New Council of Ministers of UPA Government : The Journey Starts

Cabinet formation is a complex and complicated task, even when a single party is voted to power. After all, so many parameters like caste, colour, gender, region, religion, etc, have to be satisfied. The task becomes all the more tedious when the pulls and pressures from supporting parties have to be taken into account in a coalition government. Under the circumstances, Team Manmohan Singh that has been sworn in now is a fairly balanced set of experience and youth.

A country that needs to move ahead quickly and cut poverty levels needs to have major reforms in education and skill-formation, in raising the administration of law to a new dimension, in pushing ahead on the infrastructure front, in pushing for ideas and legislation to do with the rural poor, in being proactive on saving the environment without losing out on development and growth, and in expanding the frontiers of our trade. These areas appear to have been given the right degree of importance in the government-making process. There is also an appreciable sense that the ministers chosen do not suffer from taint, as was the case in 2004, especially where some Congress allies are concerned.

Some of the recognizable stalwart is out and no tears are likely to be shed. Those who did well have been promoted--although so have been those who did not really show any such exceptional spark. There are 28 new faces, with several comprising the so-called youth commander. Learning from the experience of the veterans, they can prove to be the youthful livewire that India badly needs.

Mixture of Experienced and Youth
Undoubtedly the exercise to name the Council of Ministers of the Congress-ledUnited Progressive Alliances (UPA) Government, and to allot portfolios, has been for the second Manmohan Singh Government an effort akin to climbing Mount Everest — to be attempted in stages. In politics, dangers lurk everywhere. There are so many factors to balance. Regional aspirations, future electoral considerations in States where Assembly polls are coming up, the interests of allies, locating women and men who would be both capable and clean, finding a place for relatively young politicians so that the next generation of leaders may be trained in the art of governance, and getting the best out of those who are tried and tested, are only some of them.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stressed as much in his first remarks to the newly elected MPs of the UPA. In the event, there is no major surprise in the Council of Ministers that has turned out to be a blend of experience and youth. That the Prime Minister did not entirely have his way is evident from the public wrangling for berths leading to an inordinate delay in the constitution of the Ministry.

There is a lot of cribbing about the excessive representation given to Karnataka and Maharashtra — to some extent even Himachal Pradesh from where the Congress has won only one seat — and the short shrift given to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, etc. But overall, it is a fairly balanced dispensation.

Exit of Some Stalwarts
The second UPA Cabinet stands slightly modified with the exit of Arjun Singh, Hans Raj Bharadwaj and Shirvaj Patil, and the addition of SM Krishna and Mamata Banerjee. The message is clear enough. The mix of youth and experience is a viable one this time, but there will remain a sense that states like Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, which exceeded all electoral expectations, did not get their due at this stage.

With his proven versatility, Pranab Mukerjee could have handled any Ministry and is bound to do full justice to Finance. After handling the Finance Ministry, P. Chidambaram has deftly handled the Home Affairs, visibly improving the internal security climate after the Mumbai terror strikes of November 26, 2008. The inclusion of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh, who was summarily removed after the Mumbai terror attacks, was a surprise factor explained by the demands of the coming Assembly election and Maratha politics. The senior Congress leader Krishna, who has no previous experience in the Ministry of External Affairs, will have his hands full dealing with escalating tensions in the neighbouring countries. However, he is vastly experienced and suave in other spheres of politics.

High Expectations
The UPA Government’s 100-day action plan that he has in mind might transform the nation. Precious 13 days have already gone by in the task of Cabinet formation. No more time can be lost. The new ministers will have to pick up the batons and start running fast at once.

Keeping the current situation of the country in mind, India needs a better model to segue between governments. We need more than bureaucratic placeholders, we need political agents empowered to make bold, creative decisions in this interim. Would a shadow Cabinet make sense, where specific individuals are pre-selected by parties as the potential ministers of the next government? Such a system primes politicians for their role, so they are ready to jump into their responsibilities even at short notice. This would indicate future roles to political leaders as well as the public.

There is no doubt about that the country’s present system of Cabinet switchover is far from ideal — assembling a coalition government is a drawn-out process, and, on the other hand, this long limbo requires that the country remain in safe, responsible hands. India has been rocked by large-scale religious violence and natural disaster, and tensions across the border in Pakistan — matters which require focused, unflagging attention.