Many Ministers had large cash holdings, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley topped the list with over Rs. 65 lakh.
Where are the Ministers with Cash Holdings and Why Are They Not in Queues?
Image: The Hindu
The Centre’s demonetization of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes has forced the country’s population to queue up in front of banks. Politicians and Ministers in particular, seem to be relatively absent from these lines. Publicly available data indicates that a number of Ministers had large cash holdings – not including bank deposits – as on March 31, 2016. The Code of Conduct for Ministers first reported by Sabrangindia on November 30, reveals that of the 76 Ministers who are currently serving, only 40 have declared the amount of cash they had in hand.
The data also reveals that not everyone in the government’s roster of Ministers shares the Prime Minister’s enthusiasm for cashless transactions.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley topped the list with over Rs. 65 lakh, followed by Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State (Independent) with Rs. 22 lakh and Hansraj Ahir, MoS (Home) with a little over Rs. 10 lakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared cash holdings of Rs. 89,700.
Most of the Ministers, 23 in all, declared that they had under Rs. 2 lakh in cash, while 15 held cash in excess of Rs. 2.5 lakh.
A number of high-profile Ministers, including Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti have not declared their assets with the PMO so far according to the RTI analysis by activist Venkatesh Nayak.
Reference Articles:
— Only 6% of Black Money is In Notes, De-Monetization Move to Save Crony Capitalists
— Carpet Bombing by Modi has Cost 4 lakh jobs: Distress by De-monetization
— How the Govt's Calculation of How Much Currency in Circulation was 'Black' is a Gross Miscalculation?