National Advisory Council II- Sonia's Nursery

National Advisory Council II­ Sonia’s Nursery

National Advisory Council has been revived by UPA II government by fresh appointment of Sonia Gandhi, Congress President & UPA Chairperson to the post of Chairperson of NAC which was defunct for last four years when Sonia had to quit due to controversy of office of profit.

Lot of claims have been made about the success of NAC I during UPA I government and number of schemes like NREGA, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, RTI Act etc. have been credited to erstwhile NAC. The members of the new NAC have not yet been appointed. The constitution was amended to exclude the office of chairperson of NAC from list of office of profit to accommodate Sonia Gandhi. However, the role, usefulness and the need for the NAC still remains questionable.

NAC was created to oversee the implementation of Common Minimum Program of UPA I government and therefore it can at best be termed as a coordination council of the political constituent parties of UPA. In no way it can be justified to be a “National” body of permanent nature created out of constitutional structure for governance of the nation irrespective of which party or combination is ruling the nation. In fact, it is the responsibility of the Prime Minister of the elected government to implement the promised election manifesto or the common minimum program. The Prime Minister has number of structural wings and support groups, both formal & informal, to implement any program as has been the practice for last 60 years. Some of these are PMO itself, the planning commission of which PM is the Chairman, the PM’s Economic Advisory Council, the concerned ministries along with their host of experts and advisors. These are of permanent nature.

Civil Society Resources on Tap: There are other informal groups which are tapped frequently by PMO as well as by the ministries for expert inputs. Some of them are bodies like CII, FICCI, Assocham, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Indian Institute for Public Policy, JNU, ASCI, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, India

International Center and others which are very often roped in for their considered & studied views on projects & policy formulations. I am told FICCI has the largest number of highly qualified economists under a single roof! And very often they prepare position papers on various strategic issues of national importance for the government authorities on requests. So there is no dearth of expertise at the disposal of the Prime Minister to be able to implement any programs.

Progress without NAC: So where is the need for NAC? Does it mean that NREGA or RTI Act would not have been implemented but for NAC? In fact Right to Education Act comes into effect today. And Prof. Yash Pal has contributed significantly to the efforts of the Ministry of Education under Kapil Sibal towards reforms in education systems. Prof. Yash Pal is now reportedly tipped to be a member of the NAC II. So irrespective of the NAC, the government pushed for the significant reforms in education with same expertise which will now be repackaged.

Coalition Politics?

NAC was justified by the powers that be to coordinate common minimum program arising out of the coalition government in 2004. If compulsions of coalition call for such a body, what happens in the states where there are coalition governments? The states have been having coalition governments since last 40 years when first coalition government was formed in UP. So have the states been suffering due to lack of coordination amongst the constituent parties? Say, in Maharashtra, Congress & NCP have coalition government and therefore they should also need such a body! If we want a constitutional arrangement out of experience of running coalition governments for last 40 years, we should have constitutional provisions for such bodies with clear role and accountability to the Chief Minister or Prime Minister. It should come into existence automatically if there is a coalition. The role should not be duplicated elsewhere and should be substantive for political stability.

Dichotomy:

In fact NAC I functioned out of budgetary support from PMO only. So it is as good as extension of PMO. Now that Sonia also enjoys Cabinet Minister’s rank, she can be theoretically called as “Minister for Program Implementation”. In any case a minister can not be above the PM. But she has the privilege of being a minister without accountability and not reporting to PM! On the contrary for all practical purposes the PM takes instructions from her. There lies the dichotomy.

Has not PM and the cabinet functioned properly in the context of implementation of common minimum program for last 4 years? Congress has within its own political structure specialists and expert advisors of high visibility to offer the ideas and advice to the PM. It is therefore not necessary to have such a superfluous body inconsistent with the constitution and undermine the Prime Minister of the country.

Royal Plunge: Either Sonia should right royally plunge to take on the mantle of the Prime Minister or be constitutionally sensitive & politically correct to run the party leaving governance to the Prime Minister. Even in this role, the PM reporting to Congress President within the party set up would be politically acceptable to all and yet PM can be seen to be functioning without undue dilution of the august office of the country and earn respect of the people of the country and the international community as well. And of course Sonia would have her place under the sun as a politician who quietly delivered the promises as she shunned the power in the interest of the nation, the people and the constitution of the country which should be supreme.

Vijay M. Deshpande Corporate Advisor, Strategic Management Initiative Pune April 2, 2010 Scroll down for my other blogs Or visit www.strami.com