Two parliamentarians with Punjab connection are the richest Cabinet Ministers of the Narendra Modi Government.
Union Finance, Corporate Affairs and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, who unsuccessfully contested 2014 General Elections from Amritsar, topped the list with assets worth `114.03 crore. The BJP stalwart is presently Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat.
He was followed by Union Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Bathinda MP, with her assets valuing `108.31 crores. Known as “Badal bahu”, Harsimrat is daughter-in-law of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and wife of SAD chief and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.
The two leaders are among the 41 multimillionaires in Modi’s 45-member “crorepati” council of ministers — which is 91 per cent — as per the declarations of their assets made to the Prime Minister Office with average assets of `14.32 crores.
The declaration of assets by the Ministers has been made according to the Code of Conduct issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Declaring assets after “entering office as a minister” has been necessitated under the Code of Conduct issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. It entailed that the minister, “within a period of two months from the date of assumption of office, shall disclose to the Prime Minister, or the Chief Minister, as the case may be details of the assets and liabilities, and of business interests, of himself and of members of his family”.
It said that details should include particulars of all immovable property and total approximate value of shares and debentures, cash holdings and jewellery, among other things. The ministers, as per the Code, are required to “furnish annually by August 31” the details of their assets and liabilities so long as they remain in office.
The data, analyzed by the Association Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) on the basis of assets declared by the Ministers in their last election affidavit or asset declaration, also pointed a massive increase in the assets of three Union Ministers including Jaitley in five months.
Between the intervening period of five months, ranging from the elections in April-May and declaration of assets by Minister in October, Jaitley’s assets marked an increase of `1.01 crores — which is one per cent rise.
Jaitley, in his lok Sabha 2014 election affidavit, has quoted his assets worth `113 (`1,13,02,16,000) crore, while in his assets declaration to the PMO, its value has increased to `114 crore (`114,03,40,370) — an increase of `1.01 crore (`1,01,24,370).
The value of Harsimrat’s assets was almost negligible — `14 lakh (`14,63,580). From `108.31 crore (`1,08,31,28,490), her assets increased to `108.16 crore (`108,16,64,910).
The majority share of her assets is that of her husband, Sukhbir Badal, with her own assets valuing just `12.82 crore.
ADR, in its report, pointed that upon analysis, it was found that the cause of changes in assets for many ministers is largely due to “lack of any standardized format for ministers’ asset declarations…Many Ministers have not given value for many assets declared”.
“Not declaring value of assets in the Ministers’ declaration is akin to not making a disclosure at all. Apart from that, some Ministers have not given the present market value of the immovable assets they have declared on the PMO website,” it added.
ADR maintained that while the purpose of Ministers’ declaration is to encourage financial transparency, the same was “belied” when the declarations are not made in the spirit of the instructions issued by the MHA.