Cabinet Reshuffle- Poorly Planned Political Gimmick
Posted : April 9, 2008 at 10:53 am [IST]
It is the last year of its tenure before the next general election. The government of Manmohan Singh or Sonia Gandhi suddenly decided to bring in some changes in the cabinet to prove that they mean business, and they can change the inefficient and ineffective ministers and bring in the new faces.
While bringing in mostly the old party men of age above 60, there are at least two young faces. They are from the proven pedigree in their late thirties, qualified, and with a lot of energy too to prove their worth. But have Manmohan and Sonia given them job at right time? Will they be able to prove themselves as efficient ministers? Will the senior ministers be allowing them to have free hand? Couldn’t have they been given independent ministries?
Jyotiraditya has a ministry that may suit to his age and education with a lot of scope to bring in new ideas in this high-tech area. He has rightly shown his priority for hardware and high-end software technologies. Many and me too wish to see India repeating the performance of software and BPO in hardware too. I don’t think India lacks any resources to do that. India must move fast on its chip manufacturing policy. Among the oldest assets of the ministry, Jyotiraditya has the huge number of post offices covering every nook and corner of India. He can transform them into knowledge centers for farm related information or financial service windows for insurances and micro finance for the rural population with ATMs and other facilities.
Jyotiraditya Sindhiya will have to work with A. Raja of DMK who replaced flamboyant Maran. It will test his capability to work under a minister of another party. I wish him to request his senior to assign on some specific tasks such as the growth of Internet and broadband to him and allow him to get them implemented independently.
Jitin Prasada will be assisting Ram Vilash Paswan, the strongman from Bihar, an old hand in ministrial assignment. Basically, this ministry must be wounded off. However, can Jitin see that the large number of steel plants that has been approved in the poorest states of the country get going fast? India has a great potential to become the second largest producer of steel in the world. Can Jitin do some thing to make the progress happening?
I feel bad when the media relate their inclusions into the cabinet with political compulsions or for their castes and its advantages for the party. And I feel really bad to read in media about Sachin Pilot who has not been inducted, ” The Meena community would have been upset if Sachin Pilot would become a minister.” Can India even in the twenty first century live and grow as economic superpower with such a mindset in national politics? It is really unfortunate that Manmohan Singh heeded to such considerations and couldn’t impress on Sonia about the impression it creates.
I was also surprised that another young man who was quite known to the people of Delhi didn’t find the mention anywhere in the media. Is it because his mother is the chief minister of Delhi State? I mean Sandeep Dixit. I don’t still understand why an old man such as Gill was brought in. Will he be able to represent the youth of India effectively? Don’t Manmohan and Sonia feel that the decision smells something else but real business of improving the working of the ministry?
But finally again, I am of the view that Jyotiraditya as well as Jitin would have been given the responsibilities of some independent ministries such as road and power. Balu has many departments with him. He is not able to push the work of road building fast enough with just 2,442 kms in last four years. But neither Sonia nor Manmohan can either demand efficiency from Balu of DMK or persuade him to part with road from his portfolios. But Power ministry that has a lackluster record of the execution could have been easily given to Jyotiraditya to prove his performance, as it is with Congress. Perhaps, the young ministers would have been better there and could have perhaps made a difference.
It is difficult to ascertain what the duo wanted to communicate to their men and the country.
- Indra
Category: Indian politics |
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