The Union Government on Tuesday announced a 24 percent rise in salaries of the MPs, who will now be making Rs 1.24 lakh per month starting from April 1, 2025.
The new raise will also mean that sitting members’ daily allowances will be enhanced while pension and enhanced pension would be granted annually for ex-members for the years of service in excess of five years.
According to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs’ Gazette notification, the salary of an MP will now stand increased to Rs 1.24 lakh per month from the earlier Rs 1 lakh.
On the other hand, the daily allowance has been raised from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500. The pension given to former MPs is raised from Rs 25,000 per month to Rs 31,000 per month.
The extra pension given for every year of service greater than five years is also hiked from Rs 2,000 per month to Rs 2,500 per month.
The salary increase has been notified under the powers conferred by the Salary, Allowances and Pension of the Members of Parliament Act, justified by the Cost Inflation Index referred to in the Income Tax Act of 1961.
The notification, which was published by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs on Monday, states that the Centre has revised the salaries, allowances, and pensions of the Members of Parliament, effective April 1, 2023.
As per the notification, salary of Rs 1,24,000 per month with respect to MPs in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha is now given from the previous Rs 1,00,000; the daily allowance has now been raised to Rs 2,500 from Rs 2,000.
The notification further prescribed an increase in the pension of ex-MPs from the current Rs 25,000 to Rs 31,000 monthly.
According to the notification, the additional pension for every year of service in excess of five years was raised from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500.
The MPs’ salary hike has been announced while the budget session of Parliament is underway. The last time the salary and allowances for sitting and former MPs were revised was in April 2018.
The base salary for an MP, as per the revision effected in 2018, was fixed at Rs 1,00,000 per month during January 2018. It was specified to bring their salary in line with the considerable inflation and the rising cost of living.
In keeping with the revision in 2018, an MP would receive Rs 70,000 as constituency allowance to help pay for the costs of keeping their offices up to date while interacting with all constituents within the respective districts. In addition, they are given Rs 60,000 as office allowance and Rs 2,000 in daily allowance during Parliamentary sessions. The already stated allowances are also due for revision now.
Other than this, they enjoy an annual allowance for phone and internet services. They are entitled to take 34 free domestic flights per year for themselves and their family members. The MPs also have the right to use first-class train travel at any time for both official and personal purposes.
They can also claim mileage allowances for the use of roads. MPs have the advantages of 50,000 free units of electricity and 4,000 kilolitres of water annually.
The government looks after their housing and accommodation too. During the five years of an MP’s term, dwelling places are rented free within New Delhi. These would be hostel rooms, apartments or bungalows depending on their seniority. People who do not use the official accommodation are entitled to a monthly house rent allowance.
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