Need For Reorganisation Of Ministries / Departments Under Govt Of India

My paper titled "MINIMUM GOVERNMENT & MAXIMUM GOVERNANCE - KNOW YOUR MINISTRY" published earlier laid a strong foundation for my study and analyze the role functions of 63 Ministries /Departments of Government of India. This preliminary study involved referring to the respective official websites of the Ministries as the only primary and secondary source of information to comprehend the challenges and tasks ahead to be undertaken. This paper briefs the gist of major findings of the study related to every Ministry and Department of GOI evaluating the challenges and prioritizing tasks ahead to establish the rule of good governance.

With the principal challenges confronting efficient governance viz Corruption, Poverty and Unemployment (CPU) that perennially haunts the performance to reach the expectations of the citizens to ensure sustainable human development the  Government is expected to fulfill the aspirations of the citizens and are reviewed in terms of the following eight parameters for a measure of performance to deliver Good Governance of every Ministry and Departments of the Government: (a) Rule of Law - (b) Participation- (c) Transparency- (d) Responsiveness- (e) Consensus oriented (f) Equity and Inclusiveness- (g) Effectiveness and Efficiency- (h) Voice Accountability- (i) Level of Criticism and Public Image (j) Control of Corruption.

All the 63 published snapshots related to various Ministries and Departments of Government of India helped a great deal to understand the critical roles and responsibilities entrusted with the government to realize the objectives of governance.

MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

• Some of the official websites are ported in unsecured Internet protocols.
• Vision and Mission including objectives of few Ministries remain undefined.
• Annual Reports and Secondary Data related to some ministries are either pending or outdated or remain unpublished.

SUGGESTIONS PUT FORTH

• Official websites of the Ministry should facilitate access to the public for uploading feedbacks, suggestions, etc enabling a secured registered login for users.
• Need for revamping or review the obsolete Allocation of Business Rules, 1961 and engage in the formation of new critical Ministries / Departments besides integrating the existing Ministries / Departments under a single Cabinet Rank Minister to facilitate effective governance and optimization of human and financial resources. In other words, Ministries and Departments which govern similar domain activities should be clubbed into one major Ministry like Energy, Transport, Health, Law, Communication, Education, etc with independent departments of their respective related portfolios engaged in similar activities. This could establish the best co-ordination, communication, efficient and effective governance, transparency, etc.
• Need for New Departments/Ministries and enlargement of Business functions of the existing Ministries/Departments as under:

(a) Ministry of Defense – Independent department for Armed Personnel, Cross Border Terrorism,  etc

(b) Ministry of External Affairs – Independent departments for Border Disputes, etc

(c) Home Affairs- Department of Police Reforms; Department of Investigations;

(d) Planning (Niti Aayog) – Department of Budget, Department of Resources Allocation

(e) Parliamentary Affairs – Department of Performance of Elected Representatives.

INTEGRATION / CONSOLIDATION OF EXISTING MINISTRIES/DEPARTMENTS

• Under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Animal Husbandry & Dairying; Fisheries, four separate Departments headed by a Minister of State needs to be formed Department of Farmers’ Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry, Department of Dairying, Department of Fisheries.
• Ministry of Atomic Energy should be renamed as Ministry of Energy with four Departments Viz; Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Jal Shakti, Department of  Power and Department of Mines;
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare  should be renamed as Health and Welfare, with six independent departments, viz Department of  Ayurveda, Department of  Yoga and Naturopathy, Department of  Unani, Department of  Siddha and Department of  Homoeopathy; Department of  Allopathy and Department of  Women and Child Development;
• Ministry of Communications; Electronics and Information Technology needs to integrate with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting with independent Departments under Communications, Electronics, Information Technology, and Information & Broadcasting.
• Ministry of Conventional Energy should have Department of Coal, Department of Petroleum, and Department of Natural Gas functioning independently.
• Ministry of Finance should be assisted by five Ministers of State for Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Expenditure; Department of Financial Affairs; Department of Revenue; Department of Investment & Public Asset Management. A new Department should be formed for the Department of Non-Performing Assets Management.
• Ministry of Consumer Affairs should have a Department of Food, Department of Public Distribution, and Department of Food Processing Industries.
• Ministry of Tribal Affairs should be integrated with Department for Development of North Eastern Region; Tribal Affairs;
• Ministry of Earth Sciences should be integrated with the Department of  Space and Department of  Science and Technology
• Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment should be integrated with the Department of  Minority Affairs ;
• Ministry of Labour and Employment should be integrated with Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Department of  Skill Development and Entrepreneurship;
• Ministry of Human Resources Department should be integrated with the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports, Department of School Education & Literacy, and Department of Higher Education.
• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs should be integrated with the Department of Rural Development
• Ministry of Law should have: Department of Panchayati Raj, Department of Legal Affairs, Legislative Department, Department of Justice, and Department of Law Commission(New)
• Ministry of Commerce and Industry should be integrated with the Department of Corporate Affairs.
• Ministry of Transport (New) should have four major independent Departments, viz Railways; Road Transport and Highways; Shipping; Civil Aviation.
• Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises should be integrated with the Department of Steel and Department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
• Ministry of Culture  shall be integrated with the Ministry of Tourism with an added portfolio to govern the affairs of Heritage sites, monuments, idols, archaeology, Museum, etc
• Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change  should be integrated with the Department of New and Renewable Energy
• Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation should be the one-stop destination to monitor and study the dynamics of Secondary Data / Statistics related to every Ministry including evaluation of periodical Monthly, Quarterly, Half-Year, and Annual Reports of all Ministries.
• Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers should be integrated with the Ministry of Textiles.