Singh: Focused

New Delhi, Aug. 7: The Prime Minister has already acted to stop political appointments to plum posts and checked the practice of having bureaucrats in jobs they are unfamiliar with. But he wants more.

Manmohan Singh feels not enough has been done to “reform” governance and bring about the changes, in structure and attitude, he had sought.

Sources close to him said that though the Prime Minister had made policy statements and announced decisions for “reforming” governance, few have been put into practice.

Singh, for instance, is keen to set two-year tenures for the key posts of the defence, finance, home and foreign secretaries as well as the Research and Analysis Wing secretary and the Intelligence Bureau director. Currently, only the cabinet secretary’s post has a fixed tenure.

It is believed that a consensus has to be evolved within the cabinet before the proposal is approved. The IAS lobby is set against it and the political response has been that “there is no point” angering the bureaucracy.

While this proposal and many others hang fire, Singh has quietly pushed for changes in the “steel frame’s” well-entrenched traditions. The sources said he has ensured that, on the whole, secretaries have knowledge and a “deep understanding” of the departments they are entrusted with.

When he took over last May, Singh was reportedly appalled to find how “ill-informed” some secretaries were about their areas of work.

For instance, finance was handled by an official who had had nothing to do with it for much of his career in the civil service. He was in his post for “other reasons”.

The sources recalled that when Singh was finance minister in the Narasimha Rao government, the department had K.P. Geethakrishnan and then Montek Singh Ahluwalia as secretaries. Both had spent the better part of their careers in finance and economics.

When a defence secretary had to be appointed after Singh became Prime Minister, he brought in Shekhar Dutt because “half” his career had been spent in defence.

The commerce, water resources, finance and economic affairs secretaries were reportedly chosen for their “knowledge and expertise” relating to their areas of work.

S.N. Menon, the commerce secretary, was an ambassador in the World Trade Organisation and, the sources claimed, his experience came in handy during the India-Asean-Thailand negotiations. He also helped bring in foreign direct investment from Singapore.

Water resources secretary J. Harinarayan had worked in rural development and water resources. He proved “useful” in negotiations over the Cauvery water dispute and the Baglihar dam project.

Singh also took away from ministers the power to pick heads of the organisations funded by the Centre. Now, they will be routed through the cabinet’s appointments committee.