In the newly appointed Union Council of Ministers of the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 33 of the 78 ministers (nearly 42 per cent) have self-declared criminal cases against them while 70 ministers (nearly 90 per cent) are crorepatis, or those having declared asset more than ₹1 crores, according to data put out by the Association for Democratic Reforms. Of the 33 ministers that have criminal cases against them, 24 are serious criminal cases. Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Minister for Civil Aviation, is the most valuable minister on the Council, with assets worth ₹379 crores, followed by Piyush Goyal, existing Minister for Commerce and Industry and now also Minister for Textiles, at ₹95 crores. On July 7, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expanded the Union Council of Ministers, that included changes to some vital ministries such as Law, Information and Broadcasting and Health and Family Welfare. The Council was also expanded to 78 members from the previous 54, in the first and a major rejig since the current government came to power in 2019.

Here's how the new Union Council of Ministers looks in terms of wealth and criminality.

Criminal Report

33 of the 78 ministers have criminal cases against them while, of these, 24 are serious criminal cases.

ADR defines serious criminal cases as:

1  Punishments of 5 years or more or if it is non-bailable

2  Electoral offences (such as bribery)

3  Assault, murder, kidnap or rape

4  Offences mentioned under the Representation of People's Act, 1951

5  Offences of corruption, under the Prevention of Corruption Act

6  Crimes against women

7  Crimes relating to loss against to exchequer

Nisith Pramanik has a declared case of murder (IPC Section 302) against him. Four ministers - John Barla, Nisith Pramanik, Pankaj Chaudhary and V. Murleedharan - have cases of attempted murders (IPC Section 307) against them. Five ministers - Amit Shah, Giriraj Singh, Shobha Karandlaje, Nityanand Rai and Prahlad Joshi - have cases related to causing communal disharmony against them (IPC Section 153A or 295A). Seven ministers have cases related to electoral violations against them (under IPC Section 171H, 171E or 171F). These ministers are Nitin Gadkari, Satyapal Singh Baghel, Giriraj Singh, Pankaj Chaudhary, Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, Bhagwanth Khuba and Kaushal Kishore.

How Money Talks

90 per cent of the incoming Union Council of Ministers are crorepatis, and the the average assets of the Council is ₹16.54 crores.

Educational Report

Of the 78 ministers, 17 are graduates, 17 are graduate professionals (like doctors, lawyers or accountants) and 21 are post graduates.