By Tarunkumar Singhal, Raman Jokhakar, Chartered Accountants
fiogf49gjkf0d
The Chinese government is preparing to dismantle the ministry that has swaggeringly delivered the world’s largest high-speed network over the last few years. This is just one among many measures China is undertaking to reduce corruption and leakages while boosting efficiency and sending a forward-looking signal to the markets.
It follows on 1 Tarunkumar Singhal Raman Jokhakar Chartered Accountants Miscellanea earlier reforms when more than 40 ministries and commissions in China were cut down to just 29. Now look at India for contrast. The first cabinet of independent India apportioned out only around a dozen portfolios, which had gone up to 42 by 2004. And that number is a whopping 53 now! While such ministerial multiplication has served the cause of coalition politics admirably, it has also encouraged paunchy and improvident governance. This bungling has been worsened by ministries working at cross-purposes. As the cabinet secretariat has said in its annual performance appraisal, most central ministries are working in silos, even though there is no consolation in a team member scoring a double century if the team ends up losing the match.
To take the example of railways, why shouldn’t it be integrated alongside the road transport and highways ministry, the shipping ministry and the civil aviation ministry within a transport portfolio? If only Air India was denationalised back to its status at Independence, as is suitable for a postliberalisation nation, the civil aviation ministry would lose its raison d’etre. Or consider how the energy portfolio is (mis)handled by the ministries of coal, petroleum and natural gas, power, new and renewable energy, heavy industries and public enterprises, et al. With so many ministries splitting up the goal of powering India, the big picture suffers while petty politicking flourishes.
Why, for instance, do we need textiles, steel or information and broadcasting ministries in a liberalised environment? And what on earth, pray, is the job of the ministry of statistics and programme implementation? If other ministries cannot implement their programmes, will setting up a separate ministry dedicated to this help? Add to the incessant setting up of new ministries the innumerable departments and standalone offices that also come up, and you have layers of bureaucracy, each with its own penchant for empire-building, coming in the way of streamlined governance and meaningful work. It’s high time the government indulged its common-sense side rather than its maudlin and inflated side, and reversed the trend of mindless multiplication of ministries.
