Lawmakers need to deliberate on issues of investment and freebies as the country’s growth hinges on capital expenditure, Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Wednesday. He called for an urgent need for a national policy so that government investments in any form are used in a structured manner for the larger good.
“On placatory mechanisms, on appeasement, which is often known as freebies, this House needs to deliberate….Because the country grows only with capex being available. The electoral process is such that these have become electoral allurements and thereafter the governments that came in saddle found themselves very uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that they wanted to revisit their thoughts,” he said.
The comments came as Samajwadi Party lawmaker Ramgopal Yadav sought an increase in Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds from ₹5 crore to ₹20 crore.
Yadav said the funds are inadequate to carry out projects given the inflation and GST imposed on the spending. “One-third of the Lok Sabha MPs [members of Parliament] lose elections because of MPLAD… in several states including Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, the funds allocated to MLAs [members of legislative assembly] for spending are more than the MPLAD,” he said.
The MPLADS scheme allows lawmakers to suggest developmental works in their constituencies such as the construction of roads, schools, and other physical infrastructure.
As lawmakers across party lines backed Yadav’s demand, Dhankhar noted that the Constitution provided for the legislature, MPs, and MLAs but did not have a uniform mechanism. He was referring to the difference in the allocation of funds for work as well as the remuneration of elected representatives.
“…legislatures in several states give perks and salaries to members of the assembly much beyond members of Parliament and even the pension variation for a former member of the assembly is on a scale of 1 to 10. If in one state, one is getting one rupee, in the other state the pension will be 10 times, and therefore, since these are the issues where legislation can deal with the issue and it will help the politician, it will help the government, it will help the executive and it will also ensure high quality of investment,” he said.
Dhankhar added that there is a need to revisit the structure of subsidies as well. “Subsidies, if required in areas like the farm sector, should be direct, and that is the practise in developed countries. I checked with the US mechanism. The US has 1/5th of farm households as our country but the average income of US farm household is more than the general income of US household, and that is because the subsidy to the farmer is direct, transparent, without intermediary.”