The 101st day

There was a discernible,and welcome,note of urgency to UPA-II when Manmohan Singhs second ministry was sworn in this May. A perception was gained that this was not a political alliance casually carrying on from the first UPA government that it was in fact conscious it was taking office with a fresh,more unambiguous mandate and was thus keen to speedily deliver accordingly. Thus,perhaps,the flurry of 100-day agendas announced by various ministries. Now,a hundred days later,it is instructive to not just compare what was promised by various ministries and what has been achieved,but also take stock of the groundwork laid to reconfigure government for more responsive policy-making and better delivery of goods and services. The report card,as a survey in this newspaper on Monday reflects,is considerably more mixed than the government could have wanted.

This stocktaking comes amidst a drought whose effects are yet to be absorbed by the people and the economy. In her first address to the new House,the president indicated that UPA-IIs big-ticket social programme would be a food security act. The incremental evidence since then that this could be a year of distress for the farm sector,and thereby to the consumer too,is not reflected in any move to undertake the necessary reform of the public distribution system. However,from the beginning,two ministries positioned themselves for special scrutiny,for the promise of a break from past mismanagement: human resource development and law. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal perhaps erred by casting his net excessively wide for a 100-day agenda. While the right to education has become an entitlement on his watch,he has yet to concretise public-private partnerships,an autonomous authority for higher education and a framework for the entry of foreign education providers,all promises grandly made. Nonetheless,he must be credited with changing the discourse on education,rescuing it from the culture wars of his predecessors and internalising a higher standard for performance.

Law and Justice Minister Veerappa Moily too came to his portfolio with excessive expectations,that he would see his ministry less as a tool for political firefighting and more as a vehicle to bring transparency,accountability and reform to our justice system. Moily,a veteran of commissions to reform governance,began with a foot fault on the Judges Assets Bill and has been struggling ever since to regain his balance. The cascade of controversies thereafter has,however,meant that the focus remains unwaveringly on his larger agenda.