Cabinet reshuffle.. yawn!

The recent central government cabinet reshuffle was underwhelming to say the least. With all the scams that have dogged the government, a bigger shake-up would have been appropriate to at least show their seriousness in doing things differently.

Apart from the allegations of massive corruption, what should worry the government managers is that there is a lot of negativity about their performance as well (governance deficit). Global macroeconomic conditions such as fuel price increases and softening of global recovery isn’t helping, but the government can do much internally to ensure India can use its internal demand engines to grow. There has hardly been any reform over the last 7 years of UPA rule, dis-investment / privatization has died, and your and my taxes are just rotting everywhere without providing better infrastructure of even succour for the poor.

Getting in some more fresh faces, maybe even the junior Gandhi in a high-profile ministry would have revitalized the government. A number of young parliamentarians in the Congress party (even if they got elected for their surnames) have been completely wasted, and could have done much to get them a third term if they were allowed to use their erudition and intelligence. Instead, what you get is a number of key ministries still left unfilled, and full-time ministers in the areas of Corporate Affairs, Science & Technology and the like.