accounts at the end of every month. Of this, Rs 1 lakh is salary, Rs 70,000 is constituency allowance, and nearly Rs 20,000 is for stationery. Premachandran said an MP's office handles on an average 25 petitions daily and umpteen copies of each of these petitions are made to be dispatched all over, to state and central government offices and back to the petitioners. Even the Rs 20,000 is highly inadequate, he said.

Most MPs, like Alathur MP Ramya Haridas, are not even aware of the various components within the consolidated amount they get. “I get Rs 1.89 lakh in my account and I am not sure how much of this is salary and how much is other allowances,” she said.

Waste bin rent

An MP's expenses are not solely made up of travel and administrative costs. Premachandran said it was time people realised that MPs were not leading comfortable lives in fully furnished government bungalows. “We have to pay rent for the furniture and even the curtains and waste bins that are used in our official quarters,” Premachandran said.

An MP can enjoy for free only durable and non-durable goods that together are worth a maximum of Rs 1 lakh. If items worth more are used, rent has to be paid. “A dining table and chairs, two fans and a fridge alone are enough to exhaust my free quota. I then will have to pay for the beds, home appliances and even the carpets,” Premachandran said.

Eternal levies, lost perks

In fact, some of the MPs already suffer salary cuts. Premachandran, for instance, has to give 25 per cent of his monthly salary as party levy. In the case of CPM's Alappuzha MP A M Ariff, the levy is Rs 50,000 a month. “It was Rs 1 lakh earlier but my party, after taking into account our huge unavoidable expenses, decided to limit the levy to Rs 50,000,” Ariff said.

The MPs also complain that some of their perks were already taken away by the BJP government. “Earlier, there was travelling allowance. But this was taken away in 2018 and instead our salaries were raised by Rs 50,000,” Premachandran said. The DA the MPs enjoyed for attending various Parliament standing committees were also abolished. “This has clearly led to a fall in attendance in standing committee meetings,” Ariff said.

Writing on the wall

Nonetheless, it is the suspension of MPLADS, under which an MP could spend Rs 5 crore a year in her constituency, that has worried the MPs. “This was a fund we could transfer instantly for any emergency needs. This is perhaps the only public money not tied up in red tape,” Ramya Haridas said.

Unlike the MLA Local Area Development funds that were deposited in the State Treasury, MPLADS money is kept in banks and could be transferred any moment. It were these funds that Shashi Tharoor and T N Prathapan had used to purchase testing kits for Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur. “MPLADS was the tool we MPs had to decisively intervene in the development of our constituencies. This power has now been taken away,” Premachandran said.

Ariff sees something more ominous in the suspension of MPLADS. “This could be the beginning of a presidential form of government in India,” he said.