Much has been said about the educational qualification of ministers in the newly formed Bihar government. A Business Standard analysis of data from Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-profit organisation, shows Bihar is not an aberration. Ministers in the high-income state of Tamil Nadu are less educated than their counterparts in Bihar. For instance, in Bihar, the ministers who have at least a graduation degree are 60 per cent of the total.This number for Tamil Nadu stands at only 48 per cent.
Similarly, while 21 per cent ministers in Bihar have completed their schooling but not graduation, only 17 per have done so in Tamil Nadu. Among the five states analysed, Madhya Pradesh fares the best, with 91 per cent of ministers either graduates or post-graduates. Rajasthan follows closely with 88 per cent of its ministers holding at least a graduation degree.
Uttar Pradesh is ahead of both Bihar and Tamil Nadu, with 81 per cent of its ministers having completed at least graduation.
Significantly, Tamil Nadu has the highest number of graduates as a percentage of total population. Yet, the number of graduates in its state government is the lowest. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Selvi J Jayalalithaa is the least educated among the five chief ministers analysed; she has studied up to Class 10.
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Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has a post-graduation degree in philosophy, while his counterparts in Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are graduates.
In terms of age of ministers, Tamil Nadu and Bihar appear to have the youngest cabinets among the five states. However, Bihar also leads in the number of ministers with criminal cases registered against them (67.9 per cent). It is followed by Uttar Pradesh (51.7 per cent).
Note: Data according to affidavits filed by ministers during their respective state Assembly elections
Uttar Pradesh has bicameral Assembly, where some ministers are not elected but nominated by the state government in line with its strength in the Assembly. Data for such ministers have been captured from their previous affidavits and their age details were taken keeping base year as 2012, when the Uttar Pradesh govt was elected
Source for all charts: ADR