Is Jyotiraditya Scindia the right choice for power?

Sunday's Cabinet reshuffle has raised many an eyebrow, as evident from the cacophony in the media. Much of that noise has revolved around whether Jaipal Reddy was shunted out of the Petroleum Ministry owing to pressure from corporate lobbies. And over the wisdom of making Salman Khurshid the external affairs minister, given the accusations of alleged irregularities in an NGO he runs with his wife Louise in Uttar Pradesh.

But what is missing is a debate on whether the appointment of Jyotiraditya Scindia as minister of state (with independent charge) for power, makes sense.

The power sector has lurched from one crisis to another in recent years. The most recent of these was a complete collapse of power grids in July, which left people in the North, East and Northeast - about half the country - in darkness. Despite this mismanagement, the government elevated then power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to the Home Ministry.

There have been no power outages since but the sector continues to face challenges. For instance, it is clear that the 88,425 MW capacity-addition target of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan will not be met. In this, the twelfth Plan period is no different from earlier ones.

A bigger worry is the government's inability to find a lasting solution to address the shortage of coal. Despite its best efforts, Coal India Ltd may not be able to ramp up production to meet demand. Coal demand from power producers is estimated to be around 558 million tonnes this financial year while domestic supply is expected to be just 418 million tonnes. Last year, the state-owned monopoly failed to meet even its revised output target of 440 million tonnes.

The government has instituted punitive measures but those may not make a huge difference. Coal India, a listed entity, is supposed to pay a penalty of 40 per cent of the value of unsupplied coal if supply to a power producer falls below 50 per cent of the contracted amount. That stipulation has not gone down well with investors.

While younger politicians getting key roles in the government is welcome, the power ministry, saddled with these challenges, would have benefited from a more experienced hand. Scindia did not do much of note during his stints as minister of state in the commerce and communications & IT ministries. Nor has he contributed much to parliamentary debates.

Given all this, the 41-year-old son of late Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia is indeed a strange choice for such a crucial ministry.