BW Communities

Monitor Ministers, Not Projects

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[Some months ago, I was at a B-School competition to help judge a students' competition. The idea was also to articulate a new theme for India. The best thought that emerged was Implementing India. This is the critical need for central and state governments. India doesn't need more policies as much as it needs existing policies to be implemented. It needs the pending projects to be completed. It needs central and state government departments to join hands to ensure that every decision on paper leads to time-bound action on the ground. The government has accepted that projects worth more than Rs 1.46 lakh crore are awaiting completion. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is leading from the front to push for the projects to be cleared. He has asked two organizations to monitor the projects. The Department of Financial Services under the Ministry of Finance and the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) will "submit a quarterly statement of all projects monitored and any issues identified that need resolution, either systemically or individually." While this seems like a good idea, the worry is that it may not be enough. The NMCC is a body of industry leaders and secretaries from various ministries including Finance and Heavy industry. The heads of apex chambers of commerce and some experts are also members. At best these two organizations will inform the PM about what is already known. That projects are being held up for lack of various clearances. These organizations don't have the clout to force decisions. I fear that this project monitoring effort will take away from the natural responsibilities of the various ministers who are in charge of getting the projects done. It's really the responsibility of the Ministers in charge of infrastructure ministries to get projects completed. They can't throw up their hands at every hurdle and ask the PM to intervene. In the corporate world, the senior managers don't run to the CEO for every problem they face.  Similarly, ministers can't push the onus of delivery on the PM. Here the political clout of ruling UPA coalition and its lead constituent Congress has to take some responsibility too. It was heartening to hear that the Congress Working Committee pulled up the government for economic slowdown and absence of decision making. But the Congress party should go a step further and demand action from each minister. Each minister in the Cabinet is also a veteran politician who is answerable to the party and the CWC. The UPA and CWC should send an unambiguous message to the government that each minister has to drive decision making. Each Minister has 2-3 junior ministers and 3-4 secretary level officials. There  are enough resources available. What is needed is a will to deliver and the whip to punish. Unless the ruling coalition uses the political threat of taking away the jobs of ministers, action will not be taken. Congress should demand action from ministers. The political parties should monitor the work of ministers. Strong government action needs cover from political power. And political power will be enhanced if there is more investment, more jobs are created, and people have more money in their pockets. If people feel that their income is rising, they will be less worried about rising prices. It's in the political interest of UPA to be ruthless with ministers. (Pranjal Sharma is a senior business writer. He can be contacted at pranjalx@gmail.com)