Events
& Issues
New Delhi, 15 July 2021
Mid-Term Cabinet
AMID GREAT
EXPECTATIONS
By Dr S. Saraswathi
(Former Director,
ICSSR, New Delhi)
Mid-term Cabinet reshuffle, though
anticipated for some time, has come as a surprise to insiders as well as outsiders. It raises great
expectations for tackling problems of the pandemic ravaged country struggling to make up the losses
while continuing the battle against the deadly virus. In the context of
Covid-19, the Cabinet reshuffle has more than ordinary significance.
Theexercise suggests that administrative
considerations have weighed equally with political calculations. Indian
democracy working through very active political parties must get the credit for
raising political awareness and interests of the people. Theproblemis caused by
over-zealous action behind leaders even without some knowledge of situations
and issues. Cabinet formation and reshuffle in such an atmosphere cannot be for
merely sharing power with friends or distributing patronage.
The size of the Council ofMinisters, fixed as
not more than 15% of the number in Lok
Sabha, can go up to 81 members. The new
Councilis just three short of this size. Of the 78 members of the Council of
Ministers, 36 are new faces and seven elevated while 12 members of the erstwhile Council (7 Cabinet and 5 junior
ministers) have been dropped. Comments on additions and subtractionscannotbe
prohibited though substantive considerations behind the final choice are known only to a very few decision-makers.
Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister
effected a major reshuffle of his Cabinet in February 2020, eight months after
forming his first ministry in July 2019. The provocation for the change seemed to be UK’s official
withdrawal from the European Union in January 2020 – a decision of far reaching significance.In
India, handling Covid-19 pandemic and its economic, social and other consequences
have hastened the Cabinet reshuffle.
Pandemiccontrol is not exclusively in the
domain of medical personnel. It is a challenge to the governing authority in a
country, and requires coordinated action of experts from various fields and also a high degree of administrative and
managerial capabilities. The choice of a non-medical person to head the Health
Ministry replacing a medical doctor has received some adverse comments. The change is no reflection
on the performance of anybody,but necessary to tap different ideas of pandemic
management as a social problem. Any
minister holdingthis portfolio,has to
take medical decisions in consultation with a team ofmedical experts.
The responsibility of the government and its
workload have suddenly increased manifold. The
need for coordination between departments and ministries, and between
the Centre and States has reached its peak unknown in normal times. Cabinet reshuffle atthis time by any
well-meaning government cannot be done as patronage politics as some critics
are prone to think.
The NDA is an alliance of 28 partners including
the BJP, which has majority of its own members
in the Lok Sabha, but has been following the practice of accommodating
its allies also in the Council of Ministers. These allies account for 29 seats
in Lok Sabha and 17 in Rajya Sabha. Shiv
Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal quit the NDA while the AIADMK remains but is no
longer the ruling party in Tamil Nadu.
Some individual leaders with substantial following in their States have been of
great support for the BJP in strengthening its position in those States. In MP,
it captured power because of defection of a popular leader with his team from
the Congress to its side.
In the present Cabinet, only three of the27
alliance parties – JD(U), LJP, and Apna Dal are represented.
It cannot, therefore, be said that the reshuffle is made to keep allies
in goodhumourto retain their support in Parliament and coming elections.
Reshuffling, no doubt, gives opportunity to
the leader to reward loyalty and performance,
express disappointment over lack of wanted resultsand/or public
statements and postures of the
colleagues causing embarrassment to the government.In the present
conditions, conquering Coronavirus, reaching medical facilities to every nook
and corner of the country, achieving total inoculation, rebuilding the economy,
reopening educational institutions and all workplaces – in short returning to
pre-pandemic life with possibilities of at least normal growth and
development are common people’s
expectations.
The composition of the new Cabinet presents a
fair degree of regional balance, andincludes 12 SC, 8ST,27 OBC members besides
religious minorities. The culture of disturbing Parliament procedure has
directly led to the enhancement of the role of the Cabinet in discussing and
taking decisions.Inclusion ofbackward
classes and minorities will give opportunities to these communities to represent their class
interests, if any, before taking decisions. So also, less represented regionshavereceived
attention.
The average age of the members is 58 – lowest
so far -- a new feature worthy of watching to find out whether
younger Cabinet really brings any improvement in performance or it is only a fanciful or wishful thinking.
Presence of 41 ministers with professional
background in the team is an acknowledgement that the job of the ministers does
not centre aroundpower and politicsspecialised by career politicians and
political heirs, but lies in the field of action based on knowledge and
managerial efficiency. There are 7 ex-civilservantsinthe new
Cabinet. Indeed, we want “philosopher kings” to run the country. Fitness of the
chosen persons to theplaces allottedwill be known very soon in the present
condition of the nation.
The Ministry of Cooperation is a new ministry
created for realising the vision of “sahkar se samvriddhi”(prosperity through
cooperatives)in the words of the Prime Minister. The government statement says that it will work
“to streamline processes for ease of doing business for cooperatives and enable
the development of multi-state cooperatives”.It willhelp to make the
cooperative movement a truly people’s movement reaching to grassroots so as to
promote government’s commitment to “community-based developmental partnership”.
Creation of this ministry has without fail
raised criticism of encroachment in the sphere of States by the Centre as
“cooperatives” is included in the State Listin the Constitution.Cooperative
movement isstrong in some sectors like agriculture and dairy, sugar industry,
handloom, housing, and banking and in
some States particularly Gujarat, Kerala, and Maharashtra. Constructive ideas are needed to build our
economy with indigenous institutions with which people are familiar.
The new ministry canreinvigorate and
facilitate themovement that is declining fast due to several reasons including
mismanagement and corruption. Itwill concentrate on multi-state cooperatives
not confined to one State and serving the interests of more than one State as
envisaged under an enactment of 2002. A
separate administrative, legal, and policy framework for strengthening the
cooperative movement is the object of creating the ministry. However, it will
require an Act of parliament to notify
this ministry.
Critics tend to imagine causes behind every
change and circulate fantastic theories to feed
people’s curiosity. The best is to accept the changes as it is the
prerogative of the PM to form his cabinet and keep watching the differences in
governance as a result of changes before rushing to the media with criticism.The
Prime Minister’sresponsibility and accountability remain the same. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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