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Updated: Jul 08, 2016 19:50 IST

The latest expansion of the Union council of ministers has put the total number of crorepatis at 72. The number of ministers with declared criminal cases is up at 24 and the total strength of the cabinet is 78, a study said Friday.

Last week’s cabinet expansion saw the induction of 19 new ministers. Five ministers were dropped. The average asset of the newly-inducted ministers is Rs 8.73 crore, taking the average asset of the entire council of ministers to Rs 12.94 crore, according to the study published by Delhi-based think-tank Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Among the new ministers, MJ Akbar, Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh, has declared the highest total assets worth Rs 44.90 crore followed by PP Choudhary (Rs 35.35 crore) and Vijay Goel (Rs 29.97 crore). Both of them are Rajya Sabha members from Rajasthan, the report said.

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The new ministers with assets over Rs 1 crore also include Ramesh Jigajinagi, Purshottam Khodabhai Rupala, Anupriya Singh Patel, Mahendra Nath, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Rajen Gohain, SS Ahluwalia, Arjun Ram Meghwal, CR Choudhary, Mansukhbhai Laxmanbhai Mandaviya and Krishna Raj.

As per ADR, nine of the total 78 union ministers have declared assets worth more than Rs 30 crore, including finance minister Arun Jaitley (Rs 113 crore), food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Rs 108 crore) and power minister Goyal Piyush Vedprakash (Rs 95 crore).

Among the newly-inducted ministers, Anil Madhav Dave, Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh and now environment minister, has declared the lowest asset worth Rs 60.97 lakh.

Six ministers had declared assets less than Rs 1 crore. Among the newly-inducted cabinet ministers, seven have declared criminal cases against themselves, taking the total number of such ministers in the 78-member council of ministers to 24.

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The study shows there are three ministers aged between 31 and 40 years, 44 ministers are between 41 and 60 years, and 31 ministers are between 61 and 80 years.

There are nine women ministers, ADR said in its analysis of the self-sworn latest affidavits of all ministers for their Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha elections. Among the 78 ministers, 14 have completed schooling till Class 12 or below. 63 ministers are either graduates or have a higher educational qualification.

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