Parliament cost to the Nation

This is an article to provide the reader about the cost for running the Parliament in India...

The Parliament of India is the preeminent authoritative assemblage of India. It includes the President, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The period amid which Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (also called as Two Houses) meet to conduct its business is called 'sessions'. The Parliament meets 3 times in a year. They are as under:

• Budget Session – During February to May
• Monsoon Session – During July to September
• Winter Session – During November to December

 Prime Minister is the leader of Lok Sabha. 

Indian Parliament a unique circular building

It's hard to get correct figures on the amount Parliament costs. Do we mean Lok Sabha or both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and what are "expenses"? There are expenses of leading races, say the 2009 decisions. The "official" Election Commission figure is that 2009 decisions included a use of Rs 1120 crores. In any case, that is cash straightforwardly spent by Election Commission.

Inside of the Lok Sabha (Lower House)

 For 2009 decisions, Center for Media Studies (CMS) assessed add up to costs and that was Rs 10,000 crores. That is how much the nation aggregately paid to choose the fifteenth Lok Sabha. After a 2010 climb, a MP now gets Rs 50,000 per month salary, Rs 45,000 as voting constituency allowance, Rs 45,000 as office recompense and Rs 2,000 as day by day stipend. A touch of this (every day remittance) is contingent on Parliament being in session. Regardless of the possibility that one rejects that, we are discussing Rs 1.4 lakhs a month. There are things that are hard to ascribe expenses to – free petrol, free phone calls, free lodging, furniture, power, clothing, travel, annuities, subsidized food and so on. I am not certain if anybody has really worked out these expenses.

Inside of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House)

Allowances to a MPs:

1. Rs 50,000 per month salary
2. Rs 45,000 voting constituency allowance
3. Rs 45,000 as office expenses
4. Rs 2000 daily allowance when the house is in progress
5. Rs 2.5 crore as Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS).

We are presumably looking at something like Rs 3.5 lakhs a month, 0.42 crores a year. Include Rs 2 crores a year as MPLADS. Say 2.5 crores for every MP every year. On the off chance that you increase by 543, that is Rs1,400 crores a year.

Arial view of Parliament

 There has not been any change in the allowances and perks from 15^th to 16^th Lok Sabha. It was calculated that the costs Rs 2.5 lakhs per minute, or Rs 2 crores per day would be incurred to run the 16^th Lok Sabha. There are some extra expenses. Some data for running of the 15^th Lok Sabha was prepared by PRS. This has an idea of profitable time, when Lok Sabha is not disrupted. As indicated by this, Lok Sabha worked for 61% of the time and it turned out to be more regrettable and more awful as the sessions continued. That is, the normal veils crumbling after some time. None has the information for first and second Lok Sabhas.

Cost per day – All the sessions set up together, the Parliament capacities on a normal 100 days in a year. The aggregate planned cost of running the Parliament is around Rs.600 crores every year. This implies, the cost every day is around Rs.6 Crores.

During the session in India Member of Parliament is getting allowance of Rs.2000 per day. Simple calculations are here:

·         Lok Sabha (Lower House) has 545 Members: 545 x Rs.2000= Rs. 10,90,000 per day.

·         Rajya Sabha (Upper House) has 245 Members: 245 x Rs.2000= Rs. 4,90,000 per day.

·         This is all excluding the printing of number of forms, question schedules, daily updates in both the houses, reply to questions, delivery of the replies to MPs residence/office, etc this also includes huge cost which cannot be neglected.

Most of the regular cost to keep the Parliament in shape cannot be calculate. Still we can under something about the cost to the nation to keep the Parliament working smoothly by this statement: "Every minute of running Parliament amid sessions costs the exchequer Rs. 2.5 lakh" This was reminded by the UPA II Government to the Opposition as the Monsoon Session of Parliament was totally washed out over the debate on coal square designations with BJP unshakable on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's abdication.