Akhilesh’s slap in the face of hard-working, tax paying Indians
From UP MLAs can spend Rs. 20 lakh from welfare fund on cars (emphasis added):
Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday opened a goody bag for MLAs, entitling them to purchase four-wheelers worth up to Rs. 20 lakh from their local area development fund.  If all 402 MLAs take up on the offer of the youngest CM of India’s most populous and politically crucial state, the largesse will potentially cost the exchequer R80 crore.
Announcing the entitlement(sic)..Yadav, 38, said, “This will help MLAs who do not have money buy vehicles.â€
So, is Akhikesh Yadav saying if I have worked hard all my life and tried to save whatever I can, I should now fund the comfort and convenience of those who are supposed to represent me? A couple questions come to mind:
- Why should an MLA who does not have money to buy “vehicle” not use a bus, a cycle-rickshaw? – the default mode of transport of the vast majority he/she claims to represent*?
- Why should such an MLA not get out of politics? and work in the real world for a change, so that they can save enough to buy a “vehicle”? so that they understand how hard working at a job is, and the sweat and tears that go behind every single Rs/ that is saved?
Akhilesh’s move is a slap in the face of all hard-working, tax-paying citizens who save so that their children can study in a good school, so that they can pay for their own medical expenses (since the government cannot be relied upon to provide even the most basic healthcare), so that they can live a life of some dignity in their retirement. It is akin to spitting in the face of each one of us who has worked hard (and/or is working hard) to save for a “vehicle” that they can use to provide some comfort to themselves and their families.
I knew our MLAs (and MPs) are “special”. But I was not aware that I am supposed to pay for all their comforts and convenience too. What next? Free bungalows for MLA who do have money to buy a house? And to think that this guy was heralded as a “Youth Icon”, as a breath of fresh air etc. What a disgrace.
Special Request: Someone please help me find data on the finances of the UP government and the perks that MLA in Uttar Pradesh already enjoy. Thanks
P.S. Pl read these excerpts from TJS George at his scathing best (also has another reference to the “honourable” members of the UP Assembly), “Respect must be earned, not forced“
In something of a national scandal, Air India recently worked out a “high quality handling protocol†for MPs.
It stipulated procedures no one would have believed possible: Air India should depute staff to facilitate an MP’s check-in, an attendant should take his hand/carry-bag into the aircraft, cabin crew should constantly inquire about his comforts, the captain himself should come and greet him, and, at the arrival airport, the duty manager should receive the MP.
Adding insult to injury, the protocol was moved when Air India was sick and haemorrhaging, pilots were on strike, losses were running into several crores a day. But MPs, guardians of the country and its assets, could only think of how to secure more privileges for themselves, free of cost. The don’t-care attitude was voiced by the don’t-care Aviation Minister himself. Ajit Singh justified the protocol by declaring: “We are just saying give them due respect.â€
To MPs of this kind, what respect is due? To MPs who use diplomatic passports to smuggle Indians to Canada, those who take bribes to raise questions in Parliament, those who get elected while they are lodged in jail, what is the respect due? Let’s not hear insipid arguments of the type that all MPs are not bad. Of course they are not. But all MPs are responsible when Parliament is stalled for every day of an entire session, and when instrumentalities like House Committees are used to unilaterally secure privileges at citizens’ cost.
A Lok Sabha House Committee has now asked for a protocol of privileges in Delhi Metro: special ticket counters, staff to guide MPs to their seats, etc. MPs have also demanded higher positions in the Warrant of Procedure at public functions, lifting from 21st to 17th position in the gradation of VIPs and of course lal batti on top of their cars. Mercifully, they have not asked for all traffic to halt when they are on the road. Well, not yet…
The final straw comes from UP Assembly. The MLAs there have moved for special privileges for those members who are in jail: A-Class status, phones inside the cells, office facilities, incarceration in their home constituencies. Their excuse is a variation on Ajit Singh’s theme: Respect due to public servants. No country is governed by a more shameless class.”
* Reminds me of how Lal Bahadur Shastri stood waiting for a bus after resigning from his post as Railway Minister back in the 60s. I wish this is made “compulsory reading” for all MLAs – not just in UP but everywhere – and MPs too. (Image courtesy: Zee)
Any one there who can challenge this announcement by Akhliesh Yadav in the court? The tax payer needs to get a reprieve from the court from this open loot!
Better sense prevails:
“I take back that decision because the media did not interpret this decision in the right manner. And our MLAs also said they don’t want to use their funds for buying the cars,” Mr Yadav said today.
I can understand that the MLAs may be in need of cars to go around in their constituencies and do their job.
I can understand that some of them may not be capable of keeping ample, flexible transport arrangments so Govt wants to help buying cars.
What I don’t understand is quota of 20 lakhs for the same. Even the most comfortable, spacious state-of-the-art Cars including SUVs cost upto 10 lakhs. You really need 20 lakhs of public money to buy a Car? If one has any respect for public money and austerity they’d settle for 5-6 in the worst case.
Can’t believe that men like Lal Bahadur Shastri dwelled on the same land barely four decades ago.
Shantanu – on your special request, possibly National Election Watch could help, or related research done by ADR India?
Such a thought from Akhilesh is definitely a big setback for all those of us who thought Indian politicians need a change of face and a scent of young blood.
If society is to be free, it’s govt. that needs to be controlled. We have given ourselves an evil system – socialism. It sounds very good on paper, and in talk, but it’s a heaven for con-men, who in the name of “equality for all” – exploit every loophole in this system. To make matters worse, the 200 years of slavery has inflicted a feudal mindset in our society – add that to socialism and you get the current sorry state of affairs. Our people need to wake up. All these govt. servants need to be removed from their lives of comfortable living (funded by us of course) and need to live among the very people they swear they are working with. Until and unless they and their children have a stake in it, they will not change. How dare the mantri’s and the IAS babus live in air conditioned houses, when basic facilities aren’t available to the voting public? Is this a live of public service or a life of feudal lordship over the majority? They keep finding fault with America, but that is a true democracy. It’s people that are important there, not govt.
Akhilesh please take your MLA’s who don’t mind facilities that they have not earned and BEG from public. Based on the collection buy whatever you want – tax payer
“According to analysis by an NGO, out of 403 MLAs in UP, 271 (67%) are crorepatis. There are only six MLAs who have declared assets less than Rs 5 lakh. Among the main parties, the average assets per candidate for SP is Rs 2.52 crore; for BSP it’s Rs 4.44 crore; for BJP it’s Rs 4.01 crore; and for Congress Rs 4.61 crore. ” source
Comment section is not taking some special characters.
In UP this time SP has the most num of MLAs thats why the average is less than 3C ( 2.52C). For other parties most of the MLAs has won only due to their money power ( or already establish politician in the region) so their average is greater than 4C.
When a CM on his sole discretion/whim can take it upon himself to hand out public monies that are neither his own earned
personal income or the MLAs (earned being key)for whatever the heck, like helping MLAs accrue personal property for personal keep, and in the larger scheme of things when the CM’s, MLA’s, and for that matter, de-facto PM, Ministers, and MPs can help themselves/freeload on the constituencies, and the public for personal luxuries, can do so legally(?), and with impunity. – What is the difference between feudal lords, lording over fiefdoms, and the CM/PM/other minister of state/central government in a democracy?.
It is not like, in this case, the MLAs who supposedly can’t afford a luxury car cannot be transporting themselves for official, and work related business, in the government owned ambassadors’fleet, which too have long been mis-used for the shopping/gallivanting around trips, and such, of the freeloading families/wives of freeloaders in ‘public service’. Are there no thresholds, codified into rules of governance (considering convention does not demand any), based in the purpose of taxation (simply put, public monies for public purposes/delivery on public benefit), Beyond which dipping into tax payer funding is mis-allocation, and misappropriating?
No wonder people are always trying to find ways to steal on taxes. Which fool/s will want to keep putting money into a trust fund brazenly mismanaged, robbed, and embezzled from, by the fund’s managers/trustees.
An unwise decision from a new chief minister or politically
immature brain.
Just to make my position clear on this (since doubts have been raised whether I support the present low salaries that MPs and MLAs are entitled to):
1] From this post https://satyameva-jayate.org/2007/09/14/fixing-the-system/ dated 14th Sept ’07, pl read bullet point #3 under “Barrriers and Compulsions that prevent good people from joining Politics”
2] Pl read my comment #10 dt 15th Apr ’07 (reproduced below):
https://satyameva-jayate.org/2007/04/13/bpd-bm-lp-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel/ : “Add to that the fact than an hones MLA’s salary is unlikely to help anyone live even a half decent (as in comfortable) life, you will begin to understand why most honest people do not join politics (and also why most politicians need other “sources†of income to survive)”
I am very much in favour of increasing salaries to attract the best in politics.
I do not understand how providing a “vehicle” will help though. As most of you know, MLAs and MPs are entitled to generous travel allowances and perks (I’m trying to get the full details) – why are they insufficient? Remember that a “vehicle” is a perk (not part of the salary).
And instead of the government deciding that every MLA needs a four-wheeler, I would rather let the MLA decide whether he/she needs a 2-wheeler or a 6-wheeler…and make sure that they have a reasonable salary to purchase whatever they need (unless it is a private jet!)
I will try to answer some of the questions in the article. If you compare BUS and car travel, and correlate it with the number of functions you can attend/people you can meet (you will need some definition of what constitutes work for an MLA), it would be easy to show that a car travel would help an MLA do 4-5 times as much work.
Quitting politics, saving money to buy a car, and getting back to politics isn’t a very good plan. That should be quite clear to most.
I don’t know how one could judge the sufficiency of travel allowances, but I can guess that adequate allownces would (hopefully) ultimately result in reduced corruption.
My final thought on this is. I would prefer that more honest money flows towards politicians rather than towards multi-million traders, pseudo-banksters, and extortionists posing as mediamen.