Over a dozen Bihar Ministers out of total 22 are crorepatis. This list topped by Education Minister P K Shahi also includes Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The wealth of most of these Ministers increased manifold in the last four years.
As per the affidavits filed by these Ministers and compiled and evaluated by Association for Democratic Rights (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch (BEW), seven of these 13 Ministers were not crorepatis in 2010. Ranju Gita, who was made a Minister in 2013, owns assets worth Rs2.35 crore as against Rs87.59 lakh in 2010 which showed an increase of 169 per cent. The biggest increase was seen in the assets of land Revenue Minister Narendra Narayan Yadav. He had an assets of Rs39.14 lakh in 2010 which has shot up to Rs1.34 crore showing an increase of 243 per cent. The assets of Ramai Ram, Dulalchand Goswami and Naushad Alam also recorded over 200 per cent increase.
Nitish's assets grew from Rs1.62 crore in 2011 to Rs2.44 crore in 2013 with 44 per cent increase. The CM's assets declaration was not available in 2014. The richest Minister continues to be PK Shahi whose assets grew from Rs6.65 crore in 2010 to Rs7.29 crore but he also showed a debt of Rs1.05 crore. He is followed by Road Construction Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh lalan with assets worth Rs5.40 crore.
A couple of Ministers showed decline in their wealth. Tourism Minister Javed Iqbal has assets worth Rs8.86 lakh as against his earlier declared wealth of Rs75.14 lakh which shows a decline of 88 per cent. Another such Minister is Manoj Kushwaha who claimed assets worth Rs11.91 lakh as against earlier assets of Rs40.90 lakh. Urban Development Minister Awadhesh Kushwaha's assets showed least increase of 26 per cent and his wealth of Rs2.83 crore increased to Rs3.56 crore.
As per the evaluation, the average increase in the wealth of Bihar Ministers in four years is estimated to be from Rs78 lakh to Rs1.36 crore showing an increase of 75per cent.
The assets of at least five Ministers, who had been inducted in 2013, namely Ramdhani Singh, leshie Singh, Jai Kumar Singh, Baidyanath Sahni and Beema Bharti, could not be compared as the latest figures were not available and the agencies listed their assets declaration of 2010 in their election affidavits. Finance Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav's assets declaration was unavailable on the official website.
As per the Gross Domestic Product figures of 2004-05, the per capita per year income in Bihar is Rs33,954 or Rs2829 per month.
BEW State Coordinator Rajiv Kumar said all the figures of the assets have been taken either from the declaration to the Election Commission through affidavit or from the CM's official website. Nitish had made it mandatory for all his Ministers to file their assets declaration regularly.