With the parliament session over, union ministers are busy putting together their agenda for the next two years. In September first week, they would be called to make presentations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the priorities of each ministry and how the ministers propose to implement the decisions. Modi had told the cabinet ministers and ministers of state with independent charge to be ready with the action agenda, within 100 days of the new government being sworn in. Even the senior most ministers like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh have been given this task.
On a parallel mode, the Prime Minister has asked his own officials to go through the key policy speeches including those made on the campaign trail, the acceptance speech to the BJP parliamentary party, the president's address to joint session of parliament, Modi's reply to the debate in parliament and finally the stirring speech he delivered on independence anniversary from the ramparts of Red Fort. There will also be inputs from some outside advisers of the prime minister including former union minister Arun Shourie.
Ministers have also been told that they should not depend on officials while making the presentation to the Prime Minister. Thus the departments are doing thorough briefing to their own bosses. The ministers have also been told to work out how much funds would be required, how the money is generated and how to face legal and parliamentary hurdles.
For example, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda and National Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, who have to implement the prime minister's ambitious infrastructure targets have asked their team to read the prime minister's mind and factor in all the possible questions. They are new to central government, but Gowda was Chief Minister of Karnataka and Gadkari was Public Works Minister in Mahrashtra. many ministers are consulting Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on funding, while checking with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu on dealing with legislative aspects.
Jaitley, who has committed to fiscal discipline, has told colleagues that they should work out schemes in such a way that there is private or external funding, and he would be more liberal once the government coffers fill up.
Interestingly Attorney General Mukul Rohatagi is busy advising on legal matters, even though normally AG have concentrated on handling government cases in Supreme Court and giving opinions on issues referred to them. When the government wanted to sack Mizoram Governor Kamla Beniwal on corruption charges, it was Rohatagi who briefed president Pranab Mukherjee on the seriousness of the allegations against Beniwal when she was a minister in Rajasthan. Rohatagi, who has a strong interest in politics also, freely meets the ministers.
Modi is the first PM who has also given himself the responsibility of major policy matters in the work allocation made by the president. Hence he wants the policy framework for each ministry is approved by him so that the ministries can go for time bound implementation of policies. He has told the ministers that he would like to know in advance of the subjects being brought before the cabinet, so that there is adequate preparation in prime minister's office and the cabinet secretariat.
Tailpiece: The Rajya Sabha is challenging the monopoly of the Lok Sabha Speaker to administer the Parliament complex, which includes the main Parliament House, the library and a huge annexe. Senior members have demanded that Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari should have a say in allotment of offices and facilities in the complex. But Lok Sabha secretariat is not ready to give up powers which it has enjoyed since 1950.