In an unfortunate and shocking report, out of the 56 ministers who took oath on Thursday and are part of either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, 51 are crorepatis and 22 are declared criminals. The reports come from the election watchdog, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
It says that 8 ministers have declared their educational qualification to be between 10th and 12th standard, while 47 are graduates. Meanwhile, only one minister holds a diploma.
The ADR released its findings after analyzing affidavits of 56 of the 58 ministers, including PM Narendra Modi, from the 17th Lok Sabha and the current Rajya Sabha.
Details regarding Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, who is also the minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar were not looked after as currently, they are not members of Parliament.
According to the report, of the 56 ministers who were analyzed, 22 (39%) have declared criminal cases against themselves, while 16 (29%) have declared serious criminal cases, including those related to attempt to murder, communal disharmony, electoral violations etc.
Furthermore, when the data is compared with the one from the 16th Lok Sabha, the number of ministers with criminal cases has increased by 8%, while the count of those with serious criminal cases has increased by 12%
6 ministers reportedly have declared cases against them for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc. Meanwhile, 3 Ministers including BJP leaders Giriraj Singh and Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, have cases of poll code violation against themselves.
The ADR said 51 (91%) of the ministers are crorepatis. On average, each minister has assets worth Rs. 14.72 crore.
Also, Four ministers, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal, reportedly have declared assets worth more than Rs. 40 crore.
Meanwhile, only 5 ministers, including first-timers elected Kailash Chaudhary and Rameswar Teli, have declared assets worth less than Rs. 1 crore.
The list also includes Pratap Chandra Sarangi from Odisha's Balasore who has declared assets worth around Rs. 13 lakh and is also known for his strict lifestyle.