Bihar's army of one-eighth ministers

new delhi: you can call them one-eighth ministers. trust laloo to invent them. he has to gainfully employ everyone of the 84 members of rabri's titanic council of ministers. and to boot, he has to show his touching concern for bihar's well-being. laloo cares for the young. so, there is a contingent of eight ministers in charge of education and youth affairs.laloo cares for the oppressed, too. as many six ministers have been assigned jobs related to labour and welfare. and, having been catapulted to dizzying heights of politics from the back of a buffalo, how could have laloo forgotten agriculture and animal husbandry? no less than 10 ministers - six in charge of agriculture-related areas and four looking after water resources - will be assisting rabri devi in ensuring that bihar finally catches up with the green and the white revolutions. adequate attention has also been paid to the state's finances, shattered after a serious of scams, the most celebrated of which landed laloo in jail for some time. there are five ministers looking after finance-related functions and four in charge of revenue and land reform-related areas. while the chief minister has retained the finance portfolio, there is a separate cabinet minister for commercial taxes and national savings. there is another cabinet minister for institutional finance and programme implementation and yet another for excise and prohibition. revenue and land reforms are under one cabinet minister, another cabinet minister is there to look after registration only. each is assisted by a minister of state. the portfolio allocation leaves no doubt about social justice being tops on the new agenda of the new rjd-congress government. there is a cabinet minister in charge of the welfare of scs, sts and backward classes. there is another cabinet minister in charge of the welfare of other communities. the cm herself is the cabinet minister in charge of minority welfare. each of these three departments has a minister of state. besides, there is a cabinet minister and a minister of state each for relief & rehabilitation and labour & employment. there are three education departments - primary and adult education, secondary education and higher education - each having a cabinet minister and a minister of state. besides, a cabinet minister and a minister of state in the department of art, culture and youth affairs will take care of the aspirations of youth and the rich cultural heritage of bihar. there are two cabinet ministers in charge of rural development. one will look after panchayati raj, rural engineering, legislator schemes and kosi kranti scheme, while the other will be in charge of whatever else constitutes rural development. each will be assisted by a minister of state. while one cabinet minister will look after health, another will be in charge of medical education and family welfare. they will be assisted by two ministers of state. the cabinet minister in charge of transport will have nothing to do with the condition of roads, which will be taken care of by another cabinet minister in charge of road construction. urban development and housing too are separate ministries. if that leaves little work for the urban development minister, he could have fiddled with city sewers. but alas, they are under another person called the minister for public health engineering.