The UPA government is facing a crisis and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could have excelled in crisis management by carrying out a major reshuffle of the Cabinet. What was announced was a routine exercise, a matter of mere tinkering. There was no expansive ministerial rejig as promised. But the incremental changes may be expected to tone up the quality of governance to some extent. A big surprise is the transfer of Jairam Ramesh from environment to rural development. Ramesh perhaps did not do very well at Copenhagen or Cancun. He has been given the key area of rural development which has considerable funds at its disposal and may push schemes like NRGES. In environment, he will be replaced by Jayanthi Narayan. Narayan will perhaps be committed to a low key programme which will be more pragmatic than Ramesh’s elaborate schemes frustrated by subsequent vacillation.
Home, Finance, Defence and External Affairs expectedly remain unaffected. Whatever the performance of the present incumbents, any change at this stage may have caused a break in policy consistency. True, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna have not exactly covered themselves with glory. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is fighting the food inflation and has not done famously so far. Pranab Mukherjee as Finance Minister is perhaps irreplaceable as is also Home Minister P. Chidambaram. What is difficult to understand is that Kapil Sibal continues to hold two key portfolios-Human Resources Development and Telecommunications. These crucial areas merit single-minded attention and putting them under one person is hardly a good idea although Sibal’s abilities seem unquestionable. Manmohan Singh still remains a prisoner of coalition compulsions. Railways under Mamata Banerjee had a dismal record. But the Trinamul leader could not be ignored and Dinesh Tribedi of Trinamul takes up the portfolio hard on the heels of two terrible train accidents. There has been no effort to elevate young ministers to Cabinet rank to infuse new blood in it. Dynamic thinking cannot be said to be Manmohan Singh’s enviable qualities.