President okays her own salary hike by 300 per cent

New Delhi, Jan 3 (PTI) The monthly salary of the President of India has been hiked by 300 per cent taking it to Rs 1.5 lakh from Rs 50,000 earlier. Similarly, the salary of vice-president has been hiked to Rs 1.25 lakh per month from Rs 40,000.

President Pratibha Patil has approved the law effecting
this hike in the New Year.

The hike comes a year after the Cabinet considered a
proposal seeking an increment to the salary of India’s First
Citizen and enhancing post-retirement benefits for former
presidents and vice-presidents.

Earlier, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
(CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had taken a
decision to rationalise the salaries.

The hike comes close on the heels of government
announcing a bonanza for its employees by implementing the
recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission report under which
a secretary at the Centre will draw Rs 80,000 a month.

Immediately after the hike was announced, President
Pratibha Patil contributed a month's salary to the Prime
Minister's National Relief Fund towards the relief and
rehabilitation of those affected by Bihar floods.

The salary of president, which was fixed at Rs 10,000 in
the Constitution, was gradually raised to Rs 50,000 a month in
1998 with effect from January 1, 1996.

Almost everything that the President does or wants to do
is taken care of by the annual Rs 22.5-crore budget that the
Government allots for his upkeep. PTI RAH