A lean bare man on the banks of a river near Champaran, his eyes moist with sadness, letting go of his shawl for a poor woman downstream to cover herself and her child. This poignant moment from Richard Attenborough's biopic on Gandhi is perhaps the most eloquent image of selfless politics.

The gentle giant loved as Bapu and revered as the Mahatma epitomised the philosophy of public service as one who gave up everything to be one among the huddled millions. Nearly a century later there is little evidence in reel or real life of the high moral ground once straddled by that generation.

The brazen parade of the Prada Prado set zipping across cities in cavalcades, appropriating security funded by public money is evidence that politics has since morphed into a largely self-serving enterprise. The pretense of khadi and Gandhian values went out of vogue with the Gandhi cap long before the Gucci generation stormed the political arena in the 1980s.

The transition is best described by Rajiv Gandhi who said at the Congress Centenary in Mumbai in 1985 that politics has been reduced to brokers of power and influence, who dispense patronage to convert mass movement into feudal oligarchy . Yes there are those who enter politics to serve the public cause but they are exceptions rather than the rule. Entering public life is now an investment of time and effort for dividends to be earned from political entrepreneurship. A joint study by INDIA TODAY and EmpoweringIndia.org (an initiative of the Liberty Institute) of the reported assets of our elected representatives reveals a startling contrast between the rulers and the ruled.

In a country where over 77 per cent of the populace, or an estimated 836 million people, earn an income of Rs 20 per day and over 300 million are living below the poverty line, nearly half the Rajya Sabha members and nearly a third of those from the Lok Sabha are worth a crore and more. Just the top ten Rajya Sabha members and the top ten Lok Sabha members have reported a cumulative net asset worth Rs 1,500 crore. The 10 top losers in the last Lok Sabha polls including Nyimthungo of Nagaland who reported total assets of Rs 9,005 crore is Rs 9,329 crore. Members of legislative assemblies seem wealthier than many MPs. The top five MLAs across the 30 states are worth Rs 2,042 crore. Of these 150 crorepati MLAs, 59 don't even have a PAN card.

1. T. Subbarami Reddy

Indian National Congress

Rajya Sabha, Andhra Pradesh

Total Assets: Rs 239.6 cr

2. Jaya Bachchan

Samajwadi Party

Rajya Sabha, Uttar Pradesh

Total Assets: Rs 214.3 cr

3. Rahul Bajaj

Independent

Rajya Sabha, Maharashtra

Total Assets: Rs 190. 6 cr

4. Anil H. Lad

Indian National Congress

Rajya Sabha, Karnataka

Total Assets: Rs 175 cr

5. M. Krishnappa

Indian National Congress

MLA, Vijay Nagar, Karnataka

Total Assets: Rs 136 cr

6. MAM Ramaswamy

Janata Dal (Secular)

Rajya Sabha, Karnataka

Total Assets Rs 107.7 cr

7. Anand Singh

BJP

MLA, Vijayanagara, Karnataka

Total Assets: Rs 239 cr

8. Anil V. Salgaocar

Independent

MLA, Sanvordem, Goa

Total Assets: Rs 91.4 cr

9. N.A. Haris

Indian National Congress

MLA, Shanti Nagar, Karnataka

Total Assets: Rs 85.3 cr

10. Mahendra Mohan

Samajwadi Party

Rajya Sabha, Uttar Pradesh

Total Assets: Rs 85 cr