Debutant Minister lobin Hembrom, who is yet to be allotted portfolio ever after three days of taking oath, is perhaps the last MlA of the ruling coalition to become a minister for just four months ahead of the Assembly polls. Hembrom is unlikely to continue his term as a Minister for more than five months as the polls are due in November this year.
Hembrom is not an exceptional case in Jharkhand though. The politics and politicians of Jharkhand are generous indeed.
So much so that almost every other legislator or former legislator of the State can now boast to introduce himself as a former minister today. MlAs become MPs, Ministers become MlAs and MPs become ministers here as and when a new Government takes shape.
Ironically enough, the number of Ministers and ex-ministers, which should ideally not exceed the figure of 40, in the last 13 years in Jharkhand would not be less than 100 if one begins counting the figure.
The fact gets reaffirmed with the statistics of the State Assembly which is looking for land plots for the MlAs and former legislators.
The number of MlAs and ex-MlAs has increased from 165 to 225 as per the Assembly figures.
The Babulal Marandi cabinet had 26 Ministers in the 82-member Assembly back in the year 2000 until the 91stAmendment Act 2003 limited the quota of Ministers in the State to 12 stating that the total number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in a State shall not exceed 15 per cent of the total number of members of the legislative Assembly of that State: Provided that the number of Ministers, including Chief Minister in a State shall not be less than 12.
Ministers’ quota remained fixed but not their tenure with that of successive Governments.
Since November 15, 2000 till date the State has been ruled by 11 successive Governments - three of them were spells of President’s Rule.
However, the newest and the most interesting trend in the ‘neo-liberal’ State has come of transitory Ministers.
The State has seen at least 23 Ministers in the last four years who have not even been able to complete 11 months of their tenure.
The total number of ministers in three governments formed in last four years comes to 30.
leaders in the Opposition and those in the ruling coalition have their own politically correct statements on
the issue but former Speaker of State Assembly CP Singh calls it the misfortune of the State to get a hung Assembly and unstable political conditions of the State that result in actions by decision makers that are highly uncalled for.
“If you don’t get a majority government, you will have political instability in the State and when there are more than one Governments there will be more ministers. There is nothing unusual about it,” said Singh, adding that the accountability lies with each individual whether a common man or a Minister or a CM.
Singh, though, hinted that surplus heads were always there in the Government machinery and the trend to keep them in the flock need to be done away with.
However, incumbent Speaker Shashank Shekhar Bhokta opined that such trends are more because of Constitutional and political compulsions than the prevalent instability in the State. “Everything is going according to the provisions of the Constitution. The same issue was there in Goa also but the situation improved. We may hope to get things better in Jharkhand soon. Nevertheless, it is true that a new Minister finds it difficult to develop work culture in his or her department due to shortage of time. I feel that Ministers should get time to work persistently in their respective departments for yielding
better results,” he said.