Cabinet reshuffle 2016: Sithraman’s exclusion a surprise?
Deepak Kumar
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government undertook reshuffling and expansion of his Cabinet on Tuesday, with Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, along with Coal & Energy Minister Piyush Goyal and Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, being one of the most deserving candidates for promotion, her exclusion from the final announcement comes as a surprise to many.
Sithraman, who is currently serving as a Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has been credited for undertaking dynamic reforms and improving the country’s overall ease of doing business environment. Although the current ranking still stands far behind Modi’s established target of below 50 rank in global ease of doing business index, Sitharaman’s initiatives and her involvements with the industry have been able to bring transparency and credibility in overall domestic business outlook.
In May 2015, Modi-led government had listed out accomplishments, especially in terms of improving India’s economic and trade scenarios, after its completion of two years in the office, which was acknowledged by many in the industry as work in progress.
At a time when India’s exports have been decreasing, now in its 18th straight month in May, and started around the time when Sitharaman took charge of the ministry, she has taken some bold decisions such as expansion of the scope of Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) to cover more products and stimulation of the Service Export from India Scheme (SEIS) scheme to provide more incentive to service exporters, to revive India’s exports. She has also been negotiating aggressively for India at the WTO.
She has also encouraged all the states to compete with one another to attract greater investments. The government of late has been pushing for the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill to be approved during the monsoon session of Parliament, set to begin on July 18. Once implemented, the GST bill will make the country a one-market-place, which, in turn, will encourage competition among the states in terms of improving ease of doing business in their respective states.
Earlier on Tuesday, the commerce minister met Sri Lanka’s Minister for Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama to discuss negotiations for the proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA). She emphasised on a fast-track negotiation to conclude the ETCA arrangements by the end of this year.
On Tuesday, only one minister, Environment minister Prakash Javadekar, was promoted to the Cabinet rank. The Prime Minister, however, is expected to take another Cabinet rejig this winter, and Sitharaman once again will be a key candidate for the Cabinet rank.
to success.