As many as 70 out of the 71 ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s newly formed government are crorepatis with assets exceeding Rs 1 crore each, as per the recent Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The report further highlighted that six of these ministers have assets surpassing Rs 100 crore.
The ADR conducted an analysis revealing that the average assets of the 71 ministers amount to Rs 107.94 crore. The minister with the highest declared assets is Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani of the Telugu Desam Party, with assets worth a staggering Rs 5,705 crore. Pemmasani currently serves as the Minister of State for Rural Development and Communications.
Following Pemmasani, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jyotiraditya Scindia and Janata Dal (Secular)’s HD Kumaraswamy have declared assets worth Rs 424 crore and Rs 217 crore respectively. Scindia, the former Minister of Civil Aviation, has been appointed as the new Minister of Communications, while Kumaraswamy has taken up the mantle of Minister of Heavy Industries and Minister of Steel.
Other ministers with assets exceeding Rs 100 crore include Ashwini Vaishnaw, Rao Inderjit Singh and Piyush Goyal. Vaishnaw and Goyal, both cabinet ministers, hold portfolios in Railways and Electronics and Information Technology and Commerce and Industry respectively.
However, the ADR report also states that 28 out of the 71 ministers, or 39%, have declared criminal cases against them. Furthermore, 19 ministers or 27%, have declared serious criminal cases, including charges related to attempts to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women.
The report also provides a gender breakdown of the ministers, revealing that only 7 out of the 71 ministers or approximately 10%, are women. In terms of education, 11 ministers have declared that they have completed Class 12, while 57 ministers or 80%, have declared having an academic qualification of graduate or above. Three ministers hold diplomas.
The new government, including Modi and his council of ministers, was sworn in on Sunday, with portfolios declared the following evening. A dozen Cabinet ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari and S Jaishankar, have retained their portfolios. New additions to the ministry include former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and JP Nadda.
Most of the ministers assumed charge of their ministries on Tuesday morning.
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