The latest round of Narendra Modi government’s Cabinet expansion-cum-reshuffle threw up interesting details. While the exercise ensured elaborate efforts to zero in on right candidates, personal integrity and accessibility to the common people too played a major role in the latest round of reshuffle. As someone rightfully put it — it was an expansion which saw aam aadmi ministers taking charge of important portfolios. Of course electoral compulsions, regional balance, and caste dynamics were kept in mind, but whether it’s Manoj Sinha, or Santosh Gangwar, or Hansraj Ahir or Arjun Ram Meghwal (the ministers that BW Businessworld’s Suman K. Jha talks to, in the following pages) all are known for their aam aadmi credentials. Unlike some others, they don’t sit in their ivory towers, but spend most of their time amidst the common people. While some of them like Sinha and Ahir have already proved their mettle, the PM would also like the Cabinet reshuffle to positively impact the coming elections.
ALL THE PM’s MEN: The newly sworn in ministers with the PM and President at Rashtrapati Bhawan
One should bear in mind that I am the Telecom Minister; Not A Minister for BSNL or MTNL
“BETTER TIES WITH INDUSTRY WILL ENSURE GOOD SERVICES”
In the Railways, Manoj Sinha is known as a “doer”. Now, as the new minister of state (independent charge) for communications, Sinha hopes to usher in better services for consumers, even as he expects the industry to invest more in the sector. Excerpts from an interview:
Q: Resolving the call drop problem is going to be your top priority, right? So will we see an improvement in 4-5 months?
A: I have not said so. The day I took charge of the ministry, journalists asked me this question. I conceded that call drop is a problem before us. I said that in the days to come, probably in the next 4-5 months, there’ll be a qualitative improvement in this regard. This is TRAI’s mandate. As the communications minister, I understand that it’s my responsibility that the people get good services as consumers. Along with TRAI, we would definitely take measures in this regard.
Q: By September end, we will have the biggest telecom spectrum auction ever. The total reserve price for spectrum will be around Rs 5.66 lakh crore. Is it a challenge or an opportunity?
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