12 12 february 2018I
t is no fun to be a mantri in the
Modi Government. I have heard
this said on a number of occasions by
quite a few ministers, senior and
junior alike. Some even look back
with nostalgia at the time when
they were members of the Vajpayee
Cabinet: how they had felt free to
do their own thing, how they had
enjoyed a greater degree of discretion
in official matters, or how they had
been free to divide their day between
work and leisure as they liked. Now,
as a minister puts it, “Because the
PM is a workaholic, working up
to 17-18 hours a day, all of us are
expected to remain tied down to our
official desks day and night.” Foreign
junkets, discretionary appointments
to various sinecures available by
the scores and even the selection of
personal staff is vetted closely before
it passes muster. Now, the correlation
between performance and actual
ministerial hours put in might be
suspect, but given the tendency of
ministers to live it up in style at the
taxpayers’ expense, the stern school-
masterish act by the PMO might not
be such a bad thing at all. It may well
result in better delivery of gover-
nance and also save a lot of money,
now that flying frequently overseas is
disallowed and other such extrava-
gances that had been the norm before
the advent of Modi as Prime Minister
are a thing of the past.
To give you but one example. It
was a long-standing practice that
ministers would freely commandeer
vehicles and other such services from
public undertakings under their
administrative control. Not only
ministers, but even their PAs would
have a car or two at their disposal
24x7, courtesy a public undertaking.
Without exception, all ministers
exploited state-owned organisations
for such under-the-radar perquisites.
Thus, the Commerce Minister
would have the State Trading Cor-
poration and Metals and Minerals
Trading Corporation providing these
services; the Petroleum Minister had
the oil-marketing companies at his
beck and call. Indeed, even the guest
accommodations of various govern-
ment enterprises were similarly used
for entertaining the personal guests
of ministers. But because Modi runs
a tight ship, the misuse of ministerial
positions for personal benefits has
virtually ended. If a minister’s office
does seek a vehicle from a public
undertaking on occasion, it is done
discreetly, fear of the disciplinarian at
the head of the Government never far
from the mind of the errant minister.N
OW, Our hONOurABle
M P s may have yet another rea-
son to actually show up in Parliament.
In recent weeks, both the quality of
food and the variety available have
seen a marked improvement. Since
the induction of the relatively young
and energetic Piyush Goyal as the rail
Minister, the parliamentary canteen
run by his ministry has upped its act.
Perhaps for the first time in the history
of Parliament, a conscious attempt is
being made at culinary diversity with
the traditional fare associated with
various states being put on attractivemenu cards, each depicting in the
background an iconic monument or
cultural tradition. Thus, you have Kol-
kata’s howrah Bridge on the Bangla
menu, for example, listing mocha chop,
matar chanar chop, fish chop, Bangla gur
rasogolla, etcetera. The Gujarati menu
has the traditional Garba dance, and
offers khaman, vatana samosa, fafda
with fried mirch, dudi muthiya and
thepla. The Gateway of India forms the
backdrop to the Maharashtra’s menu
card, offering sabudana khichdi, kanda
batata, vada pav, puran poli. Odisha’s
depicts the iconic Konark Sun Temple
and lists aaloo chop, nimki, enduri pitha
and chhena pada. And then there is the
menu card for Kashmir cuisine with
the predictable backdrop of the Dal
lake. Its items include tabak maaz,
Kashmiri chicken pulao, mutton
chop, mutton kebab and phirni. This
welcome concession to federalism in
the parliamentary canteen is set to see
even more regional variety in the
coming weeks, though I have heard
MPs complain about the menu prices.
Frankly, even at raised prices, the food
is a steal. One gets to eat the choicest
state delicacies at a fraction of what
one would pay elsewhere.I
F yOu BelIeVe in numerology,
here is something for you to chew
on. A friend WhatsApped the follow-
ing the other day: in the current lok
Sabha, the strength of the respective
parties is: BJP: 283, 2+8+3 = 13; NDA:
337, 3+3+7= 13; uPA: 58, 5+8= 13;
Others: 148, 1+4+8= 13. And what
follows is even more astounding. Ap-
parently, Nostradamus had predicted
a good 450 years ago the coming of
the Modi era which would result in
a complete transformation of India.
how credible that sounds is best left
to individual judgement. nINDRAPRASTHA
virendra kapoor