Minister for communications and information technology Arun Shourie has virtually grounded the bureaucrats manning these crucial departments by attaching the rider of ‘‘definite contribution’’ to their foreign jaunts.Till now you needed nothing more than a two-way ticket to sprout wings. There were the annual International Telecom Union seminars and meetings if nothing else. But Shourie, insisting on less of ‘‘seminaring and foreign travel’’ unless ‘‘representatives are making definite contribution or foreign trips directly assist them in their assignments’’ has stopped them in their tracks.And what is like rubbing salt into their wounds is the minister’s directive to use the budget for foreign travel ‘‘to send persons from the academic world or from the industry who fulfil the criteria of making definite contribution to the sector with their travel or such travel directly helps them in their assignments.’’Lobbying and string-pulling for grabbing a seat in various fora, governing councils and foreign deputations are also out. Merit here will be the sole criterion.Shourie has also loudly proclaimed a hands-off approach to the major PSUs- Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd — saying they should be run professionally as board-managed companies without any iterference from the ministry. Only their efficiency and performance, reflected in their subscriber base in the face of competition from private players, will be the parameters for judging them.But the most significant departure from the Pramod Mahajan era is the bid to rid it of the taint of being called Department of Tenders or Department of Tricks in telecom circles, in a not-so-charitable reference to its handling of equipment purchases worth Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore every year for the PSUs under it. The ministry will have now have no role to play in these purchases which will be handled at the board level.However, there will be no protection or ‘‘price preference’’ for equipment supplied by PSUs like ITI. Competition with market forces is the new order in the telecom sector.The minister will keep an eye on the entire process and review the progress after six months.So, what will be the ministry’s job definition? It will deal with broad policy decisions and focus on the Government’s stand on legal issues and pending litigation in courts and the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal.And under the new dispensation, the most significant outcome in near future would be no revision of the tariff announced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently, applicable from April 1. The TRAI, set up through an Act of Parliament to be independent umpires between Government-owned telecom operators and private companies entering the field, will be left alone to carry on with its work. ‘‘Otherwse, the very purpose of a regulator will be destroyed,’’ pointed out top official sources.Section 25 of the TRAI Act provides for the Centre’s intervention in matters relating to sovereignty and security of the country and relations with foreign countries; tariff figures nowhere on this list.
