The Hindu Business Line : Topsy-turvy gradation

WHILE Mr G. K. Vasan may himself have been rejoicing over finding a Ministerial berth (with independent charge, to boot) in Delhi which helps him get away from party headaches in Tamil Nadu, some of his followers are discernibly unhappy over the portfolio of Statistics and Programme Implementation given to him.

In what is known as "snob value", the department ranks the lowest, since it is confined to overseeing the working of the Central Statistical Organisation and monitoring the progress in implementing public sector projects.

In popular perception, certain Ministries are given high prestige ratings, largely based on the scope for patronage and political leverage they command.

For instance, Commerce, Heavy Industries, Steel, Finance, Home, External Affairs and Defence are regarded as plums, and Agriculture, Food, Cooperation, Planning, Consumer Affairs, Labour, Rural Development, Tourism, Culture, Women and Child Welfare, and Youth and Sports as lightweights.

Actually, it is a topsy-turvy gradation because many of the Ministries in the latter group are precisely the ones that matter more for the growth and development of the nation in all other respects as well.C. Subramaniam's case will illustrate this observation.

He was the Minister of Steel, Heavy Industries and Science and Technology, when Lal Bahadur who became Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru persuaded him to take over Food and Agriculture Ministry, saying that no self-respecting country could afford to be begging other countries such as the US for a basic necessity like food and that he believed CS was the right person to find a solution.

CS describes in his memoirs how the change was taken to be a big comedown for him and how, for a time, he himself began wondering whether there was more to it than met the eye. But then, he was convinced of Shastri's vision, took up food self-sufficiency as a challenge and brought about what is hailed world-wide as the Green Revolution.

The main props of India's economy till today have been agriculture and the buffer stock of foodgrains.

Moral: If Mr Vasan ensures implementation of projects without cost and time overruns, the benefits can add two percentage points to GDP.

If other Ministers too take whatever job given to them seriously without worrying about the grading in lay perception, they will also surely contribute to the greatness of the nation.

B. S. Raghavan