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Friends, finally!

After a long gap, there is again proper coordination between the Prime Minister's Office and the Cabinet secretariat. Earlier, especially during P V Narasimha Rao's time, these two departments used to be at loggerheads. There was a head-on collision between then principal secretary in the PMO A N Verma and then cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah. Later, Verma and Surendra Singh, Saifullah's successor, tried their level best to get along; but by the time the Rao government was in its last phase, the relation had soured. Interestingly, Verma, though he brought S Rajgopal as CabSec after getting Mahesh Prasad superseded, later developed differences with him also.

During H D Deve Gowda's tenure, T R Satish Chandra, then principal secretary in the PMO, had a very good relationship with CabSec T S R Subramaniam. The former gave the latter full freedom. But during I K Gujral's regime, his principal secretary N N Vohra blocked several decisions.

The Vajpayee government is now going to complete three months in office. So far no differences have cropped up between the PMO and the Cabinet secretariat. Both Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra and CabSec Prabhat Kumar, it is said, work in a most conducive atmosphere. The reason is simple: Mishra is a former foreign service officer and is more interested in international affairs than domestic affairs. He hardly interferes in the CabSec's functioning.

Besides, Prabhat Kumar is a low profile officer who has never confronted his boss in his entire career. A look-alike of 60s Jubilee Star Rajendra Kumar, the CabSec has always stayed away from controversies. Unlike his predecessors, he is media shy.

Because of the non-confrontation between the two important offices, several important decisions have been passed. These include the empanellment of the 1968 batch of IAS, and raising of the retirement age in government from 58 to 60. Both decisions had been pending for quite some time. Besides this, disinvestment in prominent public sector units like GAIL, VSNL and Indian Airlines, and the appointment of regulatory commissions in various ministries will also take place. The biggest assignment for both offices is infrastructural changes in the power, telecom, petroleum and natural gas sectors.

Subramaniam had initiated the process of administrative reforms. Now it is Mishra and Prabhat Kumar's responsibility to accomplish the task. They should also ensure that the Pay Commission's recommendations are implemented in totality. So far, government employees have only eaten the cake without accepting any new responsibility. If the Commission recommended an increase in salary, it also recommended an increase in the working hours and drastic cut in holidays. The Gujral government, unfortunately, did not implement the bitter part of the recommendations.

Mishra's special interest in foreign affairs is making the present incumbents at the external affairs ministry very, very uncomfortable. The wide perception in South Block is that he is encroaching upon the foreign secretary's job, though Mishra is only doing what he is told by the prime minister.

Rajiv Shukla