Contributed by SD
These guys work so hard, and I can’t imagine how they run their homes with such little money. I find it difficult even to support myself with what I earn. Just the other day, I saw my local MP inaugurating a power plant and within 48 hours, I see him speaking vociferously on the floor of the Parliament. 24 hours later, I see his motorcade pass through Hyderabad. I wonder how he has enough energy to travel so much by train.
I completely support Laloo Prasad Yadav in his fight to increase the salary of MPs. He’s probably almost 60 years old, and I’m sure he needs to start planning for his retirement. He also has a family to support. I wonder how he manages to employ so many gunmen to stand around him. Surely he cannot pay them a competitive wage, which obviously means that these gunmen are loyal party workers who don’t mind taking a massive pay hit to protect their leader. I also heard that he has cows in his house. Poor guy doesn’t even have proper walls to protect his home.
Some MPs are so poor, it’s not even funny. Apparently, some of them have less than Rs. 10 lakhs worth of assets (Source: Self-Declaration of assets at the time of elections). They are noble enough to work selflessly in the knowledge that their life savings will most likely be wiped out due to inflationary pressures. That's what I call commitment. People in the private sector keep jumping jobs to suit their needs. But these guys have decided to stick it out. Politicians are a committed bunch. Most of them (like those in the Left parties) remain politicians even though they know they can never come into a position of power.
These people are our leaders for God’s sake. We cannot treat them like servants. Can you imagine a CEO getting paid less than the guy who sweeps floors? Yeah, Steve Jobs takes home just $1 per year, but he gets perks, not to mention millions in dividends. What about our leaders? They can’t even save enough to get quality medical services. How can we expect our leaders to think optimally when they get paid so little? How can we expect our leaders to be motivated when all their friends earn multiples of what they do?
Our MPs work tirelessly, yet we can’t even pay them a measly Rs. 15 lacs per year? There is a management theory that says we need to give people incentives in order for them to reach their potential. Why don’t we give such incentives to our MPs? I’m confident that such incentives will raise the overall quality of governance and bring our population out of poverty and into prosperity by way of inclusive growth.
Oh what’s this? Oh my God. I can’t believe that a Nigerian businessman wants to transfer his entire savings to my account. How lucky am I? Let me just send him my bank account details and password. I’m rich now, so I don’t really need to take your shit and write articles for small amounts of money. I quit!
