Editorial
Rudderless home ministry
Its unsettled state is sapping govt's effectiveness
IT is quite mind-boggling that one of the most important ministries of the government should be without a minister for such a long time. Both the minister and state minister for home have been absent from office, the minister having suffered a broken hip, and her deputy being away on leave since 9th June. To make matters worse the PM, who had been looking after the ministry in the interregnum, was out of the country to Egypt and has just returned. We are not aware whether someone was given the charge of looking after the home ministry during her absence. Moreover, given the PM's commitment, we wonder if she can give the attention that the ministry deserves.
The minister, we understand, has undergone a hip surgery and one wonders whether she would be able to resume work in full gear quickly even if she returns soon. And as for the state minister the less said the better. This is the second time he has been away on leave, and there is no indication of his return although his leave has expired a fortnight ago. Surely this is no way to run the home ministry, which by the very nature of its work requires constant strict supervision of a minister.
The PM has been talking about cabinet reshuffle for quite sometime now. A shakeup of the cabinet is required but that will take its own time to materialise. That does not mean that pending a cabinet reshuffle such an important ministry should remain without its executive head, particularly when there is a slide in the law and order in the country. The severity of crimes being committed in the capital and elsewhere shows a lax in the performance of the law enforcing agencies. What more, the reported spread of illegal arms topped off by arrests of hardened and well-linked terror leaders call for an effective management of internal security risks. With an unsettled state in the home ministry counter-terrorism activities might suffer.
It is difficult to accept the assertion of the ministry officials that the home ministry is running its business as usual. It is also difficult to accept that the file work has not been affected in the absence of the executive head of the ministry. While the agencies of the ministry may well be able to function without the minister their performance is bound to be affected, as it has been, in the absence of higher oversight and direction that the minister is supposed to exercise and provide.
We are somewhat surprised that the PM has not yet taken any concrete step to put the situation right even after so many days. We urge the prime minister to put somebody in charge of the home ministry without any further loss of time.
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