Indian lawmakers unhappy with 313 percent raise

Posted By Brian Fung Friday, August 20, 2010 - 11:42 AM Share

Members of India's parliament will see their salary more than tripled in the coming weeks, bringing their annual income to a high of $12,854 a year. But for some lawmakers, evidently, that's still not enough:

The Lok Sabha [the lower house of parliament] was adjourned as several MPs protested against the rise, which they said was inadequate.

The members had demanded their pay be raised to at least 80,000 rupees [a month], which is what senior bureaucrats are paid.

Translation: what the MPs really wanted was a pay hike of 500 percent, not 313.

I guess that makes sense, because India's economy is just swimming along, now. But wait, you say. Aren't we're talking about a country whose per-capita income still hovers at around $1,000 a year? And where over 10 percent of the country is out of a job, and more than 40 percent live on less than $1.25 a day?

Yes.

Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

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