NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s treasury of gifts received from foreign lands continues to grow. After 16 months of travel abroad, he has received 169 gifts from foreign leaders, and has even retained a set of bow and arrows for his personal use.
The latest quarterly list of Modi’s gifts released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) this month offers a peek into the Toshakhana or treasure trove of the Indian government.
Compared to the second quarter of this year, Modi’s haul has been relatively poor from July to September. He clocked 37 gifts in the MEA’s depository, a much lower number than the 65 gifts he received between April to June. This is despite the large number of visits in this quarter. Modi visited Russia, the five Central Asian states, UAE, Ireland and the US. He had visited France, Germany, Canada, China, Mongolia, South Korea and Bangladesh in the second quarter of 2015.
Since he became PM, Modi has received 169 foreign gifts from May 2014 to September 2015. In contrast, Manmohan Singh got only 46 gifts in his first 16 months as PM.
Modi also got much more expensive booty. His most expensive gift was a jewellery set worth Rs 35 lakh, compared to Singh’s Rs 30,000 Sony Handycam mini digital camera recorder, during the same period.
As per the rules, all foreign gifts received by government dignitaries have to be deposited with the MEA. They are then assessed for their value. If the value of a gift is less than Rs 4,500, the recipient can keep it. If it is beyond that limit, then the recipient can retain the gift by paying the difference.
This time, Modi has retained several gifts, including “one set of bow and arrows”, which was assessed to have “no commercial value”.
Besides, Modi has kept a chessboard set, a painting, a bowl, a vase, a pagoda replica, an idol, a carpet, a green-glazed jar, two wall hangings, a wooden show-piece and two photo frames. Intriguingly, he has also retained “a ceremonial dress”.
Even Congress president Sonia Gandhi featured in the Toshakhana list. She had deposited a “flower vase with wooden base”, assessed at Rs 4,000 which has since been “returned to the recipient”.
Vice President Hamid Ansari listed a bed cover and a flower vase, which he retained.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj received the second highest number of gifts after Modi — 17 — which include a small golden statue of Egyptian goddess Isis.
The most expensive gift in the third quarter was received by Indian Air Force chief Arup Raha, who got two Aigner wristwatches worth Rs 1.7 lakh.