Forwarding an interesting article which I read in Yahoo News. We can only
express our sympathy for all the hard working persons who are unable to make
both ends meet.
Richest politicians
Shankkar Aiyar
Thu, Apr 16 10:56 AM
A
lean bare man on the banks of a river near Champaran, his eyes moist
with sadness, letting go of his shawl for a poor woman downstream to
cover herself and her child. This poignant moment from Richard
Attenborough's biopic on Gandhi is perhaps the most eloquent image of
selfless politics.
The gentle giant loved as Bapu and revered as
the Mahatma epitomised the philosophy of public service as one who gave
up everything to be one among the huddled millions. Nearly a century
later there is little evidence in reel or real life of the high moral
ground once straddled by that generation.
The brazen parade of
the Prada Prado set zipping across cities in cavalcades, appropriating
security funded by public money is evidence that politics has since
morphed into a largely self-serving enterprise. The pretense of khadi
and Gandhian values went out of vogue with the Gandhi cap long before
the Gucci generation stormed the political arena in the 1980s.
The
transition is best described by Rajiv Gandhi who said at the Congress
Centenary in Mumbai in 1985 that politics has been reduced to brokers
of power and influence, who dispense patronage to convert mass movement
into feudal oligarchy . Yes there are those who enter politics to serve
the public cause but they are exceptions rather than the rule. Entering
public life is now an investment of time and effort for dividends to be
earned from political entrepreneurship. A joint study by INDIA TODAY
and EmpoweringIndia.org (an initiative of the Liberty Institute) of the
reported assets of our elected representatives reveals a startling
contrast between the rulers and the ruled.
In a country where
over 77 per cent of the populace, or an estimated 836 million people,
earn an income of Rs 20 per day and over 300 million are living below
the poverty line, nearly half the Rajya Sabha members and nearly a
third of those from the Lok Sabha are worth a crore and more. Just the
top ten Rajya Sabha members and the top ten Lok Sabha members have
reported a cumulative net asset worth Rs 1,500 crore. The 10 top losers
in the last Lok Sabha polls including Nyimthungo of Nagaland who
reported total assets of Rs 9,005 crore is Rs 9,329 crore. Members of
legislative assemblies seem wealthier than many MPs. The top five MLAs
across the 30 states are worth Rs 2,042 crore. Of these 150 crorepati
MLAs, 59 don't even have a PAN card.
1. T. Subbarami Reddy
Indian National Congress
Rajya Sabha, Andhra Pradesh
Total Assets: Rs 239.6 cr
2. Jaya Bachchan
Samajwadi Party
Rajya Sabha, Uttar Pradesh
Total Assets: Rs 214.3 cr
3. Rahul Bajaj
Independent
Rajya Sabha, Maharashtra
Total Assets: Rs 190. 6 cr
4. Anil H. Lad
Indian National Congress
Rajya Sabha, Karnataka
Total Assets: Rs 175 cr
5. M. Krishnappa
Indian National Congress
MLA, Vijay Nagar, Karnataka
Total Assets: Rs 136 cr
6. MAM Ramaswamy
Janata Dal (Secular)
Rajya Sabha, Karnataka
Total Assets Rs 107.7 cr
7. Anand Singh
BJP
MLA, Vijayanagara, Karnataka
Total Assets: Rs 239 cr
8. Anil V. Salgaocar
Independent
MLA, Sanvordem, Goa
Total Assets: Rs 91.4 cr
9. N.A. Haris
Indian National Congress
MLA, Shanti Nagar, Karnataka
Total Assets: Rs 85.3 cr
10. Mahendra Mohan
Samajwadi Party
Rajya Sabha, Uttar Pradesh
Total Assets: Rs 85 cr
And
don't look for a correlation between the state of the state and the
wealth of the legislators. Uttar Pradesh boasts of the largest number
of people 59 million or over a third of its population living below the
poverty line. Not only is Mayawati the richest chief minister in 30
states, the state also boasts of 113 crorepati MLAs. Similarly, Madhya
Pradesh which has over 25 million of the 60 million people living below
the poverty line boasts of 80 crorepati MLAs. The Marxists are the
stark exception in this study too. The CPI(M) has 301 MLAs across 10
states but has only two MLAs with declared assets of over Rs 1 crore.
Of the 537 candidates who contested on a CPI(M) ticket, only seven had
assets of over Rs 1 crore, of which five lost in the elections.
As
the old maxim goes, power begets power and money attracts riches.
Clearly, it pays to be in power. Take the last round of Assembly
elections which afforded the study an opportunity to compare the
increase in wealth. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where the BJP was
in power, the average assets of candidates increased by five times.
In
Karnataka too where the Congress ruled in rotation with Deve Gowda's
JD(S), Congress candidates reported a fivefold rise in their assets.
Mercifully, wealth doesn't always ensure success. In all, 365
crorepatis contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2004; 88 lost their
deposits, and 114 came second.
Last December in Delhi the
Congress learnt this important lesson again when they found that
Congress candidates who lost in Delhi were on an average richer than
those who won. But wealth clearly does matter, all other things being
constant.
The caveat emptor here, as with all matters concerning
transparency in public life, is that we are going by what the political
class has chosen to declare. After all, the statement of assets filed
by candidates is at best a confession of sorts mandated by two Supreme
Court judgements of May 2002 and March 2003.
There are several
gaps in the information available. Of the 542 Lok Sabha members,
details of assets are available for only 522. Similarly in the Rajya
Sabha, only 215 members have filed details of assets.
There is no
institutional mechanism to cross-check facts, nor is there a
requirement for candidates to declare the source of wealth, or the
increase in wealth of candidates in subsequent declarations. In Mizoram
for instance, none of the 10 top candidates have reported possessing a
PAN card even though their wealth is in excess of Rs 1 crore.
What
is worse is that although MPs who are ministers file annual statements
of their assets, the information is not available to the public. This
virtually negates the concept of scrutiny that would prevent misuse of
position of power and enrichment. Indeed, what should be openly
available is denied even under the Right to Information Act.
It
is tragic that the Office of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who has been
described as integrity personified has been made party to this decision
to deny the information. Again, while Central ministers are required to
file a statement of assets, there is no such requirement for ministers
in states.
The adulterous cohabitation of power and pelf is
conspicuous across the political spectrum.
The chasm between the
declared and perceived reality is all too obvious to be missed.
Contrast the wealth reported and wealthy lifestyles of those elected to
high office.
Clearly the tip of the benami iceberg has not even
been touched. In a country with a stark asymmetry in opportunities and
ability, political power enables bending and twisting of policy,
converting politics into the elevator politicians ride to reach the pot
of gold. Living room conversations in middle and upper middle class
homes are dotted with whose son, daughter or son-in-law is raking it in
using the benami route to accumulate property and assets.
Television
footage of currency notes being waved in Parliament during the last
trust vote, the airborne campaigns witnessed during the polls in
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, money spent in fielding dummy candidates,
funding of party offices, travel in Toyota SUVs costing over Rs 75 lakh
each and private charters that politicians avail of to fly within the
country are all pointers that are hard to ignore.
Bankers and
brokers talk in not so hushed tones about the role of politicians in
corporate scams. There is also speculation about the real beneficiary
and benami ownership of at least two airlines, several real estate
ventures, pharmaceutical units and infrastructure companies. The
corporate concept of 'sleeping partner' has a whole new connotation in
the political world. As long as the real incomes, wealth and funding of
politicians remain opaque, governance will continue to suffer and
democracy will be rendered more often on the liability side in the
balance sheet of development.
with Sangram K. Parhi and Shyamlal Yadav
Empowering
India www.EmpoweringIndia.org has diligently tried to compile over
45,000 affidavits of candidates who contested for state assemblies and
Lok Sabha seats, in the past five years. In this process of
digitisation, there are possibilities of errors. We will greatly
appreciate if the readers point out any mistakes that come to their
notice. For authentic copies of affidavits, please consult the web site
of Election Commission of India.
Content courtesy: www.indiatoday.in/bts
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