Lok Sabha passes bill to replace ordinance reducing salary of MPs by 30% for 1 year

On Tuesday, the Lok Sabha passed The Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill, 2020 amid the COVID-19 crisis. This bill was tabled on the floor of the Lower House by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Monday to replace The Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020. President Ram Nath Kovind promulgated this ordinance on April 7 after the Union Cabinet's approval.

The rationale of this legislation is to raise resources for the fight against the novel coronavirus. For this purpose, a new sub-section has been inserted in Section 3 of The Salaries, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954 to reduce the salaries payable to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs by 30%. This will be applicable for a period of one year with effect from April 1, 2020. 

Read: COVID Lockdown Averted 29 Lakh Cases, 78K Fatalities: Harsh Vardhan Tells Lok Sabha

MPLADS fund suspended

When the ordinance was approved, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar had talked about the decision to amend The Salaries, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954. He revealed that President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and all the Governors had voluntarily decided to take a 30% salary cut. Javadekar also announced the suspension of the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) fund during 2020-21 and 2021-22.

He stated that Rs.7,900 crore saved from the MPLADS will go to the Consolidated Fund of India. Furthermore, he noted that many MPs had already pledged their MPLADS funds of Rs.5 crore per year to combat the novel coronavirus crisis. Lok Sabha MPs such as TMC's Mahua Moitra, Independent parliamentarian Navneet Kaur Rana and Leader of Opposition Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury vociferously opposed the suspension of the MPLADS fund. 

Novel coronavirus crisis

Currently, there are 49,30,236 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 38,59,399 patients have recovered while 80,776 fatalities have been reported. With 79,292 patients recovering in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 recovery rate soared to 78.28%. At present, the recovered cases outnumber active cases by 28,69,338. About half of the 9,90,061 active cases are concentrated in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Speaking to the media earlier in the day, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan stated that there are 14 states and Union Territories in India where the total number of active cases is less than 5000. Bhushan also refuted the notion that there is a shortage of oxygen. Noting that the current capacity for production of oxygen is slightly more than 6,900 metric tonne, he urged every state to ensure proper inventory management so that oxygen can be replenished in time. 

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