Maneka Gandhi in Interview of the week

Aren’t you keeping an uncharacteristically low profile in this Government? Is it because you are unhappy with your portfolio?

I specifically asked for this ministry because I thought I could make a go of it. From my interaction earlier, I realised that this is a very mysterious ministry since nobody knew what on earth it did. But in actuality the ability of the ministry to change India is indeed enormous.

But weren’t you disappointed to lose the EnvironmentMinistry?

I was disappointed. But I didn’t seriously think I could get it again. By the time I left the ministry last time we had made it so strong… Now the mood of India has changed. Nobody thinks 10 years ahead of the air, water and land. In such circumstances the Environment Ministry would have been seen as a nuisance. I would much rather do something positive.

So what positive things are you doing in the Welfare Ministry?

I had to change hundreds of things. This ministry has excellent officers who have been under-utilised for years. It all depends on how much you push for things. Last year a total of seven projects were given to NGOs because the procedure was cumbersome and grants arbitrary. For instance, there were cases like the Jaipur foot, people who are doing excellent work and my predecessor cut down their grant from Rs 2 crore to Rs 10 lakh. In four months we have processed and given out more than 400 projects, rather than leaving it to state governments. This ministry had notinitiated a new programme for over a decade, we have already cleared 37 new schemes. We have increased the ministry’s budget by 91 per cent this year.

How was all this possible?

The first thing I did was to computerise every single request. We made all officials take computer classes and we put everybody on-line. Now I have access to every request which comes to this ministry. I’ve called in experts who give training to the corporate sector to speak to our people to increase the motivation level.

To simplify things we changed a 27-page proforma into three pages, since a lot of good projects were languishing because of red tape. We also changed the rule that NGOs get money only after having worked for three years, since the money is really required in the beginning. The normal person who just wanted to do good couldn’t get past the system.

Of the 39 new schemes by our ministry, 29 have already been cleared by the other ministries, 10 are awaiting clearance with the Finance and PlanningCommission. I must say the Finance Ministry, the Law Ministry and the Planning Commission have been extremely helpful.

One of the ministry’s new schemes is the helpline for homeless children…

Up to now the traditional thinking was that street children were simply pushed into terrible hell holes called government institutions to keep them off the roads. After they were let out they returned to begging. Instead of that we have established helplines with contributions from concerned citizens. You get a 100 street children and you pay them and keep them under the supervision of social workers, doctors and policemen. Whatever the child’s problem, the attendant professional tries to deal with it. If they want to come off the road and go to school we help. If they don’t we don’t force them.

What about the other new schemes?

We want to change adoption laws so that the process is not so complicated, at present it can take a year or more. CARA, the central agency for adoption, has been madeautonomous. Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee is approaching the Supreme Court for changing the procedure to make it less time-consuming. For instance, it takes 60 days just to find out if there is an Indian willing to adopt the same child as a foreigner. Why should you waste a year in checking and re-checking? This is a crucial time in a child’s life. The orphanages are over crowded and cannot give crippled or spastic children the necessary attention. We need clearance systems which are much faster.

But what about monitoring the use of the money given to NGOs?

Basically we are taking out as much as possible from official hands and putting it in a combination of reputed people and reputed institutions for them to check and monitor. In each state we are giving good NGOs with a proven tack record, like Cry and the Tata Institute of Social Work, this task. The body of NGOs will change from year to year so that there are no vested interests.

I have been working with NGOs for the last 20 years and I’vefound that 80 per cent of all NGOs do excellent work under very trying circumstances.n Aren’t you encroaching on other ministries? You’ve asked for the Animal Welfare department from the Environment Ministry and have started rehabilitation projects, which does not come under you. Now I understand your ministry is planning to open shops.

I believe in taking a holistic approach. The Welfare Ministry should be a ministry for all. Seventy per cent of India is dependent on animals. We can’t help STs and SCs unless we help animals. The Environment Minister understood my logic and was happy to sign the file and send it to the Prime Minister but it still hasn’t come to me. It’s got lost in the ether!

As for the shops you are referring to, we hope to open 200 up-market outlets for selling products made by tribals and handicraft from the handicapped.n How do you reconcile being a minister and continuing with your television shows and animal rights columns?

I don’t see any contradiction, they are part of mycampaign for public awareness which continues regardless of whether I am a minister or not. My columns are new, the television shows are repeats. I don’t see my ministry as above all the things I do, I see it as an extension of my other activities.

Do you consider yourself part of the Gandhi family, since a lot of people in the Congress don’t seem to think so?

I am very much part of the Gandhi family but I don’t use it as a chaise-lounge to lie on. I believe it is far more important to live life with my priorities. And I believe over a period of time these priorities have become far more identified with me and have proved to be far more strengthening than just flashing a name. I will always be a Gandhi and proud to be one and I hope the work I do is in the spirit of what the Gandhi family originally set out to do.

Is your son Pheroze also planning to go into the family profession of politics.

Pheroze is an extremely bright and hard working boy. I’ve tried to bring him up with the rightmoral values. He has just finished school and plans to study law.

As a Sikh and one whose constituency of Pilibhit adjoins the proposed state of Uttaranchal, what are your views on the Udham Singh Nagar controversy?

My constituency is in the Terai and I have suggested that not just Udham Singh Nagar but large portions of the Terai be incorporated into Uttaranchal to make Uttaranchal economically stronger.