ATALexicon

Here’s the Grammar of Politics, NDA version.

GROUP OF MINISTERS
Also known as GoM, not to be confused with gnome: What you do if you have 25-odd coalition partners, 80 plus ministers, including 50 odd utterly jobless ministers of state.

The GoM is the ad hoc cabinet within the cabinet. It is task-specific. If you want ideas on national security, set up a GoM; on FDI, set up a GoM; on Star News’ uplinking, on labour laws, on the unified telecom licence, on the price for natural gas … When the government had to finalise private developers for Delhi and Mumbai airports, guess who it asked to take a call? Yup, a GoM.

COMMITTEE OF SECRETARIES
Also known as CoS, often confused with cross, as in cross-purposes: This is, really, as old term that has been redefined by the Vajpayee raj. In the ancien regime, if you wanted to sort out a knotty problem you set up a CoS, headed by the cabinet secretary. Today the GoM does this job, primarily to rescue reforms from red tape.

The CoS is still around, usually to undo administrative tangles and do the follow-up on the GoM or the initial sherpa work.

CABINET COMMITTEE ON SECURITY, CCS
All decisions that involve India’s strategic interests and security concerns go to the CCS. It comprises the prime minister, home minister, finance minister, foreign minister, defence minister and national security adviser.

Whether its sending troops to Iraq or clearing foreign staff for ground-handling duties at Indian airports, anything that may be a security issue needs the CCS stamp. This is the big boys’ club; after all, if you want a considered opinion on the War on Terror, you won’t ask Sharad Yadav, will you?

In P.V. Narasimha Rao’s days, the CCS’ job was that of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. In Indira Gandhi’s years, the ‘‘Kitchen Cabinet’’ (remember all those socialist wonders?) called the shots.

INTERLOCUTOR
Sometimes promoted to chief interlocutor: Appointed to negotiate semi-formally on insurgency issue. Kashmir had a succession of them — K.C. Pant, N.N. Vohra, Arun Jaitley (asked to discussed devolution with the National Conference). Given the list, the mandatory job requirement appeared to be ability to out-talk anybody.

The negotiations with the Hurriyat have now gone beyond Vohra, a former home secretary, to Advani, who’s deputy prime minister and therefore a little more than your regular interlocutor.

The I word springs up in the Northeast though, where the Indian government’s all-purpose, all-season interlocutor with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (I-M) is K. Padmanabhaiah.

SPECIAL ENVOY
A sort of international interlocutor if you get the drift. Origins in 1998, after the Pokhran blasts, when Jaswant Singh was the sort of special envoy to America, talking incessantly to ‘‘my friend Strobe’’ (Talbott, then US undersecretary of state). Brajesh Mishra is now special envoy for Pakistan and China. Satinder Lamba had the job in regard to Afghanistan, just after it was liberated from the Taliban.

The special envoy is a politically-empowered envoy, one who has the freedom to take a decision without constantly referring back to HQ. On China and Pakistan, it indicates the government’s seriousness to sort out, issues of history.

JOINT WORKING GROUPS, JWGs
Earlier used to deliberate bilateral issues. Now more focused, even futuristic. Have served to delink areas of cooperation from areas of disagreement. With the US, for instance, JWGs on terrorism or energy security happily take the relationship forward even during testing periods when, say, India says ‘‘no’’ to troops in Iraq. Boon for economic issues.

MULTI-AGENCY CENTRE, MAC
Cornerstone of the vast sleuthing apparatus that has become just so important after Kargil’s ‘‘intelligence failure’’. MAC collates all inputs received from the range of intelligence agencies. These are then fed into the Intelligence Coordination Group (ICG), headed by the National Security Adviser (see next)

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER
Single window for all security and strategic issues. Is part of the CCS and heads the ICG. As it happens the present incumbent is Brajesh Mishra, who’s also principal secretary to the prime minister and special envoy to China and Pakistan. In short, he’s very, very busy.

JOINT TASK FORCE ON INTELLIGENCE
Wrongly rumoured to have been created to confuse anybody trying to make sense of the intelligence maze. Has additional directors-general (ADGs) of police of all border or sensitive states as members. Gets ‘‘actionable intelligence’’(!) from MAC for the states in question.

INTEGRATED DEFENCE HEADQUARTERS
A tri-service headquarters that cuts into inter-service rivalry and coordinates key defence planning. Place where army meets navy meets air force meets bureaucracy.

ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY
Omnibus term that incorporates Look East, Air Bilaterals, Free Trade Areas (FTAs), Open Sky and sundry other phrases, invented and un-invented: Economic Diplomacy was a neologism in the Narasimha Rao years but gained currency in the Vajpayee era.

It describes the use of bilateral trade, domestic market access, forex reserves to promote diplomacy with, for instance, China or ASEAN or SAARC.

Premise: the belief that foreign affairs is too important to be left to the foreign ministry. For instance, WTO and related issues are now the Commerce Ministry’s preserve. Even the petroleum minister has a busy diplomatic diary these days.

Examples of usage
• Air Bilaterals: Though no Indian carrier flies to central Asia, the regions’ airlines fly in regularly to Delhi. This wins diplomatic brownie points. By being generous to UAE airlines and increasing their flights, India secured crucial help in tackling NRI underworld dons.
• Road diplomacy: To carry the Look East policy forward, Indian is building roads (as well as rail links) between Delhi and Hanoi. This will soon be the setting for an enormously long car rally from east to south Asia. Indian companies are involved in road construction in Afghanistan.

THRUST AREAS
Umbrella term for 31 infrastructural projects and schemes — such as the Golden Quadrilateral — that are personally monitored by the prime minister. He receives monthly reports through the PMO and the Ministry of Programme Implementation.

Examples of usage
• Golden Quardilateral: The road scheme to connect the four metros and, in essence, the four corners of India. Vajpayee’s idea is seen as India’s most ambitious road-building project since Sher Shah Suri rebuilt the Grand Trunk Road in the 16th century.
• Swajaldhara: Scheme to provide potable water to all villages.

— with Amitav Ranjan and Pranab Dhal Samanta