IAS Officer's Family Received ₹1.16 Crore in Agricultural Subsidies
The mother, wife, and son of senior IAS officer Naresh Pal Gangwar have collectively received over ₹1.16 crore in subsidies from a central government scheme aimed at promoting commercial horticulture, according to records reviewed by The Indian Express.
Naresh Pal Gangwar, a 1994-batch Rajasthan-cadre officer, currently serves as Secretary in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The subsidies were disbursed over five years under the 'Development of Commercial Horticulture through Production and Post-Harvest Management of Horticulture Crops' scheme, administered by the National Horticulture Board (NHB) under the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare.
Records show that Gangwar disclosed only one of these projects in his mandatory annual declaration of immovable property with the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) for 2021-22. He stated that service rules require him to declare only projects undertaken on a large scale for profit. The scheme offers a maximum subsidy of 50% of the project cost, capped at ₹1 crore per family, for cultivating crops such as capsicum, cucumber, tomato, and select flowers.
The Union Minister for State for Agriculture, Bagirath Choudhary, also has a project approved under the same scheme. His project for cucumber cultivation across 16,592 sq m is among 467 approved by NHB in 2025. The NHB's board is headed by the Union Agriculture Minister, with the MoS as ex-officio Vice-President, though officials say the MoS has no direct role in approving individual subsidies.
The Indian Express sent a questionnaire to Choudhary seeking his response on potential conflicts of interest, but he was unavailable for comment. His office confirmed receipt of the email.
Of the 467 projects approved in the 2025-26 financial year, 60 received subsidies exceeding ₹50 lakh each. The project site at Choudhary's farm in Peeh village, Rajasthan, displays a signboard showing a total project cost of ₹1.99 crore, with the promoter's share at ₹49.8 lakh and a loan of ₹1.49 crore from HDFC Bank.
