Infra-restructure

The former Union minister for rural development has been chosen to replace Kamal Nath,who not so long ago called the Planning Commission an armchair advisor. Though not a visible face in Delhis political circles till 2009 when he was inducted into UPA II,he is credited within the Congress for charting the partys victory in the Rajasthan Assembly polls. He may not hog the limelight,but to build roads,you dont need to be vocal.

Legacy inherited: Highway construction has been one of the top priorities of the UPA government,but it has hitherto been unable to translate intent into action. While the government has announced a number of ambitious phases as part of the National Highways Development Programme,the sector has been marred by squabbles with the Planning Commission over contentious clauses in bidding documents that either scared away or disqualified most bidders. Most importantly,lack of apathy from ministers such as the DMKs TR Baalu,who held the reins from 2004 to 2009,brought road-building to a grinding halt.

Agenda: Nath may not have lived up to his reputation of a doer but he did have a vision for the sector. Last 18 months,he announced ambitious projects such as expressways and mega highways,besides promising to reform the NHAI. He also cleared financing issues for the highways sector and came up with a simple bid document. For Joshi,the blueprint is ready. It is time to act. He must ensure that projects get off the ground swiftly and the bidding process is kept investor friendly. He has to also get for the NHAI a full-time proactive chairman.

Cleaning up the slick

Jaipal Reddy,Oil amp; natural gas

A veteran and widely-acknowledged parliamentarian for his oratory skills,Reddy is close to the Congress high command. His has been one of the most surprising shifts in the current reshuffle. His seven-year long stint at the urban development ministry will be known only for the introduction of the ambitious Rs 1 lakh crore JNNURM.

Legacy inherited: Though not Deoras doing,state-owned oil companies reels under large under-recoveries due to high crude oil prices. He managed to get the approval for a hefty hike in administered prices of natural gas without creating a flutter even though the pricing of Reliance gas created a sharp dent in his image. The utilisation policy for natural gas has also been affirmed by gently prodding the Empowered Group of Ministers. Despite Deoras best intentions,the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology at Rae Bareli could get off the ground. Ethanol blending in petrol has been stalled due to his alleged proclivity towards the organic chemicals industry.

Agenda: With crude oil prices climbing again,Reddy will have to get the finance ministry to agree to abolish the duty on crude oil imports and get a 5 per cent cut in the excise duty on refined products to reduce the burden on consumers. He has to put in place policies to enhance Indias energy security and reduce dependence on imports. He also needs to empower the oil and gas regulator to ensure free and fair competition in the sector.

Boarding a new flight

Vyalar Ravi,Aviation

Besides overseas Indian affairs,Rajya Sabha MP Ravi has been assigned the additional charge of Civil Aviation Ministry. A staunch 10 Janpath loyalist,Ravi was the first President of the Kerala Students Union,a student of wing of Kerala Congress and has served as the state Home minister during the Congress rule in 80s. He also served as the parliamentary affairs minister for a short while towards the end of UPA-I.

Legacy inherited: Until Wednesday afternoon,NCP leader Praful Patel acknowledged congratulatory calls believing he would retain the civil aviation portfolio,post elevation to the cabinet rank. For him,the cabinet reshuffle is a sugar coated pill while he gets the cabinet berth,the new charge of heavy industries and public enterprises is a relatively low-key ministry with little room for making far reaching changes. Even though,the sector underwent dramatic changes during his seven year stint in the ministry,these were not without allegations of favoritism. They included the controversial decision to order 111 planes for Air India and Indian Airlines at Rs 50,000 crore at a time when Air India was struggling to meet ends.

Agenda: First and foremost on the new ministers plate,would be resurrection of ailing Air India. One of the immediate issues he may have to deal with is the implementation of the new ground handling policy on which High Courts decision is awaited. AAIs plan to upgrade existing 35 non-metro airports is also stuck due to want of funds.

Rough drive to urban centres

Kamal Nath,Urban development

He retains the cabinet minister tag,but its a sharp climb down for him from an action-oriented infrastructure ministry to a sleepy Delhi-centric urban development ministry. But he has the ability to get states agree to a bold gameplan to reform the countrys urban landscape. Over the next 20-25 years,some 590 million people are expected to live in cities. Kamal Nath can rally states to evolve a master plan for transport and affordable housing. In the roads ministry,he failed to meet the ambitious target of building 25 km a day,but resolved procedural glitches and funding issues.

Legacy inherited: His predecessor,Jaipal Reddy,initiated one of the countrys most ambitious urban reforms scheme,the Rs 1-lakh crore Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission JNNURM that aimed at bringing financial and legislative reforms in 63 top cities by part-financing local projects. Apart from expansion of Delhi Metro to satellite cities of Gurgaon and Noida,Reddy also forged joint ventures with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka state governments for bringing metro to their capitals. The much-talked about real estate watchdog for the unregulated sector is still a work-in-progress as stakeholders have not reached a consensus. Despite much talk of affordable housing,Reddy was unable to incentivise developers. One of the biggest scams involving Delhi Development Authority was unearthed during Reddys tenure.

Agenda: Nath may find it difficult to get more moolah for JNNURM since the finance ministry is being sticky with funds. The rate at which the country is urbanising would see the sector become the largest job creator within the next two decades. Nath has the opportunity to prepare the country for meeting the rapid urbanisation needs by starting more city development programmes. He needs to build a consensus amongst all stakeholders including developers on the proposed real estate regulator.

Not quite a heavy job

Praful Patel,Heavy Industries

A four-time Lok Sabha member from Bhandra-Gondia,53-year old Patel has held the aviation portfolio for almost seven years now since 2004. He has been a Rajya Sabha member for two terms. A close associate of Pawar,Patel has been elevated to the Cabinet rank but handed over the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises,where there is not really much to do.

Legacy inherited: Vilasrao Deshmukh finalised the maharatna policy for public sector units. The status provides autonomy to PSUs to decide on investments in joint ventures and acquisitions up to Rs 5,000 crore. Indian Oil,ONGC,SAIL and NTPC have already been conferred the maharatna status. The ministry focussed on the issue of corporate governance and made it mandatory for profit-making state undertakings to set aside 0.5-5 per cent,based on their profit,for CSR activities. However,major issues such as the revival of sick units and streamlining of the recruitment procedure for PSUs are stuck.

Agenda: Patel may have an interesting stint. It would be worth watching if he would want the debt-ridden Air India to be referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction for a revival package. As aviation minister,he had strongly opposed such a move. Secondly,with the country facing an acute shortage of power,the ministry has to ensure capacity augmentation of power generating equipment. BHEL currently manufactures equipment which can generate only 10,000 MW of power. The ministry will have to ensure that equipment manufacturing capacity of PSUs is increased to meet the growing demand of power in the country. He will also have to act tough with perpetually bleeding PSUs.

Gets what he does best

Murli Deora,

Corporate Affairs

After relinquishing his Lok Sabha constituency to his son Milind Deora,the 74-year-old senior Congress leader is now a Rajya Sabha member. He was inducted in the Union Cabinet as petroleum minister in January 2006,replacing Mani Shankar Aiyar. His second term was,however,marked with allegations that he backed Mukesh Ambani in his bitter fight over gas pricing with younger brother Anil Ambani.

Legacy inherited: After taking over the reins of the corporate affairs ministry in July 2009,Salman Khursheed flagged conclusion of the Satyam scam,enactment of the Companies Bill,2009,and corporate governance issues,as his main agenda. He promised day-to-day trial in the Satyam Computer scam. However,the trials started only in November 2010,that too after much pressure from the Supreme Court. The apex court wants the special court in Hyderabad to complete the trial by July 31,2011. During his term,the ministry introduced voluntary guidelines for corporate governance,which is expected to be made mandatory in the Companies Bill.

Agenda: The Companies Bill,notification of vital sections of the Competition Act and implementation of the International Financial Reporting Standard IFRS from April 1,2011,await the attention of the new corporate affairs minister. The immediate problem waiting to be taken care of is the implementation of IFRS. India Inc has been making a case for deferral of the convergence on the grounds of lack of preparedness. However,as per its commitment in international fora,India has to converge with the global accounting standards this year itself. It will be a tough task for Deora to appease India Inc while maintaining international commitments.

Black diamond Shines

Sriprakash Jaiswal,Coal

Initiating reforms,introducing transparency in allocation of coal blocks and pushing hard to secure green clearances for stranded projects saw Sriprakash Jaiswal securing a Cabinet berth in the Manmohan Singh government in the coal ministry,where he was hitherto functioning as the minister of state Independent Charge. Jaiswal is credited with turning his resource ministry into an end-use facilitating one.

achievements: In his tenure as MoS,Jaiswal ensured amendment of the Mines amp; Minerals Development and Regulation Act 1957 for introducing greater transparency and demonstrable objectivity in allocation of coal and lignite blocks for captive mining. Allocation of blocks through this process would include inviting tariff-based competitive bids for grant of reconnaissance permit,prospecting licence or mining lease for an area containing coal and lignite through competitive bidding process. At his behest the Standing Linkage Committee Long Term for Power recommended grant of Letters of Assurance for 104 Thermal,independent and captive power plants till October last year for supporting generation of 26824 MWs of electricity.

Agenda: Beginning a fresh innings as a Union Cabinet minister in the same ministry,Jaiswal faces formidable challenges. He has been fighting a bitter turf war with Union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh. He will now have to slog it out with the Group of Ministers GoM constituted to iron out the differences on the Go and No Go issue,which threatens the future of steel,power and cement projects worth over Rs 3,00,000 crore. The Union coal minister will also have to give a full and final shape to the Coal Vision 2025,which has got overshadowed by the Integrated Energy Policy authored by

former Planning Commission member Kirit Parikh.

Politics steels the show

Beni Prasad Verma,Steel

Lost in the wilderness for more than a decade,former Samajwadi Party stalwart and now a Congress MP from Gonda in UP,Beni Prasad Verma returned to the Union council of ministers after being sworn in as the minister of state independent charge of steel ministry,replacing the current incumbent Virbhadra Singh. The ministry is in the midst of steering major capacity expansions of state-run utilities.

Legacy inherited: Virbhadra Singh,who had served as chief minister of Himachal Pradesh for five times had a mixed tenure. The happy part of his ministership was that India achieved the status of becoming the fourth largest steel producing country in the world this year. During his tenure Indias crude steel production grew at 8.4 per cent annually from 46.46 million tonnes in 2005-06 to 64.88 million tonnes in 2009-10. He is credited with securing the navratna status for SAIL and navratna status for Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited. He engineered the near-complete merger of the Bird Group of Companies with RINL. He was closely monitoring the progress of the Rs 70,000 expansion programme of SAIL.

Agenda: But Singh had his share of misfortunes too. The progress of big-ticket foreign investments like Posco and ArcelorMittal has been minimal. Both the steel giants are still grappling to overcome multiple regulatory approval processes. Singh could not make much headway in reviving the sick Hindustan Steelworks Construction Limited HSCL as the Finance Ministry is unwilling to endorse a sizeable bailout package. Similarly,even after rounds of talks at the highest level,Singhs ministry has been unable to secure Chiria mines for SAIL,which desperately needs it to fire its furnaces in Jharkhand.

Portfolio turns big to small

Virbhadra Singh,MSME

A well known face in Himachal Pradesh,he has the distinction of being the states chief minister a record five times. His induction into UPA II as the Union minister for steel was seen by many as a rehabilitation exercise while many others saw him as a man who could revive many of the lagging steel firms. Singhs shift to the ministry of micro,small and medium enterprises MSME came as a surprise to most people.

Legacy inherited: Dinsha J Patel,Singhs predecessor in MSME was largely perceived as disinterested in the ministrys workings and is often held responsible for neglecting the sector which is the second largest contributor to the countrys GDP. During his one-and-half year tenure,he was unable to get the crucial MSME Procurement policy passed by the Cabinet. The policy would have a far reaching effect on the sector as it has mandated 20 per cent of all procurement by ministries from the MSME sector. The failure to get crucial funds into the sector through priority sector lending is considered another key failure of Patel.

Agenda: Simply put,Virbhadra Singh has to do all that Patel could not do. His priority action area must be ensuring that the MSME Procurement Policy gets off the ground. While the ministry has already floated a Cabinet note to the end,he needs to build consensus within the different ministries,most importantly defence that had opposed the policy,to get it passed by the Cabinet. Singh also has to work on the area of priority sector lending so that the cash-starved sector can access cheap funds more easily. His long stint in state politics means that Singh has the ability,the empathy as well as the perspective to understand the requirements of the sector and get projects off the ground.