The PM @ work

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sharply stepped up his involvement in key economic decisions, intervening in a raft of issues ranging from coal supply to foreign investment, in an attempt to correct the widespread perception that the UPA government is in the grip of a debilitating lethargy that has brought decision-making to a grinding halt. The leader of the world’s largest democracy has presided over half-a-dozen meetings where he has pored over the minutiae of such things as skill development, appropriate rules governing foreign investment in the pharmaceuticals sector, and problems facing the infrastructure and energy sectors. The prime minister’s focus in these meetings has been to identify and clear bottlenecks that have delayed implementation of projects and accelerate investment and growth, said an official who has attended many of these meetings. Some of the meetings have borne fruit. Last month, the country’s leading private power companies complained to the prime minister that almost 22,000 mw of capacity was lying idle because Coal India Ltd (CIL), the monopoly fuel supplier, had refused to sign fuel supply agreements and meet supply commitments. The PM had then assured power developers that his team would come back with answers in four weeks and he has been true to his word. CIL has been instructed to first meet the demand of the power sector before e-auctioning coal in the open market. The PM and his team have also moved to respond to a long-standing industry bugbear, the environment and forest ministry’s alleged reluctance to give approvals for large industrial and infrastructure projects. The PMO, in consultation with the environment ministry, has decided that all coal projects that are expanding up to 25% of their capacity would no longer have to wait for environment clearance before they begin work. The environment ministry has also assured the PMO that all pending clearances of the 11th Plan period, which ends on March 31, 2012, would be cleared by that date. The ministry of road transport and highways, for its part, has assured the PMO that contracts to build 1,547 km of roads and highways, divided into 15 projects, will be awarded within this financial year. Another 11 projects to build 1,731 km of roads will be considered by the Public Private Partnership Approval Committee next week for speedy approval. This will ensure that the target for the current financial year, awarding final contracts for 7,999 km, is met. Officials who have attended these meetings describe them as business-like and focused. Ministers and secretaries come armed with excel sheets, outlining the topic under discussion, the outcome of the previous meetings, the PMO’s view on the matter and the latest status on the issues identified in the earlier meeting. Each meeting ends with a follow-up date and a time-bound action plan that comes up for review. On another occasion, when former TCS CEO S Ramadorai was making a presentation on skill development, PM Singh found some of his colleagues unsure of the agenda as they mistook it for job creation. According to an official who attended the meeting, PM took charge of the meeting by explaining how skill development training has to be an integral part of every ministry. Concerns about economic growth slipping below 7% for only the second time since 2004 and failure to meet plan targets for various infrastructure sectors have provided stimulus for the new urgency, said a senior government official. The respite from the raft of corruption scandals of 2010-11 and the apparent weakening of Hazare-led agitation have also helped bring back focus to economic agenda.