Answer:

There has been proliferation of the Ministries and Departments in Government to achieve welfare objectives of the Constitution. It has the advantage of specialization, focus and resource channelization but it also has the disadvantages of lack of coordination and inability to adopt an integrated approach to national priorities and problems.

For example, different aspects of transport are dealt by different Ministries. Ministry of Civil Aviation deals with civil aviation; while Ministry of Railways with rail transport; Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways deals with maritime shipping,

highways and motor vehicles and the Ministry of Urban Development deals with urban transport systems. Thus, it has been fragmented into multiple disciplines making the necessary integrated national approach to this important sector difficult. For example, the proposed scheme of integrated travelling card across different modes of transport is still in infancy.

Similarly initiatives like ‘Housing for All’ often require approvals from Ministries of Defence, Environment and Forests & Climate Change, Civil Aviation etc. Streamlining approvals for construction projects in urban areas is being pushed so as to enable time bound and hassle free clearances for projects.

From the above examples it is clear that there is a need to strike a balance between requirements of functional specialization and need for a holistic approach. In order to evolve an integrated approach, it would be desirable to categorize the functions of Government into a reasonable number of groups. In India, Departmental Standing Committees of Parliament is a good example of integration of inter-connected subject matters. Privatization and disinvestments of loss making public sector enterprises is also useful in restricting the number of ministries and departments in post liberation period. This will enable government of the day to streamline ministries and departments and retaining only those which have direct relevance for core governance functions.

But the size of the Council of Ministers reflects the needs of representative democracy for a large and diverse country like India. It would also be unrealistic to expect curtailment in the size of the Council of Ministers in a multiparty democracy.

Instead, a more pragmatic approach would be to retain the existing size of the Council of Ministers but increase the level of coordination by providing for a senior Cabinet Minister to head each of the 20-25 closely related Departments. And Individual departments could be headed by the Minister of State. For this arrangement to work, adequate delegation and division of work among the concerned Ministers would have to be worked out.

The office of cabinet secretary should be used with greater efficiency. The committee of secretaries is a good platform providing ample scope to bring inter-ministerial coordination.

It would lead to enhanced coordination and adequate Ministerial representation in a large and diverse country, without causing a proliferation. The era of coalition politics, which at times necessitated ministerial proliferation to please allies is behind us at least for some time now and this is the opportune moment to kick in this reform.

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