A K Bhattacharya: Running out of steam

RAISINA HILL

After the initial flurry of activity, the plethora of committees set up by the government, such as the NAC, have settled down to a quiet existence.

Soon after its formation in May 2004, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had set up quite a few committees and councils to advise it on how to frame policies in different sectors of the economy.

The first one to get off the ground was the National Advisory Council (NAC), which was then headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and was expected to advise the government on how to implement the promises made in the National Common Minimum Programme "" a document on the basis of which the UPA government had obtained the support of the Left parties.

In the next one year or so, three more such bodies had sprung up "" the Board for Restructuring Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) headed by Prahlad Basu, the National Competitive Manufacturing Council (NCME) headed by V Krishnamurthy and then the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) headed by Sam G Pitroda.

By March 2006, the NAC got embroiled in a controversy. Sonia Gandhi was accused of having occupied an office of profit. She retaliated by quitting the chairmanship of the NAC and then her Lok Sabha seat. She got re-elected to the lower house a few months later, but did not resume charge of the NAC. A year-and-a-half later, the government is yet to appoint a new chairperson for the NAC. There are now only nine members whereas the government had mandated that the Council's total membership strength could go up to 20.

Since April 2006, the NAC has held about 20 meetings, but has not sent even a single formal communication to the government. This is in sharp contrast to what used to happen when Sonia Gandhi was its chairperson. In fact, a couple of members of the NAC quit the body on the ground that it had ceased to serve the purpose for which it was created.

In sharp contrast to the smooth start the NAC had, the BRPSE had a stormy beginning. Its chairman Prahlad Basu demanded several things from the Department of Public Enterprises by way of infrastructure support, but his demands remained largely unmet. A frustrated Basu sent several letters to the Prime Minister's Office in protest, but in vain. Even then some work was done by the Board.

Till late last year, the Board had held 41 meetings to discuss proposals for reviving public sector undertakings. Its recommendations for reviving 19 PSUs have already been approved by the Cabinet. In addition, a recommendation for closing Bharat Ophthalmic Glass has also been cleared by the government.

Similarly, the National Knowledge Commission has finalised as many as eleven recommendations for the government to consider in wide-ranging areas such as language, translation, libraries, networks, portals, vocational education, higher education, science and technology, public-funded research, e-governance and the right to education. Many of these recommendations are being examined by the government to see how these could be implemented.

The National Competitive Manufacturing Council (NCMC) has also completed its main report making wide-ranging recommendations for fine-tuning policies to improve the Indian manufacturing sector's competitiveness.

But the problem with most of these committees, councils and commissions is that after the initial flurry of activities, all of them have settled down to a quiet existence. For instance, the last recommendation that the NKC sent to the government was more than six months ago. The NAC's last note to the government was in March 2006. Not much is heard of the BRPSE or its latest action plan to revive public sector undertakings.

Like all new initiatives, these bodies have now lost their initial fervour. It is important for the UPA government to recognise this and re-examine the utility of these bodies. In cases where they are still considered to be relevant, the government should at least fill the crucial vacancies. And perhaps task them with a new and more meaningful brief.