Anyone curious about the state of policy paralysis in the Manmohan Singh cabinet should visit the homepage of the cabinet secretary (www.cabsec.nic.in). Things shall appear all right on first sight. Dig deeper. If you’re someone concerned about our country, test these three links:

http://cabsec.nic.in/showpdf.php?type=council_cabinet_committees

http://cabsec.nic.in/showpdf.php?type=listofegoms

http://cabsec.nic.in/showpdf.php?type=listofgoms

All three are blank!

That’s because after the chaotic selection process of Pranab Mukherjee as the ruling coalition’s presidential nominee, the prime minister has not reconstituted any of the three vital constituents of the cabinet system, viz, the cabinet committees on, say, economic affairs, security, prices, and political affairs; the groups of ministers (GoMs); and the empowered group of ministers (eGoM). With the resignation of Mukherjee, who comes in on the cabinet committees, GoMs, and eGoMs remains anybody’s guess.

GoMs and eGoMs have been Singh’s answer to managing the curious diarchy between him and the Congress president. Applications filed by the Indian Express under the Right to Information Act had unveiled that since June 2004, Singh constituted 183 GoMs and EGoMs on various issues. As many as 83 are chaired by Mukherjee! These served two purposes.

First, Mukherjee remained puffed up, if not too busy to cause rancor and discord for Singh, once his own reportee in the finance ministry.

More important, Singh could keep himself at arms length on most contentious matters to Mukherjee, and then claim a Yudhishthira-like moral high ground.

What does the PM do now? Surely, he can’t turn to agriculture minister Sharad Pawar ranked second on the ‘GoM/eGoM chart’, who has been heading 29 such GoMs (on Monday he slipped out of chairing an eGOM on telecom).

Pawar is followed by home minister P Chidambaram (24 groups). Can Singh turn to someone who is on Subramanium Swamy’s hit list day in and day out?

The contradiction of GoMs/eGoMs without identified deputies is beginning to add up. In UPA II, Mukherjee had been given charge of 35 such groups, Chidambaram 15 and Pawar five. Besides, three are headed by defence minister AK Antony and one each by health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and power minister Sushilkumar Shinde. What happens now to Mukherjee’s committees?

As per the Indian Express RTI, the UPA I government under Singh issued 206 orders to constitute and reconstitute 123 GoMs and EGoMs in total, while 168 orders have been issued to constitute or reconstitute 60 such groups under the UPA II so far.

Thus, on an average, every sixth working day, a group has been constituted or reconstituted over the past eight years.

For the relatively uninitiated, the names of ministers in these groups are listed in order of seniority and the senior most is understood to head the group. PM himself heads the cabinet committees.

The largest GoM set up so far has been on ‘Dalit Affairs’, which was first constituted on February 24, 2005, and reconstituted five times till June 22, 2007. This group had 16 members, including its head Mukherjee. The second largest such group comprised 15 members, again headed by Mukherjee, and was on the ‘twenty-point programme’. In UPA II, the largest GoM has been on the issue of ‘equal opportunity commission’ for minorities and this 13-member group is headed by Antony.

Apart from the groups he chairs or chaired, Chidambaram has been member of 113 such groups, 28 in UPA II. Pawar has been a member of 38 groups, 15 in UPA II. Though Shinde heads only one group, he is a member in 14 others.

Vacillation seems to have been Singh’s middle name on this front. “Planning commission deputy chairman MS Ahluwalia has been either a member or a special invitee to 96 groups, 35 in UPA II. M Veerappa Moily is a member of 32 groups under UPA II, HRD minister Kapil Sibal a member of 23 and urban development minister Jaipal Reddy, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh and Kamal Nath members in 12 different groups. Commerce minister Anand Sharma and road transport minister CP Joshi are members in 11 groups in the present government,” the Indian Express reported on its RTI finding.

“A group reconstituted again and again includes the GoM on ‘salt pan lands’ in Mumbai. It was altered six times between February 2007 and July 2011. The GoM on WTO was reframed seven times between October 24, 2005, and July 26, 2011. The EGoM on special economic zones has been reorganised eight times between March 2006 and July 2011, as has been the GoM on Prasar Bharati in the same duration. To consider the report of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, the GoM was reconstituted nine times from March 2007 to July 2011, while the EGoM on ultra mega power projects was redrafted seven times between June 2007 and July 2011. The much-publicised GoM on the Whistleblowers Bill was reconstituted five times between October 2005 and December 2008,” the newspaper reported.