They swim together or sink together, is how the collective orientation of the cabinet has been described in the Indian parliamentary system. By definition therefore,cabinet is a body which makes coherent efforts towards the progress of the nation.within the cabinet, there are deliberations and member's dissent is taken into consideration. But once a decision is taken, the cabinet has to defend it both in the parliament and in public.This arrangement worked well in the Indian polity for the first couple of decades after independence.
With growing political instability post 1970s, the whole landscape of Indian politics has changes substantially.Now that the trend of coalition politics has settled in the Indian democracy, collective responsibility seems to be the latest casualty. This flows for the fact that in a coalition government cabinet berths are not allocated on the basis of merit, rather hardcore political bargain is resorted to. Also, this bunch of opportunist politicians have one eye always set on their support base. This leads to chaos and confusion. Ministers choose to stay away from the cabinet deliberations over supposedly controversial issues, or worse if they do attend the meeting, they openly criticize the decision. A case in point is the recent cabinet decision to decontrol the pricing of petroleum. Several ministers openly criticized the step. Also with a controversy looming large over the 2G spectrum allocation most ministers washed their hands off.
Turf wars between ministries is becoming increasingly common. Recently, a minister on a foreign trip criticized his cabinet colleague over the latter's way of functioning. The list is endless, which clearly indicates that cabinet responsibility and collective responsibility is passe.This is a clear indication of the degenerating political scenario in the country. Unless some radical measures are taken, the situation does not appear to be improving.
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