Lahore, 11 August, 2026 (Ghufran): At the time of Pakistan’s creation in 1947, members of the country’s first Constituent Assembly were not paid a monthly salary. Instead, they received a daily allowance of Rs21 for the days on which the Assembly met. Including travel allowance, the amount came to Rs45 per day. Nearly eight decades later, the basic monthly salary of a member of the National Assembly has reached Rs600,000, in addition to various allowances, travel facilities and other privileges available to lawmakers.The increase in lawmakers’ salaries and privileges has taken place against an economic backdrop significantly different from that of Pakistan’s early years. Pakistan’s federal budgets have frequently been presented with sizeable fiscal deficits, while the Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 reported that consumption-based poverty rose to 28.9 percent in 2024-25, with rural poverty at 36.2 percent and urban poverty at 17.4 percent.The evolution of parliamentary remuneration spans nearly eight decades, moving from modest daily payments in the country’s early years to a compensation structure that now includes business-class travel facilities, annual travel vouchers, office and telephone allowances, medical facilities, and payments for participation in parliamentary sessions and committee meetings, along with other privileges.