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| CURRENT ISSUE MAY 30, 2005 |
| NATION: UPA |
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| Much Left To Be Done One Year Of The UPA Government | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Shankkar Aiyar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| It is an old Boy Scouts maxim. When lost in the woods the best option is to keep turning left, except that it takes you back to where you started. Rather nowhere. The year-old UPA is learning this slowly and surely even as it continues to be lured and led by the 60-plus Left Front. It is in the nature of coalition politics that survival is the first preoccupation in the initial months in power. The UPA Government may look back and realise that while it made grand plans, it has done little more than survive despite the return of the pro-reforms Singh Parivar. The Congress did well to recognise the neglect of the rural economy and need for inclusive policies. But delivering on wide-ranging promises that included increased spending on health and education, besides a 100-day employment guarantee, requires moolah which is locked in unproductive expenditure. Thanks to the allies and the Left, cutting down expenditure or privatisation is off the agenda. So are labour reforms which are so critical to creating employment. In the classic Lewis Carroll sense it has taken all the effort for the Government to stay in place but to get anywhere it would have to run twice as fast. You could argue that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is trying the consultative route to unlock the gates but the committees approach has only added to the bureaucratisation. More often than not, committees or goms become convenient excuses to put off decisions and vehicles to house political favourites. Most decisions, be it the opening up of skies, freeing of trade or the surprising success in foreign policy, have been products of leadership, not committee raj. If there have been successes in this Government they have been more the result of individual effort than any collective desire.
The assessment by INDIA TODAY's editorial team proves that popular perception rewards those who have dared. Those who were missing in action, invisible to the voting polity have been trashed. And there are more sleepers than doers. The problem is Manmohan is a captain who cannot choose his team and by implication cannot forecast delivery. Eighteen of the 37 ministers rated couldn't even muster 35 out of 100 and barely eight scored more than 50.The Congress, which for long believed it was the natural ruling party, has done well to accept coalition politics. However, coalition management is more than sharing of power. As its allies assert their identity by aligning with causes the Congress too needs to retain its identity. Every coalition has a built-in redundancy. If the Congress delivers on its promises the resultant change in political arithmetic could render the allies redundant. If not, the Congress may find itself on the bench yet again. with bureau reports Ranking the Minister The good, bad and the simply incompetent in terms of their performance in the first year of the UPA regime
This star performer has surprised friends and foes alike with his proactive management of a critical ministry, his out of the box ideas to calibrate the oil price shock and futuristic idea of an Indian giant in the petro world.
He has slashed personal taxation but also muddied the waters with archaic ideas like a withdrawal tax and the controversial FBT. Critics worry about fiscal profligacy but Chidambaram dubs it a pause in the quest for fiscal sainthood.
He has freed the skies for private airlines triggering competition and cheaper fares to win middle-class mind space. Coming up soon, Left willing, are privately managed airports for Delhi and Mumbai besides new aircraft for IA and A-I.
Battling friends in the party, engaging trade warriors the world over, Nath has opened up trade with an uncommon panache. The special economic zones, the series of free trade agreements and opening up of FDI in housing add to his reformist credentials.
The old warhorse may be heading for a platinum jubilee but Singh's zeal for ideological warfare remains intact. The detoxifier is a darling of the Left and of the middle classes because they see a streak of consistency in his quest to cleanse the system of communal elements.
Along with Pranab Mukherjee, Pawar is the man the prime minister counts on to keep the clucking flock of the UPA coalition in check. Dubbed the new guru of agriculture Pawar, who is also food and public distribution minister, is yet to live up to his promised potential.
Curiously a major chunk of the scientific establishment is housed in the Defence Ministry. But that hasn't stopped Sibal from emerging as one of the most visible ministers to manage science and technology. Enthusiasm for emerging technology and a pro-active approach are his mantras.
The whizkid from down south has won many admirers with his cherubic smile and matter of fact conduct. However, Maran has been frustrated by the bureaucracy in his quest to open up the IT superhighway to investment and growth.
A Phukan here and there notwithstanding Mukherjee is easily one of the most important cogs in the UPA wheel. He often has the last word at cabinet meetings, heads over a score of GoMs and combines political sagacity and a pro-reforms mindset rare among politicians.
He calls himself the world's oldest foreign minister and despite health concerns has travelled to almost two dozen countries. What's more, he has paved the way for a new Indo-US relation-ship. On India-Pakistan issues he demonstrated flexibility to clinch the Muzaffarabad bus deal.
The Gandhi family confidant has worked well to keep the family and the Government out of trou-ble, whether it is L.V. Saptarishi, Jharkhand or S.N. Phukan. In the Government he has pushed for legal reforms whether it is on measures to improve convictions or speeding up disposal of cases.
Azad has managed the flock well despite many provocations. Some say he enjoys being in the party more than the Government while others feel he wouldn't mind a stint in Jammu and Kashmir. The urbane urban development minister's mantra: keep allies in good humour.
The perception is that he is among the most reluctant of I&B minis-ters, which probably explains the low TRP in terms of visibility or action. Perhaps it has also to do with being bogged down with a super babu for an I&B secretary. But things should improve now that the babu has moved elsewhere.
It is often said that Gupta is minister in attendance at Rail Bhavan. But when not doing that he has initiated major changes. Registering companies is now simpler, a slim Companies Act is on the anvil and someday soon directors of vanishing companies will be convicted.
Notwithstanding the fracas in her min-istry or outside with other ministers she conveys the impression of being on the move. Luckily for her, tourism is look-ing up because on the ground there is little to show for her verbiage beyond a few night bazaars and slogans.
It might seem battling enfant terribles is a new sport but Dutt has initiated a significant change. He pushed through a plan which helps athletes approach the ministry directly for funds to train overseas or hire coaches bypassing the mafiadom that federations are.
The confidant of the Congress president is usually in a quandary over priorities - should he implement the party boss' programme as chief election officer of the Congress or pay attention to the Government's flaggingand delayed programmes.
They thought she just might become the first woman chief minister of Haryana. But the right idea for the wrong reasons didn't quite take off. With Chandigarh occupied for the time being, Selja will perhaps now focus on the over 20 million urban unemployed.
The doctor, it would seem, is often on call, in Tamil Nadu where his party PMK is frequently charged with the de-sire of dumping pre-poll ally DMK and joining the AIADMK. With AIADMK's recent by-poll wins, anything's possible.
Among the most high-profile ministries during the NDA reign, highways is now just another ministry. This when road connectivity continues to be a vital segment of infrastructure and when there is more money pouring into the NHAI projects than ever before.
To be fair to Sahay, he made no bones about the fact that his heart was always in Ranchi, at least till the Jharkhand elections. While hope springs eternal, particularly in Delhi about Ranchi, we might just see some action at Panchsheel Bhavan.
It is true that the BJP-led NDA first recognised the political potential of non-resident Indians but it is the UPA which has created a legitimate vehicle to promote their interests. Tytler has given it a profile connecting people across the globe socially.
Aptly qualified for the cliché 'right man in the wrong party', Singh is often caught in the vortex of party politics, be it the elections in Bihar or the Saptarishi episode. Known to have a good grasp of grass roots governance Singh might yet surprise many when he performs.
One of the spunkiest Congressmen from the Left-dominated West Bengal, the bored Dasmunshi would much rather be running the WBCC, particularly with the assembly polls early next year. A classic case of a good man at the wrong place at the wrong time.
It's the worst kind of short circuit. A sector that needs power performance is led by a man who would rather be an evangelist. Sayeed is simply not cut out to be in an economic ministry, it is just not in his DNA. He would be happier in a social sector ministry.
The textiles sector may well be employ-ing the largest number of people but here doesn't seem to be enough work to keep Vaghela gainfully employed. Maybe it sn't attractive enough. The antics of Keshubhai Patel in good old Gujarat seem far more tantalising.
On the face of it, you couldn't ask for a more politically correct background or more appropriate DNA. Yet she hasn't quite got going. The coalition that rode to power promising reservation in the private sector hasn't progressed beyond the entry in the CMP.
With the $100 per barrel oil shock promised by global experts you would expect some non-conventional action. But for Muttemwar this is clearly a transit post. He makes no bones about his real dream, the much-promised yet not on the horizon state of Vidarbha.
Counted among the most well-dressed politicians, Patil seems ill-suited to one of the most critical ministries. It is not for want of trying but he simply cannot get rid of this perception, and it is gaining by the day, that this is one big unproductive asset of the Government.
True to form, Dev hasn't interfered with the inefficiency that has wracked the
It's all about chemistry and Paswan has realised this rather late. It has been a
The Dalit card has got him into the Cabinet but Prasad would much rather have been in one of the many Raj Bhavans that the Congress found occupants for. Perhaps it is also the scale of his ministry's operation, perhaps he has bigger plans for himself.
In terms of growth, the Railways has done better than ever before in the past decade and even paid dividends to the Government. But thanks to public per-ception, or Lalu's public preoccupa-tions, the former de facto chief minister of Bihar loses out in the ratings race.
It is deemed one of the most critical sectors that needs to be opened up and reformed. One of the most critical economic ministries suffers as the Jat would much rather have been dealing with agriculture and is at the deep end in mines.
The second in the pantheon of renuncia-tion Rao is purely in transit. With little to do in either labour or employment, for without Left support there can be no labour reforms and without that no quantum leap in employment, Rao is biding his time. For Telangana to happen.
On paper, integration of the northeast-ern states with the mainstream is a
If you haven't heard of any major initia-tives despite the depleting forest cover or missing tigers that is because none are being taken. You may think Raja
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