Mega cabinet raises massive expectations from Modi

As the cabinet super haul by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is undoubtedly an image makeover by taking extra and great care in age and gender balancing while inducting more number of women in important ministries after the government had come under severe clout during the second wave with thousands succumbing due to poor health infrastructure and economy sliding to a new low making lives miserable. However, as the reconstitution of cabinet is also guided by both political and administrative considerations, the fact that at the same time, it has sent a clear and loud message to non-performers that they cannot take their place for granted after badly mishandling the pandemic.

Obviously, by crafting new members into the ministry comprising professionals, intellectuals, civil servants, academicians who are competent enough to execute the tasks with greater care and responsibility, a positive message is also been sent to the ministers that collective responsibility of the cabinet is the need of the hour where work and performance matters the most than individuals. Further, as caste invariably plays a decisive factor in all polls, prime minister's attempt to accommodate caste combinations reflecting regions and social constituencies in order to make his council more diverse and representative while keeping in view assembly elections in crucial states scheduled in 2022 and 2023 and the Lok Sabha polls in 2024 is not only well balanced but expected to bring much gains to the NDA government.

With the mega exercise said to be Modi's biggest council of ministers since coming to power on 2014 with an average of 56, expectations on governance from new and young ministers and former Babus are high since quite a number of them possessing talent and administrative skills could prove valuable in enhancing ministries performance. Though the new team has its task cut out at a critical time, yet it is expected that they would come up to the expectations of people by concentrating on delivering governance with full accountability and transparency giving no room for any complaints. All in all, choosing ministers and allocating portfolios was done with great care, government looks forward with confidence to face the challenges on all fronts successfully

K R Srinivasan,Secunderabad