Mumbai, March 22: In what has been a stalemate in the Parliament so far, the functioning has been impaired for 14 consecutive days now. The Opposition parties, persistent with their protests, ensured that there was no business transacted during the day. However, in another bonanza for the Members of Parliament (MPs), the Finance Bill saw a smooth passage amidst continuing uproar in the House.

The salaries of all the MPs were hiked by 100 percent and also received a raise in their allowances handsomely. As the Finance Bill saw its successful passage, the proposal to increase the salaries of MPs was quietly cleared too. It means, the basic salary of an MP has now been revised to Rs. 1 lakh, from Rs. 50,000 previously. Also, the MPs’ constituency allowances were increased along with their basic pay. Ex-MPs got lucky as they were given an increment in their pension amount too.

Revised Salary Structure of MPs of India:

Sr. No# Particulars Previous (in Rs.) Revised (in Rs.)
1 Basic Salary 50,000 per month 1,00,000 per month
2 Constituency Allowance 45,000 per month 70,000 per month
3 Office Expenses 45,000 per month 60,000 per month
4 Furniture Expenses 75,000 per month 1,00,000 per month
5 Ex-Member of Parliament 20,000 per month 25,000 per month

In his budget speech in the Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had mentioned that the salaries of all the MPs will now be revised once every five years, i.e. the next revision will be in 2023 now. Also, the salaries will then be revised as per the inflation rate.

The bill saw no debates or any discussion over it. However, it was All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), who staunchly opposed the bill. The party headed by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was of the thought that the salaries that the MPs receive currently were enough. Party spokesperson Derek O’Brien said that there was no need to double the salaries as proposed by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

However, the protest fell on deaf ears as the bill was successfully cleared. The demand to hike salaries has been pending for a long time now. The earlier proposal to raise salaries of MPs was made by UP CM Yogi Adityanath, then Gorakhpur MP.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 22, 2018 09:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).