Fwd: [bangla-vision] Indian Ministers are number one liars

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Prathiba Sundaram <prathibasam@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 9:44 AM
Subject: [bangla-vision] Indian Ministers are number one liars

 

Indian Ministers are number one liars   NEW DELHI: The Union Council of Ministers has finally made a disclosure of individual assets, and if the information provided is taken at face value, we have a truly aam admi Cabinet with a few exceptions. Commerce minister Anand Sharma, for instance, may be spending his official day looking at figures in billion of dollars, but his personal wealth is a paltry Rs 26,741. Likewise for food processing minister Subodh Kant Sahai, who has assets of Rs 1.4 lakh, urban development minister S Jaipal Reddy with assets of just Rs 3.3 lakh and social justice minister Mukul Wasnik who also owns only Rs 3.3 lakh. Even Farooq Abdullah, the renewable energy minister, who shuttles between Delhi, Srinagar and London and is reputed for his flamboyant lifestyle, can lay claim to assets of barely Rs 6.5 lakh, while our cotton-sari clad railway minister, Mamata Banerjee, is worth more at Rs 6.7 lakh, which includes 10 grams of gold. Of course, not everybody is quite as aam as this, but even high-profile leaders like Sharad Pawar claim to own just Rs 3.9 crore, while telecom minister, A Raja, has assets worth Rs 73.9 lakh. Then there are those who are, as it were, the royalty of the group, some literally, others not so. Palaces, farm land across the country, shares and stocks are the stuff their assets are made of. On top of this heap is civil aviation minister Praful Patel with Rs 33 crore, followed by Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kapil Sibal with assets upwards of Rs 20 crore. Incidentally, this does not include the properties and income of their wives and dependents. Many in this not-so-aam list have invested heavily in property. While Patel has several properties in Worli, Scindia owns ancestral property like Shanti Mahal and Rani Mahal in Gwalior. Chemicals minister M K Alagiri whose net worth comes to about Rs 9 crore has plots in Madurai. The disclosure comes after over a year of sarkari stonewalling on an RTI application filed by activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal. The PMO on Thursday dropped its stand against making public ministers' assets and liabilities giving over 400 pages of complete details filed by the elected representatives. Ministers are expected to file detailed list of assets and liabilities, their business interests and that of their family within 3 months of taking oath. Agrawal had sought these details citing public interest but the PMO denied disclosure claiming that the information was exempted under "fiduciary relationship." The Central Information Commission had finally directed the PMO to take permission from both Houses of Parliament before making the information public. Parliament was of the opinion that no permission was required for disclosure forcing the Union Cabinet this week to adopt a resolution that the assets would be made public.

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