Some months ago the Indian Legislature passed a legislation enhancing the salaries and perks of the Ministers and Members of the Indian Parliament by an obscene amount ....83% odd. While a similar increase in any of the private sector firms would have earned the wrath of everybody, the news did not raise the hackles of anybody except the members themselves who vociferously argued that this was not enough, and even went to the extent of arguing that they should be paid higher than the longest and most senior bureaucrat.
Having lived abroad, I reflected on what is done in other countries....Singapore, for example, where I worked and lived for five years, annually reviews the salaries and benefits of its legislators. Every review does not result in a revision. If the salaries are high enough, they are left alone. But they do conduct a rigorous market survey ( called a Salary Survey ), carried out by an independent agency, and compare Ministerial salaries with the ten highest paying companies in Singapore. Once they are ranked from the highest to the lowest, Ministerial salaries are pegged at about 10 to 15% higher than the highest.
There is a reason for this. The Singapore Government believes that their Legislators should not succumb to any temptation of bribes or monetary overtures from any quarter and hence pay them sufficiently well not to be tempted by others.
But the beauty of the whole thing is how are things monitored to ensure that the Legislators are always clean ? Needless to say there are elaborate systems and methods that monitor that no Legislator falls prey to corruption. And if they did...
Public shame and swift punitive action is brought in. So much so the tainted and guilty ministers, in the past, have either shot themselves or stepped off a high office window ledge and plunged to their gory death. They would rather put an end to their lives than face public ridicule and shame.
Questions I have are :
1. Even if we have granted our Indian netas the increase that they have wangled to get will they stop being corrupt ?
2. If they do get caught in corruption, will they do what any self respecting Legislator in Singapore does ?
What do you think ?
Thought provoking and particularly relevant in today's context, when a new corruption scam is popping up every few days. Unfortunately public memory is short, the 83% raise is largely forgotten and so will the scams be if one looks at history :( I personally hope not - high time to stop the rot and punish the guilty! Need swift punitive action as you say.
ReplyDeleteIf a minister was found guilty in any scam, first action is resignation and step down from his current post. you will see the same person as Governor of a state after few months.
ReplyDelete