To axe or not to axe: Jaipal battles CMP

Information and Broadcasting Minister Jaipal Reddy has a tough chore ahead. In days to come, he will have to decide whether to axe two depar...

Information and Broadcasting Minister Jaipal Reddy has a tough chore ahead. In days to come, he will have to decide whether to axe two departments in his ministry as recommended by the Committee of Secretaries (COS) and risk going against ‘‘aam aadmi’’ for whom he campaigned, or allow them to function and earn their gratitude.

The COS, in its meeting on April 28, felt there was no sufficient justification for the existence of the Song and Drama Division and the Department of Field Publicity (DFP), sources said.

The two departments together have 2,500 people on its rolls, in addition to 9,000 artists from rural India, and undertake several health and social welfare campaigns for the government to reach areas not accessed by television. In addition, they are required to entertain Indian troops.

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If Reddy agrees, he will be going against the grain of the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance which has promised a National Employment Guarantee Act. He will also risk the wrath of his allies in the Left if he follows the recommendations.

Last year, the Standing Committee on Information and Technology—of which CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee was the chairman — had made the following observation with reference to a request on creation of posts in regional centres: ‘‘Committee, keeping in view the importance of Song and Drama Division in furthering National integration, recommends that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting take up the matter with the Planning Commission to get the schemes approved. The Ministry of Finance and Company Affairs may also be approached with convincing reasons to the approval of 28 posts sanctioned for running regional and sub-centres smoothly.”

The two divisions were, however, marked for closure by the Geethakrishnan Committee four years ago along with recommendations to cut the flab in other departments of the Government. As for the I&B Ministry, the committee said posts should be cut from 7,779 to 2,176. While senior officials in the ministry said a roadmap could be prepared for absorption of Song and Drama Division under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, how does that solve the problem of cutting the flab?

The flip side is if Reddy agrees to the units, they have to be revamped. The previous NDA Government did make a song and dance of it and used the services of the division to mount extravagant programmes in Delhi.