Why the politics of continuity gives longevity to policies

Shaktikanta Das will retire in Feb-end, Anjuly Chib Duggal in August, and Ashok Lavasa in October

Three key members of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s team will step down this year, to make room for a new set of officers to carry the baton of the Budget programmes. But, for the first time in several years at other key ministries, especially the social sector ministries with a large purse to spend this year and next, there will be no change at the top, for more than a year.

The continuity is significant. It is a key development since the upcoming general Budget of the central government is expected to make large allocations for expenditure in sectors like health, education and sanitation, compared with previous years and the attention of the analysts and of citizens will be riveted on the outcome generated by the spending. 

As the table alongside shows, it will be a year of major changes for the finance ministry, where the secretaries for economic affairs, for department of financial services and for expenditure will retire in that order. However, this is not unusual and has happened before, on more than one occasion. Unless he gets an extension, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das will retire at the end of February. Department of Financial Affairs Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal will move out in August, and Finance and Expenditure Secretary Ashok Lavasa in October. The finance minister will have to draw up a new team with him to write the Budget for 2018-19. 

But including these three officers, none of the 14 changes at the corner room in different ministries includes any department where the government expects some major action in building social infrastructure, in financial year 2017-18. The only exceptions are in two departments. Higher Education Secretary Vinay Sheel Oberoi in the ministry of human resource development will retire after February and Skill Development Secretary Rohit Nandan at the end of this month. These changes come before the new financial year begins and for both these departments, the department of personnel and training has already appointed the next incumbents to take over. 

The continuity will somewhat assuage a common criticism directed against the performance of the government at the ground level. While the policies set by the government are decided upon by the ministers, and now more often by the Prime Minister’s Office, it is the implementation of these policies, which turn out to be tricky. Year after year, audit reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General have shown huge amounts of money meant for investment surrendered unused by the ministries, which are supposed to spend them instead. For instance, the ministry of health has consistently sent back 20 per cent of its budget at the end of each year. The progress reports for the other ministries are equally dismal. 

Member-Secretary of the Seventh Pay Commission Vivek Rae said the longer term will add value to the performance by the secretaries at the government. “I would go further and say instead of the principle of seniority, the emphasis should be on offering a fixed tenure at the helm. It will lead to faster empanelment of officers early in their career and create a positive ripple-effect on the administration”. 

One of the major reasons identified by the secretaries in their presentation to the Prime Minister in January last year was this aspect of continuity. It came up more than once among the eight presentations made by them to Narendra Modi. 

The government has, in the past, toyed with the idea of offering a two-year term to secretaries of key departments, but except for the Cabinet secretary, home affairs and defence, it has not gone through. 

Ajay Dua, former secretary, department of industrial policy, said the pattern of appointments in the current round does show a trend of offering longer terms at the helm. “It helps to give longevity to policies,” he said. He, however, added that with the action in most social sectors happening at the state levels, the central government ministries now play more of a role of a facilitator instead of controlling the purse strings. 

Rae also said if the government is careful, then despite the age differences among the officers who join the services, the pattern could be persisted with. 

THE BIG CHURN

Name	Department	Retirement  month/2017
Ajit Sharan	Ayush	March
Anuj Bishnoi	Chemicals & Fertilizers	May
H K Pande	Consumer Affairs	April
Tapan Ray	Corporate Affairs	September
Ashok Gupta	Defence Production	October
Shaktikanta Das	Economic Affairs	February
Ashok Lavasa	Expenditure	October
Anjuly Duggal	Financial Services	August
Nandita Chatterjee	Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation	July
Vinay Oberoi	Higher Education	February
K K Jalan	Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises	June
Balvinder Kumar	Mines	February
Pradeep Pujari	Power	June
Rohit Nandan	Skill Development	January
Source: Department of Personnel & Training