First, the positives about Prime Minister Narendra’s Modi’s 46-member Council of Ministers. The most obvious is size, with the total number of ministers far lower than the recent norm; the outgoing United Progressive Alliance government had as many as 79. Then, barring all but two, the ministers are below 70 years of age — a reflection of relatively younger leaders gaining importance within the BJP. Significantly, this has not been brought about by the induction of children of established politicians such as Dushyant Singh, Anurag Thakur, Poonam Mahajan and Varun Gandhi — none of whom has found a place. In refreshing contrast, those perceived as being able and competent — Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar, and Piyush Goyal — have been rewarded with important positions despite their lack of ministerial experience. All of them as Ministers of State with independent charge will report directly to the Prime Minister; this part of the ministry-making exercise has Modi’s distinct stamp on it. Finally, six of the 23 Cabinet ministers are women — not a bad accomplishment for a party painted as male-dominated and paternalistic.
Those who expected many of the ministries to be integrated — with a single Cabinet minister heading a cluster of related departments — may be somewhat disappointed though. Such a move would have improved synergies and enable faster decision-making. To be fair, this has happened in a small measure, with Arun Jaitley — who has emerged as a powerhouse within the new dispensation — heading both Finance and Corporate Affairs and Piyush Goyal given independent charge of Power, Coal and Renewable Energy. It would have better if there was some rationalisation instead of separate ministries for Agriculture, Food Processing, Fertilisers, Food and Public Distribution and Rural Development. Similarly, it is questionable whether we need different ministers for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, MSMEs, Steel and Mines, and Textiles. The fact that some ministers are handling completely unrelated portfolios — Jaitley (Finance and Defence), Ravi Shankar Prasad (Law and Communications/IT) and Prakash Javadekar (Information & Broadcasting and Environment & Forests) — suggests the job of ministry-making is not yet done with.
The absence of specialists and technocrats in the Council of Ministers has evoked some surprise given the buzz about the possible induction of Deepak Parekh, KV Kamath and E Sreetharan. But one shouldn’t read too much into this. Even in Gujarat, Modi presided over a ‘political Cabinet’ — it is another matter that he worked through bureaucrats, technocrats and specialists to implement a range of projects. A political Cabinet is not a constraint on getting the best advice, and one hopes Modi and his team will seek it whether to revive the economy or restructure the railways. With heavyweights such as Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj suitably rewarded, Modi has been politically accommodating as well. All in all, not a bad start for another beginning — governing the country.