Portfolio allocation giving headaches to Govt.

By Girish Menon

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 12. The new portfolio allocation is giving new administrative headaches to the UDF Government, under the Chief Minister, Mr. A. K. Antony.

The portfolio allocation has been done in an unscientific manner, forcing Government secretaries to report to more than three Ministers. In some cases, the portfolios have been hived off from the parent department to accommodate a Minister in the Cabinet, as part of the coalition system of seat sharing.

But the most direct harm would be in Information Technology, which is at present with the IUML Minister, Mr. P.K. Kunhalikutty. According to officials, the Government's IT policy is judged by its efforts to introduce new skills in education, besides the completion of various projects seeking to introduce e-governance and investments in IT infrastructure. They point out that information technology does not involve only infrastructure promotion and investments.

The Government could initiate development in the IT sector only if there is proper coordination among various departments. After the UDF Government's assumption of power, each department is likely to launch its own programmes for e-governance. IT officials point out to the need to sustain the gains achieved through pilot programmes like `Friends' and `Pearls', which have made it possible for the IT sector to converge on e-governance applications.

According to them, the most important aspect of the IT sector is the convergence of e-governance applications at a single point. For this, the IT Department needs to coordinate e-governance projects across the departments. In the case of `Friends', the IT Department would have to coordinate the activities of seven departments, the Government and quasi-government agencies. The coordination is required at the planning and implementation stages, involving a number of departments such as the Revenue, PWD and Local Administration, both in terms of physical infrastructure as well as for connectivity infrastructure. Coordination, therefore, could be done effectively only at the Chief Minister's level.

Museum and Zoos have been hived off from Cultural Affairs, and given to Mr. T.M. Jacob. The KSFDC and the C-Dit have been separated and handed to another Minister, Mr. M.M. Hassan. Khadhi and Village Industries has been hived off from the Industry Department and handed to the Kerala Congress Minister, Mr. C.F. Thomas. If the Cabinet does not take a different decision, Mr Thomas would have the Industry Minister, Mr. P.K. Kunhalikutty, as the chairman of the KVI Board.

The Rural Development Department has been revived, even though the DRDAs, one of the major agencies under it, were abolished by the LDF Government. It is not clear whether the DRDAs would be revived along with the department. Kerafed is with the Agriculture Department, though its administration is with the Cooperative Department.

There are Government secretaries like, Mr. T. Balakrishnan, who has to report to four Ministers, including Cultural Affairs, Museum and Zoos, Local Administration and Rural Development.

The allocation of portfolios might seem logical given the complicated methods and compulsions of coalition politics. But these have wide-ranging political implications in a coalition set-up. The thing to note is that irrespective of whether the LDF or UDF ruled, the coalition partners have consistently handled the same portfolios whenever they came to power.

Perhaps, the UDF Government would iron out these things, but the administrative set up would have to undergo another upheaval in the event of a change of guard in the next election.

The presence of large number of bureaucrats is also posing another problem. After more than two weeks in power, at least four Ministers are yet to get their offices and official residences ready. There are several rooms in the Secretariat which are now being occupied by bureaucrats. These rooms had become available to them during the LDF rule because of the small size of the Ministry. But with the arrival of 20 Ministers, there has been a run for spacious offices.

The interesting aspect is that some of the Ministers have not succeeded in ousting officials from their perch, and have had to accept alternative proposals of accommodation. Some of them did get office-rooms, but could not get the Chief Minister agree to proposals to spruce them up in whatever modest way possible.

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Section  : Southern States
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