Update

MINISTRIES PRUNED AS PER CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

BABU JAGJIVAN RAM REMEMBERED NEW DELHI: The 18th death anniversary of the former Deputy Prime Minister of India, Babu Jagjivan Ram, was observed with an all-religion prayer meeting at his samadhi here on 6 July. The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Congress president, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, the Delhi Chief Minister, Smt. Sheila Dikshit, and the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Smt. Meira Kumar – who is the daughter of Jagjivan Ram – were among those who paid floral tributes to the departed leader.

NEW DELHI: Around 136 ministers from all over the country have been axed from the Council of Ministers to comply with the recent Constitutional Amendment that restricted the size of a ministry to 15 percent of the strength of the Assembly. The Supreme Court had directed the Centre to pass on the message to the states to prune their ministries and the deadline was set for 7 July, 2004.

The few break-up of axed ministers are Maharashtra – 22; Chhattisgarh – 5; Meghalaya – 27; Nagaland – 22; Manipur – 19; Uttaranchal – 5; Himachal Pradesh – 3 and Goa – 1.

Punjab, which has a 117-member House, would now have 18 ministers including the chief minister. The five new ministers inducted into the ministry on 7 July were Amarjit Singh Samra, Jasjit Singh Randhawa and Surinder Singla with cabinet rank while Gurkanwal Kaur and Hans Raj Jason as Ministers of State. There were 30 ministers earlier in the Council of Ministers before the enforcement of the 97th amendment of the Constitution. The 13 previous ministers, who had been retained in the downsized ministry, would however retain their portfolios.

In Maharashtra, chief minister, Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde, on 6 July dropped 22 ministers, including four of cabinet rank, from his coalition government. The exercise reduces the number of ministers to 43 from 65.

The Gogoi ministry in Assam has been reduced to 19 from 35 including the Chief Minister, Shri Tarun Gogoi himself in the 126-member Assembly. The Council of Ministers now have 11 cabinet ministers, four are ministers of state with independent charge and three are ministers of state.

In Uttaranchal, chief minister, Shri N.D. Tiwari has dropped five ministers from the Council of Ministers. With this the strength has come down to 12 from 17 in a house of 70-members.

The process of downsizing of ministries in the North-Eastern states barring Arunachal Pradesh has been completed. The Council of Ministers of Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland have been pruned down to 12 each, including the chief ministers.

The minimum number of ministers can be 12 in a small state, irrespective of its Assembly strength. In Bihar, 17 ministers have been dropped. The coalition Government is now 36 strong, including the chief minister. Similarly in Uttar Pradesh, the ministry has been limited to 61 from 91 to meet the Constitutional requirement. Jharkhand government has also pruned the ministry in accordance with the recent Constitutional amendment.

Following is the Assembly strength in the states :

Andhra Pradesh - 294, Assam – 126, Arunachal Pradesh – 60, Bihar – 243, Delhi – 70, Goa – 40, Gujarat – 182, Haryana – 90, Himachal Pradesh – 68, Jammu & Kashmir – 87, Karnataka – 224, Kerala – 140, Madhya Pradesh – 230, Maharashtra – 288, Manipur – 60, Meghalaya – 60, Mizoram – 40, Nagaland – 60, Orissa – 147, Punjab – 117, Rajasthan – 200, Sikkim – 32, Tamil Nadu – 234, Tripura – 60, Uttar Pradesh – 403, West Bengal – 294, Chhattisgarh – 90, Jharkhand – 81, Uttaranchal – 70, and Pondicherry – 30.