new delhi after the victory there is a mad scramble in the ruling establishment for getting into the cabinet strangely though the tussle seems to be limited to highprofile ministries of home defence external affairs finance and commercesomehow social sector ministries rural development agriculture food women and child development minority affairs and health do not create ripples and are often left for the alsorans it is another matter that programmes like nregs national rural health mission and the sachar commission report played a vital role in giving upa another termthe priority of cabinetberth seekers seems misplaced if one looks at the budgetary allocation of the social sector ministries these ministries have a more panindian rather panrural india presence touching the lives of the ordinary and unsung person than the socalled high profile ministriesa former cabinet secretary witness to many a scramble for ministries puts it in perspective the socalled highprofile ministries never had a big budget seeking big ministries is not only for big money a minister thinks it is better to be a globetrotting mandarin of foreign affairs than be a raghuvansh prasad singh whose ministry has changed more lives its about being branded being a brahmin among equals it sends a strong messagehrd is the only social sector ministry that is high in the pecking order though the ministry is a pale shadow of what it used to be earlier when even the department of sports and women and child development were its integral part hrd is still sought after with greater emphasis on education during upas first term hrds allocation in the five years has gone up more than 300 from rs 10625 crore in 200405 to rs 34400 crore in 200809 its extent ranges from elementary education programmes likes sarva shiksha abhiyan midday meal scheme to highbrow iitsiims and more than 20 central universitiesrural development came to metropolitan medias purview due to nregs but sitting in the ground floor office in krishi bhavan the rd minister has been the master of land resources drinking water and endless programmes for rural india that successive governments have launched from the socialist era to the free market economy its budget is mind boggling when upa came to power in 2004 its budget was rs 15998 crore which went up to rs 49400 crore again a more than threefold jumpthe health ministry with massive programmes like the national rural health mission has also seen a more than a twofold increase in its budget in the past five years from rs 7481 crore in 200405 to rs 16534 croreagricultures budget has more than doubled to rs 9660 crore from rs 4192 crore in 200405 after a long time a powerful politician like sharad pawar came to krishi bhavan but then he also insisted and got the departments of food and civil supplies and public distribution and consumer affairs to suit his statureby friday evening when ministerial allocation of upaii is likely to get over it remains to