Gurudas Kamat, the 57-year old five-time MP from Mumbai, is confused and sore at being asked to head the drinking water and sanitation department as minister of state (MoS) , independent charge, in the rural development ministry.

Kamat  who chose to stay away from the swearing-in ceremony today, feels cheated as he was earlier handling the high profile home and communication ministries as a junior minister. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apparently have decided to have a separate minister for the twin acute problems of drinking water and sanitation in the Indian villages.

Another MoS (independent) Srikant Jena who abstained from teh swearing in ceremony is also sulking at being refused the cabinet berth he has been demanding since he joined the UPA council of minsiters in 2009. He bases his demand on the ground that was cabinet minister of tourism and parliamentary affairs back in 1996.

The government sources have played down their absence claiming that both are already MoS and as such they need not take fresh oath. A few constitutional experts, however, said that a MoS with independent charge is empowered to take policy decisions and participate in the cabinet meetings and as such he requires to take oath even if he had taken it earlier.

Sources at the PMO  said that Kamat's appointment doesn't mean any new ministry is being created.They pointed that there is already a department of drinking water and sanitation.

The acute shortage of drinking water is a raging crisis in India, particularly due to the drying up of ground water levels. This is mainly attributed to widespread pumping of ground water using powerful diesel and electric water boosters in both rural and urban areas of the country.

Safe drinking water supply has always been a high priority for successive governments in India and figures in the Congress manifesto.

Sanitation is another problem in India, particularly in rural areas. The level of investment in water and sanitation, albeit low by international standards, has increased in the past ten years.

According to a 2008 UNICEF report, 88 per cent of the population in India has access to water sources, but only 31 percent have access to improved sanitation.