When politicians make a pitch for ministries what attracts them? Prestige of a remit is important. But what the media misses out almost always but canny politicians don?t, is the size of the ministry?s budget. The iron law of administration is that the more you can spend, the more powerful you are.
So, home, finance and defence are not just prestigious high profile ministries?they are big budget ones. The home ministry?s budget of Rs 28,459 crore in 2008-09 makes it the seventh most resourceful among 50-odd ministries. Much of the money is spent on a large central police force of 8.4 lakh personnel. The finance ministry allocates resources and is therefore powerful?The Centre?s spending amounted to a huge Rs 9,00,953 crore in 2008-09. But, the finance ministry is also a big spender itself. In fact, the Rs 2,80,081 crore spent by the finmin last year was the highest among all ministries and was more than double that of the defence ministry.
Defence is where big deals are finalised?capital spending by the defence ministry is expected to go up to 54,824 crore in 2009-10 from just Rs 39,682 crore at the start of the decade.
At Rs 6,868 crore, the MEA is an unimpressive 14th among all ministries. No wonder some politicians are reluctant to become foreign minister.
Is Mamata Banerjee, in a powerful position in the UPA, making a mistake about accepting railways? The funds at the command of the rail minister were just Rs 9,327 crore (2008-09 figures), and it was ranked 12th across ministries. But that?s just half the picture. Unlike the MEA, the rail ministry runs an organisation?the expenditure budget of the Indian Railways is a mammoth Rs 73,167 crore, and it employs 1.3 million people. That?s ministerial power, for sure.
Sharad Pawar has taken, again, agriculture, food & civil supplies, consumer affairs and public distribution. With Rs 11,371 crore spent last year by agriculture, giving it the 10th rank in terms of spending power, Pawar?s remit doesn?t look terribly impressive. But the department of consumer affairs and food had a budget of Rs 44,995 crore, the 5th largest among all ministries. Add the two and you see that Pawar controls a pretty impressive budget.
HRD and rural development have acquired importance in recent years. This is directly related to the increase in their spending capacities. No wonder Arjun Singh was so determined to hold on to HRD during UPA I and no wonder the newly influential CP Joshi of the Congress wants rural development. Rural development is now the fourth largest ministry in terms of resources with a budget of Rs 67,191 crore in 2008-09. HRD is close behind?the sixth biggest spender with Rs 36,367 crore at its command.
DMK, which has plenty of experience in assessing the potential power from different ministries, have been offered chemicals and fertilisers. At the time of writing this the general assessment is that DMK is not thrilled with this offer from the Congress. But if it applies the ?bigger the budget, better the ministry rule, it should be delighted with chemicals and fertilisers. It has the third biggest spending power, after finance and defence, thanks mainly to the huge fertiliser subsidy bill.
Surface transport and shipping, which DMK wants but the Congress seems keen on keeping to itself, is in the top ten in terms of budget power. The ministry spent of Rs 17,256 crore in 2008-09. IT and communications, another DMK favourite, is ranked 11th in terms of budget size, just over Rs 10,000 crore. This ministry, however, is powerful also because it is the nodal point for very large investment decisions.
Of the top 10 ministries in terms of budget (see list), the Congress has finance, defence, home. It will keep HRD and rural development certainly and wants to keep surface transport. Two, agriculture and food/consumer affairs, are with an ally (Pawar), and two (health and chemicals/fertilisers) will most likely be offered to other allies. So this is an interesting proof of the Congress?s better bargaining power: it wants to keep six out of the top 10 big spending ministries for itself.
?p.raghavan@expressindia.com