Give junior ministers some work, seniors told

NEW DELHI: Taking cognisance of complaints from his ministers of state (MoS) that they have very little work , Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has urged his cabinet colleagues to ensure that their junior ministers do not sit idle and are allocated some work.

Separate, yet identically-worded, letters were despatched from the PMO to all the 33 cabinet ministers on Thursday, asking them to assign some work to their junior colleagues. While the crop of ministers of state have always been an aggrieved lot, it’s probably the first time a head of government has formally written letters to his cabinet colleagues, asking them to be mindful of the concerns of their juniors.

While a few cabinet ministers have taken care to involve their junior ministers in their work, asking the officialdom to route all files through them, a great majority of them have complained of being left with no work, except cutting ribbons, addressing seminars and conferences, and to travel across the country and, sometimes, abroad.

In many cases, the ministers of state have not even bothered to visit their offices for days together, preferring to spend time in their constituencies. Mohd Taslimuddin, the controversial RJD MP from Kishanganj in Bihar, is one such minister.

He is one of the three ministers of state attached to Sharad Pawar, who is incharge of the ministries of agriculture, consumer affairs, food and public distribution. Peeved at being consistently ignored in the allocation of work, Mr Taslimuddin is said to have shot off three letters to the prime minister, highlighting his plight.

He is even reported to have met the prime minister with his tale of woes. Similar complaints have been aired in the past by MAA Fatmi, a minister of state in the HRD ministry, Kanti Singh in her earlier stint with the HRD ministry, and P Lakshmi, the minister of state in the health and family welfare ministry.

In all these cases, the senior ministers were accused of being outright insensitive, who had “no faith in the concept of division of labour”. Immediately after being sworn in as the country’s prime minister in May 2004, Mr Singh had convened a meeting of the entire council of ministers.

The junior ministers had even then given vent to their feelings, but to no avail. The union council of ministers at present has a total strength of 79.

While there are 34 ministers of the cabinet rank, including the prime minister, there are seven members who have been assigned independent charge of their departments. The remaining 38 are all ministers of state.