FACE THE NATION
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Ministry in place, UPA Govt gets down to work
Published on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 07:23, Updated on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 09:27 in Politics section
Tags: Face The Nation, Union Cabinet
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday allocated work to all members of his six-party three-tier ministry hours after most of the ministers took oath of office at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.
Determined to give a boost to the sagging economy, Manmohan Singh allotted the key economic ministries to members of his Congress party, which dominates the 79-member United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ministry.
With the new government in place CNN-IBN show Face the Nation debated: Does Manmohan Singh's Cabinet inspire hope of good governance?
On the panel of experts were Editorial Advisor of The Times of India Group Gautam Adhikari, columnist and BJP strategist Swapan Dasgupta and Deputy Editor of The Hindu Vidya Subrahmaniam.
Mind of the new Cabinet
Political heavyweights have been inducted in infrastructure and social sector, is that the tone of the governance that we will see in this new Government?
“That is difficult to say but the move of Kamal Nath away from Commerce is very interesting. He in fact did not want Road Transport and Highways, he wanted a bigger portfolio. But the fact is that he has got an important ministry which is about infrastructure. The point is that in Commerce we have Anand Sharma and there might have to be adjustments made with WTO in the international scale and that could be one of the reasons,” Adhikari said.
Is that a possible climbdown by the new Government?
“India has taken certain positions which are completely at odds with the US. Now the WTO position was equated with Kamal Nath. He was standing up to American protectionism. So it will be interesting to see what stand the Government will take,” Dasgupta said.
Worried about the coordination within the UPA Cabinet, Subrahmaniam said, “The social sector is important, it has NREGA, then someone else is handling Minority Affairs… then the Food Security Act is also coming up. So how do you unify all this and ensure that there is a unified vision because somewhere one ministry will take a different line from the other.”
However, the panelists agreed upon the fact that Manmohan Singh seems to be much more in control of his Cabinet than the fiefdoms that existed earlier.
“Right now his numbers are very good. Secondly, this time the PM has got some kind of a mandate. So there is a stamp on him rather than the accidental prime minister that he has been known as. This time he is part of the show that won the elections. All they need is a uniformed approach in how they wish to go about the change that they want to see,” Adhikari explained.
Taking the argument further, Dasgupta said, “There is a choice which faces the country at present, which is the philosophy of governance. Now either you go in for the NREGA-type social sector or you go in for the infrastructure. One has to choose because there is a resource crunch in India. You cannot have two big priorities on spending. Now it is not very clear from the list of ministers which sector is going to get the priority.”
Redefining governance in a global economy
Human Resource Development has been ideological for the past few years as has been seen in the case of Murli Manohar Joshi and Arjun Singh. With Kapil Sibal at the helm of affairs can we see the change that the Congress wants?
“HRD is a very central ministry given the emphasis that Rahul Gandhi will progressively have on public policy. And his mother, too, is interested in the social sector as you broadly call it. One should also realise that the world has changed. Ten years ago the Environment Ministry did not matter so much. But today it matters not just for India, it also matters for India’s position and the stances it takes in the world scenario,” Adhikari said.
Taking a cue from Adhikari, Dasgupta said, “Both Murli Manohar Joshi and Arjun Singh wanted a certain degree of control. The challenge now is to have a greater degree of autonomy and flexibility. The real challenge for Kapil Sibal is now to let go. The Government should now retreat from the civil society bodies.”
To which Adhikari said, “It is not just letting go in terms of bureaucracy but also in terms of ideology. Secondly, Sibal has to make the ministry relevant and central to the whole development process.”
The panelists agreed upon the fact that it is all about redefining governance in a modern and global economy.
“It is still quite absurd to have a ministry of culture or even steel,” Dasgupta said and added that “there should be regulatory bodies instead of ministries.”
Cabinet cauldron
It is the biggest Cabinet in the last decade. Can downsizing and administrative efficiency fully be pushed in a country like India where the Cabinet has to make political binds.
Adhikari said, “To get elected in a country like India you have to be competent. These 543 MPs are not incompetent. The idea is that even if you select the Cabinet quota wise or ethnic wise, it should be efficient. And that by and large has been done by the UPA.”
“The fact that they took two days to decide on the portfolios shows the kind of pressures the UPA was under. They had to take into account, region, communities and many other aspects. Manmohan Singh, I believe, has done a background check on each minister instead of blindly taking in whoever the party high command was referring,” Subrahmaniam said.
On a lighter note, Dasgupta said, “If nothing else it is reassuring that all the tainted ministers are out barring a few allies.”
Rate the Cabinet:
Gautam Adhikari: I would give it seven. I would have given an eight had it got more young Cabinet ministers. Young people bring in a new perspective and we need that in a changing world.
Swapan Dasgupta: I will give it a six mainly on account of the HRD Minister and the Finance Minister. The others don’t inspire a great deal of confidence.
Vidya Subrahmaniam: I am giving a seven because I see a vision in this Cabinet. I just hope the vision is unified. I will reserve the three for performance.
Results of the SMS poll:
Yes – 78 per cent
No – 22 per cent
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I must say that Swapan Dasgupta is a disgusting figure truly among the community of jounalists. First of all his
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We are totally ignorant of the opinion of BJP leaders about Manmohan Singh's ministry. Why they are totally silent? What
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