In light of the fact that the President of India and the Vice- President are being paid less, the Union home ministry forwarded its request to the Cabinet Secretariat for seeking approval of Union Cabinet.
It is considered as an anomaly with the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations. Although the home ministry has been approached, there is no reply yet.
Current Salary of President
It is unbelievable to note that the salary of the President of India is less than that of a cabinet secretary. As a matter of fact, Ram Nath Kovind earns a salary of Rs 1.50 lakh monthly but the principal secretary of the cabinet receives a monthly remuneration of 2.50 lakh per month.
The governor of a state gets a monthly salary of Rs 1.10 lakh, while the Vice-President receives an amount of Rs 1.25 lakh monthly. Differences in the amount have come to notice now, despite it being prevalent from the day of implementation of the 7th Pay Commission. The commission was implemented on January 1, 2016.
Anomaly with the 7th Pay Commission
The President’s salary is not only less as compared to Cabinet Secretary but also the chiefs of the three armed forces – the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force, and the Indian Navy. The chiefs are drawing a salary of Rs 2.5 lakh per annum. As a matter of fact, President is the supreme commander of all three forces. Despite that, the President’s current salary is less than that of theirs.
As per the proposal, the President’s, Vice President and Governor’s salary should be Rs 5 lakh, 3.5 lakh and 3 lakh monthly.
The proposal also integrates salary hike requests for pensions of former Presidents, spouses of deceased Presidents, former Vice-Presidents, spouses of deceased Vice-Presidents and former Governors. All these requests are being made in the name of the President.
