After the euphoria generated by the nomination of a person of experience and integrity like Manmohan Singh as prime minister, the mixed bag of experience and expediency in the Union council of ministers had already dampened popular enthusiasm. On top of this the distribution of portfolios based on a mixed criterion of choice and necessity has helped bring us all back to senses. This is the reality of coalitional democracy. Politicians get the ministries they do not because they are suited for the job but often because they have the political clout to secure the job they want. In a patronage-based system it is quite understandable that the more powerful politicians end up with the larger patronage distributing ministry. Even so, talent is not always at a discount and it is just as well that at least some key ministries have been allocated to persons who have the talent to run them. The first in that ranking comes the finance minister, P. Chidambaram. He’s the right man in the right place. Even Sharad Pawar is the correct man for the all important portfolio of food and agriculture, given the urgency that UPA partners attach to the work of this ministry. Unlike some of the north Indian politicians in Krishi Bhavan who end up becoming ministers for wheat and sugar cane, we hope Pawar will take a larger view of his job and not worry only about sugarcane and cotton! Many eyes will be on Natwar Singh in external affairs, waiting to see if he has internalised the nature of change that has taken place in the world since he last dealt with foreign policy in government, or whether he would be tempted to ride old hobby horses. The talents of Mani Shankar Aiyar would be better utilised in panchayati raj, with someone more au fait with petroleum and natural gas relieving him of that additional charge. The importance of the human resources development ministry has been brought home to all by the manner in which Murli Manohar Joshi and his acolytes ran it, bruising institutions because of individual whims. Hopefully, Arjun Singh will not turn out to be a Left version of Joshi and will strengthen professionalism in a key area. While the young and talented Dayanidhi Maran may have good business credentials, it remains to be seen whether first timers like him and the many other coalition partners will run their ministries properly or end up experimenting for the sake of novelty. It is just as well that Prime Minister Singh has not retained any portfolio for he may end up spending a lot of time educating his colleagues. Many will wish Singh had drawn on some of the younger talent in his own party rather than succumb to the blackmail of the old guard. The message to them should be clear: experience is no substitute for competence.
