I always believed that focusing on the Wealth and Assets of our representatives (MLAs and MPs) in a negative manner, is a wrong activity. There are reasons for it:

By very nature, humans want to grow higher.

Money, which is both a means and mode to grow in life, is wanted by majority of people.
Criticizing those ‘who have money’ not only shows the shallowness of the criticizing person; but also points to his/her own unfulfilled desires sitting deep inside.

Unfulfilled goals or desires?

Yes.

If a person’s goal is to become a good teacher; he/she will not bicker about the money a businessman or a politician has. As, for this teacher the happiness comes from ‘being a Good teacher’. For him/her “fulfillment of the goals as a teacher” will give him/her the same satisfaction, a businessman gets from his money.

In the same way, a true researcher will never find time to bicker about the money his classmate, who ventured into business, has. As for the researcher, the source of fulfillment comes from his research and not the Money. In addition, the researcher very well knows that, since time is scarce resource; hence he/she can’t afford to waste it on any other pursuit. Hence he will keep earning his currency (the research work).

Thus Money is just a symbolic entity. Different people accord Money value to different things in their lives.

Hence, if a person is constantly disappointed by another person’s money, success or power; then first thing he/she should do, is STOP getting disappointed and look in his/her own life. A good appraisal of self, will let them know ’What their real money OR their source of contentment/fulfillment is’. If the person can’t stop himself from criticizing people for their money; then it’s time to make plans to earn money himself. As here, it can be clearly seen, he derives Money value from Money itself.

Representatives in New Uttarakhand Assembly, who can serve us better than others, as they will not be ‘distracted by the desire to get Rich in Money Terms’; As these guys are already millionaires (crorepatis):

About half or 46 percent of the newly elected legislators in Uttarakhand Assembly are crorepatis. In the previous Assembly, the share was 16 per cent.

In terms of numbers, 32 newly elected legislators in the state are crorepatis.

The MLA with maximum assets in the 2012 state Assembly is Rajesh Shukla of the BJP from the Kitcha constituency with assets worth Rs 26.63 crore followed by Amrita Rawat of the Congress from Ramnagar with Rs 13.57 crore and Surendra Singh Jeena of the BJP from the Salt constituency with assets worth Rs 7.04 crore. [Data: UKEW]

On the opposite pole, there are three legislators who have declared that their assets are less than Rs 10 lakh.

Among major parties, the average asset per MLA for the BJP is Rs 2.02 crore, Congress is Rs 1.87 crore, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is Rs 1.21 crore and for Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive)/UKD (P) is Rs 1.27 crore.

According to the UKEW data 71 per cent of the legislators are graduates and above and only five women candidates have made it to the Assembly. Their percentage in terms of representation is just seven per cent.

Analysing the MLAs who have re-contested the elections in the state, the UKEW has stated that there were 50 such legislators. It has been underlined that while the average asset of these MLAs, as declared in 2007, was Rs 83,34,174, it has gone up to Rs 2,30,46,876 in 2012. The average asset growth for these re-contesting MLAs has been Rs 1,47,12,701 in the past five years.

Similarly, the average percentage growth in assets for these MLA stands at 177 per cent.
The UKEW report says that Rajesh Shukla of the BJP from the Kitcha constituency has shown the highest increase in assets to the tune of Rs 25.76 crore followed by Surendra Singh Jeena of the BJP from the Salt constituency with an asset increase of Rs. 6.26 crores and Yashpal Arya of the Congress from the Bazpur constituency with an asset increase of Rs 3.71 crore.

The highest percentage increase in assets that has been pegged at a whopping 84.33 per cent has been for Bishan Singh Chuphal of the BJP from the Didihat constituency. His assets rose from Rs 1.18 lakh in 2007 to Rs 1.01 crore in 2012. He is followed by Mayukh Singh of the Congress from the Pithoragarh constituency with a percentage increase of 47.73 per cent (from Rs 6.30 lakh in 2007 to Rs 3.07 crore in 2012) and Banshidhar Bhagat of the BJP from the Kaladhungi constituency with an increase of 29.68 per cent (from Rs 2.38 lakh in 2007 to Rs 73.02 lakh in 2012).

A total of six MLAs out of 70, declared liabilities of Rs 40 lakhs or above.

Criticizing our legislators for the money they have; is not a very good thing. Anyone who has read or heard successful people of the past and present; knows that: in life it’s the people who bring us opportunities. This is even more true for “One in a Life Time Opportunities”.


Individuals, who are well connected to the right kind of people, get the most rewarding opportunities the life can bring. A politician meets hundreds of people each day, which range from a commoner to the most influential people of the society; this helps him/her attract the right kind of opportunities in Life. No wonder, he/she grows his/her assets that much in just five years.


Here it is important to address the question of criminality of our representatives. To tell you: having criminal cases and being convicted are two different things. And culpability (guilt or blame) is for the courts to decide. We have enough work in hand to keep bickering about it. It’s another thing if you file a case against that politician or you’re in a legal profession.


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