Big Fight

A television serial a few years had a catch line which had then caught popular fancy "What is this going on?'' Despite the intervening decades, the question continues to be relevant, particularly when looked at against the background of an increasingly troubled UPA regime as it rolls towards the 2014 General Elections.

After it completed its third anniversary last week, UPA-2 finds that its troubles are never ending. If there is no shortage of arms and ammunition and recalcitrant generals to deal with, the rupee takes an almighty dip; agricultural production has been good but there are not enough jute bags to carry them in, plus there is virtually a scam a day, prompting the query 'what is this going on'. Outgoing army chief Gen VK Singh reflected much the same sentiment in Parliament's central hall recently when he let it out bluntly "God knows how this government is running." Barely had the full impact of that statement died down when National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) vice-chairman Shashidhar Reddy announced to the world at large that nearly 90 per cent of fire safety equipment in the country is outdated. The prime minister is himself in charge of the department.

A debate on the conditions of farmers and the shortage of jute bags to carry food grains reached comical levels when the opposition benches wanted to know where the civil supplies minister was? "Presumably looking for jute bags,'' came the quip, leading to much discomfort in the treasury benches.

The story of jute bag shortages was first circulated by Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan at an informal get together of BJP and allied chief ministers during the recently-held chief ministers' conference. The central government, it seemed, had not prepared for this critical requirement. Reason: a policy on importing jute bags had been hanging fire for over two years! The central BJP had prepared accordingly and under the leadership of Sushma Swaraj, Lok Sabha, leader of opposition, demanded a discussion under Section 193, leading to great consternation in the ministry of agriculture, public distribution and consumer affairs.

Sushma Swaraj told TSI, "This is the real face of the UPA government which swears by the common man and the farmer. They have not been able to procure jute bags while food grain is rotting out in the open.''

The government is naturally on the defensive. Minister of state for consumer affairs VK Thomas told TSI, "Every year in November, jute bags are supplied to state governments as per their requirement. But this year because food grain production far outstripped what the states had demanded by way of jute bags, there was a demand-supply mismatch. For example, wheat production in Punjab, Haryana and MP were far in excess of their projections. MP which was expected to produce 65 lakh tonnes of wheat produced 85 lakh tonnes. There is no doubt that there is scarcity of food grain storage.''

But he has no answer to BJP leader Shanta Kumar's charge that while the country has a total capacity to store 460 lakh tonnes of food grain, exactly the double of it has been purchased. He told TSI that if farmers are included in this storage capacity addition programme, it could be hiked up by 175 lakh tonnes annually. JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav, however, feels that the government has no policy on jute bags, which in turn has led to an increase in forward trading in food grains. He also alleges that there are several private godowns in Punjab which the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is not willing to use, no matter how much food grains rot out in the open.

For a country prone to frequent fire disasters in the summer months, NDMA's Shashidhar Reddy set the cat among the pigeons recently when he said that if the yardsticks set up by the Standing Fire Advisory Committee are anything to go by, then 97 per cent fire stations and 80 per cent of firefighting and rescue equipment in the country are not up to the mark.

A cautious Reddy told TSI that they have approached the 13th Finance Commission with a modernisation proposal plan which includes sleeker vehicles and equipment that can wind their way through small lanes and by-lanes which the bigger, heavier and old-fashioned fire fighting vehicles are unable to reach at the moment. All this requires a much-increased outlay which the government is currently in the process of examining.

The UPA is faced with another impending crisis, this time in the railways. To augment their porter staff, the railways decided (when Ram Vilkas Paswan was minister) to employ one lakh workers. The hiring work has been allocated to different zonal headquarters; there is only a slight problem, the number of  applications have so far outstripped the numbers of posts advertised. Officials are at their wit's end as to the next course of action.

In Northern Railway, there are 18 lakh  candidates for 12,000 vacancies and examinations will be conducted in six phases beginning June 24. Union railway minister Mukul Roy told TSI that the the task to fill up all the vacancies is enormous but expressed the confidence that he would succeed.

Now the bureaucracy. Minister of state for  personnel V Narayansami has already said that  there is 30 per cent shortage of civil servants in the country. While a total of 6,154 officers are required, there are only 4,317 officers serving at present. There is a shortage of 1,777 IAS officers at the centre; in addition the vast UP cadre is 216 IAS officers short, Bihar 126, 118 in MP, 100 in Jharkhand and 112 in Rajasthan. About 160 officers are expected to retire from UP in 2012 alone aggravating the problem.

The immediate fall out of this shortage is that additional and joint secretary-level officers – and some Union secretary level officers too - at the centre are holding more than one charge. To change things, the Baswan Committee set up by the government has suggested that 180 officers be inducted into service directly. It has also suggested that state governments conduct their cadre review on time so that vacancies in ministries Delhi are filled.

Narayansami told TSI, ``State governments have a very important role to play in running of the central government. We have accepted the recommendations of the Baswan Committee that officers be selected directly. The states also have an important role to play as far as cadre review is concerned and they should take it seriously.''

All told, the report card for the first three years of UPA rule is not as impressive as their first. Not that Congress leaders agree. Says senior Congress leader Shakil Ahmed: "Some people also find fault with the Taj Mahal. But it is not as if UPA has done nothing in the last three years. Has the Right to Education been sponsored by the opposition?''

But despite Ahmed's rhetoric, even the prime minister is willing to concede that the public is unhappy with corruption and inflation. Congress president Sonia Gandhi is herself determined that the party do something 'positive' in the next two years.

Says CPI veteran Gurudas Dasgupta, "We do not doubt Congress intentions. But if prices of protein-based food grains, lentils and milk have gone up by more than 100 per cent in the last year and the Indian Rupee is wallowing at the bottom of global currency heap, what assurances can the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi give to the people?'' Good question.

This line of thought is not just limited to the opposition: even inside the Congress, there is a general belief that UPA-1 did well because Sonia Gandhi had a more hands on approach then. UPA 2 is more easily identified with Manmohan Singh, a three-year term dogged by  corruption and inflation. Maybe by 2014, the UPA will be placed in the same situation that the NDA found itself in 2004.