By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a meeting of junior ministers Tuesday to give a patient ear to their grievances, with many feeling starved of work or ignored in policy decisions in their respective ministries.
“He wants to hear them out personally and know if they are making a meaningful contribution in policymaking and also if they are taken seriously by their seniors,” said an official in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
There are 38 junior ministers of state in Manmohan Singh’s 78-member strong council of ministers, the largest in the country’s history. There are 33 cabinet ministers, including the prime minister and seven Ministers of State (MoS) who hold independent charge.
Sources told IANS that several cabinet ministers have not been able to devote time to the running of their ministries and consequently junior ministers receive no files and thus have little say in the running of the ministry.
“While several of the cabinet ministers are high performers, ministries like social justice, rural development, water resources and railways have not performed on expected lines,” said an official in the cabinet secretariat.
“This is the first such meeting the prime minister has called for and stocktaking will be in order.”
After Manmohan Singh was sworn-in prime minster for a second time in May last year, he promised that a mechanism would be evolved within six months where ministers of state would be able to assist their senior ministers in a more able manner in processes of decision-making.
He then asked his cabinet colleagues to ensure that junior ministers reporting to them get meaningful roles to discharge their responsibilities.
“I hope you will give your junior colleagues adequate responsibility in your ministry,” the prime minister then said in a letter to each cabinet minister.
“This would not only give them a sense of involvement and ownership, but would also groom them for bigger roles in the future.”
Given that several key allies like the Trinamool Congress, the DMK and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are part of his government and several members from these political parties are junior ministers, Manmohan Singh is keen to know first-hand if they have been able to work to their full potential.