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Home , Ambika Soni, Jaipal Reddy, Jairam Ramesh, Kanti Singh, Ministry of Steel, Namo Narain Meena

cover story UPA MINISTERS

Illustrations by RAM and SAURABH SINGH Frequent

I By Shyamlal Yadav THE PERKS OF his is one high-flying government. In this globalised world, it is FOREIGNFliers TRAVEL now in the nature of official business to travel to different parts HAVE NEVER BEEN of the earth, making new friends, lesser enemies and influenc- SO WIDELY UTILISED. ing people. As a rising economic power, it is perhaps more necessary than ever before to make your presence felt at global THE MINISTERS OF high tables and international conference podiums. But even by THE UPA TRAVELLED that yardstick, the UPA Government would seem to be in an over- driveT or rather turbo-charged, its ministerial representatives raking up AT WILL TO LOG frequent-flier miles at a frenetic pace, this, despite the Prime Minister’s ENOUGH MILES TO Office (PMO) supposedly cracking down on bureaucrats and ministers trav- CIRCLE THE EARTH elling abroad at the drop of a Gandhi topi. Whether it’s a case of Democracy on the Move or the New World Order, the perks of foreign 256 TIMES. travel have never been so widely utilised. Consider this. In the 1,287 days of the UPA Government till November 30 last year, its ministers travelled an incredible 1 crore km (10 million km)-plus on trips abroad, official and personal, but mostly official. It means that the ministers made more than 256 trips around the globe, considering the earth’s circumference of 40,008 km. Among the 71 ministers (excluding the prime minister) who went on foreign trips dur- ing their tenure, 47 ministers spent over Rs 27 crore. The bill would be much higher, taking into account the fact that the other ministers did not provide details of their expenditure. This, of course, does not include the expenses incurred by Indian embassies abroad which run up substantial bills hiring limousines and providing other services to visiting ministers. At least 12 of the total 78 ministers travelled more than 2.5 lakh km each in the last three-and-a-half years. Not that they did anything illegal or shady: none of the trips (we hope!)

Seventy-one of the 78 UPA ministers (besides prime minister) have made 786 foreign trips spending about 3,798 days and travelling 1.02 crore km in 1,287 days.

30 TODAY N FEBRUARY 18, 2008 FEBRUARY 18, 2008 N INDIA TODAY 31 cover story UPA MINISTERS

over four months and 59 RTI applications to crore on his official visits. As commerce In his over 2.36 lakh km travel abroad, Fatmi’s official visits are various ministries apart from PMO and the minister and head negotiator for India in the Cabinet Secretariat, before the information World Trade Organisation deliberations, he MoS for agriculture & consumer affairs only 3 but he has spent 181 days on his 14 personal trips. could be compiled and made available. The is obliged to travel abroad fairly frequently. Number of trips: 8 air distances have been calculated in ap- And with trade and economic relations as- Km travelled: 1,18,769 M.A.A. Fatmi, MoS for human resource development proximation. Where the city was not men- suming far greater importance, he is more OFFICIAL EXPENSES: tioned, the distance from to the capital visible than the external affairs minister Rs 80.8 lakh city of the destination country was consid- when the prime minister goes abroad as ered. Expenses incurred were calculated on was the case recently in Beijing. The cities Santosh Mohan Dev Official: 220 hmad the basis of the per diem allowance that he has visited most frequently, whether pri- Minister for heavy ind & public enterprises E. A nal: 12 ministers are entitled to, since the RTI pro- vately or on official work, are London, Kuala Number of trips: 8 P e r s o ternal affairs 77 vided us information only about the number Lumpur, Bangkok, New York, Paris and Km travelled: 1,03,645 MoS for ex travelled: 6,13,2 Ravi 7 Km of trips and the number of days that each Brussels. In comparison, Finance Minister OFFICIAL EXPENSES: as minister: 1,28 5 km Rs 52 lakh Minister for overseas Indian affairs Days Official: 5,99,01 minister spent abroad. Here are some high- P. Chidambaram spent a mere 118 days on Number of trips: 18 : 9 lights of foreign travel by the UPA ministers. overseas visits, for which the Government BER OF TRIPS 7 2 km Shankersinh Vaghela NUM Personal: 14,26 It may come as no great surprise but picked up a tab of Rs 1.45 crore. Km travelled: 2,83,036 Minister for textiles OFFICIAL EXPENSES: : 6 ES: Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Minister of State (MOS) for Civil Aviation Official 7 ICIAL EXPENS Number of trips: 8 Rs 1.14 crore OFF Nath, last spotted in Davos, logged the max- (independent charge) made 41 Km travelled: 1,37,494 Personal: 3 7 crore imum mileage on foreign trips and created trips abroad of which 16 were official. He Rs 1.3 OFFICIAL EXPENSES: ROAD: 232 some sort of a record in the bargain. He chose to visit the US six times and the UK Minister for panchayati raj DAYS AB sit visits Not provided during his 22 tran spent 424 days on 72 trips outside the coun- five times, besides France and Belgium. Number of trips: 17 ys in UAE d has spent 48 da ial jurisdiction. try, of which 27 days were spent on six Records show that the cities Patel visited Prem Chand Gupta 2,09,239 Ahma r his minister Km travelled: st comes unde personal visits. A cool 14 months spent most frequently in his personal capacity are Minister for corporate affairs OFFICIAL EXPENSES*: iddle-Ea though M outside India. He covered 10,08,162 km up London, Paris, New York, Singapore, Kuala Number of trips: 7 Rs 40 lakh to November 30, 2007 (enough to earn Lumpur, Bangkok and Dubai. However, *Some bills yet to be submitted Km travelled: 57,388 frequent flier miles to make 20 free trips to being a businessman of some standing OFFICIAL EXPENSES: A. Raja the US and back, assuming he flew first would explain why he spent more time Not provided Minister for communications and IT class) and the Government spent Rs 1.81 abroad on personal visits in comparison to Number of trips: 12 Km travelled: 1,89,994 Fernandes’s previous ministry (statistics) has taken him to OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Not provided more foreign shores—Australia, Geneva, Italy, South Korea, MoS for new and renewable energy (I.C)* Thailand (thrice) etc—than his present one. Number of trips: 9 , MoS (I.C.) for labour and employment Km travelled: 1,56,025 OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Rs 87.4 lakh *Independent Charge Minister for commerce and industry Saif-ud-Din Soz Days as minister: Minister for water resources 1,287 Number of trips: 9 NUMBER OF TRIPS: 72 Km travelled: 65,704 OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Official: 66 Rs 14.2 lakh Personal: 6 DAYS ABROAD: 424 MoS in PMO Number of trips: 9 Official: 397 Km travelled: 92,400 Personal: 27 OFFICIAL EXPENSES: involved wives, mistresses or family tailed list of ministerial travel abroad dur- Not provided shopping on Fifth Avenue at government ing the UPA Government’s tenure and it Km travelled: (read public) expense. They do, however, makes for fascinating reading. It would 10,08,162 show that some ministers are literally have made better reading and comparative Official: 9,33,650 km MoS for health and family welfare higher than others. In fact, some spent assessment if we had access to similar trips Nath has covered over 10-lakh km, Personal: 74,512 km Number of trips: 8 more time abroad on personal trips than during the NDA regime too, but the almost 10 which could earn him enough frequent Km travelled: 1,23,811 on official visits. years that have passed since then meant OFFICIAL EXPENSES: OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Using the Right To Information (RTI) that it was a far more laborious and time- flier miles to make 20 free trips to the Rs 28.6 lakh procedure, INDIA TODAY has obtained a de- consuming process. In any event, it took Rs 1.81 crore US and back assuming he flew first class. cover story UPA MINISTERS

S. Regupathy official—he spent 125 days on personal vis- as a speaker following the Railways success MoS for environment and forests its and 57 days on official visits. Patel, MOS story, does not belong to the club of frequent for Human Resource Development M.A.A fliers. Dasmunshi took 38 days travelling Number of trips: 7 Fatmi and D. Purandeswari, Minister for abroad on personal visits, as against the 20 Km travelled: 70,416 Information and Broadcasting Priya days he spent overseas on official trips. He OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Rs 67,000* Ranjan Dasmunshi, Minister for Mines Sis travelled 1,59,676 km in total and spent Rs *Only for one trip Ram Ola, MOS for Petroleum and Natural 17 lakh on his official tours. His cities of Gas Dinsha J. Patel, Minister for Corporate preference included Kuala Lumpur, Los Sushil Kumar Shinde Affairs Prem Chand Gupta and MOS for Steel Angeles, London, Switzerland and Paris. Minister for power Akhilesh Das were the ministers to have MOS for External Affairs E. Ahmad spent Number of trips: 6 recorded more days outside the country on more time abroad than his senior minister, Km travelled: 1,47,297 personal visits in comparison to official vis- . Ahmad spent a total of OFFICIAL EXPENSES*: its. Fatmi travelled 14 days on official visits 232 days on his foreign travels. He covered Rs 29.2 lakh but clocked 181 days on personal visits. In 6,13,277 km of which 14,262 km were on *Some bills yet to be submitted total, he travelled 2,36,605 km (his ministry personal visits. However, Ahmad’s travels did not provide details of the expenses), and and the cities most visited are in direct pro- Suresh Pachauri countries he visited most frequently on his portion to his official charge. His travels MoS for personnel, public grievances personal expense were Malaysia, took him frequently to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Number of trips: 6 Singapore, the UK, France and China. Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Singapore and Km travelled: 85,932 Fatmi is from Railway Minister Lalu the Rs 1.37 crore spent on his official visits OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Rs 28.2 lakh Prasad’s Rashtriya . The latter, are explained by the fact that Middle-East incidentally, despite his new-found demand comes under his ministerial jurisdiction. In her 66 days abroad on 14 official visits, Selja’s destinations include Amman, Canada, France, Italy, Egypt, Lisbon, South Korea and Spain. Kumari Selja, MoS (I.C.) for housing and urban poverty alleviation

Praful Patel MoS (I.C.) for civil aviation Days as minister: 1,287 NUMBER OF TRIPS: 41 Official: 16 Personal: 25 DAYS ABROAD: 182 Official: 57 Personal: 125 Km travelled: 5,12,351 Official: 2,47,674 km Personal: 2,64,677 km OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Rs 66.5 lakh

Patel being a businessman would explain why he has spent 125 days on personal visits while his official days abroad are only 57.

34 INDIA TODAY N FEBRUARY 18, 2008 cover story UPA MINISTERS In his 670 days in the ministry, Maken has undertaken personal visits to Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore spending about 12 days in those countries last June. Ajay Maken, MoS for urban development Dasmunshi has spent 38 days on his personal visits abroad against 20 days on official tours. He has covered 1.59 lakh km during his ministerial term. M Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, minister for I&B and parliamentary affairs

The UPA regime has steadfastly refused commerce and textiles visit Uzbekistan to reform the education sector by opening thrice? Or what is the attraction of Serbia it to foreign direct investment. Yet that has for ministers? Although there are entitle- not prevented the ministers and the man- ment norms for a minister travelling darins from catching flights to various cor- abroad, they are known to demand that ners of the world. Purandeswari in her 670 they be lodged at the best suites and travel days in office made eight trips while her in the most expensive wheels. Simply be- Cabinet Minister Arjun Singh went abroad cause there is the peculiar political fig leaf nine times including an eight-day trip to the called convention whereby ministers can Middle-East. The ministry sources say that justify expenditure with the profligacy of a Purandeswari “presents the case of India previous regime. very well at the international fora”. While official work is a very useful alibi, In many instances, the connection be- it is interesting to note that certain destina- tween the destination and the portfolio is tions are visited by ministers regardless of difficult to decipher. Why would an MOS for their portfolio. Information reveals that 17

Mukherjee’s previous portfolio Pranab Mukherjee of defence had fetched him Minister for external affairs 12 trips abroad while he has Days as minister: 1,287 made 21 trips being the NUMBER OF TRIPS: 33 external affairs minister. Official: 33 Personal: Nil DAYS ABROAD: 115 Official: 115 Personal: Nil Km travelled: 3,09,145 Official: 3,09,145 km Personal: Nil OFFICIAL EXPENSES*: Rs 86 lakh *Only for MEA’s 21 trips

36 INDIA TODAY N FEBRUARY 18, 2008 cover story UPA MINISTERS

Anand Sharma Official: 113 Shivraj V. Patil Ministerial Entitlement Abroad MoS for external affairs Personal: 1 Sharma has made 30 Minister for home affairs What Union ministers get on their trips abroad and the process of clearance visits abroad leaving Number of trips: 4 Days as minister: 670 Km travelled: 5,30,511 Km travelled: 24,736 THE RULE BOOK available although the tab was close to MoS for heavy industries Overseas Indian Affairs OFFICIAL EXPENSES: For every visit by a Cabinet minister, ¤2,000 (Rs 1,14,000) a night. A Union NUMBER OF TRIPS: 30 Official: 5,18,226 km Not provided Number of trips: 6 Minister whether official or private, initial clear- minister has a fetish for a luxury suite in Official: 29 Personal: 12,285 km Km travelled: 54,756 ance is required from the Ministry of Dorchester Hotel in London which costs way behind at 18 T.R. Baalu OFFICIAL EXPENSES: External Affairs (MEA). After clearance, £1,700 (Rs 1,31,000), plus the cost of a OFFICIAL EXPENSES*: Minister for shipping, road transport Not provided Personal: 1 trips. Both enjoy the file is sent to the prime minister for butler and tips, which add another Number of trips: 4 DAYS ABROAD: 114 Rs 1.33 crore Ram Vilas final approval. Only visits by the £200 (Rs 15,500). an equal tenure. Km travelled: 73,429 President, the vice-president and the Ministers are entitled to a dearness * Some bills yet to be submitted OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Minister for chemicals, fertilisers and steel Rs 14.1 lakh Number of trips: 5 prime minister require no sanction. allowance of $75 (Rs 3,000) a day. For transport, cars are hired by the local mis- Km travelled: 58,640 THE TAB sion or provided by the host government Mahavir Prasad OFFICIAL EXPENSES*: Minister for small and medium enterprises In case of ministerial visits, the bills are for the entire delegation. This can cost Rs 25.3 lakh Number of trips: 4 *For fertiliser ministry only paid by the Indian missions in the about $40 (Rs 1,600) an hour for a countries concerned and then settled Mercedes E-Class and $100 (Rs 4,000) an Km travelled: 60,706 OFFICIAL EXPENSES: through book transfer with the ministry hour for the S-Class. Meals are provided Not provided Minister for petroleum and natural gas concerned. by the mission or the local hosts. Number of trips: 5 To justify the luxurious stays, the rea- Raghuvansh P. Singh Km travelled: 41,242 ENTITLEMENTS son given is that the minister would be Minister for rural development OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Ministers are entitled to five-star hotel meeting foreign dignitaries. Since there Rs 12.6 lakh Number of trips: 4 junior or executive suites in the range of is no upper ceiling, the suites often can Km travelled: 42,078 $2,000-4,000 (Rs 80,000-1,60,000) a cost a bomb. For instance, the two one- OFFICIAL EXPENSES: B.K. Handique day. In cities like New York, Paris and bedroom residential suites on the 51st MoS for chemicals, fertilisers and Not provided London, their entitlement is a normal floor of the Four Seasons New York cost parliamentary affairs suite during the peak sea- $15,000 (Rs 6,00,000) a Dinsha J. Patel Number of trips: 5 son, but the wow factor Ministers are supposed night. In Dubai, the Burj Al MoS for petroleum and natural gas Km travelled: 51,819 often leads ministers to go Arab Hotel offers a Royal Number of trips: 4 OFFICIAL EXPENSES*: to fly Air India only. Rs 69,000 in for presidential suites But often they use Suite at $10,400 (Rs Km travelled: 93,512 *Borne by parl. affairs ministry which can cost upward of 4,16,000) a night and a OFFICIAL EXPENSES: $6,000 (Rs 2,40,000) a other carriers on the slightly smaller presiden- Rs 15.7 lakh Akhilesh Prasad Singh night. One former external tial suite at $9,200 (Rs Curious destinations and countries MoS for agriculture, consumer affairs, food affairs minister would in- grounds that A-I flights 3,68,000). Even though S. Jaipal A sample of destinations travelled by ministers Number of trips: 5 sist on staying in a bou- are not available or the host governments very Minister for urban development Km travelled: 79,663 tique hotel in Paris and the often offer their state Bangkok London New York Italy Manila Number of trips: 4 don’t directly connect Km travelled: 59,180 OFFICIAL EXPENSES: mission there had to justify guest houses, our minis- K. Lumpur Paris Geneva Zurich Germany Rs 30.5 lakh that it was the only hotel the destinations. ters prefer hotels. OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Singapore Brussels Dubai Canada Uzbekistan Rs 43 lakh

ministers visited Thailand and 14 ministers step out of the country at all. They include Congress President ’s country Kyndiah, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, went to Malaysia at least once, either on of- M.H. Ambarish, MOS for information and of birth, attracted the largest number of Ashwani Kumar, and ficial or on personal visits. Interestingly, jun- broadcasting; J.P.N. Yadav, MOS for water re- ministerial visits, private and official. No . ior ministers (read MOS), who more often fret sources; M.V. Rajasekharan, MOS for plan- less than 20 ministers visited Italy, and they Other ministers who travelled abroad about not getting enough to do, managed to ning; Manik Rao Gavit, MOS for home; include Prasad, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Nath, fairly frequently include Mukherjee, Anand show up on foreign shores. As many as 33 Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, MOS for social Kantilal Bhuria, R. Velu, Santosh Mohan Sharma, (more on BCCI work of the total 40 made 311 trips in total and justice; Taslimuddin, MOS for civil supplies Dev, , , than representing the Agriculture Ministry), spent 1,388 days abroad. Surprisingly, and V. Radhika Selvi, MOS for home. Shankersinh Vaghela, Vilas Muttemwar, S. Anbumani Ramadoss, Chowdhury, Kapil there are seven among them who did not Here’s another interesting detail. Italy, , Oscar Fernandes, P.R. Sibal, Vayalar Ravi, and Purandeswari is one of the ministers whose personal Sahay, during his almost 2 months’ time abroad on 13 trips outnumber official ones. She has been outside India trips, has gone to several countries that include France, for almost 2 months which include only 5 official days. the US, Germany, Brazil, Italy and Canada etc.

D. Purandeswari, MoS for human resource development Subodh Kant Sahay, MoS (I.C.) for food processing industries

38 INDIA TODAY N FEBRUARY 18, 2008 FEBRUARY 18, 2008 N INDIA TODAY 39 cover story UPA MINISTERS Even a portfolio like environment and forests has Sharad Pawar afforded Meena a chance to officially visit Canada, the Minister for agriculture, consumer affairs, food and public distribution UAE, the US, Brazil, the UK, Czech Republic and Korea. Days as minister: 1,287 , MoS for environment and forests NUMBER OF TRIPS: 27 Elangovan has spent 55 days abroad on 18 official Official: 7 For BCCI: 17 trips. He has visited Uzbekistan thrice, Bangkok twice, Personal: 3 DAYS ABROAD: 97 besides a number of countries. Official: 37 For BCCI: 49 M E.V.K.S. Elangovan, MoS for textiles Personal: 11 Km travelled: 2,62,597 Rao Inderjit Singh M.M. Pallam Raju Official: 86,133 km MoS for defence MoS for defence For BCCI: 1,36,917 km Number of trips: 4 Days as minister: 1,287 Km travelled: 58,630 Personal: 39,547 km OFFICIAL EXPENSES: NUMBER OF TRIPS: 26 Not provided OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Official: 23 H.R. Bhardwaj Rs 1.03 crore Personal: Minister for law and justice 3 Number of trips: 3 DAYS ABROAD: 130 Pawar has travelled Km travelled: 47,189 abroad more often as OFFICIAL EXPENSES*: Official: 114 Rs 20 lakh Indian cricket board Personal: 16 *Some bills yet to be submitted chief than representing Km travelled: his ministry of Minister for mines 4,99,438 Number of trips: 3 agriculture. Km travelled: 57,486 Official: 4,65,658 km OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Rs 1.17 crore Personal: 33,780 km OFFICIAL EXPENSES*: R. Velu Soni has spent 23 days abroad on personal trips—which MoS for railways Rs 33.3 lakh Number of trips: 3 *As MoS for external affairs include Italy, the birth place of Sonia Gandhi, as a destination Km travelled: 54,529 OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Singh’s 670 days in MoD have taken him abroad nine times while his —of which itineraries for 11 days were not disclosed by PMO. Rs 11.2 lakh senior minister A.K. Antony has travelled only twice in his 402 days. Ambika Soni, minister for tourism and culture Minister for social justice and Ashwani Kumar. Pawar spent 97 days ment. She made three personal trips to Securing access to so much information office does not maintain and may be ob- empowerment abroad, out of which 49 days were devoted Cambodia, Chicago and Singapore, after would have been impossible—considering tained from individual ministries/depart- Number of trips: 3 to BCCI work and 37 days were spent on being moved to Women and Child the thickness of red tapes—had there not ments.” Subsequently, the magazine got in Km travelled: 39,296 ministerial duty. Sharma, as MOS for exter- Development Ministry. While MOS for Labour been the RTI Act in place. When INDIA TODAY touch with every ministry and requested the OFFICIAL EXPENSES: nal affairs, spent 114 days abroad on his 30 and Employment Fernandes spent a fairly filed an RTI application in PMO on September details of foreign visits made by cabinet Rs 8.1 lakh trips and his expenses totalled over Rs 1.33 substantial amount of over Rs 2.26 crore on 27 last year requesting the details of foreign ministers and ministers of state along with crore while Minister for Overseas Indian the 46 days he spent outside the country on visits of ministers since the UPA Government the names of delegates and the approxi- Suryakanta Patil Affairs Ravi spent 125 days on his 18 visits. official visits. The reason lies in the fact that was formed, along with the approximate ex- mate expenditure by them for each trip. MoS for rural development Both Sharma and Ravi put an equal 670 he has to take a huge delegation that in- penditure incurred by each of them, the PMO Sibal’s Ministry of Science and Technology Number of trips: 3 days in their tenure. cludes trade union representatives with provided all the details except that bit on the came up with the expenditure incurred on Km travelled: 30,656 Chowdhury totalled 112 days abroad him. After all, the Government is supported expenditure incurred. The response said, the cash allowances of the minister and OFFICIAL EXPENSES: during her terms in the ministries of tourism by the Left and the Left-supported trade “The culled information does not include other officials on foreign trips but not the Not provided and culture, and women and child develop- unions add to the number of his delegates. expenditure involved in each trip which this airfare. For airfare alone, a request was for-

FEBRUARY 18, 2008 N INDIA TODAY 41 cover story UPA MINISTERS Shriprakash Jaiswal warded to the Pay and Account Office (PAO), incurred for minister of power on daily Known for his stance against FDI in higher education, Singh MoS for home affairs Cabinet Affairs, asking it to “furnish the ex- allowance, hotel accommodation, Number of trips: 3 penditure incurred towards airfare etc on transportation etc on foreign visit is not has made nine official foreign trips and has spent over Km travelled: 18,481 the visits indicated in the enclosed list of the available with the ministry as the same is OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Hon’ble Minister for Science & Technology”. met by the concerned Indian missions Not provided Responses from some other ministries abroad and debit claimed directly from PAO, two-and-a-half months in several countries.

were at best elusive. The Cabinet Secretariat.” Arjun Singh, minister for human resource development M Pavan Kumar Bansal said, “Expenditures on the visits of minis- The Ministry of Environment and MoS for finance ters are met from the budget of Cabinet Forest’s reply was comparatively detailed, During his 670 days in the ministry, Kumar has spent Number of trips: 2 Secretariat or met by the PSU concerned.” but on expenditure, it said, “The exact ex- Km travelled: 25,528 The Ministry of Power replied: “The figures penditure incurred on these heads is met on 75 days in countries like Kazakhstan, Egypt, France, OFFICIAL EXPENSES: indicate expenditure in respect of minister actual basis by PAO, Cabinet Secretariat. The Rs 4.3 lakh of power alone on airfare. The expenditure final claims are submitted to it after the Morocco, Italy, Japan, the UK and Canada. Ashwani Kumar, MoS for commerce and industry Dasari Narayan Rao MoS for coal tours. The same may be collected from there reply said, “Cabinet Secretariat is in no way Number of trips: 2 directly.” Similarly, the Ministry of Micro, the public authority concerned with the in- Akhilesh Das Km travelled: 32,382 Small and Medium Enterprises provided all formation relating to expenditure incurred Minister of state for steel OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Number of trips: 2 Not provided information except for expenses on the basis on the salaries and allowances of ministers that “expenditure on the cabinet minister’s of Union Cabinet and the bills are settled be- Km travelled: 31,266 tour is booked under head ‘Council of tween the ministries concerned and the Pay OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Naranbhai Rathwa Not borne by ministry MoS for railways Minister Tour Expenses maintained by & Account Officer, Cabinet Affairs, and the Number of trips: 2 Cabinet Secretariat’”. The response of the CABSEC has no role in this regard.” Lalu Prasad Department of Higher Education under the Significantly, ministries like railways, Km travelled: 36,955 Minister for railways Ministry of HRD was a masterpiece of obfus- labour, tourism, external affairs, civil avia- OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Number of trips: 1 cation. It said the expenditure “information tion, agriculture, urban development, fi- Rs 20.3 lakh Km travelled: 15,826 is compiled after complete information from nance and water resources parted with full OFFICIAL EXPENSES: A.K. Antony the Embassy concerned is received in the and detailed information as requested. In Rs 40 lakh Minister for defence Ministry, which takes considerable time”. cases where responses are still awaited, like Number of trips: 2 However, the ministry has provided the ex- the ministries of defence and textiles, infor- Chandra Sekhar Sahu Km travelled: 17,004 penditure details for only three visits out of mation provided by PMO has been used. MoS for rural development OFFICIAL EXPENSES: the nine made by the cabinet minister. Opaque procedures have daunted ef- Number of trips: 1 Not provided Finally, INDIA TODAY approached the forts to get a complete lowdown on the ex- Km travelled: 12,712 Cabinet Secretariat for details of ministerial penses. In a sense, the magnitude of the bill OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Shakeel Ahmed expenses, only to reach a dead-end. The for official tourism is yet a bit of a mystery. Rs 1.18 crore* MoS for communications and IT * As per official allotment Number of trips: 2 Km travelled: 15,388 Renuka Chowdhury Official: 101 With six trips, the US tops Chidambaram’s list of OFFICIAL EXPENSES: P. Chidambaram Personal: 11 Rs 2.5 lakh MoS for women & child development (I.C.) Minister for finance destinations, obviously for the IMF and Word Bank meets. Km travelled: 3,17,031 Days as minister: 1,287 Days as minister: 1,287 Official: 2,92,911 km NUMBER OF TRIPS: 25 NUMBER OF TRIPS: 24 Official: Personal: 24,120 km 22 Official: 24 Personal: OFFICIAL EXPENSES*: 3 Personal: Nil Rs 56 lakh DAYS ABROAD: 112 DAYS ABROAD: 118 *As MoS for tourism and culture only Nine of Chowdhury’s total visits, official or personal, were to the US and the Official: 118 UK alone. Her personal visits also comprise Cambodia and Singapore. Personal: Nil Km travelled: 3,60,860 Ramesh’s tours have included less-frequented places Official: 3,60,860 km like Baku, Dhaka and Manila. He has spent 15 days Personal: Nil abroad on four official trips in his 670 days in office. OFFICIAL EXPENSES: , MoS for commerce and industry Rs 1.45 crore

42 INDIA TODAY N FEBRUARY 18, 2008 FEBRUARY 18, 2008 N INDIA TODAY 43 cover story UPA MINISTERS Ramadoss’s 117 days abroad include places as varied as Thailand, Kuala Lumpur, Geneva, Seychelles, Canada and Singapore. His 17 jaunts make up 2.54 lakh km. Anbumani Ramadoss, minister for health and family welfare Minister for science & technology, and

P.R. Kyndiah earth sciences & ocean development Minister of tribal affairs Days as minister: 1,287 Number of trips: 1 Km travelled: 11,846 NUMBER OF TRIPS: 24 OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Not provided Official: 23 Personal: 1 K.H. Muniappa MoS for shipping, road transport DAYS ABROAD: 113 Number of trips: 1 Km travelled: 10,540 Official: 106 OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Personal: Rs 1.4 lakh 7 Km travelled: 3,97,813 A.R. Antulay Minister of minority affairs Official: 3,93,405 km Number of trips: 1 Personal: 4,408 km Km travelled (personal visit): 6,112 OFFICIAL EXPENSES*: OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Nil Rs 11.7 lakh G.K. Vasan *Airfare not included MoS (I.C.) for statistics and programme implementation Sibal has toured the US six times, Number of trips: 1 and has spent 18 days on a trip to Km travelled: 9,387 Malaysia, China and Brazil. OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Not provided Home Alone Netas K. Venkatapathy Ministers who didn’t go to any foreign shore during their regime MoS for law an justice Number of trips: 1 M.H. Ambareesh MoS for planning Taslimuddin Km travelled: 11,572 MoS for information and broadcasting Manik Rao Gavit MoS for agriculture, consumer affairs, food and public distribution OFFICIAL EXPENSES: J.P.N. Yadav MoS for home affairs Not provided MoS for water resources S. Jegadeesan V. Radhika Selvi MoS for social justice & empowerment MoS for home affairs S.S. Palanimanickam M.V. Rajasekharan MoS for finance Number of trips: 1 So many peripatetic ministers spending so faced with ministers from the coalition Km travelled: 1,370 much of public money seems surprising allies. The cynical view would be that this OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Rs 2.7 lakh considering that the PMO ostensibly scruti- too is a coalition expenditure but the facts nises every request for official travel reveal that the big travellers in the UPA are T. Subbarami Reddy abroad and has been trying to be tight- seasoned Congressmen. MoS for mines fisted in its clearances. Sources in the PMO It was who had coined the Number of trips: 1 suggest that the expenditure and travel phrase “Government on the move”. Even Km travelled (personal itinerary would have been longer, had the he would have been surprised at the PMO not stalled some habitual travellers. distance the UPA Government has visit): 7,678 Apparently, the PMO cannot do much when travelled—abroad, that is. I OFFICIAL EXPENSES: Nil