MPs demand salary hike

 The Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament, meeting here on Wednesday, will consider a memorandum signed by 40 MPs cutting across party lines seeking an enhancement of all emoluments. The MPs want their salaries to be at least on a par with that of Secretaries to the Government of India.

The last pay hike for MPs was in 2008. That year, the memorandum says, the salary of MPs was fixed at Rs. 1,10,000 (Rs. 50,000 as pay, Rs. 45,000 as constituency allowance and Rs. 15,000 as office allowance), at a time when a Secretary received a salary of Rs. 80,000. Now, thanks to inflation, the dearness allowance (DA) of a Secretary has climbed to Rs. 90,000, meaning that the salary plus DA is now Rs. 1,70,000.