New Delhi: The Centre on Monday notified a 24 per cent hike in the salaries of members of Parliament with effect from April 1, 2023, on the basis of the Cost Inflation Index, taking their monthly salaries to Rs 1.24 lakh besides certain allowances and perks.
A notification issued by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs also increased the daily allowances for sitting members and pension and additional pension for every year of service in excess of five years for former members.
The daily allowance too has been increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500, the notification said. MPs can draw daily allowances while attending Parliament sessions and meetings of parliamentary committees.
The pension for former members of Parliament has been increased from Rs 25,000 per month to Rs 31,000 per month.
The additional pension for every year of service in excess of five years has been increased from Rs 2,000 per month to Rs 2,500 per month.
In 2018, the then finance minister Arun Jaitley increased the salaries of MPs from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
Jaitley had also put a mechanism for automatic revision of salaries and allowances every five years by indexing it to inflation, thus doing away with the practice of MPs making recommendations for fixing their salaries.
A member of Parliament will now get Rs 1.24 lakh per month as salary, Rs 87,000 per month as constituency allowance as against Rs 70,000 earlier, Rs 75,000 towards office expenses as against Rs 60,000 earlier.
The office expenses of Rs 75,000 include Rs 50,000 to hire the services of a computer literate person and Rs 25,000 towards stationery items.
The MPs are also entitled to purchase durable furniture worth Rs 1 lakh and non-durable furniture of Rs 25,000 once during their tenure.
Earlier, these entitlements were capped at Rs 80,000 for durable furniture and Rs 20,000 for non-durable furniture.
The MPs get accommodation, varying from a hostel in Vitthalbhai Patel House to two-bedroom flats and bungalows in central Delhi.
They are also reimbursed for electricity, water, telephone and internet charges. They and their families are also reimbursed for 34 one-way air tickets from their constituency to Delhi and get benefits on rail travel.
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government slashed salaries of MPs and ministers by 30 per cent for one year.
The increase in the salary has been notified in exercise of the powers granted under the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act on the basis of the Cost Inflation Index specified in the Income Tax Act of 1961.
