Pranab and Chidambaram changed the UPA’s image of an ineffective government to that of an able one.
In the days following the Mumbai terror attack, Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram changed the UPA’s image of an ineffective government unable to protect the country to that of a mature administration which is more than capable of looking after the nation’s interests. In the UPA’s second term, both the ministers have carried on from where they left.
In addition to his responsibilities as finance minister, Mukherjee wears several hats. He is the UPA’s nuts and bolts man, its crisis manager with an elephant’s memory of events, dates and rules. Chidambaram, on the other hand, has single-handedly turned around the namby-pamby image that the home ministry had come to acquire under Shivraj Patil.
Speaking of shining stars in the UPA administration, one cannot overlook the contributions of human resources department (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal.
His track record since taking over the ministry has been remarkable. He has brought greater energy in the department and also new ideas. One can disagree with some of the ideas that Sibal is trying to introduce, but at least there is one HRD minister who has his thinking cap on and appears to be in tune with the aspirations of emerging India.
Erudite and well-educated, Sibal stood out in his earlier stint as science and technology minister. But in the HRD ministry, he is coming to his own. In his early days in the government, Sibal had some difficulty in working with men less talented than him, but he has now begun to settle down. He has also begun to display a greater amount of flexibility and ability to reach out to others. Example in point —the manner in which he resolved the stand-off with IIT professors.
Yet another minister who has caught the eye is environment minister Jairam Ramesh. Unlike the past, this time, he has been in the news for all the right reasons. Multi-lingual and techno savvy, Ramesh like Sibal is also charting a new course for his ministry.
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