Calcutta Notebook

B J

The NDA Government has succeeded in raising an amount of Rs 29,000 crore per year from the disinvestment of shares of Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) in the last three years in comparison to Rs 19,000 crore per year raised during the UPA Government. This success is a double-edged sword though. While it provides more money to the Government for meeting its present expenditures, it also means that the Government has sold more of the family silver bequeathed by the past governments.

Basic problem of the CPSUs is that they are not accountable. Politicians are accountable to the voters every five years. They are thrown out of power if they do not deliver. Private businessmen are accountable to the share market. The price of the shares of their company crashes if they do not make profits. But the managers of the CPSUs are not accountable in a credible manner to anyone.

The Comptroller and Auditor General audits their accounts. Secretaries to the government review their performance. But these are all part of the same bureaucracy that runs the CPSUs. Theoretically the CPSUs are accountable to the people through the Ministers The officers of Oil India Limited, for example, are accountable to the Minister of Petroleum who, in turn, is accountable to the people. This accountability of the CPSUs to the Ministers is unreal because the accountability of the Minister of Petroleum to his constituents is multi facet. A corrupt CPSU management and a corrupt Minister can yet win an election on unrelated issues such as farmers' loan waiver.

The accountability of the CPSUs to the Minister is unreal just as the Minister's accountability to the cabinet is unreal while his accountability to his constituency is real. The CPSU executives, officials of the Comptroller and Auditor General, and the Secretaries to the Government who hold the effective power on behalf of the Ministers are all part of the same government machinery. This absence of regulation leads to misuse of authority by CPSU executives and to losses. This basic problem is not solved by disinvesting Rs 29,000 crore worth of shares of the CPSUs every year while keeping the control with the government bureaucracy.

There is a need to fundamentally reexamine the concept of the CPSUs. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, the Dewan of Mysore said that role of the government was not to run industries. That was the private sector's job. However, this did not mean leaving the task to them alone. The State had an active role in supporting the private sector. The starting of new industries called for entrepreneurship and adventure. The private sector suffered from the fear that capital that was invested might be lost. Therefore, he said that the government must itself start new industries in emerging areas and hand them over to private hands when successful. This is called ‘‘strategic disinvestment’’.

The government control of the CPSUs outlives its purpose as soon as the units become profitable. The need is to privatize the CPSUs in areas where they are successful and use the proceeds to establish new CPSUs in areas that require intervention. This will liberate the CPSUs from the inefficiency and corruption inherent in government control and also provide much needed money to invest in new areas. Indian space and defense scientists have developed considerable expertise in satellite delivery, imagery and communications. Agencies like Indian Space Research Organization lack the commercial bent of mind to sell these services to buyers across the world. A CPSU must be started to sell these services.

There is much scientific expertise in genetic and biotechnological research. But research in these areas is risky. One has to make a large number of experiments before some are successful. The investment required is very large. A CPSU should be established to develop and commercialize these technologies.

A new generation of internet is in the offing. The present day internet was developed with the assistance provided by the United States' government. The Government of India should take the lead in this work. One can develop the new internet at a fraction of the cost of the United States. Why not an Internet Development Corporation.

Most developing countries are having difficulty in understanding the rules of the WTO and presenting their cases. There is a need to establish a WTO Support Services Corporation to provide these services to other developing countries. This company should have a legal wing to provide assistance in pleading their cases before the WTO dispute settlement boards. Such a corporation would give India much influence in moulding the opinion of the developing countries.

India has an immense potential in exports of labour intensive services like health and education. But Indians are not able to sell these services. The tuition fee alone for a two-year master's degree at London School of Economics is about Rs 25 lac. One can provide the same education in India at tenth of the price. A CPSU must be established to sell these services to the world. The CPSU should pick up the students in their home country, bring them to India, educate them, get internationally acceptable certification and place them. The same holds for health services.

There is a need to set up an international news channel along the lines of BBC and Russia Today so that India can spread its perspective across the world.

The increased receipts from disinvestment are not a happy circumstance as they stand today. The basic problem of inefficiency, corruption and political interference in the CPSUs is not sorted out. Secondly, the proceeds are for providing more money to the bureaucracy instead of making investment in new areas.

Frontier
Vol. 50, No.4, Jul 30 - Aug 5, 2017