The most significant development, as the Manmohan Singh government touches the 100 day mark, is the possibility of the revival of the National Advisory Council (NAC), a think tank headed by Sonia Gandhi which had tried to give a pro-people direction to the last Congress government.
When the dust has settled, history will remember UPA I for two of its decisions which made a difference – the enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). It is common knowledge that both originated in the NAC, whatever anybody may say about it.
Supposedly a political think tank, the NAC was much more than an advisory body because of the presence of Sonia Gandhi as its chairperson. Conceived as an interface between the government and civil society, with Sonia acting as the bridge between the two – she was conferred Cabinet status – and coming under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Office, it was very difficult for the government to turn down what the NAC came up with, given the power she wielded behind the scenes.
When the NAC members, accompanied by Sonia Gandhi, had first gone to call on the Prime Minister soon after UPA I came to power, Dr Manmohan Singh had asked them what they had been discussing that day. They had reportedly told him that they had been talking about NREGS. The PM’s initial reservation was evident when he had responded with a question: “I am very glad but where is the money going to come from?”
Though Sonia Gandhi used to say very little at the meetings, she would faithfully send the Prime Minister the NAC recommendations, which, it was clear to everyone, had her backing. Besides the RTI Act and NREGA, the ideas which figured in the NAC included the Domestic Violence Bill to protect women and the National Rural Health Mission.
Sonia Gandhi quit the NAC after the office of profit controversy and never returned to it even though she was re-elected to the Lok Sabha after resigning her seat. The NAC continued to meet but had lost its teeth without Sonia’s presence and was formally wound up on March 31, 2008.
Now, with UPA II in the saddle, and with the Supreme Court giving a favourable judgement on the office of profit issue, the last possible objection is out of the way for the reconstitution of the NAC. It was for nothing that the Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot – at the end of the day, Congressmen are political weathercocks – suddenly called for the reconstitution of the NAC the other day at a public meeting in Rajasthan.
The revival of the body will naturally have implications on the functioning of the UPA, the Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh balance of power within the Congress, and the kind of programmes the government takes up to retain its pro-aam aadmi image, particularly as it is widely accepted that the next round belongs to Rahul Gandhi.
Given the failure of monsoon and the impending drought in the country and the expected shortfall of grain by 20%, one of the things a body like the NAC may push for this time is the enactment of an effective law on food security which the Congress promised in its manifesto. There are however sections within the government which feel that poll promises have their own place but financial management is another ball game. Already questions are beginning to be asked about where the money is going to come from for such an ambitious initiative, rather like the question put by Dr Manmohan Singh to the NAC members at their first meeting with him.
The NAC is also likely to acquire a virtual super Cabinet status, by the very fact of Sonia Gandhi heading it. Whoever becomes the member secretary – last time it was Jairam Ramesh – will be like a super Cabinet minister, able to call the shots in every ministry.
There has been speculation on Rahul Gandhi’s role in the new NAC, as and when it gets re-formed. He is not likely to head it but may become a member. In that case it is possible that the NGOs which have been working close with him may find a place in the New NAC. The composition of the NAC is expected to undergo a change, for there are several figures who may not find a place and those such as Aruna Roy and Jean Dreze had quit on their own, mid way.
When the government was sworn in, there was much hype about what it would do during the first 100 days in office, a concept borrowed from the US President Barack Obama. A resurgent Congress which had notched up an unexpected but impressive 206 seats, also wanted to show its commitment to the aam aadmi who had brought it to power again.
Pratibha Devi Singh Patil’s speech – the Presidents’ address to the joint session of Parliament is prepared by the government and highlights its thrust areas – promised a slew of measures the Government intended to complete in its 100 days in office.
The Union Budget with its focus on the social sector was what a government normally presents in the last year before elections. But as the Budget session wore on, the government began to lose some of its sheen.
The Bill about the judges’ assets had to be withdrawn at the introduction stage itself because not enough homework had been done. The Law Minister had obviously held consultations with the judges but not with the political parties to bring them on board. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal caught the imagination of urban schoolchildren when he advocated an end to examinations at the Class XI level. But some of the other aspects of his Bill were critiqued for lacking enough thought, in the hurry to hit the 100 day deadline.
The feel good of the electoral victory also evaporated with the failing monsoon and the drought, further pushing up t food prices. It reinforced the impression that the government had not got its act together in time to meet the impending crisis.
Nor did the swine flu help the government’s image, though it had no control over the events which led to the rash of cases in some parts of the country and at the time of writing over 80 deaths had taken place. Though the swine flu moved away from the front pages of newspapers, and the government is trying to downplay the gravity of the situation – claiming more people die of diabetes and heart ailments – worry persists that the crisis is far from over.
In order to give a fillip to its sagging image – it has to thank an imploding BJP for not being able to mount an offensive – the government decided to seize the initiative again with steps like the Cabinet decision to increase reservation for women in panchayati institutions and urban local bodies from the present 33% to 50%, in what could turn out to be a far reaching and historic decision.
When after the initial resistance of states, the 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendments providing one third reservation for women in panchayats and urban bodies finally got passed when the nation’s attention was engaged elsewhere following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992.
In its second term, there is every indication that the government plans to woo women as a constituency. Sonia Gandhi has promised to enact the Women’s Reservation Bill and Home Minister P Chidambaram has declared that it will be introduced in the winter session of Parliament, but somewhere the Congress appears to be reluctant to take the bull by the horn.
Sceptics suspect that the Cabinet decision to enhance panchayati participation for women is to make up for its lack of will to push through with the Women’s Reservation Bill, though never in the last 13 years since the bill was first mooted, have the conditions been so politically favourable for its passage, with the main allies of the Congress – like the Trinamool Congress – and the BJP and the Left parties also backing the bill.