(Image source from: Meet Narendra Modi's cabinet of criminal ministers})
Slender, younger, and buzzing with women power - Modi's new sarkar may be in many ways unlike the outgoing MMS government.
The new cabinet not only smaller but also has more women ministers of the cabinet rank than Singh's that had only two ministers of cabinet rank - Chandresh Kumari Katoch (culture) and Girija Vyas (housing and urban poverty alleviation).
That said, NaMo's new Cabinet of crorepati Ministers - worth over than Rs. 429 crores (barring Thawar Chand Gehlot) — has one thing in common with the outgoing Cabinet - criminal charges. Yes, you read that right!
A disturbing report by National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)reveals that a sizeable number of members in Narendra Modi government have criminal to serious criminal cases against them. From murder to communal disharmony and from kidnapping to electoral violations, Modi's ministers aren't really taint-free, you see.''
Apparently NEW and ADR had cautioned Modi on the whopping number of criminal ministers in his cabinet and urged him to induct only clean representatives, it's reported. Their report claimed that Modi had assured them that he would critically scrutinize the MPs with self-declared criminal cases and fast-track the legal proceedings against them during his campaign speeches.
The report brings to light that 13 of the 44 ministers (30 percent) had declared criminal cases against themselves. Also, eight other ministers (18 percent) seem to have serious criminal cases against them.
Of them, the longest list of criminal cases is against Uma Bharti, the water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation minister, who had been booked for attempt to murder in the past. Not just that, she has been accused of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds pf religion, race, place of birth, residence and language. Cases of illegal payments in connection with an elections are also filed against her.
Upendra Kushwaha(Rashtriya Lok Samta Party) the minister of state for rural development, panchayati raj, drinking water and sanitation, and Ram Vilas Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party) minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, have cases of bribery filed against them.
Gopinath Munde, the minister of rural development, has a case of kidnapping or abducting with intent lodged against him.
The report also revealed that of the 44 ministers analyzed, 40 (91 percent) were "crorepatis". The average assets per minister is Rs 13.47 crore. Five ministers have more than Rs 30 crore worth of assets. Arun Jaitley declared total assets worth Rs 113 crore and Harsimrat Kaur Badal Rs 108 crore. The other ministers with assets above Rs 30 crore include Munde, Maneka Gandhi and Piyush Goyal. The only non-crorepati member in the cabinet is Ram Vilas Paswan with a total declared asset of 96 lakhs.
According to the ADR analysis, the steady rise in the number of tainted MPs facing criminal charges over the years is a cause of serious concern. While in 2004, the number of LS MPs facing criminal charges was 24 %, in 2009 it rose to 30 % and surprisingly, the new Lok Sabha has outreached that mark with 34 % meaning the current Lok Sabha has186 Mps.
Jago India Jago!
AW: Suchorita Choudhury
