The government has advised ministers to sparingly name programmes after national leaders like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi as the implementation of many of these programmes is “not always as ought to be”. Noting that a number of programmes under execution in the country were named after leaders — particularly Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi — Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar said in a letter to ministers that “the practice has become widespread and indiscriminate”.
“This reduces the value of identifying programmes with national figures particularly as implementation and impact of many of these programmes is not always as ought to be. As such, many of them do not merit such association,” he said. “I have, therefore, been directed to convey that in the light of what is stated above there is need to be sparing and selective in associating names of the national leaders with such programmes to prevent proliferation of such nomenclature,” the Cabinet Secretary said. The government has named some major programmes after national leaders including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Indira Awas Yojana and Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission.
The directive by the Cabinet Secretary has apparently come to impress upon ministers that caution needs to be applied while using the names of such national leaders on projects whose proper implementation was doubtful. Incidentally, there have been complaints from Congress leaders that the Centre’s schemes were being usurped by the states ruled by Opposition which seek to take credit for the measures for which the Centre is giving funds. The latest example being Urban Develoment Minister S Jaipal Reddy making a veiled attack on the Narendra Modi goverment in Gujarat for its failure to acknowledge Rs 7,998 crore aid under the JNNURM scheme by the Centre which has brought a sea change in infrastructure of the cities in the state.
‘Take a care with the names Indira, Rajiv’
Posted in Governance