Too many c( r )ooks lead to sloth.

The US economy is $14.5 trillion while the Indian economy is $1.6 trillion. By Purchasing Power Parity the US is $15.065 while the Indian economy is $4.469, still less than a third of the US. However the US President has just 15 Secretaries, equivalent to cabinet ministers in India, and another 7 of cabinet rank who head various organisations. Just 22 in all. India, on the other hand, has 47 ministers in the union cabinet, according to the Indian government website. Then there are deputy ministers and ministers of state, each of whom will demand an office, Z plus security, luxury bungalows, free first class travel with family and friends and 24 hour chauffeur all at taxpayer expense. Criminal beggars all. It is not just the expense of scarce funds that harms the country but the turf war that has completely paralysed the government. There is a minister of Coal and another one of Mines. Wow, and we thought that coal grows on trees all along. A lot of ministries have multiple departments, the largest being Defence with 12 departments closely followed by Commerce and Industry with 10, making a total of 121 departments. Each department will be headed by a Chief Secretary followed by Joint Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Additional Secretary, all IAS officers, and maybe others that we do not know about. Each secretary will have an office with clerical staff going down to the lowest creature called the Lower Division Clerk. One should not be fooled by the moniker. The so called LDC is a fellow of immense power. He or she is the person that any Indian gets to meet if there is any business to transact with any government department, the others being too high and mighty to bother with the great unwashed. He is the one who opens a FILE, a sacred object, without which nothing happens in government circles. It is in his pleasure as to when, or if at all, the sacred file will move up the chain. A great deal of begging, flattery and bundles of notes decide whose file gets a start and who eventually wins the race. It is a game that every Indian learns to play if he is to survive. This army of useless parasites is the biggest subsidy that the economy has to bear. Result? The Finance Ministry has snatched back Rs30 billion given to the armed forces for modernisation leaving the army with just Rs9.5 billion for this fiscal. So bankrupt is the government that it could not wait for March 31 to take back whatever is left unspent. No wonder they keep talking about " growth " like lobotomised parrots. Saving pennies while wasting trillions.