RATIONALE: Universalisation of elementary education, that is, to promote education and adult literacy at primary and secondary school levels.

REALITY CHECK: The omnibus ministry created by Rajiv Gandhi by merging Education, Culture, Women and Child, Sports and Youth Welfare has been dismantled into as many ministries, negating any logic of efficiency and delivery that he might have desired.

While Culture and Women and Child Development can claim to have some legitimacy for existence, Education is as much a state subject as federal, especially school education and adult literacy. You could argue that primary education in some states requires a push from the Centre, but its report card is stained with failure. In government, spend is never equal to the result. At HRD, even the spend is inefficient. This year, for instance, the department was left with Rs 1,453.76 crore under Elementary Education and Literacy as on February 28. Even under the Education Guarantee Scheme, it achieved only 52 per cent of its target of 47.7 lakh enrolments. The two elaborate schemes launched by the HRD Ministry—the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Mid-day Meal scheme—have so far remained peripheral in developing these sectors, as implementation is in the hand of the states.

Tamil Nadu has successfully experimented with the Mid-day Meal Scheme, leading to a healthy growth from the 1960s onwards, while Central funding for primary education has resulted in a colossal waste in most states, as they tend to underutilise and experiment with the funds. Adult literacy, as the Kerala experiment has shown, is best left to the states. If the HRD must involve itself in policy, it should only be at the higher education level, although after the quota imbroglio, that too is open to debate. It would be best if the ministry focused on opening up higher education. That would force all states to sit up and design their school syllabi to suit the needs of a modern economy.

Poor Show
MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Staff: 139
Wages and allowances: Rs 2.59 crore
Total plan and non-plan expenditure: Rs 509.75 crore

RATIONALE: To shape the policies and programmes of the country as a whole, allocate resources, provide finances through national financial institutions for housing and urban development.

REALITY CHECK: Poverty alleviation should be the focus of all policies.

This ministry was designed to provide affordable urban housing and create jobs. If the mushrooming of slums or the absence of a framework to create jobs is any indicator, the ministry has failed miserably.

Created on October 16, 1999, merged in 2000, and re-formed on May 27, 2004, this ministry, like many others, exists as an instrument of political accommodation. All matters pertaining to housing and urban development are assigned to states and by the 74th Amendment to the Constitution, to urban local bodies. The constitutional and legal authority of the Centre is limited to Delhi and the Union territories. Even if one were to argue the case for Central intervention, neither the structure of governance nor the ministry’s performance would justify it. The Centre can draw up policy, but as long as implementation is with the states, results cannot be guaranteed. The number of urban poor was estimated at 80.7 million by a National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) study in 2004 and housing shortage at 24.71 million units in March 2007.

The joke is, the ministry estimates only 42 million of the 285 million urban dwellers live in slums. As for poverty alleviation, it has the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana. The ministry told Parliament that allocation had been hiked from Rs 160 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 344 crore in 2007-08. That is Rs 43 per urban poor per year. To get a sense of the magnitude of work, consider these statistics: the ministry told Parliament that it assisted just 469 urban poor in Delhi in three years—133 in 2003-04, 181 in 2004-05 and 149 in 2005-06. Perhaps it couldn’t find poverty in Delhi.

Urban Decay
MINISTRY OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Staff: 26,535
Wages and allowances: Rs 453.83 crore
Total plan and non-plan expenditure: Rs 3,814.52 crore

RATIONALE: To promote urban growth, transport and housing.

REALITY CHECK: Since this is largely a state subject, there is little justification for such a large edifice. This ministry is directly in conflict with the modern urban development mantra, which requires plans to be drawn up in concert with civil society.

According to the 2001 Census, India has a population of 1,027 million, of which around 28 per cent or 285 million live in urban areas. To start with, given the overwhelming vote power of rural constituencies, urban development has never been the focus of any government. Add to this the profusion of agencies and entities and you have urban India in a shambles, be it the quality of sanitation, utilities or infrastructure. By the end of the decade, urban India is estimated to deliver two-thirds of the GDP, but little has been achieved through Central intervention. As with other ministries, the Urban Development Ministry can at best preach to state governments.

India needs to renew its old cities and develop at least 50 cities like Chandigarh to enable the population to spread out. This requires funds—Rs 1,20,536 crore just in the next seven years —and a plan where local bodies have a say. Yes, the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission is a good idea, but it is in conflict with the idea of decentralised development. The unique model that Dharavi in Mumbai is looking at for regeneration may or may not work in the slums of Delhi. The onus of developing new cities and satellite townships should be on the state governments.

Megawatt Failure
MINISTRY OF NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY
Staff: 378
Wages and allowances: Rs 17.31 crore
Total plan and non-plan expenditure: Rs 632.9 crore

RATIONALE: To promote alternative sources of energy and non-fossil fuel energy systems ranging from solar to biogas.

REALITY CHECK: At best it can be a section under the Ministry of Power, where alternative sources can be factored into overall power management. The generation of ideas and new systems is best left to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Its performance can only be termed as dismal. Consider this: India has a potential to generate 47,000 MW through wind energy, whereas installed capacity is barely 1,870 MW. Obviously capital costs for renewable energy generation systems are high, the technology is still evolving and perhaps the risks are high too. Yet, it is difficult to defend the performance of the ministry. Indeed while India has the potential of generating 1,83,000 MW across the spectrum of alternative or renewable energy systems—ranging from wind, solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, small hydro, biomass, co-generation, geothermal, tidal, urban and industrial wastes—total installed capacity achieved (till March 2007) is an abysmal 10,406 MW. This is despite the fact that renewable energy was identified as a resource as early as in 1981, when the Commission for Additional Energy Sources was created (the ministry itself came into being in 1992). However, despite a compelling case for its propagation, the ministry has not been able to promote the idea.

This is despite a plethora of incentives being dished out. A host of fiscal incentives are available to both manufacturers and users of renewable energy systems, which include 100 per cent accelerated depreciation for tax purposes in the first year of installation of systems, exemption from excise duty on manufacture of most finished products, low import tariff on capital equipment and components, soft loans, five-year tax holiday for generation projects, etc. Obviously, the ministry’s existence as a solo entity has not enabled or improved performance. Modern energy management requires a holistic approach and standalone entities have no place in this structure.

THE COALITION BANDWAGON    The 79-member UPA Government has the largest ever ministerial structure

Cabinet 1. Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions 2. Finance 3. Home Affairs 4. External Affairs 5. Defence 6. Human Resource Development 7. Environment and Forests 8. Agriculture 9. Food and Public Distribution 10. Railways 11. Consumer Affairs 12. Coal 13. Minority Affairs 14. Power 15. Chemicals and Fertilisers 16. Steel 17. Urban Development 18. Mines 19. Planning 20. Agro-rural and small scale industry 21. Tribal Affairs 22. Shipping 23. Road Transport 24. Highways 25. Textiles 26. Overseas Indian Affairs 27. Commerce & Industry 28. Law & Justice 29. Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises 30. Water Resources 31. Rural Development 32. Parliamentary Affairs 33. Information & Broadcasting 34. Panchayati Raj 35. Youth Affairs & Sports 36. Development of North Eastern Region 37. Social Justice & Empowerment 38. Petroleum & Natural Gas 39. Tourism 40. Culture 41. Communications 42. Information Technology 43. Health & Family Welfare 44. Science & Technology 45. Earth Sciences 46. Corporate AFFAIRS MoS (INDEPENDENT) 1. Labour & Employment 2. Women & Child Development 3. Food Processing Industries 4. New and Renewable Energy 5. Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation 6. Civil Aviation 7. Statistics & Programme Implementation

Index