New I&B Minister Prasad makes all the right noises

Stepping in the large shoes of Sushma Swaraj, I&B Minister with independent charge, Ravi Shankar Prasad showed that he too could be on prime...

Stepping in the large shoes of Sushma Swaraj, I&B Minister with independent charge, Ravi Shankar Prasad showed that he too could be on prime time, or become the Prime Minister’s voice, or the lawyer that he is trained to be — all in one — if the need arose.

Forty-nine-year-old Prasad said today that PM A.B. Vajpayee wanted the 10th plan to be a ‘‘people’s plan’’ and not just a resource plan. He assured it would be his endeavour to communicate the message to the people. Communication, he assured, was not propaganda.

His short profile

furnished by the PIB describes him as a person who has made frequent appearances on television in international and Indian channels. And Prasad managed a good show today. In fact, he threw open the question to journalists. ‘‘I wasn’t too bad on the first day,’’ he said.

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On the contentious issue of allowing uplinking to foreign news channels, Prasad said his ministry will seek the opinion and direction of the Cabinet on the subject.

Pretty much the same was said by his predecessor Sushma Swaraj. If at all there was a digression, it was on his views on the Geethakrishnan Committee recommendations that had recommended downsizing the ministry. He laid just a little more emphasis on the banished word, downsizing.