Datanomics: Legislator paychecks remain fatter than average citizens'

The Union government on Monday notified a 24 per cent rise in the salaries of Members of Parliament (MPs) with retrospective effect from April 1, 2023.

 

With this, the MPs would be earning ₹1.24 lakh per month as their salary, compared to the ₹1 lakh they received since 2018.

 

The decision to adjust the salaries of MPs every five years, based on the cost inflation index, was taken for the first time in 2018. In that same year, their salaries doubled from ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh.

 

The state governments, too, followed suit. Recently, the Karnataka government passed two Bills, doubling the salaries of its Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs). The Gujarat government has also agreed to increase the salaries of MLAs. The Delhi Assembly has formed a five-member committee to review the salaries and allowances of its legislators.

 

A state-wise analysis of MLA salaries reveals a pay disparity across states. Jharkhand MLAs earned the highest: ₹2.88 lakh per month, while the per capita income of Jharkhand stood roughly around ₹9,000. This means that Jharkhand’s MLAs earn more than 32 times the per capita income of Jharkhand. 

 

Telangana MLAs had a salary of ₹2.5 lakh per month, which included a basic-salary of ₹20,000, and a constituency allowance of ₹2.3 lakh. MLAs of Uttar Pradesh earned ₹95,000 per month – 12 times the per capita income of the state (in 2023-24). With a salary of ₹70,000 per month, Kerala is one of the lowest payers. This was three times the per capita income of the state. But Delhi has the least MLA's salary to per capita income ratio among the 12 states studied.

 

However, even the revised salaries of MPs are significantly lower than the salaries drawn by the top bureaucrats in the country. The Cabinet secretary earns a basic salary of ₹2.5 lakh per month, while the foreign secretary and director-general of police have a basic salary of ₹2.25 lakh. 

 

The election commissioner and the comptroller and auditor general of India earned ₹2.5 lakh per month, which is equivalent to the salary of a Supreme Court judge.

 

Meanwhile, India’s per capita income languishes at ₹17,132 per month in 2024-25.