The 71-year old communist veteran is never short of ideas as far as formulating policies for his ministry is concerned. Even though this is his first stint as a cabinet minister (he shares that distinction with many ministers in Prime Minister Deve Gowda's United Front cabinet), he has been among the quickest to adjust to the new job, notwithstanding the fact that his other comrade Indrajit Gupta has yet to reconcile himself to the fact that he is no longer an opposition MP.
Mishra no doubt has been helped by his long experience both as a parliamentarian and as a trade union leader. He was, for instance, active in the trade union movement for coal workers in the coal-producing belt of Dhanbad, Bihar. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1984. But the minister is finding it tough to get used to the present political system which is marred by various scams and scandals. And his poor health is another problem that he will have to overcome if he has to live up to the expectations that surround India's first communist agriculture minister.