Dear Prime Minister: – It’s not just about reshuffling the cabinet but some tweaks in the present Government working model can also bring huge gains for the nation.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed are personal and in national interest without any bad or ill intentions or biased opinion.

It has been quite some weeks that we have been hearing about the impending ministerial / cabinet reshuffling. And with days going nothing again coming out of it reminds me of the dialogue from a Amitabh Bachchan box office hit film ‘ Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi namumkin hai’ , just that the word ‘Pakadna ‘ here implies catching the mind and not physically. No one knows for sure when the PM will finally go for a reshuffle, except for the PM himself. We thought that it’s better to spend time thinking on some issue of governance rather than waiting for the reshuffle to happen.

The Bengal elections are also over for which it was said that the reshuffling is being delayed. Nothing is on the hands in the near future as of now and we don’t know why the reshuffling is kept in abeyance. But to be honest, reshuffling to us is just an announcement and will not be anything beyond that. For as we know the Modi government model is quite different from previous government models; and why not every Prime Minister must have a model that he thinks is best suited to deliver and be efficient. So do mind the words we have used 1. Deliver 2. Efficient.

We guess we don’t have to elaborate much on the present government’s working model. Anyone with slight knowledge of things would be familiar with it i.e. or what is called in engineering parlance a hub and spoke system. where the HUB is all too important while the spokes are what they are. But the present model is creating some bottlenecks in the system for sure. We don’t wish to take examples here but DELAY is one of the affected criteria beside others.

Adopting an appropriate governance model is only one step in setting the stage for good governance. Organizations need to establish guiding principles and policies for the organization, delegate responsibility and authority to individuals for enacting principles and policies, and to identify a path for accountability.

There are five notable corporate governance models in today’s business establishments [2] . The traditional model, Carver board governance model, Cortex model, Consensus based model, and the competency based model. More or less the government also works on the traditional model like the corporate. However it’s an old one and the corporate world today adopts a new model of governance as listed above with some very good returns and efficiency.

The point that we wish to make is this. So, maybe the PM can think of alternate models too for better efficiency. If we slightly tweak PM Modi’s model we get a highly efficient model. Recently while watching a video of the highly efficient Surface and road transport minister Sh Nitin Gadkari, we were rather pleased to hear when the hon’ble minister took the name of PM and said, “Pradhan Mantriji ne yeh kaha ki aap railway aur …” . Now readers would like to know why we are quoting this from the speech of minister Gadkari .[1] The reason is it shows discussions between the PM and one of his most efficient ministers on a project that is of national interest and importance. And we think the little tweak that the PM needs in his working model is exactly this. Discuss issues with ministers on a regular /annual basis and then Delegate the work/projects to the concerned minister for execution without interference. In other words the PM must discuss large and big projects with the minister and then hand over the work to them and let them finish it . This is like giving them more freedom but with good accountability too. Ministers must also be free to hire persons for their departments.

In fact the PM must ask for a list of persons hired by each ministry as more and more ministers are not recruiting as they feel it might not get well with the PMO/ PM.

Small work should be left for the ministers to take charge and implement. This will enhance efficiency as well as enthusiasm. There has to be a continuous interaction maybe once a year or so.

Conclusion:-

Therefore instead of looking for another reshuffle which will happen as and when it has to, because of political compulsions rather than anything else, we are of the opinion that the hon’ble Prime Minister must try some changes into his governance model . What we have given is just an example. There is so much work in the country that only a Decntralised system of Governance will be effective. No government or PM how strong or workaholic he /she is will not be able to take the responsibility of the 1.3 billion people on his shoulders. More so when the internal and external threats are rising by the day.

While we have written what we thought was in the national interest, taking some risks by writing such blunt opinions, the question is will the PM be able to read this piece and unasked for advice. We guess not but there is nothing wrong in keeping things on record.

PM Modi will go as the BEST Prime minister that the country has so far, but it is also important that he keeps the record for another 20- 50 years. And for that some tweaks are necessary here and there.

References:

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGLOlmc_WsM
[2] https://www.boardeffect.com/blog/board-governance-models-a-comprehensive-list/

Dr. Asheesh Shah
Samanvaya.

Samanvaya
Author: Samanvaya

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