One new ministry for tribal affairs and two new departments for drinking water and elementary education. Thats downsizing government, a la Yashwant Sinha.
Outlook calculates that running these three new institutions will cost the government upwards of Rs 25 crore every year. Rs 10 crore for the two departments and over Rs 15 crore for the ministry. A small figure no doubt, but certainly not in a year when state expenditure will be kept at a minimum.
Much of the increased outlay of Rs 810 crore for the ministry of tribal affairs will go towards running it. The cost of running a Union ministry is about Rs 20 crore. Thats assuming the ministry will have one minister, one minister of state, one deputy minister. Each minister will have one ias secretary. There has to be a secretary to the ministry. Then comes the number of PSs, PAs, administrative staff, ministers housing and phone bills, and those white Ambys topped with a red lamp. Every Union ministry has to have a state arm in each of the 26 states and six Union Territories. Which brings in another 32 ias officers along with their official vehicles, PAs and office staff. Add to this the cost of furniture, telephones, electricity connections, property costs and it comes to Rs 1.3 crore per month. The annual outflow: 12 times Rs 1.3 crore. Or, precisely, Rs 15.6 crore!
The two new proposed departments will take much less than that, of course. The expenditure for a Central department is approximately one-third of a Union ministry. At the most conservative estimates, therefore, running these will cost Rs 5 crore each every year.
More bewildering than the money is the fact that elementary education and drinking water supply are clearly state subjects. By creating these Central departments and going against the express recommendations contained in Justice R.S. Sarkaria Commissions report on Centre-state relations, the finance minister is paving way for fresh clashes.
What next? A department of midwives to help maintain reproductive health?
