Cosmetic cost cutting.

In view of the dire economic situation our most revered Finance Minister may, just may, resort to cost cutting. He has hinted at curtailing junkets to foreign shores, no purchase of new cars for officials, flights only in cattle class, no meetings in 5 star hotels etc. However, unless he cuts the numbers of leeches the sheer volume will kill the country. The US is a $14.5 trillion economy while India is a mere $1.6 trillion but while the US has 15 Secretaries ( same as ministers in India ) and 7 of cabinet rank, making 22 in all, we have 47 ministers and 47 ministers of state, making 94 in all. There are 121 different departments in all these ministries which are staffed by officers of various ranks and numerous clerks. Considering that their salaries were increased by 80% in 2008 and they receive Dearness Allowance, equivalent to 75% of basic salary, the salary bill for all these useless fellows is humongous. Then there are the MPs. There are 552 of these beauties in the Lok Sabha and 250 in the Rajya Sabha. Being " supreme " they have awarded themselves such meager allowances as 1. Rs 50,000 salary/month 2. Rs 45,000 office expense allowance 3. Rs 15 million/ year free phone calls from 3 phones. Whether for each phone or combined is not explained. 4. Rent free flats-cum-furniture with free washing facilities. That would be at least Rs 50,000/month. 5. 50,000 units of free electricity/ year. That is why people are paying ever higher rates for electricity in Delhi. 6. Rs 20,000/month as pension. Will this accrue even if you are a MP for 1 day? Presumably yes. 7. Rs 2,000 daily allowance. For what? 8. Rs 45,000/month constituency allowance. 9. 4000 kiloliters of water/year. Most of Delhi gets water for just 1 hour/day in summer, some parts get no water for days. 10. 125% of fare incurred on airline. What is the extra 25% for? Shopping? 11. AC 1 class or executive class travel on trains. 12. Highly subsidised veg/non veg cafeteria on first floor of parliament. They are always moaning about subsidies to the people. HT, May 13. Apart from this each MP is given Rs 50 million as Local Area Development Scheme, affectionately known as MPLADS, although it is available to lasses as well. You need a calculator to tot up the total and then multiply by 552 and you will arrive at an approximate figure of the expense of these useless parasites. Why useless? There is a draconian act called the Essential Services Maintenance Act or ESMA which allows governments to beat up doctors if they go on strike. Yet when parliament does no work because of hooligan behavior by MPs this act is not invoked. If they are not an essential service, ergo, they must be useless. Deficit cannot be controlled unless numbers of leeches are pruned but nobody will agree to prune himself. Therein, in short, lies the nub.