Prime Minister Narendra Modi and all Union ministers along with over 750 Members of Parliament (MPs) will take a 30 per cent salary cut for one year and the amount will be used to fight the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, Union minister Prakash Javadekar announced on Tuesday.
The President, the Vice-President and state Governors have also voluntarily decided to take a pay cut as a 'social responsibility', the minister added.
The Union cabinet on Monday gave its nod to an ordinance amending the salary, allowances and pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954, reducing allowances and pension by 30 per cent from April 1 2020 for a year, he told reporters.
He said besides the MPs, the Prime minister and Union minister's would also take a 30 per cent cut in their salaries.
'Charity begins at home,' he said.
The salary structure for the PM and the Union ministers is different from that of an MP, who draws a salary of Rs one lakh per month and a constituency allowance of Rs 70,000 per month, besides other allowances.
Later, the government spokesperson clarified that only the salary and not the pension and allowances of the MPs will be cut.
The money will go to the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI), he said.
All the revenue received by the government by way of taxes like income tax, central excise, customs and other receipts flowing to the government are credited into the CFI. All government expenditure is incurred from this fund and no amount can be withdrawn from the CFI without authorization from Parliament.
The Cabinet also approved temporary suspension of the MPLAD (Member of Parliament local Area Development) fund scheme during financial years 2020-21 and 2021-22, and the amount will be used for 'managing health and adverse impact of outbreak of Covid-19' in the country, he said.
While there are 543 MPs in Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha has 245 members—788 in all. Each MP gets Rs 5 crore per annum as MPLAD. It means, the government will get nearly Rs 7,880 crore from the fund.
The Union minister further praised the consolidated effort by the nation adhering to the call of the Prime Minister to light candles and diyas (earthen lamps) at 9pm on Sunday.
'The effort is being widely discussed all across the globe,' Javadekar said.
Responding to a question, the minister said no discussion was held on the extension of the lockdown.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Union cabinet via video link amid the nationwide lockdown.
Besides Modi, defence minister Rajnath Singh and Union home minister Amit Shah were present at the Prime Minister's official residence along with some senior officials, other members of the Cabinet were connected via a video link from their offices and residences.
In the last cabinet meeting on March 25, the large oval table at the 7, Lok Kalyan Marg was gone, and Prime Minister Modi and his ministerial colleagues sat in chairs kept at quite a distance from each other as they practised 'social distancing' to prevent a possible spread of the novel coronavirus.
Usually, the cabinet meetings are held around the oval table.
The Prime Minister has been pitching for 'social distancing' to check the spread of coronavirus and as part of it he announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown.
Before chairing the cabinet meet, the Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the council of ministers via video conference on Monday morning. Pictures showed that while Modi, Singh and Shah were at PM's residence, the ministers were connected via video link.
