Time for a reshuffle

Cabinet reorganisation should not be postponed further

The Narendra Modi-led government is at present enjoying a rare luxury — it is going through a brief moment in its rule when elections are not an immediate concern. The question, however, is how it plans to use this breather. This pause comes just as the government has completed three years in office and is now entering the crucial last two years before it faces the electorate in 2019. It has also registered handsome victories in the recently concluded state elections but as it looks ahead there are growing concerns on the economic growth front. As such, this is a good time for the PM to re-examine his team’s performance and go in for a Cabinet reshuffle. There is, of course, the presidential election scheduled for July 17, but that has nothing to do with managing the team within the ruling party itself. To be sure, there are multiple reasons why rejigging his Cabinet makes a lot of sense for the PM. 

Perhaps the most urgent reason is that Arun Jaitley is looking after two of the most important ministries at the moment. Since Manohar Parrikar returned to Goa as chief minister, Mr Jaitley has been serving as defence minister in addition to his finance portfolio. This arrangement cannot do justice to either ministry, both of which have enormous amounts of pending work. On defence preparedness, India has multiple challenges, especially on the western border. It is also a crucial time from the policy perspective as India is attempting to upgrade its defence manufacturing capacity and this involves taking a call on several contentious issues of procurement. On finance, the government has a humongous task of adeptly shepherding the economy into the new indirect tax regime — the goods and services tax (GST). The other big concern is to deal with the broad-based and almost a year-long slowdown in the economy. The key concern here is kick-starting private investment in the economy. Clearly, both ministries require full-time attention, not to mention the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, which, too, is headed by Mr Jaitley.

Moreover, there are several crucial ministries that are led by ministers who are not part of the Cabinet. For instance, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is led by Nirmala Sitharaman who is minister of state with independent charge. Similarly, Piyush Goyal is also minister of state with independent charge of four ministries — power, coal, new and renewable energy, and mines. Dharmendra Pradhan, too, is minister of state with independent charge of petroleum and natural gas. All these ministries are of crucial importance and yet they are being headed by someone who does not figure in the Cabinet, the key decision-making body in the country. Then the man in charge of the crucial ministry for micro, small and medium enterprises, which are the sputtering engine of Indian growth, Kalraj Mishra, will soon turn 76 — past the age at which the prime minister has stated ministers should retire. Finally, it is important to remember that reshuffles are crucial if accountability is to be preserved in the council of ministers. The Prime Minister’s Office examining various ministers’ record, as reported, is a welcome move. However, it would be unwise to postpone the reshuffle for much longer.