A Nice Appraisal But No One To Act
Posted : August 24, 2005 at 6:14 am [IST]
I am going through some of the past issues of the magazines that I subscribe. There is an accumulated lot because of my absence of six months that we spent in US. Today I came across ‘India Today’, May30 issue.
One of the main articles ranks all the cabinet ministers of the present UPA government on a scale of 100. Interestingly, none have obtained distinctions. Mani Shankar Aiyar, the IFS tops the list followed by P. Chidambaram of the Harvard background. And perhaps very rightly, Santosh Mohan Dev, Ram Vilas Paswan, Mahavir Prasad, Lalu Prasad Yadav are among those who have scored 30 and below. They seem to have repeated the same score that they got during their academic career except for perhaps some. But will this ranking serve any purpose? Will the honorable ministers appreciate the spirit behind this ranking? Will the low scorers be broadminded to take it sportingly and try to improve? Will the Queen change her non-performing ministers, particularly those who have not scored even 30? Can he (the prime minister) or she (UPA chairperson) do that? I am sure, they can’t. With the leftists supporting them, it will follow the principle of equity even in appraisal. And again, some SC/ST candidates will take shelter under reservation policy even in this performance appraisal. And I hope this ranking must be the ranking of the secretaries of the ministries concerned too. If not, it must rank the secretaries too.
The ministers can be dropped and new ones may be inducted. But again, this is perhaps the first government that has not undergone any major or minor reshuffle. Reshuffling is essential for bringing in efficiency. Reshuffling, rather too frequent reshuffle was the norm of Indian governance in past for which there used to be criticism. I don’t know why it has not happened. Is it because any reshuffle will mean problem for the government because of the presence of too many aspirants and groups waiting for the opportunity?
However, I am more concerned about the number of ministers and the portfolios. I am sure every sane person will agree with me, once one goes into the list of the existing ministries. There are too many ministers. Much fewer but capable ministers can do the job.
Many ministries can be merged to make it more effective. Why can’t the human resource ministry include, science and technology, youth affairs and sports, and culture? Why can’t a ministry of infrastructure include shipping, highways, water resources and power? Why can’t again a single ministry take care of textiles, heavy industries, chemicals, fertilizers and steel? We can go on and on about the possibilities. Some consultants can help the government in restructuring and making the administration lean and effective. This merger of ministries would have meant a lot of savings for the government. Few younger qualified ones could effectively replace many older inefficient ones with no experience and qualification to carry out the responsibility. After all, many of the young MPs with their MBAs are waiting in wing in the ruling party itself.
I am of opinion that technical professionals must head many of the ministries because of the nature of its activities. Ministries such as textiles, power, water resources, science and technology, chemicals, fertilizers, steel, small-scale industries, and mines, non-conventional energy, and food processing industries come in that category.
I am sure a country of a billion plus people does not have dearth of the right persons to head the ministries.
- Indra
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