Adding up to Zero
In its five years at the Centre, the United Progressive Alliance government persevered for just one goal: Survival. Here’s a rating for its key ministers.
Five years is a long time to transform a sector, give it a new direction. Manmohan Singh and P. Chidambaram had demonstrated this in the early 1990s.
How many sectors appear transformed since 2004? Not many. Aside from the notable exceptions—Lalu Prasad who had the Railways turned around and Praful Patel who pulled off a sea change in air travel—which too seem a result more of the ministers’ personal ambitions than the imperatives of good governance. The rest of the Dream Team, it appeared, did not even bother with step one: envisage blueprints for changes. The few to have one—Chidambaram unsuccessfully strived for some sensible policy push—failed to make any headway. Singh’s resolve and statesmanship was reserved exclusively for the nuclear deal.
UPA’s surprise over gaining the seat of power prevented a game plan for governance from falling into place. In the end, in terms of policy reforms, India is not poised any better than it was five years ago.
Raghuvansh Prasad
The Empowerer
The Rural Development Minister’s tireless efforts in pushing the rural employment guarantee scheme have lent voice and choice to the poor.
Hot stats: 1,81,000 kms of rural roads,19 million houses under the Indira Awaas Yojna, coverage under Total Sanitation Campaign increased from 21% in 2001 to 59%.
Hard task master: Routinely took stock, pulled up chief secretaries of states over lack of progress.
Master stroke: Nearly every state government was forced to revise upwards the statutory minimum wage rate for the first time in decades as the poor prefer the better-paying rural employment guarantee scheme.
Grassroots worker: Computerisation of land record systems.
Legacy: A system of funds disbursement and supervision through 5.77 crore NREGA bank and post office accounts.
Dayanidhi Maran
The Raja Of The Rings
In three years as Telecom Minister, Maran fought his Cabinet colleagues and over-charging telcos to deliver tangibles.
Master stroke: Eased entry by dropping the entry fee for domestic long-distance telephone services from Rs 100 crore to Rs 2.5 crore. Cut the international long distance fee from Rs 25 crore to Rs 2.5 crore. Publicly goaded telcos to cut tariffs by five times to the lowest level in the world.
FDI Go-Getter: Bagged big-buck IT deals from Nokia, Microsoft and IBM. Battled the Left for 18 months to get the FDI cap raised to 74 per cent.
Grassroots worker: Helped lift rural teledensity from 1.5 to 6 per cent.
T. R. Baalu
The Show-Stopper
The minister for roads killed the momentum built by the NDA.
Cold stats: Not one project completed on time. Of the 32,939 km of the NHDP, barely 9,463 km is ready. Projects worth Rs 84,000-Rs 98,000 crore are held up.
Chained to Chennai: Dispatched disproportionate amounts of central resources for Chennai’s roads and flyovers that the NHAI had no mandate for.
Deadly stroke: Changed four NHAI chairmen in 20 months. No projects awarded during July-December 2008.
Son rise sector: Wrote repeatedly to the PMO for making gas available to companies owned by his son, which stirred fierce debates in Parliament.
Legacy: An acclaimed infrastructure initiative virtually brought to a halt.
P. Chidambaram
The Abortionist
As Finance Minister, gave no Dream Budgets.
Cold stats: The economy grew at over 9 per cent for three consecutive years for the first time. Raised tax-to-GDP ratio from 9.7 per cent in 2004-05 to 12.5 per cent in 2007-08. Cut fiscal deficit to 2.7 per cent of GDP in 2007-08, but lost control last year, pushing it to 6 per cent.
The Allocator: Wrongly believed doubling expenditure (in five years) alone will solve the problems of growth.
Deadly stroke: Failed to act on bright ideas such as the Outcome Budget, banking and insurance sector reforms.
Legacy: Decelerating growth; out-ofcontrol spending; weakened fisc.
Praful Patel
Make-Up Man
The Aviation Minister changed the way the sector looks, but will it remain so?
Cold stats: Of the 300 million Indians who can afford it, 35 million are flying.
Master stroke: Mid-wifed airport projects conceived by the NDA. Neutralised unions of Airports Authority of India for smooth hand-overs to private airport operators in Delhi and Mumbai.
Deadly stroke: Indian Airlines is no more and the merged entity with Air-India is in deep red. Didn’t stop the blatant cartel of airlines. Cleared Jet Airways’s overseas flights days before its listing. Nearcollisions became so common, even the President wasn’t safe.
Legacy: A blueprint for growth, though the glitzy airports and airlines need to be filled up.
Mani Shankar Aiyar
The Energiser
As Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, he showed vision and an ability to think for the future. He toured West Asia garnering support for a pipeline project to secure India’s energy future. A squabble that led to the ouster of Subir Raha from the ONGC Chairman’s post was the only low point in an otherwise impressive stint of about two years.
Lalu Prasad Yadav
The Boogie Man
The Railway Minister turned Indian Railways around, defying every trick in the book. He also kicked off several projects with public-private participation. Legacy: Lalu focussed on fares and finances but forgot to deliver the last mile—the experience for passengers worsened as trains and stations became more crowded.
Kamal Nath
The Soprano
The Commerce & Industry Minister failed to conclude successfully the Doha WTO round, though he alone can’t be blamed for it. Couldn’t open retail to FDI. Except the sops he routinely extorted out of the finance minister for exporters, Nath has little to show.
Legacy: The recent changes in the FDI policy have confused investors.
P.C. Gupta
The Late Bloomer
The Minister for Company Affairs shot into the limelight with his handling of Satyam post-Raju’s fraud.
Legacy: His bills could have had far-reaching implications with provisions such as one-man companies, eased caps on the number of partners in a firm and limited liability provisions, but are likely to lapse with the expiry of the Lok Sabha.
A. Raja
The Disconnector
The Telecom Minister’s reluctance to seek clear recommendations from the telecom regulator for the sale of 2G spectrum licences cost the exchequer an estimated Rs 60,000 crore. He misinterpreted binding recommendations, misled applicants, juggled deadlines and jigged the queue to undersell the licences to a few companies.
Legacy: The next government will have to implement number portability and auction 3G licences.
How many sectors appear transformed since 2004? Not many. Aside from the notable exceptions—Lalu Prasad who had the Railways turned around and Praful Patel who pulled off a sea change in air travel—which too seem a result more of the ministers’ personal ambitions than the imperatives of good governance. The rest of the Dream Team, it appeared, did not even bother with step one: envisage blueprints for changes. The few to have one—Chidambaram unsuccessfully strived for some sensible policy push—failed to make any headway. Singh’s resolve and statesmanship was reserved exclusively for the nuclear deal.
UPA’s surprise over gaining the seat of power prevented a game plan for governance from falling into place. In the end, in terms of policy reforms, India is not poised any better than it was five years ago.
The Empowerer
The Rural Development Minister’s tireless efforts in pushing the rural employment guarantee scheme have lent voice and choice to the poor.
Hot stats: 1,81,000 kms of rural roads,19 million houses under the Indira Awaas Yojna, coverage under Total Sanitation Campaign increased from 21% in 2001 to 59%.
Hard task master: Routinely took stock, pulled up chief secretaries of states over lack of progress.
Master stroke: Nearly every state government was forced to revise upwards the statutory minimum wage rate for the first time in decades as the poor prefer the better-paying rural employment guarantee scheme.
Grassroots worker: Computerisation of land record systems.
Legacy: A system of funds disbursement and supervision through 5.77 crore NREGA bank and post office accounts.
The Raja Of The Rings
In three years as Telecom Minister, Maran fought his Cabinet colleagues and over-charging telcos to deliver tangibles.
Master stroke: Eased entry by dropping the entry fee for domestic long-distance telephone services from Rs 100 crore to Rs 2.5 crore. Cut the international long distance fee from Rs 25 crore to Rs 2.5 crore. Publicly goaded telcos to cut tariffs by five times to the lowest level in the world.
FDI Go-Getter: Bagged big-buck IT deals from Nokia, Microsoft and IBM. Battled the Left for 18 months to get the FDI cap raised to 74 per cent.
Grassroots worker: Helped lift rural teledensity from 1.5 to 6 per cent.
The Show-Stopper
The minister for roads killed the momentum built by the NDA.
Cold stats: Not one project completed on time. Of the 32,939 km of the NHDP, barely 9,463 km is ready. Projects worth Rs 84,000-Rs 98,000 crore are held up.
Chained to Chennai: Dispatched disproportionate amounts of central resources for Chennai’s roads and flyovers that the NHAI had no mandate for.
Deadly stroke: Changed four NHAI chairmen in 20 months. No projects awarded during July-December 2008.
Son rise sector: Wrote repeatedly to the PMO for making gas available to companies owned by his son, which stirred fierce debates in Parliament.
Legacy: An acclaimed infrastructure initiative virtually brought to a halt.
The Abortionist
As Finance Minister, gave no Dream Budgets.
Cold stats: The economy grew at over 9 per cent for three consecutive years for the first time. Raised tax-to-GDP ratio from 9.7 per cent in 2004-05 to 12.5 per cent in 2007-08. Cut fiscal deficit to 2.7 per cent of GDP in 2007-08, but lost control last year, pushing it to 6 per cent.
The Allocator: Wrongly believed doubling expenditure (in five years) alone will solve the problems of growth.
Deadly stroke: Failed to act on bright ideas such as the Outcome Budget, banking and insurance sector reforms.
Legacy: Decelerating growth; out-ofcontrol spending; weakened fisc.
Make-Up Man
The Aviation Minister changed the way the sector looks, but will it remain so?
Cold stats: Of the 300 million Indians who can afford it, 35 million are flying.
Master stroke: Mid-wifed airport projects conceived by the NDA. Neutralised unions of Airports Authority of India for smooth hand-overs to private airport operators in Delhi and Mumbai.
Deadly stroke: Indian Airlines is no more and the merged entity with Air-India is in deep red. Didn’t stop the blatant cartel of airlines. Cleared Jet Airways’s overseas flights days before its listing. Nearcollisions became so common, even the President wasn’t safe.
Legacy: A blueprint for growth, though the glitzy airports and airlines need to be filled up.
The Energiser
As Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, he showed vision and an ability to think for the future. He toured West Asia garnering support for a pipeline project to secure India’s energy future. A squabble that led to the ouster of Subir Raha from the ONGC Chairman’s post was the only low point in an otherwise impressive stint of about two years.
The Boogie Man
The Railway Minister turned Indian Railways around, defying every trick in the book. He also kicked off several projects with public-private participation. Legacy: Lalu focussed on fares and finances but forgot to deliver the last mile—the experience for passengers worsened as trains and stations became more crowded.
The Soprano
The Commerce & Industry Minister failed to conclude successfully the Doha WTO round, though he alone can’t be blamed for it. Couldn’t open retail to FDI. Except the sops he routinely extorted out of the finance minister for exporters, Nath has little to show.
Legacy: The recent changes in the FDI policy have confused investors.
The Late Bloomer
The Minister for Company Affairs shot into the limelight with his handling of Satyam post-Raju’s fraud.
Legacy: His bills could have had far-reaching implications with provisions such as one-man companies, eased caps on the number of partners in a firm and limited liability provisions, but are likely to lapse with the expiry of the Lok Sabha.
The Disconnector
The Telecom Minister’s reluctance to seek clear recommendations from the telecom regulator for the sale of 2G spectrum licences cost the exchequer an estimated Rs 60,000 crore. He misinterpreted binding recommendations, misled applicants, juggled deadlines and jigged the queue to undersell the licences to a few companies.
Legacy: The next government will have to implement number portability and auction 3G licences.
