Vajpayee finally gets down to business
George Iype in New Delhi
Having declared a temporary truce with his warring coalition partners, Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has embarked on a series of measure to rev up the
economy and spruce up the government's image.
While official sources indicated that more significant decisions are in the
offing in the coming days, the Bharatiya Janata Party's economic advisors said the
move to churn up the economy is meant to dispel the impression that the Vajpayee
regime is in a stupor.
The five-month-old Vajpayee government's fate has been hanging fire in
the past few weeks, thanks to the persistent threats from allies like All
India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalitha to pull out of the
coalition.
On Wednesday, the prime minister showed signs of getting down to work by
setting up two advisory panels in an attempt to stamp his authority on his
coalition government's economic policies.
The 10-member Economic Advisory Council consists of leading economists like
former RBI governor I G Patel, Professor P N Dhar, former finance secretary Montek
Singh Ahluwalia, Planning Commission member Dr Arjun Sengupta, economists Dr Kirit Parekh, Dr Amresh
Baghchi, Ashok Desai, former chief economic adviser to the government, and G V Ramakrishna, chairman of the Divestment Commission. Prime Minister's Principal
Secretary Brajesh Mishra and secretary in the PMO N K Singh are also members of the
council.
The 12-member Trade and Industry Council has leading businessmen like
Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, R P Goenka, P K Mittal, Kumaramangalam Birla, Suresh
Krishna, N R Narayana Murthy, Nusli Wadia, A C Muthaiah and Dr Parvinder Singh.
Mishra and Singh are also members of this council.
In a move to boost the economy, the government also announced the
clearance of a national hydel policy, a satellite telephony policy and
recommended the promulgation of an ordinance to allow the petroleum ministry
more flexibility in fixing oil royalties.
"These measures will surely provide a fresh impetus to the economy and
boost investments in the infrastructure sector," BJP economist and
national executive council member Jagdish Shettigar said.
He told Rediff On The NeT that the government's effort is to impart
momentum to the economic growth process. "Because ours is a coalition
government, differences between various allies have given the wrong impression
that the BJP government is engaged only in political fire-fighting,"
Shettigar added.
Sources said Vajpayee has authorised a core team of top officials consisting
of Mishra, Singh and Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar to refashion the
government's interaction with economists and leaders of trade and
industry. The prime minister will chair the first meeting with the economic and
trade councils soon after his return from the Non-Alignment Movement summit in
South Africa next week.
"Finance Minister Yaswant Sinha has promised that the
economy will look up by September. These measures are meant to ensure that the
economy comes out of the current recession," an official associated with
the two councils said.
He said the government is also planning to come out with similar action plans
on the social and education sectors.
Similarly Vajpayee's Cabinet is also clearing some of the major
promises made by the BJP in the National Agenda for Governance.
They include an early promulgation of the Prasar Bharti ordinance which will
result in the automatic removal of the present chief executive S S Gill and the
notification to set up a commission for reviewing the Constitution of India.
The government has already constituted a multi-member autonomous Central
Vigilance Commission indicating that it will take a firm stand on corruption.
The apex Central Bureau of Investigation will now function under the CVC, an
independent body answerable only to Parliament.
With a fixed tenure for the chief vigilance commissioner and three assisting
commissioners, the government hopes the CVC will perform a greater role in
tackling corruption in various departments across the country.
Former home secretary K Padmanabhaiah and former Cabinet secretary T S R
Subramaniam are said to the frontrunners for the CVC post.
The Cabinet secretariat has also submitted to the Prime Minister's
Office a long list of vacancies in the bureaucracy, diplomatic corps and
judiciary. Vajpayee is expected to give his approval for these appointments in
the second week of September.
BJP insiders said the prime minister's effort is to spruce up the image
of the coalition government before the assembly election in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh,
Mizoram and Rajasthan scheduled in November.
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