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Heavyweight Cabinet March of Laloo brigade Mamata’s options |
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The business of government
On the wings of Family and Faith
NEWS ANALYSIS People
Dance of life
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Heavyweight Cabinet SELECTION of ministers and distribution of portfolios are the prerogatives of the Prime Minister. But in the days of coalition governments, this power is no longer vested in the Prime Minister. Dr Manmohan Singh would have realised his limitations when he prepared the list of 67 ministers, who were sworn in along with him on Saturday. The difficulties he has in allocating portfolios among them is a reflection of the changed times and the fact that many of them consider themselves indispensable to the government. Questions will be raised about the credentials of some of the ministers who face serious criminal charges and are a blot on the secular image of the government. Yet, on the whole, the ministry comprises several experienced leaders who can effortlessly handle the portfolios assigned to them. Many of the ministers like Mr Sharad Pawar, Mr Ramvilas Paswan and Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav have a sound political base and have got a place in the Cabinet in their own right. Because the Congress-led alliance did not do well in some states as compared to others, there is inadequate representation to some states while a few others got away with a disproportionate share. While Tamil Nadu and Bihar have got a large representation, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, to name a few, are virtually unrepresented. Muslim Leaguer E. Ahmed’s inclusion is bound to cause problems for the government in the long run, though he is the only one elected from Kerala on the Congress-led United Democratic Front’s ticket. There is little scope for expansion of the ministry as any addition or subtraction has to be on the basis of the formula on which the number of ministers from each party was decided. Even so, Dr Singh cannot overlook the diversities and regional disparities in the country. As the ministers get down to their work, he will get a fair idea of the capabilities of the persons he has chosen as also the talents available in the new House. As for the present, Dr Manmohan Singh can confidently settle down to his work in the full knowledge that he has a competent team of ministers who can bring about the desired changes to fulfil the aspirations of the common people. |
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March of Laloo brigade Mr Laloo Yadav’s RJD and its allies, including the Congress, performed spectacularly in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar more because of an infighting among the NDA allies and their unrealistic strategy than anything else. An intra-alliance rivalry threw the NDA electoral campaign in disarray. The India Shining and Feel Good slogans worked to the advantage of the RJD and its allies. These slogans hurt the sentiments of the people of this poor state for whom arranging two square meals a day remains their major problem. They expressed their disgust with full force, reducing the NDA tally to 11 seats from the impressive 30 it had in the previous House. The RJD and allies captured 26 of the 37 seats for which the results were declared, proving every exit poll wrong. The anti-incumbency factor, if at all it was there, proved to be too weak to influence the decision of the voters. The results show that the Muslim-Yadav combination that Mr Laloo Yadav has perfected remains intact. He also benefited considerably from his alliance with Mr Ramvilas Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party, which has a large Dalit following. The LJP’s votes being easily transferable contributed a lot to the victory of the RJD candidates. The Laloo Yadav-led alliance could have done better but for the spoiler role played by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Ms Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party. Though these two parties could not open their account in Bihar, their presence in the electoral arena worked against the Laloo brigade in at least eight constituencies. Repolling will be held on May 31 in Chapra, the constituency where Mr Laloo Yadav is pitted against former Civil Aviation Minister and BJP candidate Rajiv Pratap Rudy, and in a large number of booths in Bettiah and Siwan. By all indications, the RJD tally will go up, strengthening Mr Yadav’s position in the Manmohan Singh government. |
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Mamata’s options The rout of the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal is a development that ought to make Ms Mamata Banerjee do a bit of introspection. The fact that she would now have to share the shrunk party space in the Lok Sabha with Mr P. A. Sangma would not easily allow her that option. The Meghalaya leader wants a law that would debar persons of foreign origin from becoming Prime Minister. Differences over this issue made him part company with Mr Sharad Pawar. Ms Banerjee, who has her own priorities, provided him a political label. These differences in priorities surfaced during the Bharatiya Janata Party-led campaign against Mrs Sonia Gandhi holding the highest political post in the country. The NDA partners agreed to play ball by agreeing to be part of the proposed boycott of the swearing-in ceremony if the Congress President decided to become the country’s next Prime Minister. Mr Sangma, however, wanted to follow the extreme example of Mrs Sushma Swaraj. This must have caused some discomfiture to Ms Banerjee because she had adopted a neutral stand on the issue of boycott. The two leaders were speaking in two voices. If the pressure by the Trinamool cadres in West Bengal on Ms Banerjee to explore the possibility of a political tie-up with the Congress does not die down, Mr Sangma may have nowhere to go but to seek the company of the BJP. Remaining with the NDA even after the Gujarat incidents was a primary reason for the rejection of the Trinamool in West Bengal. Ms Banerjee is under pressure from her Muslim and secular colleagues to snap ties with the saffron party. Obviously, she cannot rebuild the Trinamool Congress in political isolation. At some stage she may have to choose between her former party and the NDA. |
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To govern is to choose. —Duc de Levis |
The business of government CABINET formation can be gruelling, especially with temperamental coalition partners. Good governance calls for talent, character and leadership, which necessarily jostle with inflated egos and the compulsions of political, regional and community representation in order to achieve the requisite balance. Some party leaders demand specific portfolios and go as far as to name the candidates to fill them. Ministries are also ranked in a strange pecking order, oblivious of the fact that each is inherently important in the contribution it can make to good governance. The right conventions must be developed so that national interest is not relegated and the media can do much in shaping public opinion in this regard. While these may be passing irritants, more worrying is the haphazard manner in which the present administrative structure has evolved over the years in response to a variety of pulls and pressures. The business of government has understandably grown in size and complexity over time, calling for additions and expansion. Ministries have been carved up and new departments created and parked in unlikely places to accommodate jumbo Cabinets and ministerial ambitions. Much of this has been unnecessary and untidy and has created avoidable problems of decision making and coordination. The Home Ministry has had personnel excised from it, and at one time Intelligence and J&K as well. This has greatly weakened it and fragmented administrative control. The old MHA must be restored as a key nodal ministry. Transport is divided, with the Railways still being financed through a separate budget, a relic of the past, whereas inter-modal movement should be the order of the day. Railways, Surface Transport and Shipping should be brought together, with Civil Aviation alone going with Tourism and Culture. Science is fragmented and divorced from Education. The universities must be restored as the font of science and fundamental research. Similarly, Coal, Oil and Gas and Non-Conventional Energy should be linked to Power. Water Resources would be better off if grouped with Agriculture, the largest user, with Sanitation and Water Supply being attached to a new Ministry of Town and Country Development (and Spatial Planning) that would absorb the present Ministry of Urban Development. There is obviously considerable scope for rationalisation between and within ministries and for a reorganisation of departments. Each major ministry should be under a Cabinet Minister and related departments under Ministers of State. The present Finance Ministry, as once mooted, should be divided into a Ministry of Economic Affairs, Planning and Coordination and a Bureau of the Budget (Revenue and Expenditure). Some ministries like Information and Broadcasting could wither away, with autonomy being granted to Prasar Bharati, the DAVP, Films and Publications Divisions, et al. The PIB should be disbanded and its task handed over to the PR wing of each ministry or department, coordinated by a small Central Information Bureau. The Ministry of Communications and IT could appropriately take responsibility for liaising with Parliament and taking over all residual regulatory functions now with I&B such as that of the Registrar of Newspapers. There is little need for a plethora of industry-related ministries, especially after de-regulation. PSUs should enjoy full autonomy. The existence of many separate ministries with little useful to do, stirs the itch to interfere and milk public enterprises for collateral purposes. A single Ministry of Industry and Minerals (including Coal) would fit the bill. A restructuring of the government on some such lines would also entail fewer secretaries and fewer turf battles. Secretaries to Government should advise their ministers on policy, coordinate and monitor, leaving most operational matters to Joint Secretaries/Directors and Directors-General of technical wings. De-regulation, delegation and autonomy to PSUs could be a pathway to the rightsizing of government. The PMO too could do with some downsizing with many of its functions being taken over by the Cabinet Secretariat. Dr Manmohan Singh’s assumption of office would suggest a return to a more collegial leadership in place of the increasingly presidential style parliamentary government. A more compact two-tier Council of Ministers could be usefully underpinned by the appointment of a number of Parliamentary Secretaries who could take over the task of answering questions and otherwise assisting their minister, as before. This would also provide a valuable training ground for young MPs. Ministries and departments apart, the government is aided by a number of functionaries, commissions and regulatory authorities: the Attorney-General, the Vigilance Commissioner, the CAG, the Chairman Joint Intelligence Committee, the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes (and Tribes), the NHRC, the Minorities Commission, the National Commission for Women and so forth. The new government should operationalise a National Security Council with a full-time National Security Adviser and establish an Inter-State Council. It should also put in place a Lok Pal with full powers to investigate complaints against the entire political class, including the Prime Minister. Independent public prosecutors should be able to launch proceedings on the basis of the findings of this high functionary. The CBI should be vested with similar powers for automatic investigation and prosecution of civil servants and other public officials without the requirement of political approval that is seldom given. Additionally, institutions like the National Integration Council and Zonal Councils have a useful role to play in promoting fraternity and social cohesion and ensuring coordination and synergy between states for regional development. The latter assumes greater importance with the formation of smaller states and greater devolution to the federal units. The new government would do well to set up a small committee to look into such reforms in public administration. The changes could then be introduced over the next two to three years so that India has an administrative structure better suited to the 21st century than for the
20th. The writer is a former Editor of The Hindustan Times and The Indian Express. |
On the wings of Family and Faith It is not unusual to have rambunctious arguments in progress, in a home with one teenager and one 11-year old. Real acrimony is generated when I ask my young ones to assist me with some religious custom. My sons usually want an answer to what its nexus is with their everyday existence. They will usually retort, “Mom, Science tells us there is no God.” “Know why India cannot take her rightful place despite all the IITs and IIMs and riding the BPO wave? …..Because our socialisation drags us right back into the dark ages with puja and path.” “Where else will you find a society that worships machines (Vishkarma) rather than productivity? Having expended his teenaged angst, my son will usually do as he’s told but in weathering that little storm, I reinforce two important Indian values, family and faith in the almighty. In time, the boys will appreciate that it is not the degrees or IQs of the doctors, engineers and the ubiquitous NRIs that has scripted many a “India Shining” global success story, but the EQ ie the Emotional Quotient of these Indians. EQ rooted in the time honoured Indian values of family and faith imparts the winning edge to all these players. Witness the Gujaratis, Marwaris and Banias’ legendary business families and the unique Indian business model: the family owned, professionally managed, corporation. Family and faith are the “It” Indian values. Prayer binds the Indian Family. Much before the dramatic Tele-Mandirs glittering with icons or the ‘Tulsi worship’ in Balaji Telefilms sumptuously crafted ‘Saas’ serials there was, in most homes, a small mandir placed on a cupboard shelf or a tiny puja room. The family gathered in the morning and evening to pray. It was a ritual for some and a deeply felt expression of faith for others. But it was a practice that set the tone for the day. The family collected together, automatically reinforcing family ties. Arguments, tantrums just melted away as everybody joined in the recitation of the holy scriptures followed by “tilak” or “prasad”. Even as the Left parties dwell on the absence of a security net for Indians, it would not be out of place to observe that life even below the Poverty Line in India is infinitely preferable to that in a country with superior development indicators. Employment, Roti, Kapda, Makaan, and capital for business, are all provided by the family. A family, where children have both parents, the sage influence of grandparents is a security blanket that no welfare state can provide. Even as a new government takes over the reins, increasingly the average citizen is coming to terms with the realisation that if civil society is to flourish and we are to check the corruption associated with an all-pervasive State machinery, then every Indian has to rely on himself : Self-reliance rather than “Sarkar” is the secret to “India Shining”. And self-reliance is the temple built on faith and
family.
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NEWS ANALYSIS
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance's defeat in the Lok Sabha elections has baffled its enemies, friends, sympathisers and cadres as they are beginning to comprehend the reasons for their rejection by the electorate, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Haryana. The BJP, right from its inception in 1980, has been swinging between two opposite and conflicting poles. Sometimes, the party would plead for a "hard Hidutva" agenda and sometimes it would talk of liberal, moderate and developmental approach. The party has been changing its course in the last 29 years. L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi came to be identified as the main votary of the hardline and Atal Bihari Vajpayee toed the moderate and liberal line. The BJP struggled to strike a balance between the two opposites. The popular image of the BJP in the 80s and early 90s as a disciplined and clean party started changing as soon as the party was in a striking distance of power. At its national executive committee meeting at Bhubneswar in 1996, the BJP top leadership decided to enter into an electoral alliance with J Jayalalitha's AIADMK. When asked about an alliance with a party whose leaders were embroiled in many controversies and cases of corruption, Vajpayee had himself defended the decision saying that "we will have to play according to the rules of the game." Vajpayee had clearly meant that the BJP would not remain prisoner of idealism in its pursuit of power and had given a firm indication that the party was embarking upon the course of "realpolitik". Thus began the BJP's quest for power and within a few months it formed the 13-day government at the Centre and Vajpayee became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of the country. Luckily, the stint in power was short in 1996 and its defeat on the floor of the Lok Sabha by one vote and then the Kargil conflict enabled the BJP-led NDA a chance to regain power for five years. But between 1999 and 2004, the BJP came to be popularly perceived as a copy of the Congress, rather a poor carbon copy. Within the BJP, rival centres of power emerged and factional fights started taking place. Advani, who had built the party organisationally and had ensured its growth from two MPs in 1984 to 182 in 1999, was unable to check the erosion of its credibility as many of its leaders started enjoying the fruits of power. Promising leaders like K. N. Govindacharya were elbowed out of the party and arrogant leaders like Narendra Modi started rising fast. The RSS also started losing its grip on the moral fibre of the BJP as Vajpayee and Advani pleaded with the Sangh leadership to restrain leaders of the other parivar organisations from making statements which damaged the image of the party. Even while Vajpayee was running the NDA government and the economic reforms were seen as favouring MNCs and big businesses, the BJP was slowly but surely losing its touch with the popular mood. The biggest blow to Vajpayee came in February, 2002 from Gujarat. Vajpayee wanted to remove Chief Minister Narendra Modi but his about-turn at the party's national executive committee meeting in Goa not only damaged his image but also that of the party. The party, after Godhra, became suspect in the eyes of every right-thinking Indian. All efforts to woo minorities did not succeed and the gap between the people and the party started growing. The majority of BJP leaders started losing their capacity to gauge the popular pulse. While the party was launching its high-tech electoral campaign and was building the party's USP on Vajpayee, the people were not impressed at all as the ground realities were totally different. Now that the BJP is out of power, the party will have to decide whether to continue with the development agenda or go back to "Hinduatva". Pressures from the VHP, the Swedeshi Jagran Manch, the Bharatiya Majdoor Sangh and other Sangh organisations would start mounting on the BJP leaders to retrace the hard line, but who would make them comprehend that the Indian psyche abhors aggressive, abrasive and hateful approach coupled with rejecting the fundamentalist path. A case in point is that the attacks on Sonia Gandhi and her children have obviously not gone well with the masses. The NDA's focus on Sonia Gandhi's foreign orgin issue has failed to pay dividends. People of the country would eagerly watch the BJP's movements and their assessment would be made in the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra and Bihar as well as the Lok Sabha byelections. The BJP's popular vote has declined only by 1.68 per cent in the these elections but its southward expansion is continuing and this is a sign of maturing of the Indian democracy. If the BJP decides to return to its hard line, then it would have very few allies and it would have to tread a lonely path, which does not ensure power. And the ground reality is that the country is slwoly moving towards a more or less bipolar polity in which the fight is between BJP-led and Congress-led alliance.
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People Dance of life Receiving the award in Delhi last week, the 67-year-old dancer said with characteristic humility: "I am a messenger alone and carry these honours with humble footsteps to my gurus. Keep me young by making me dance forever". This legendary figure has led the Kathak scene as an exceptional dancer, teacher and choreographer. His brilliant performance won him the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award at the age of only 28. He has been serving the Kathak Kendra, Delhi, as its principal guru. Unknown to many, Birju Maharaj is also a great vocalist, percussionist and a painter.
Poor Nitish The train could not have derailed in a worse way for former Railway Minister Nitish Kumar. Not only has his Janata Dal (United) receieved a humiliating drubbing in the just-concluded general election, Nitish Kumar himself lost the election in one of the two constituencies he contested despite his stature. Incensed party members are blaming him for the loss suffered by the party that was supposed to pose a major threat to the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Laloo Prasad Yadav. It fared poorly in Bihar, winning only six of its 40 parliamentary seats.
Mickey Mouse Well, strictly speaking, Mickey Mouse is not a person but he has been treated as a living, breathing, intelligent entity by many generations. But as he enters 75 years of his rich life, he is not quite the cultural icon that he used to be. His popularity is on the wane and children of the computer era find it difficult to relate to him. No wonder the revenue of Mickey-related products sold by Disney's consumer products division has shrunk to less than 40 percent of the division's $2.3 billion annual total, down from 50 percent during the peak in 1997, according to Disney executives. Winnie the Pooh merchandise is now outselling Mickey items. Disney is now trying hard to find Mickey's 21st-century footing. Andy Mooney, the president of Disney's consumer products unit, has whittled the number of Mickey products the company offered in the United States, hoping to improve Mickey's cachet. Starting next summer, Disney characters will be featured on a series of postage stamps that will be released yearly through 2006. Disney is also planning new feature films. |
Such is Your greatness, bounteous Lord! Within You are endless forms. Millions are in Your million, or You are a billion in Yourself. — The Vedas According to Karma Yoga, the action one has done cannot be destroyed, until it has borne fruit; no power in nature can stop it from yielding its results. — Swami Vivekananda The One God pervades everywhere and He alone dwells in every soul. — Guru Nanak Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men. — Jesus Christ The secret of happiness is renunciation. — Andrew Carnegie |
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The Legends of India's Lifetime Achievement Award is the latest in a huge haul of honours won by Kathak legend Birju Maharaj.