Accent on Pragmatics

Though Indians revere many gods, they raise their right hand to none, nor swear by any book or document. Last week, with her hands folded aimlessly at her waist, Indira Gandhi once again became India's Prime Minister with a simple promise to carry out her duties "without fear or favor, affection or ill will." Thereupon she announced a new 18-man Cabinet that will have to deal with the severest problems in India's 20 years of independence. Since most of her enemies in the Congress Party were defeated in last month's general elections, Indira had a relatively free hand in choosing her ministers. As a result, ten of the 18 were new ones. Said Indira: "The Cabinet combines new blood with old stalwarts."

Old or new, the faces and names of the new ministers told a good deal about the course that Indira's new government would try to steer.

-- In economics, the emphasis was on pragmatists, who would do what was good for India rather than follow the wasteful shibboleths of Indian-style socialism. The new Finance Minister, Morarji Desai, 71, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, will encourage foreign businessmen to invest in India. Plan ning Minister Asoka Mehta, 55, intends to cut back on bureaucratic state control of business, and took on the added portfolio of chemicals and petroleum in order to give new impetus to the drive to build more artificial-fertilizer plants in India. Commerce Minister Dinesh Singh, 41, intends to push Indian sales to Western Europe.

-- Family planning finally got a friend in Sripati Chandrasekhar, 48, a world-famed demographer who became the new Minister of State for Health. He replaces Sushila Nayar, a cheerful but backward-looking spinster who had never shown any enthusiasm for birth control programs and, in fact, sometimes did not even bother to spend her department's allocated budget. Chandrasekhar, who plans to emphasize the use of the loop contraceptive for women, will enforce an all-out program to reduce India's birth rate. --As for food, the new minister was certain to bring a sense of urgency to the job. He is Jagjivan Ram, 58, the leader of India's 65 million "untouch ables," who, as the country's poorest caste, have been hit hardest by the food shortages. Ram's first project: to bore deep wells in such drought-stricken areas as his home state of Bihar to provide needed water for crop irrigation. He faces a terrifying task: keeping India's 500 million people from slipping into starvation if this year's crops fall below expectations--as they well may. --1ndia could go a long way toward closing its $1 billion a year trade gap if only it attracted more tourists. Indira selected an interesting man from an interesting state for the job. New Tourism Minister Karan Singh, 36, is the Maharajah of Kashmir and, as such, is the first Indian prince ever to serve in a Cabinet. His talents as a Sanskrit scholar, poet and pianist attracted Indira's attention. The question now is whether he can help India project an image that lures nore tourists--and hard currency--to the country.

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