If you are a Member of the Legislative Assembly or MLA of Gujarat, you’re certainly an object of envy for your colleagues in many other states. The Gujarat MLA is fairly well paid with a monthly salary of Rs 21,000 (excluding perks), considerably higher than his counterpart in several other states. In addition, he gets a daily allowance (for attending the assembly or committee meetings in the State) of Rs 200.
According to data compiled by PRS Legislative Research for 17 states (Gujarat, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Rajasthan, Orissa, Sikkim, Punjab, West Bengal, Delhi, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Chattisgarh, Kerala, Haryana), an MLA in Gujarat is the best paid (among these 17 states) but receives one of the least daily allowances. Meanwhile, a Haryana MLA does not receive any monthly salary but is perhaps compensated with the highest daily allowance of Rs 1000.
MLAs in Nagaland are the next best paid with a monthly salary of Rs 10,000 and a daily allowance of Rs 500. States like Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim and West Bengal do not seem to have the concept of daily allowances.
While Madhya Pradesh pays its MLAs Rs 9,000 a month, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh pay Rs 8,000 p.m.; Goa, Rajasthan and Orissa pay Rs 5000; Sikkim and Punjab Rs 4000; West Bengal, Delhi and Meghalaya Rs 3000; Tamil Nadu Rs 2000 and Chhattisgarh Rs 1500.
Kerala MLAs are one of the least paid with a month salary of merely Rs 300 and a daily allowance of Rs 400.
However, while the monthly salaries might seem a bit meager, this is not the only remuneration given to an MLA. In addition to the monthly salary and daily allowance, MLAs also get allowances to cover travel, office and communication expenses etc. and free or subsidized housing. Hence, the total monthly salary figure for each MLA, including all perks, goes much higher. For instance in Gujarat, with effect from April 2009, a new pay scale for MLAs was introduced bringing salaries at par with those of Class I officers, which made an MLA’s salary (including all perks) a little more than Rs 40,000 a month. Or for instance, for an MLA in Meghalaya, the figure including perks becomes Rs 20,000 per month.
There is no uniformity of salaries for MLAs across the country because each state has a separate Payment of Salaries Act, which sets rules regarding salaries, perks, pensions etc of MLAs. Hence, the salary amount, structure, nature of perks etc differ across states, given that they are determined according to the individual discretion of each state legislature.
Meanwhile, a variety of factors are taken into account while MLA salaries are altered or raised. State assemblies tend to keep in mind the possibility of public criticism when salaries are being increased. Thus, while in the private sector, remuneration might be revised every year, for MLA’s, it usually happens once in 4-5 years.
A separate law governs the salary of the speaker of each state assembly. While the monthly salary is usually not very different from that of other MLAs, the speaker is entitled to more perks.
Coming back to Gujarat, it is said that an MLA there – Mahendrabhai Liladharbhai Mashru from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – does not accept any remuneration, since he “does not believe in taking money for public work.”

Lucknow/New Delhi:

At the Kanshiram Smarak on Thursday. While her government denied violating Supreme Court orders and tendered its “most profuse apology” for “any transgression” that may have taken place regarding construction activity at memorial sites for Dalit icons, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today warned rivals SP and Congress that any move to harm these memorials would lead to such “a serious law and order problem” that “President’s rule will have to be imposed in the country”.

She made this remark after laying the foundation stone for the Kanshi Ram Green (Eco) Garden on the site of the demolished Lucknow jail — the next hearing of the case involving construction of memorials is scheduled tomorrow in the Supreme Court.

Targeting the Congress, Mayawati said the party had announced construction of a Shivaji statue in the sea off Mumbai just before elections in Maharashtra. “Why has the Congress, which has been in power in the state for the last ten years, decided to honour Shivaji Maharaj at the time of elections?... Samundar mein koi sthal banane mein kitna kharcha hoga (how much will they spend on a memorial in the sea)... But the Congress will not consider this as misuse of funds,” she said, pointing out that her party, the BSP, was not against Shivaji’s statue.

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She alleged that the UPA government was trying to stall her government’s Noida Park project by raising environment issues. She told the gathering that the Congress had spent “several crores” in constructing memorials of members of the Nehru-Gandhi family but “never called it misuse of public fund”.

She said the SP had gone the Congress way. “The Samajwadi Party has always tried to get the Ambedkar Park demolished,” she alleged, adding that both the parties were trying to create hurdles and prevent construction of memorials and parks by her government.

Meanwhile, the UP government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on the eve of the hearing on the construction of memorials, dismissing as “erroneous... more enthusiasm than accuracy” all the media reports that showed construction activity at memorial sites despite court orders calling for a halt.

In the over 100-page affidavit with annexures, Chief Secretary Atul Kumar Gupta said the state had the highest regard for the Supreme Court and believed in carrying out its directions in “letter and spirit”.

According to the state government, certain maintenance works and boundary walls were being constructed at properties which were not a subject matter of dispute and its photographs were “mixed up by the media” to give an “erroneous view”.

“Notwithstanding this, it is respectfully submitted that if any transgression has occurred, I tender the most profuse apology for the same and humbly submit that the same was entirely unintended,” he said.

Imphal, September 11, 2009: Taking serious note of the worsening law and order situation in Manipur, the Union Home Minister has assured to look into the issue and find out what can be done, claimed BJP state unit leaders.

BJP state unit president Dr Haobam Borbabu, former Chief Minister Wahengbam Nipamacha and national executive member M Bhorot called on Home Minister P Chidambaram at New Delhi and apprised him about the prevailing situation in Manipur.

The BJP team also sought intervention of New Delhi into the prevailing situation of Manipur.

The team arrived at Imphal yesterday.

Speaking to media persons this afternoon at the party office, party president Dr Borbabu said that the Union Home Minister was informed in detail about the Khwairamband fake encounter of July 23, absence of rule of law and the abject failure of the state administration.

Detail accounts were given to the Home Minister on the killing of non-Manipuris, ban on screening Hindi movies, extension of help by Ministers and bureaucrats to extortionist outfits, awarding contract works to UG outfits, using UG cadres by some Ministers and MLAs as their personal body guards, donation of huge sums of money to UG outfits by the Chief Minister, arrest of insurgents from the official quarters of Ministers and the problems being encountered in the border fencing work along Indo-Myanmar border.

Borbabu further asserted that the incumbent Government has failed to protect lives and properties of the people.

Stating that the State forces have failed in discharging their duties properly, Borbabu conveyed about the BJP team apprising the Home Minister on the involvement of commandos and IRB in fake encounters in addition to abduction and extortion.

Highlighting the possibility of the outbreak of a civil war in case the SPF Government led by O Ibobi is allowed to stay any longer, the Home Minister was urged to abolish the SPF Government and impose President's Rule.

People did not have any faith in the Judicial Enquiry ordered into the July 23 twin killings, the BJP team conveyed to the Home Minister while asking for CBI probe.

The Home Minister assured that he would look into the points raised by the BJP team and find out what can be done, Borbabu conveyed.

M Bhorot alleged that the SPF Government has been acting on its own whims against the wish and aspirations of the people.

The Home Minister was appealed to conduct a thorough enquiry into the fake encounters taking place in Manipur at the level of the Union Home Ministry, he said.

Former Chief Minister Wahengbam Nipamacha was also present at the press meet.

Ambika Soni, CP Joshi, Agatha Sangma: Helicopter no-no

Fake encounter killings per se are condemnable. Unfortunately, they have become a common occurrence in our country. The recent report of a

GVLN Rao Political analyst and BJP member

metropolitan magistrate that the 2004 encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan and three of her friends suspected to be members of a LeT terrorist module on a mission to kill Narendra Modi were faked has made big news for two political reasons. Firstly, the encounter killings happened in Narendra Modi-ruled Gujarat and secondly, because they involved the minority community.

The facts coming to light about the encounter killings are revealing. The information that they were militant suspects on a mission was a tip-off by the central intelligence agency to the state’s crime branch and earlier, the central government in an affidavit supported the stand of the state government. The change in stance of the central government purely for political reasons has infuriated even the Gujarat High Court yesterday, where the matter is pending.

The Congress party’s eagerness to make political capital out of everything, involving even the sentiments of minority community is deplorable. First of all, it is yet to be established whether the encounter killings are real or fake. Whatever are the facts in this case, fake encounter killings are unacceptable in a civilised society. They ought to be condemned and the culprits brought to book, irrespective of wherever they happen and whoever is involved in them, irrespective of the caste or creed of the victims. It is here the motives of the Congress party are suspect as it has been oblivious to the cries of alleged fake encounters of “innocent” youths causing a turmoil in the north-eastern hill state of Manipur over the past few days.

The Congress party must find better methods of fighting Gujarat’s popularly elected CM. Flinging mud at him on flimsy grounds would boomerang on the party as happened in the case of Sohrabuddin — an established criminal involved in some heinous crimes — whom the Congress projected as a martyr and then suffered adverse electoral consequences. The Congress should take on Narendra Modi in the electoral battlefield rather than squander its time by fighting him in press conferences.

MUMBAI: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by Mayawati will be contesting all 288 seats in Maharashtra and is confident of winning at least 25 seats, a majority of which are in Vidarbha and Marathwada.

The biggest challenge before the BSP will be the Republican Party of India-led Third Front, which is likely to eat into its dalit, north Indian and Muslim vote banks. The BSP had secured nearly 5% of the total votes polled in Maharashtra during the recent LS elections. However, RPI leader Ramdas Athavale has claimed that the BSP will be completely wiped out of Maharashtra during this election.

"We are not afraid of empty threats given by Athavale," said BSP's national general secretary Suresh Mane. "We do not recognise Athavale's group as the Third Front. If there is any real third force in Maharashtra, it is the BSP."

Lucknow, Sep 10 :  Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has come under fire from media persons and the opposition for slapping the Dalit Act on reporters of a national TV channel for a news report on how a starving Dalit sold off his wife in the poverty-hit Bundelkhand region of the state.

The Uttar Pradesh Accredited Press Correspondents Committee has vehemently condemned the government’s move to haul the IBN-7 channel and its scribes over the stringent provisions of the Dalit Act.

Samajwadi Party president and former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav termed the move as draconian and anti-democratic.

“What the TV channel reported was harsh reality and the media must have the freedom to show the truth in a democracy,” Mulayam Singh told reporters here.

He added, “But through her vindictive action, she has proved that she does not believe in democratic values at all and instead her intent was to intimidate the media so that it remains under her thumb.”

Mulayam Singh said: “I challenge her to take action against me as I still maintain that the Dalit woman was sold away so that her family could get four square meals.”

He also flayed the state Women’s Commission for “manipulating facts in its bid to disprove the report”.

The Women’s Commission that took the lead in contradicting the TV expose is headed by the sister of Mayawati’s blue-eyed lieutenant Satish Chandra Misra, the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)’s Brahmin mascot.

New Delhi, Sep. 9 : Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal on Wednesday accused BJP leader LK Advani of taking out the Rath Yatra for personal political gain.


Advani, he said, should now think about stepping down from the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

He also noted that the BJP had deviated from its founding policies and that is the reason for its apparent ’sinking’.

Singhal’s statements coincide with the times when the saffron party is facing rough weather and controversies have become an order of the day.

The no-show in Lok Sabha polls, revelation on Advani’s lie on the Kandhar episode, Jaswant Singh’s controversial book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his subsequent expulsion from the party are the several episodes which hit the party’s image badly.

The Right

Was it about ideology or a case of old-fashioned ego clashes and power games clothed in high-sounding rhetoric? The question is not easy to answer as the BJP moves from crisis to crisis and the half-jocular question every morning is: Which party leader will do a rebel act today?

Its hierarchy blurred by unceasing infighting, the BJP has seemed in terminal decline for some time.

The problems are manifold:

Simmering conflict between BJP chief Rajnath Singh and party senior L K Advani sapped the party in the run-up to the 2009 elections, perhaps more than was realized. When Rajnath Singh looked to consolidate his hold over the organization, his rivals ran him down as a mofussil man, out of his depth and class. The BJP’s gennext never accepted Singh’s authority.

Successes in several state elections masked the depth of the party’s decline. The success kept alive the thought that Congress might be pulled under by allies and that its weakness in major states such as UP and Bihar would force it to cede power to its national rival. It was not to be.

Party leaders who felt they had been passed over in the generational drama hit back. The now-expelled Jaswant Singh set the ball rolling with his demand that “inam (reward)” be linked to “parinam (results)”, a clear enough indication that he did not think Arun Jaitley, the man seen to be the party’s chief election strategist, ought to have been made leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie joined issue.

Shourie’s criticism is correct — the party has ducked an honest post-mortem. The farcical chintan baithak in Shimla focused on expelling Jaswant Singh rather than that post-election non-report by the Bal Apte committee.

But despite the claims made by both sides, ideology — Hindutva or the more nebulous “integral humanism” and “cultural nationalism” — is not the issue. Neither is it about whether or not the BJP has “strayed” from its ideological moorings. It’s not about a “right-wing” party bitterly quarreling over dogma. The irony is obvious. Neither the dissidents nor those in the saddle disagree that BJP must be a conventional right-of-centre party, which speaks of middle India and avoids harsh rhetoric and confrontationist politics. Shourie, Sinha, Jaswant Singh, Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar would not differ much on this.

Right now, the BJP’s situation does not look too different from when Arjun Singh and N D Tiwari “revolted” against P V Narasimha Rao with 10 Janpath’s backing. They spoke of the “wrong” policies of reform initiated by Manmohan Singh and of Rao’s colossal failure over Ayodhya, but it was clear to most people that Arjun Singh wanted to be PM. In the BJP, the issue is about who gets the lion’s share of the spoils once Advani walks into the sunset.

The RSS has finally stepped in. Its leaders met Rajnath Singh and conveyed the firm message that factional fighting must end and a smooth transition to the next presidency effected. They also spoke to Advani, having already made clear that the time may be ripe to hand over the baton. They also received a delegation of four of the party’s leading Gen Next leaders — Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar and Jaitley — who made clear their views on Singh.

The jury is still out the outcome. Will that be enough for the BJP to return to form as a sleek and disciplined, election-winning machine?

The Saffron Brotherhood

Year of birth | 1980
Earlier avatar | The Bharatiya Jana Sangh, founded in 1951 by Syama Prasad Mookerjee
Ideology | Right-wing Hindu nationalist; socially conservative; belief in a free-market economy
Key players | L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley

Turning points
1990 | Advani’s rath yatra for a Ram temple at Ayodhya turns the BJP into a national force
1992 | The Babri Masjid is torn down, prompting nation-wide rioting between Hindus and Muslims
1998 | The BJP forms a coalition government under Vajpayee. India conducts nuclear tests
2002 | Between 1,000 and 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, die in riots in Gujarat
May 2004 | BJP-led alliance loses general elections

The Left

The earth is round, so if you go too much to the left, you end up on the right and vice-versa, Umberto Eco once said. Today, when many see the world as flat or more globalized, more equal and accessible, mild tectonic shifts in the political landscape can create extraordinary confusion.

As the tectonic plates move, ideology is the first casualty and the only certain point is the centre.

Eco didn’t mean the Indian communists, who haven’t taken a right-turn but are clearly confused about which way to go. India has many communist parties — ranging from CPI (Marxist) to CPI (Maoists) — but the mainstream left is made up of the CPM, CPI and their smaller allies in West Bengal and Kerala.

Today, this block appears to be in complete disarray. It all started after the election results, when the mainstream left’s magic tally of 60 in the 14th Lok Sabha dropped to 24. As soon as it became clear there had been a rout in the leftist bastions of West Bengal and Kerala, all hell broke loose and the tensions simmering beneath the surface came out in the open.

The result:
Public spats between the CPM’s leading lights
The expulsion of veteran CPM leaders
Private and public attacks on the CPM general secretary

But the party’s top ideologues don’t agree there is confusion. Prasenjit Bose, head of the CPM’s resource cell, insists, “As far as our core ideology is concerned, it’s intact. There’s no confusion. Our core support has always come from the peasantry, farmers and industrial workers and we are still committed to them.”Bose prefers to describe the stirrings within the party as “some introspection about what went wrong in Bengal and Kerala.”

Many of the party’s most committed activists disagree. A senior member of the Students Federation of India’s JNU chapter soberly says, “The party is in serious crisis. We have made all kinds of compromises with our ideology. Leaders like Buddhadeb Bhattacharya have turned completely to the right. For the past five years, we were happy being the Congress’s B-team. That was suicidal. And now we are wondering what went wrong.” The young man, who belongs to Kolkata, diagnoses the left’s problem as a profound disconnect. “The party leadership has lost touch with the cadre and our support base — the peasantry. The middle class has already left us, We are lost.”

The communist top brass at Delhi’s AKG Bhavan and Ajoy Bhavan claims that both the CPM and CPI are analyzing the reasons for the poll debacle and are set for some course correction. But analysts say it’s not that simple. Aditya Nigam, senior fellow at Delhi’s Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, and an expert on the left, says, “Even if they are doing some introspection, it’s about the immediate things like elections and governance, etc. They have to think about why the Kolkata intelligentsia and the middle class deserted them. It was because of what happened at Singur and Nandigram. I don’t think India has entered the post-ideological phase of politics, but the left is not able to provide an alternative to the Congress brand of politics.”

The CPM’s other critics are more harsh. They accuse the party of trying to reap the benefits of economic reform even as it continues its meaningless rhetoric against globalization. Kavita Krishnan, member of the CPI (ML) national executive, points out that the party’s “core base of peasantry, rural poor and working class in Bengal and Kerala have deserted them, thanks to the CPM’s policies of corporate land grab and repression.” She laments the leaders’ blindness. “I don't think there is a sign of any serious course correction or even introspection within the party. The CPM’s post-election communiques hardly even mention Singur and Nandigram as factors in election defeat.”

Singur and Nandigram will continue to haunt the CPM probably till 2011, when West Bengal goes to the polls. but they may be mere symbols of a confusion that goes too deep to be resolved.


The Red Chronicle

Year of birth | 1964

Earlier avatar | Communist Party of India, founded by M N Roy in 1920
Ideology | Marxism-Leninism. Believes in a big role for the state in economic affairs; opposes ‘US imperialism’, supports closer ties with China
Key players | Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yehchury, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya

Turning points
1977 | Jyoti Basu becomes West Bengal chief minister
1996 | The party turns down the offer for Jyoti Basu to be Prime Minister
2004 | The party gives support to the UPA
2007 | Violence breaks out in Nandigram and Singur
2008 | The Left Front withdraws support to the UPA government, loses heavily in elections