A hands-on minister with a hands-off policy

July 21, 2013

A K Antony is perhaps the first defence minister to delegate responsibility on a large scale to his officials. He prefers to have his juniors, officials and colleagues in the government taking charge of matters relating to the ministry for quick decision making.

However, some officials have been dragging their feet on many crucial decisions regarding procurement and policy formulations. In the recent case of setting up a Mountain Strike Corps on the China border last week, a decision was delayed by bureaucratic tussles between the defence and the finance ministries.