With US shutdown, White House manages with barely 450 staffers than 1,701

Obvious hardship for the furloughed staff notwithstanding, the shutdown of the US government has definitely thrown up several areas where less could be more beneficial.

The report that the White House is making do with barely 450 staffers instead of the 1,701 actually assigned there is particularly revealing. Though the most discernible difference is the decrease in noise as there are fewer people milling about or talking on their mobile phones, that the presidential establishment can make do with a quarter of its sanctioned staff has now been proven possible.

Though that also means a leaner menu in the White House canteen and more caution when it comes to accumulating garbage — as it has to be cleaned out by staff not normally tasked with such activities —it could become the benchmark for White House and other generously staffed and budgeted offices.

It may goad state governors and other public functionaries into trimming the flab, but the most powerful nation in the world should also use this chance to show how government expenditure can be safely cut.

Prestige-conscious India may draw the line, however, at President Pranab Mukherjee strolling outside Rashtrapati Bhavan to snaffle a roadside snack on the lines of US President Barack Obama’s visit to a sandwich shop last week without the usual entourage.