Pulok ‘Powershift’ Chatterji pushes fast forward in PMO

Drawing on his political clout — which he gets from his long association with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi — Chatterji is trying to use his authority to bring both focus and immediacy to his office.

He has created a folder of 17 “thrust areas” that cover effectively all the hot-button issues trapped in deep freeze: from the Lokpal Bill to the Land Acquisition Bill,the National Advisory Council’s recommendations to infrastructure growth. And in each,he is defining timelines.

Consider:

He has prodded the health ministry to work out a roadmap on universal healthcare based on the Srinath Reddy Committee report. Deadline: February 10.

On inflation,Chatterji has set up a panel under the director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research to identify problem areas for increasing productivity and identifying “doable suggestions.” Deadline: end February.

He is effectively piloting a cabinet note to set up the National Centre for Cold Chain Development which will monitor the creation of additional storage for price-sensitive products like meat,eggs and poultry. This couldn’t have been more timely: there is a gap of 36 million tonnes in cold storage capacity,and each year barely 1 million tonnes are being added.

Chatterji has finetuned the National Skill Development Programme by helping cut the red tape tying down the PM’s Skill Development adviser S Ramadorai of TCS fame. Though he enjoyed cabinet status,Ramadorai did not even have proper office staff. Not only has he got staff and a proper office now,instructions are out that all cabinet notes on skill development will pass through Ramadorai’s office.

The commerce ministry has been asked to identify largescale national projects which the PMO will monitor directly. Deadline: mid-February.

The finance ministry has been overruled to expand the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to sanitation workers,ragpickers and to those working in mines and dealing with hazardous substances. This was a priority for Sonia Gandhi and the NAC. The cabinet note has been moved; clearance is expected anytime soon.

The fertilizers department has been asked to draw up,by the end of March,a pricing and investment policy that involves the private sector. Simultaneously,the department has been asked to identify assets abroad for possible acquisition or partnership.

Cash-rich PSUs have been asked to roll out their investment plans to fuel infrastructure growth.

A committee of secretaries under Chatterji will address the shortage of coal and natural gas.

This flurry of activity has of course,ruffled some feathers in the PMO where Chatterji is not the seniormost bureaucrat. Both Adviser to PM T K A Nair and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon enjoy minister of state status.

In fact,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the same status for Chatterji but the cabinet secretariat has held up the file arguing that it would be difficult to place Chatterji in the warrant of precedence.

Ironically,Chatterji’s batchmate Ajit Seth,who is cabinet secretary,will be lower in order even though he is senior to him within his batch.

That has hardly affected Chatterji. A secretary in the PMO during UPA 1,he continues to draw the salary of a secretary but wields authority far more than any other.

On one occasion,sources say,he found that a defence ministry file had reached the PM without his knowledge. He was quick to issue instructions that regardless of the subject,all files to the PM must be routed through him.

Unlike his predecessor,he is deeply involved in foreign policy and security issues. Chatterji sits in on all the PM’s bilateral meetings,not just when the PM is travelling,but even when dignitaries and guests come calling. The clean division that the NSA alone would handle these matters is now history.

Within the office,too,Chatterji is underlining some tacit principles — like no extension of tenure to PMO officials. He is said to have been critical of the fact that two joint secretaries — one IAS,one IFS — got extensions just before he joined. He’s the first principal secretary to issue instructions through email,and is said to have plans to make the PMO an e-office with “less and less paper”.