The PG degree (M.Phil), was then seen a better qualification, at least, for teaching. Most of of us, surely, wanted to bid for All India Civil Services (IAS,IFS,IPS and so on). None of us except two wanted to join politics. I was the lone person to prefer journalism, least of lucrative job. . Politics, then, was the least preferred. I hated politics because I saw my father sufferings immensely for real "jan seva", honesty, straight forwardness and being an Gandhian. In India, such stupid things have no value.
Among my batch mates and contemporary at HPU were Anand Sharma, Suresh Bhardwaj, Narendera Bragta, Ram Lal Thakur, K.K. Kaushal. Of all of us, Anand Sharma was most aggressive and vocal. But then, he was ABVP man and switched over to Congress much later. He became first NSUI president from the state. It goes to his credit , he hand many firsts. Another leader Virender Kashyap in science stream was not as active in politics but later after joining teaching he became active in union activities. He left the teaching to fight elections. And among my contemporary was also Mohar Singh, who later joined Marxist party and became its architect. Among us, he was simplest of all. Remained wedded to Marxism, didn't marry and left no assets.
Honestly speaking, we didn't see any bright future to our contemporary with political affiliation. But, all of then have done extremely better and are super rich with security future. And me, the poorest of all with no social security and not even a house except ancestral property. My fault was that even after passing the M.Phil in Economics first among my batch mates in 1975, I chose to become journalist.
The purpose of recalling these events to tell my friends how rich are our leaders, the representative of relatively poor India. A career in politics can ensure you riches without toiling.
Have a look at the richness of my contemporary varsity fellows:
Anand Sharma. Declared Income, Rs 4 crore in 2010. Latest figure not availabl but it exceeds Rs. 10 crore. Of all through his career, he once fought assembly election from Shimla but lost. Since then, he has been getting elected to Rajya Sabha. After retirement, he will get more than 2 lakh as pension.
Virendera Kashyap: Declared 28 lakh in 2009 and in 2014 he declared assets worth 60 lakh. But, actually. its more than that.
Ram La Thakur: Former minister and MLA: Declared assets more than Rs. 2 crore but actually its more than that.
Suresh Bhardwaj: A son of a revenue official. During varsity time as hard pressed as we were.No official record available but his assets should be over 1 crore.
Narendra Bragta. He was wealthiest of all of us and hosted lavish party whenever he won student elections. He grows apple and get handsome income. So, it is not surprising his assets will run into crores.
K.K Kaushal: Ex .M.L.A from Bilaspur. He is a staunch CPI leader and fought elections against Cong leader Ram Lal Thakur. Details of his assets are not available but he is not more rich than his contemporary Ram Lal Thakur.
Mohar Singh Thakur: Among us, he was simplest of all, was Narender Bragta batch mate in Political Science stream. Later was groomed as Marxist in JNU and remained as Marxist all through his life. Got anything except sufferings. His greatest quality was, his readiness to learn.
Many students leaders coming out of the HP university are active on politics and leading the state. BJP working president , JP Nadda and chief minister, Jai Ram Thakur are among them. And all of them are now crorepati.
To drive point home is that the politics in contemporary India is much more lucrative than any other profession, especially after pension benefit as been extended to ex-MP and MLAs.
Look at the salary and perks MPs: Apart from getting a monthly salary, they get fringe benefits including quarterly laundry service worth Rs 75,000.
Practically, our MPs literally spend nothing. They are entitled to receive a salary of Rs. 50,000/- per month during the whole term of office.An MP is entitled to a daily allowance of Rs 2000 per day if he or she signs the Parliament register everyday.
A total of Rs 45,000 is entitled to each MP for office expenses. Out of these, Rs 15,000 is for meeting expenses on stationery items and postage, and Rs 30,000 is paid by the Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha Secretariat.
A member is entitled to travel allowances if he/she is travelling for official purposes such as to attend a Parliament session or to attend any meeting of Parliamentary committee or on a duty related to his office.
Air travel: MPs pay one and one-fourth of the airfare. Every member can avail of 34 single air trips during a year. The spouse/companion can travel alone eight times in a year to meet the member, which comes under the total of 34 journeys.
By Rail: MPs get one free non-transferable First class AC or Executive class of any train and one First class and one Second class fare.
Road travel: MPs are entitled to Rs 16 per km travelled.
Under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), each member can recommend to the concerned District Authority, developmental works to the tune of Rs 5 crore per annum to be taken up within the constituency.
A former MP is entitled to a minimum pension of 20,000/- per month and an additional pension of 1500/- per month for every year served as member of either House for a period exceeding five years.Family pension to spouse or dependent of a deceased member/ex-MP equivalent to 50% of the pension otherwise admissible to such deceased member/Ex-MP. An ex-Member can obtain Ex-MP Spouse Identity Card valid for PHA and PLB.
All these ft monetary benefits at the cost of hundreds of thousands of unemployed youth, toiling farmers and common man.
No other service or profession in India extends such lucrative salary packages and pension. Our lawmakers have taken care of themselves fully and leaves no available opportunity to hike their salary and benefits. HP has done just that the other day. Long live . demo(n)cracy and netas.