The complete breakdown in governance in the UPA-II government was visible this week, when 15 items listed on the agenda were either postponed or adopted during a Cabinet meeting headed by prime minister Manmohan Singh. And all the activity took place in just eight minutes!

According to sources privy to the development, the cabinet room wore a deserted look, with more than half the room empty. Only 11 out of 29 union ministers were present in the union cabinet meeting in the capital on Thursday. The reason? As many as 14 union ministers were on foreign jaunts at the time the meeting was convened.

According to a source present in the meeting, this is how it went: prime minister Singh entered the cabinet room, looked around for a few seconds and nodded to the cabinet secretary to start the proceedings.

But with so few present in the meeting, there was hardly any discussion on items listed on the agenda. The scene —one senior union minister called it a “farce” — is not exactly an exception in cabinet meetings, though, sources indicated.