Indian lawmakers unhappy with 313 percent raise
Members of India’s parliament will see their salary more than tripled in the coming weeks, bringing their annual income to a high of $12,854 a year. But for some lawmakers, evidently, that’s still not enough: The Lok Sabha [the lower house of parliament] was adjourned as several MPs protested against the rise, which they said ...
Members of India's parliament will see their salary more than tripled in the coming weeks, bringing their annual income to a high of $12,854 a year. But for some lawmakers, evidently, that's still not enough:
Members of India’s parliament will see their salary more than tripled in the coming weeks, bringing their annual income to a high of $12,854 a year. But for some lawmakers, evidently, that’s still not enough:
The Lok Sabha [the lower house of parliament] was adjourned as several MPs protested against the rise, which they said was inadequate.
The members had demanded their pay be raised to at least 80,000 rupees [a month], which is what senior bureaucrats are paid.
Translation: what the MPs really wanted was a pay hike of 500 percent, not 313.
I guess that makes sense, because India’s economy is just swimming along, now. But wait, you say. Aren’t we’re talking about a country whose per-capita income still hovers at around $1,000 a year? And where over 10 percent of the country is out of a job, and more than 40 percent live on less than $1.25 a day?
Yes.
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