Dear Narendrabhai,
I’m one of the millions of voters who
rejoiced when you came to power in a unanimous verdict in May 2014. But I
am certainly not one of them who whine about the absence of ''acche din'' at
every given opportunity. I dont want any favors from you, and neither did vote
for you because of that. I am not a beggar to vote for freebies. For me,
"acche din" means that the extension of East India Co, ie the
Congress party is out of power for now. Your reforms have been slow but steady,
in many cases you have continued the previous government's programmes or simply
rebranded them. But doesnt matter, you deserve a full term in power and you may
get the next if you are smart enough to seize it.
One of your appeals was that all
families who have their yearly income above INR 1000000 must forfeit their LPG
subsidy for the nation so that the same amount can be used to provide the same
facility for poor citizens. Your face smiles at us all in government ads
claiming that over 10000000 people have heeded your call and renounced their
subsidy.
I wish to state that I do not want to
be a part of that one crore club.
Because I am not a privileged person.
This LPG subsidy is just one small relief in the boring life of millions like
me who are spending most of their waking hours working just to stay a little
ahead of subsistence living.
INR 50000 salary, INR 45000
constituency allowance, INR 2000 daily allowance, INR 30000 for secretary
allowance, in all, a salary of nearly INR 600000. For what? Not working?
Stalling the parliament proceedings? INR 270000 is spent by me minimum per
month on each of these MPs via taxes while they squander freebies on their
respective votebanks.
Rs 150 monthly fees to avail all kinds
of medical facilities. And here I am, just one major ailment away from poverty.
A palatial bungalow as official
residence. Every MP is entitled without payment
of charges to the supply of water upto 4000 kl per annum and electricity
upto 50,000 units (25,000 units measures on light meter and 25,000 units on
power meter or pooled together) per annum beginning from 1st of January
every year in respect of residence allotted to him in Delhi. The above facilities
are extended to a member residing in a private accommodation in Delhi.Other
facilities enjoyed by members include washing of sofa covers and curtains every
three months; furniture within the monetary ceiling of Rs. 24,000 in respect of
durable furniture and Rs. 6,000 for non-durable furniture; and also 25 per cent
remission in the rents on account of any improvement or addition made to it or any additional
service provided thereto by way of furniture, electrical equipment and other
services. People with 10 lakh INR annual income cannot even build a one BHK flat
for themselves without spending two decades of their lives paying EMIs.
Rs 14000 per month is given merely for
office and stationery expenses. Even for MPs who cant read or write legibly. I
can only think of hundreds and thousands of disadvantaged children who dont
want food as donation but notebooks and pencils, and have to do with bare
minimum.
150000 local calls are given free to
every MP, and whats more, even if the parliament is dissolved, the MP is
entitled to consume the unutilised telephone calls, electricity units, and water units from the date of dissolution of the Lok
Sabha to the constitution of subsequent Lok Sabha. Further, if a member is
re-elected in subsequent Lok Sabha, he is entitled to adjust the excess
telephone calls, electricity/water units consumed during the intervening period
from the quota for the first year of the subsequent Lok Sabha. I can only laugh
at my helplessness as I have to keep a tab on every unit of water, every unit
of electricity, every phone call, every megabyte of internet usage to curtail
my bill for each of these things.
An MP as well as his/her
spouse is entitled to travel by first class in a train at any given time to
anywhere. In case of spouse being absent, any other person known to them can
take that previlege. I can only laugh at my helplessness hoping that a waiting
or RAC becomes a confirmed ticket. And that too when I have paid for the same.
No income tax. Do I even
need add the misery of the salaried class here?
Here is the complete list:-
The list can go on and
on, and the length of the list is not the topic here, but the laughable premise
that the workhorses of the service sector be expected to give up their little
comforts but the overlords must enjoy their opulence unhindered.
And who can forget the Indian Aristocratic Service? They too
have an accommodation, power all paid for by the exchequer, in addition to
vehicles, foreign tours, study leaves. And if one is asked the names of ten IAS
officers who have made a considerable difference in the country for the better,
one would simply draw a blank. Has all this giant bureaucracy of India produced
even one diplomat with one tenth the caliber of a Henry Kissinger or a
Vyacheslav Molotov or a Joachim von Ribbentrop (not role models for anyone, but
they served their country exceptionally well) ? Which IAS officer has served
India to even half the level that the ICS officer served the British crown
during the pre independence period? Its
no secret that Indian civil servants and diplomats are by and large one of the
most inefficient and corrupt in the world. Their most stellar contribution to
our country has been the glorious bureaucratic red tape and the useless posts
in loss making government bodies created for them by the MPs and MLAs who they
collaborate with. Which civil servant
has been jailed for a long time for crimes like corruption? Their lobby is so
strong that it is literally impossible to dismiss a civil servant for
incompetence or illegal deeds. Or get them indicted for the same.
Its these people who siphon off huge amounts of money in salary
and perks that are keeping the country poor, not little reliefs enjoyed by
people like me. Already the middle class is an orphan, devoid of any political
power, 48 hours in jail and we will never get employed anywhere, whereas
history sheeters can fight polls (parties are outdoing each other in getting
them to join), no MP or MLA will ever represent the middle class, they are
merely tax cows to be milked to the fullest.
So those emotionally blackmailing ads goading me to give up my
LPG subsidy only make me angry. Yes, you haven’t created this system, but it
remains firmly in place. It will take years of work to dislodge it, and huge
govt ads and publicity aren’t one of them. You will always have my vote, but I
think I don’t become a criminal by holding on to a little bit of relief measure
that’s paid out of my own tax money.
With Respects,
A common man.
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