For Uma Bharti, Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, keeping Modi’s promise to Varanasi on the Ganga is the primary mission. On the first day in office itself, the saffron-clad minister, who is often referred to as ‘sadhvi’, made it clear to officials that cleanliness is next to godliness and the holy river is her top priority and she will row the extra mile to achieve it. She has held two inter-ministerial and two meetings with activists and environmentalists.
She has also launched a nationwide public movement for cleaning the Ganga. The inter-ministerial meeting with Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and Tourism Minister Shripada Yasso Naik resulted in the formation of a Committee of Secretaries on the Ganga. On the Yamuna also, she held a meeting with Gadkari and Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu. An issue of relevance to Gujarat—increasing the height of Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada River—is another key decision, though ministry officials say that the push came from the PMO. Uma has not yet taken any other major policy decision. On her table awaiting decisions are controversial projects related to river interlinking, national water policy and inter-state water disputes. “Being a politician she is an expert in public dealings and she calls the officers concerned only for technical help.” Before any important meeting takes place, she gets a three-to-five-minute briefing on what has been the ministry’s stand on a particular issue, after which she takes her own decision. Though not known to be a workaholic, Uma has been spending nine to 10 hours in office every day. She arrives at work between 9 and 9:30 am and stays on till 6 pm, sometimes even later. The only relief from routine is when she hops across to other ministries to attend inter-ministerial meetings and brief lunch breaks for a meal of boiled veggies, roti, curd and fruits. During the weekends, she either travels to Jhansi, her Lok Sabha constituency, or to Hardwar. She has given up the usual top-to-bottom approach inw hich babus prepare a plan which is implemented at the district-level. The minister who calls it a “divine blessing” to be put in charge of the ministry has asked all the districts to send their plans for cleaning the particular stretch of river in their respective jurisdiction. Since cleanliness, like charity, also begins at home, she has implemented the cleanliness drive in her own ministry building, by getting the corridors and walls cleaned of the ubiquitous betel marks. About 80,000-old files have also been discarded.
There have been persistent attempts on me to speak on a constitutional issue which is not proper. Kindly do not compel me to breach constitutional propriety.’’ This was Smriti Irani, the youngest HRD Minister the country ever had, refusing to be drawn into the FYUP rollback quagmire. She is the one minister who has deftly delivered on the BJP manifesto in record time. Without taking credit, or giving a single byte from the corridors of Shashtri Bhavan—which on her orders has been remarkably spruced up—Smriti got the adamant Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh to fall in line. UGC chairman Ved Prakash did her bidding, despite protests about the breach of the university’s autonomy from some quarters. “My work will speak, ’’ was what she had told the media, apparently on advice of a senior Cabinet colleague, when an unsavory controversy broke out about her qualifications to hold the HRD portfolio. Doubts were expressed by self-appointed Modi acolytes on Irani’s ability to manage “the entrenched Left lobby” in the academic world. But she stuck to the text. The DU success was her sweet revenge. Announcing a high education institute in Amethi was another ironical revenge. After the DU victory, Irani hasn’t lingered to smell the roses; she has swiftly moved on to the next big agenda of the Modi Government—an all-Indian, official-ranking system for educational institutions. Smriti has identified the constituency her ministry needs to cater to— ‘Aspiring India’, as the PM has told her. Addressing students in Bhopal, she said that the ranking system will be in place as early as possible. As also promised, students of the Planning and Architecture Schools in Bhopal and Vijayawada or the IT-Design, Manufacturing Institute in Kancheepuran would be getting their degrees sooner than expected. A HRD Ministry official says Irani has told babus to prepare the scholarship list of 2014-15 now itself. “She’s quick on the uptake and takes decisions swiftly once she understands the agenda before her, ’’ says another official who has made a presentation before her. In between keeping an 18 hour work daily schedule that includes four to five meetings, she has revealed her human side, apart from her ability to wield the stick. A group of journalists were surprised to see her call up and apologise to a lady from Patiala, who had been getting wrong calls asking for the minister. But preparing for a tough Parliament session ahead, the lighter moments are few and far between. Her biggest challenge would be to get the Foreign University Bill cleared, a legislation on which her presdessor, the lawyer-minister Kapil Sibal had tripped badly. Not to mention the National Accreditation Regulatory system that the Prime Minister wants in place, with whom she works closely to refashion India’s education roadmap.
Union Food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s priority is to control waste of foodgrain waste and turning every state as a agri-brand on its own. The Badal Bahu who is a second time Member of Parliament and maiden cabinet minister reaches office around 9 am and stays late, meeting industry representatives and seeking their suggestions. Impeccably dressed in bright colored saris and salwars, her dupatta always covering the head, the 47-year-old Harsimrat enhances the government’s glamour quotient. “Her first priority is to control wastage of foodgrain, since 18 per cent of it worth nearly Rs. 44, 000 crore is wasted,’’ a ministry official says. Harsimrat is, like her other colleagues keen to cut through the red tape. One of her first meetings was with K Chandramouli, Chairman, Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), to discuss the food processing industry’s problems in obtaining product approvals. She heerself doesn’t prefer processed food, eating only home cooked food, which she carries to work. It’s her habit to have lunch wherever she is at the time. Deeply religious, Harsimrat doesn’t set out of home without reciting the path in the morning and believes that the common man should benefit from government. On her agenda is to get big corporate houses to adopt farmers so that the tiller could get better prices for their produce. She will be soon introducing a new policy on making produce available at the nearest points where it grows. Inclusive by nature, she takes the industry into confidence, and has sought suggestions from the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on how to eliminate the delays in granting product approvals. She has also had meetings with ASSOCHAM and Nestle representatives. After she took over as minister, she called on Vice President Hamid Ansari and the Speaker Lok Sabha Sumitra Mahajan to apprised them about her ministry’s plans to boost farmers’ produce by bringing food processing to the farm level. Recently, the British High Commissioner to India James Bevan met Harsimrat and if the ban on Indian mangoes in Britain over pesticides could be lifted, it would be her first and sweetest achievement.
Ever since Maneka Gandhi got the portfolio of Women and Child Development Ministry, she is a different avatar from her old fire-eating MOeF days. Apart from making the unusual move of greeting estranged sister-in-law Sonia Gandhi after her swearing-in as an MP, she has maintained a low-profile, but not when it came to taking a stand against atrocities against women in Uttar Pradesh, hitting the headlines every day. After the Badaun rapes, she hauled up the UP police and mooted the idea of setting up a Rape Crisis Cell to expedite cases. Maneka, famous for her sophisticated acerbity, seems to have mellowed; without getting into hyperbole or political allegations, she has initiated plans to set up a body to ensure security of women and expedite cases. Though she is yet to outline her policy on child development, she was among the first ministers to execute cleaning-up operations ordained by the PM, like sprucing up offices and clearing pending files. She also met Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to discuss rampant female foeticide in the state. Her most novel idea—ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes) for women, especially in Punjab.
Officials in the Minority Ministry were pleasantly surprised to meet their new minister, the sophisticated Najma Heptullah, whose silk sarees with sophisticated prints and signature high collar blouses are markedly in contrast with the previous occupant Rehman Khan. Najma started off with a controversy, which also was a sign of NDA’s balanced approach in contrast with UPA’s blatant minoritysim and reservation policies. Denying that Muslims are a minority, unlike Parisis, she had said "This is not the ministry for Muslim affairs, this is the ministry for minority affairs." Her pedigree as the grand niece of Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad stood her in good stead. The oldest member of Modi’s Cabinet, 74 year-old Najma’s day begins at 9.30 a.m, holding meetings with members of the Maulana Azad Foundation that grants scholarships to Muslim children, wakf board officials and madarassa heads from various states almost daily. The holder of a MA in zoology and a doctoral degree in cardiac anatomy, Najma would be rolling out two flagship programs: Nai Roshni to address issues affecting girls from minority communities and Nai Manzil, which would offer a formal curriculum to Muslim boys studying in madrasas. Seekho aur Kamao is designed to give immediate employment-oriented education and skills. Najma is applying Narendra Modi’s techno vision in her ministry as well, meeting the PM on a regular basis and mooting the concept of cyber madrasas. Najma’s main consultants are lyricist Javed Akhtar and India Islamic Centre’s President Sirajuddin Qureshi. Her ministry could rename existing development schemes to take government initiatives to people at grassroots level. Calling upon the original vision of the founding fathers, she opposed the Maharashtra Government’s decision to give more reservation to Muslims. "Reservation on the basis of religion is not permissible under the Constitution. Nor is it the solution. It kills the spirit of competition," she said. The lone Muslim face in the NDA government, Najma has made it clear to her babus that “the need of the hour is to bring uniformity in development. The weaker section should be elevated and then a sense of competition should be instilled and policies should be framed in such manner only.” Toeing the line led by the PM Modi of inclusion of active role of state governments, she has also invited suggestions from all states in order to work for the overall development of the community so that genuine beneficiaries can be reached easily.
Despite the difference in age, Najma is the Bollywood star Aamir Khan’s cousin. Heptullah has a Master's degree in zoology and a doctoral degree in cardiac anatomy. She wears silk sarees with sophisticated pints with high collar blouses to her office everyday. She contested the 13th vice-presidential election held in August 2007 but lost to Hamid Ansari by 233 votes.
Precise and stolid. Nirmala Seetharam is Narendra Modi government’s ‘official’ interface with the industry, trade bodies and foreign dignitaries coming to explore Indian opportunities. As the Minister of State with independent charge of Commerce and Industry as also the MoS, Finance under Arun Jaitley, Seetharam is the voice that conveys the message, a skill long developed as the party’s one time spokesperson. In her typical no-nonsense style, she told domestic and international investors and the salaried class, “No Tax Terrorism,’’ not just underscoring the policy shift on ‘retrospective taxation’ which had dampened investor’s sentiment, but also scoring a political point over the previous dispensation. A senior BJP functionary on deputation from RSS says, “This is the reason why we were totally against getting technocrats as ministers. People who are not invested in the political system cannot feel the popular pulse nor can speak or understand the people’s language and what they want to hear.’’ She was precise on FDI too. “We are open to foreign direct investment in all sectors including defense. But on multi-brand retail, we will decide on a case to case basis.’’ Working a 9 am to 9 pm schedule, Seetharaman barely found time to hop over to Hyderabad for a felicitation programme, and later to file her Rajya Sabha nomination. Originally from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh is her adopted home. Her meticulousness is talked about in both the Commerce and Corporate Affairs Ministries. “She viewed presentations department by department to figure out what has been done and what needs to be done. Not to mention the pre-budget meetings she has been attending in Finance Minister every day, ’’ a senior official says. Nirmala comes to work on weekends as well, a matter of private dismay to some senior bureaucarts who have to sacrifice their Sunday golf.