A case for small government

Today, Andhra Pradesh Governor accepted the resignation of two ministers Dharmana Prasada Rao and Sabita Indra Reddy. Dharmana Prasada Rao was Minister for Roads & Buildings while Sabita Indra Reddy was Minister for Home, Jails, Fire Services, Sainik Welfare, Printing & Stationary. A couple of weeks back Siddaramaiah alloted portfolios to his minister, Satish Jarkiholi got the Ministry of Excise. So, AP Govt. has a Ministry of Printing & Stationary and Karnataka Govt. has a ministry of Excise (in addition to Finance, Revenue and Ports & Inland Transport). If we go through the lists in detail, we would find a lot more ministries which make no sense. So, let us try and analyze the list of such useless Ministries of the Central Government. 

1. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy,

          

It seems this ministry was created so that Farooq Abdullah could enjoy being a Cabinet Minister while doing nothing. What are the New and Renwable Energy sources that we are looking at? Tidal? Geothermal? As far as I know, we don't have a central government policy on either of these. We do have solar/wind policies, but do we need a full separate ministry with a dedicated minister just for that? Hydroelectricity is also a renewable source of energy but it comes under Ministry of Power, which has a Minister of State with Independent Charge. There is also a Department of Atomic Energy, which PM is holding.

2.  Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs

According to their website, "The Ministry focuses on developing networks with and amongst Overseas Indians with the intent of building partnership with the Diaspora. Besides dealing with all matters relating to Overseas Indians, the Ministry is engaged in several initiatives with OIs for the promotion of trade and investment, emigration, education, culture, health and science & technology." 

For promotion of trade and investment, we have Ministry of Finance, Commerce & Industry, Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Corporate Affairs, FICCI, CII and various trade forums. Similarly, for education, culture, health and science & technology, we have specific ministries. Also, all these services to Overseas Indians can only be provided with the help of Indian High Commissions and Consulates. So, why have this separate ministry? Shouldn't it be just a department in Ministry of External Affairs?

3. Ministry of Civil Aviation

The primary job of this ministry is to monitor the functioning of Air India, an entity that should have been closed years ago. It is a loss making enterprise that serves no purpose except as a source of corruption and misuse by politicians and bureaucrats. Apart from Air India, MoCA, also oversees the functioning of Airport Authority of India (which should be an autonomous body ensuring safety standards are met at airports and not running them) and Director General of Civil Aviation (also an autonomous body). Now, if these bodies are autonomous, why do we need a minister to oversee their work? 

4.Ministry of Shipping

The Ministry of Shipping encompasses within its fold shipping and ports sectors which include shipbuilding and ship-repair, major ports, national waterways, and inland water transport. In India, inland water transport is almost negligible. There are a total of 6 national waterways. Environmental and Labor concerns in ship building, repairs and breaking are taken care of by respective ministries. There is no need for government to be running shipping services and ports should be administered by an autonomous body like AAI. So, what exactly is this ministry doing?

5. Ministry of Coal, Steel, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Textiles, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Public Enterprises

Each of these ministries are there just to oversee the functioning of a PSU. What exactly does a Textile Minister do? If not for Coal Scam, how many of us would have even known that there is a separate ministry for coal? What policy decisions have to be taken in Steel Ministry? There is a separate Ministry of Mines, which should take care of utilization/allocation/auction of coal/iron ore mines. It should be converted into Ministry of Natural Resources and incorporate even Natural Gas blocks. Ideally, I would like government to divest their stake in majority of these PSUs but even if they want to continue doing business, then also we have a separate Ministry of Public Enterprises which should monitor these PSUs (having full autonomy).

6. Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Minority Affairs, Tribal Affairs, Women & Child Development, Youth Affairs & Sports, Development of North Eastern Region

This is a classic example of duplicating work. If Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment does it work efficiently, we don't need ministries dedicated to specific groups. If government wants to launch a scheme targeted at women of North East, which should be the nodal ministry? Tribal women belonging to minority community should be covered by which ministry? Why is there a need for separate youth affairs ministry? 

What exactly does the Sports ministry do? Each sport has their individual sports bodies. In multi-sports events we are represented by IOA. Why do we need Sports Authority of India which hires and pays coaches, maintains many stadiums and takes care of training facilities. Why shouldn't that money be given directly to the respective sports federations? All these ministries can be clubbed together as a single department under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (which could be separate from Ministry of Education).

7. Ministry of Tourism, Culture

Most of our biggest tourist attractions are historical sites which are maintained by ASI which comes under Ministry of Culture. Also, majority of the work of Tourism Ministry is done through India Tourism Development Corporation. Why can't ITDC be shifted to Ministry of Culture? As far as remaining works of Tourism Ministry are concerned (running hotels and restaurants), there is no need for government to do that. 

8. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

There is no need for government to run television/radio channels, give film awards or administer film institutes. Censor boards should be made autonomous. Press releases can be handled by respective departments.

8. Ministry of Finance, Commerce & Industry, Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Corporate Affairs, Consumer Affairs, Statistics & Program Implementation, Planning

Till now, I have not been able to understand what is the role of each of these ministries. Why cant they all be merged into a single or maybe two ministries? Having these many different ministries results in overlaps which results in delays. 

So, in essence, half of the ministries are there just to duplicate the work of another ministry or monitor the work of numerous PSUs, autonomous bodies and corporations. Since, for any work one has to deal with more than one ministry this results in delays and inefficiencies. Taking into consideration the various perks each minister gets, I think we would be much better off with a much smaller cabinet and giving real autonomy to corporations. 

Also, this problem is more severe at state level. Courts have reduced the problem somewhat by limiting the number of ministers but even the present figure seems to be bloated and there is score for further downsizing. 

Jai Hind