The United Progressive Alliance is perhaps the first government in the world to deploy a simultaneous translation system in cabinet meetings as in Parliament. It is a picture that beats a thousand words: every week as the Union Cabinet meets, it and Telecommunications Minister Dayanidhi Maran hooks on a pair of headphones to understand what Union Railway Minister Lalu Yadav is saying. Lalu, though, is not known to reciprocate such sentiments. Perhaps Maran is articulate enough, perhaps Lalu simply doesn't tune in.

(From left) Kamal Nath, Aiyar, Sayeed, Patil, Manmohan, Arjun, Raghuvansh Prasad, Paswan and Maran

Language, however, is not what is delaying and even derailing decision-making in the 23-party UPA. A combination of faction-ridden coalition politics, populism and ideological distress has disabled the Government. As a senior minister reveals, business at cabinet meetings is conducted in an atmosphere that flits between the raucous and the restive.

Nothing underlines it better than this fact-in 15 months the Centre appointed no less than 40 Groups of Ministers or what is known on Raisina Hill as the GoM Raj. In July alone, the Government lobbed four issues for GoMs to decide. It is as if decision-making will now be outsourced.

To get a perspective on its spread, consider this. In its six years of existence, the NDA regime led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee set up 32 GoMs. In comparison, the UPA sets up two every three weeks. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee holds the chairmanship of 20 GoMs while Finance Minister P. Chidambaram chairs three and is a member of 20 GoMs.

While there is the question of how ministers find time, there is also the need to justify the creation of GoMs of which not more than 10 would stand the standard scrutiny of need. The rest have been created to pacify recalcitrant allies. Mukherjee disagrees and explains, "The prime minister has evolved this mechanism for an in-depth study of issues. The GoM helps reconcile differences in a coalition."

GOM JAM ON RAISINA HILL Of the GoMs charted below, only 15 have delivered decisions

AIRPORTS Chairman: Pranab Mukherjee Members: P. Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, H.R. Bharadwaj, Praful Patel Aim: Modernisation of Delhi, Mumbai airports. PROMOTION OF TOURISM Chairman: Arjun Singh Members: Lalu Yadav, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jaipal Reddy, Kamal Nath, Jagdish Tytler, Renuka Chowdhury, Kumari Selja, Patel Status: Suggested a new task force. WORK ALLOTMENT TO THE MINISTRY FOR OVERSEAS INDIANS Chairman: Pranab Mukherjee Members: Arjun, Azad, K. Chandrasekhara Rao, Chidambaram, Bharadwaj, Suresh Pachauri, Kamal Nath Status: Allocated work to the new ministry. WORK ALLOTMENT FOR PANCHAYATI RAJ MINISTRY Chairman: Pranab Mukherjee Members: Azad, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyar Status: Allocated work to the ministry. BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY Chairman: Arjun Singh Members: Ram Vilas Paswan, Sis Ram Ola, Kamal Nath, Bharadwaj, Rao, Suresh Pachauri Aim: To monitor the allocation of funds to those affected by the gas tragedy. MASS RAPID TRANSPORT SYSTEM IN DELHI Chairman: Pranab Mukherjee Members: Lalu, Azad and chief minister and lieutenant-governor of Delhi. INTEGRATED FOOD BILL Chairman: Sharad Pawar Members: Bharadwaj, Kamal Nath, Raghuvansh Prasad, Aiyar, A. Raja, Subodh Kant Sahay, A. Ramadoss, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi Aim: To evolve a uniform food law. SICK SUBSIDIARIES OF NTC Chairman: Sharad Pawar Members: Chidambaram, Shankersinh Vaghela, Kamal Nath, Rao, Santosh Mohan Deb Aim: Restructure of the sick mills of NTC. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Chairman: Sharad Pawar Members: Lalu, Paswan, P.R. Kyndiah, Kamal Nath, Bharadwaj, Meira Kumar, Maran, Kapil Sibal, Chidambaram Aim: Elicit views of private sector on reservations. THE TAJ MAHAL Chairman: Arjun Singh Members: Jaipal Reddy, Raja, Chowdhury and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Aim: Plan the celebrations of the 350th anniversary of the Taj Mahal on a national scale.

Of course, there is a method to the muddle. Chairmanships of GoMs have been distributed astutely. Almost everyone who is and could be a contender for the top job-Mukherjee, Arjun Singh, Sharad Pawar, Shivraj Patil, even Chidambaram-is allocated a GoM. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is obviously testing them on delivery. Also he has taken care of regional interests. The inclusion of allies in a GoM quells any chance of ruckus that partners might create when the issue returns to the Cabinet.

To a great extent, Manmohan has succeeded but the question is, does India need such elaborate appendages to arrive at decisions. Chidambaram tends to agree with the idea and need for the mechanism: "GoMs are politically savvy mechanisms suited for a coalition era. Broader policy issues which cannot be decided by one minister are addressed by them."

Sure, there are complex issues like the new patent law and negotiations at the WTO and specialised areas like terms of reference for the new commission on Centre-state relations. One can understand the need for a GoM on an issue like the modernisation of airports or reservation in the private sector. But what possible justification can one have for constituting GoMs for the promotion of tourism, hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games and on the uplinking of TV channels? When panels are set up to decide on how to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the 1857 uprising or 350 years of Taj Mahal, they make a mockery of rationale. More importantly, do GoMs impede or improve policy-making?

BJP leader and former Union minister Sushma Swaraj believes the problem stems from the dual power centre: "The rash of GoMs is simply an exemplary instance of an indecisive Government. They are a tool for the indecisive to defer decisions." While it is true that 15 of the 40 GoMs have delivered and five have filed interim decisions, the fact is time is the biggest casualty. It took over 300 days for a GoM to decide on allocation of work to the Panchayati Raj Ministry.

What about the quality of decision-making? Take the panel that looks into the 2010 Commonwealth Games. It has decided "to create an apex committee for overall coordination, an organising committee to deal with the Government of India, a three-member subcommittee headed by finance minister to supervise financial matters, a subcommittee headed by lieutenant-governor to oversee security, a subcommittee headed by Delhi chief minister to look into issues relating to NCR and a committee of secretaries for other issues".

PRANAB MUKHERJEE DEFENCE MINISTER Veteran negotiator of complex issues	P. CHIDAMBARAM FINANCE MINISTER Legal eagle and money manager	MONTEK SINGH AHLUWALIA DY CHAIRMAN, PLANNING COMMISSION PM's man monitors flow of funds
SHARAD PAWAR AGRICULTURE MINISTER Wily Maratha is PM's trusted ally	LALU YADAV RAILWAY MINISTER Fiercely guards interests of OBCs	H.R. BHARADWAJ LAW MINISTER Scans plans for potential trouble

Do these issues and the recommendations justify the setting up of GoMs? Maran feels in a coalition GoMs "bring consensus to the table fast". Cabinet Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi believes "GoMs give political sanctity to decision-making". Former finance minister Jaswant Singh disagrees. He says it is not so much the coalition but the nature of coalition that has caused the GoM jam: "How can you govern a country with just 140-odd MPs? The GoMs are a reflection of this reality."

Be that as it may how different are the GoMs from the 60-plus committees the Government has set up? The GoM culture may be a reflection on the fractured polity, but it is also a manifestation of the poor quality of political representation. Technically, a matter that comes up before the Cabinet is deemed to have been discussed by the concerned ministries. When the matter is listed before the Cabinet, every minister is given a note. Then the wise men are expected to debate the finer points and vote the decision in or out.

That is in theory. In practice, only a few senior ministers come prepared. Consequently, in the words of a secretary, discussion degenerates almost into a political rally. Then in the name of consensus, the matter is referred to a GoM. Even that doesn't help. Ministries responsible for the coordination of GoMs often complain that ministers miss the meetings. CPI National Secretary D. Raja says that while building consensus is fine there should be time-bound decision-making.

Some GoMs like those on critical legislations like the integrated food bill, the creation of sezs, the Right to Information Bill and the Rural Employment Guarantee Bill have delivered. But what about the others? The GoM on the anniversary of the Taj, for instance, is a year old but nobody quite knows what decisions have been taken.

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