MP rejects salary hike on double standards

2 September

2010 NEW DELHI — At a time when Members of Parliament (MP) came together to better their personal emoluments forcing the government for a 300 per cent salary raise recently, a leader from the same circle chose to value his ideals and principles. Member of Parliament Rajeev Chandrashekar has declined to accept the pay increase saying that there were many questions that arise from the government’s decision on MPs’ pay rise, and the very process used to arrive at the decision by the government is disreputable. Chandrashekar, who is an independent MP in Rajya Sabha from Bangalore, has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that the issue of government’s alleged double standards is damaging and hurtful in this case. He raked up the issue for a long pending demand by the armed forces veterans for ‘One Rank, One pension’ saying: “The parliamentary committee of defence has repeatedly recommended it to the government just as in the case of MPs’ compensation.” But he alleged that the government has decided to repeatedly block it instead. “These actions of your government send very misleading and somewhat dangerous signals to the country and all its people, majority of whom are young Indians  — that there are two sets of standards in this country — that public service and duty to nation as exemplified by the armed forces veterans are secondary to political expediency and politics,” said Chandrashekar, former President of FICCI, India’s oldest chamber of commerce. “I decline the pay increase for myself individually for the above reason till the government re-examines the case of the One Rank, One Pension. “I realise that as an independent MP, my action may not amount to much, and in the kind of politics being practised today, may not cause concern to anyone in the government,” he added. “I concur with the government’s view that MPs must be compensated better, and good performing MPs must thus have a financial safety net that allows them to serve the people they represent — better and with more dignity, and not have to depend on other sources of income to supplement their meagre income,” he said. Chandrashekar wrote to the prime minister also raising questions over the lack of objectivity and independence of the process (MPs’ pay hike) and speed of the decision. He said there are seemingly double standards adopted when there are other legitimate demands that have been pending for many years with the government. “The lack of objectivity of process relates to the fact that in this case, the government has accepted the recommendations of a parliamentary committee comprising MPs on this issue, whilst in other cases like the One Rank, One Pension — the government has chosen to use bureaucratic committees to evaluate and decide,” Chandrashekar said. “As you would agree, this leads to a perception that when your government wishes to deny a claim, you rely on committees of bureaucrats, who by now have developed a fine tuned reputation of obstructive conduct — as demonstrated recently in the case of questioning the citizenship of one of finest sons — Vishwanathan Anand,” said Chandrashekar lashing out at the system.

ravi@khaleejtimes.com

Courtesy - Khaleej Times Online