Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pruned the number of Group of Ministers (GoM) and Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoMs) panels to 21 from the earlier 39.
The number of EGoMs have been slashed from 12 to six and GoMs from 27 to 15. Of the former, Defence Minister A K Antony would head three; Home Minister P Chidambaram, two; and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, one. Chidambaram is heading seven GoMs, followed by Antony with four and Pawar three. Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde would chair the GoM on power sector issues.
All the previous 12 EGoMs were headed by former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, now the country’s president. Six of these panels have been wound up. These include the ones on the Food Security Act and under-recoveries of oil marketing companies.
Now, Antony will head EGoMs on gas pricing, mass rapid transit systems and ultra mega power projects. Chidambaram those on telecom spectrum allocation and PSU divestments.