Oscar favours bigger ministries in NE to accomodate all groups

New Delhi, Jun 16 (UNI) Union Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes today said there was a need to accomodate bigger ministries in certain states, especially in the North-East, in view of the problems caused to society by small ministries whose size cannot exceed a dozen.

The Minister told reporters here that being aware of the problems in North-East, he favoured expanding the ministry size to accomodate all sections for inclusive growth. ''In Nagaland, there are 16 major tribes and the Cabinet can only accomodate 12 ministers at the most, sending a wrong messages to the tribes left out of governance,'' he said.

''This is a serious situation and we should set this right at the earliest", Mr Fernandes said, stating that he was only articulating on behalf of the people of North-East. Stating that while he agreed with the argument for reducing the size of the ministry, he noted it was also important not to encourage feeling among left-out groups that they were not wanted in the governance.

''We have to have discussions with various political parties since any amendment to this law would require two-thirds majority support in Parliament'', he said.

UNI