COMMENTS

The Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA, union of pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines) has written to Modi, saying it is "not averse to part or complete privatization of the airline if done fairly".

For the full text of the report in the ToI, click here.

Finally, even the unions are beginning to give up on furthering the bluff of PSU's having to ride the commanding heights of the country's economy, with the employees themselves having become wiser long ago, evidenced by the Socialism-preaching marauders trounced in the elections, the country over.

That being the case, what is anybody now waiting for? If you ask any Bangalorean as to what his/ her chief pain points are, I expect, he/ she will certainly list the key infrastructure issues pertaining to traffic, power supply, and water supply, amongst them. And, in each of these areas, the problem lies largely with its being handled by a monopoly government agency. Seen from that overall perspective, and based on involved debates over PRAJA, one should think the solutions may lie in the following steps:

1) Improving public bus transport services, through introduction of competition for BMTC/ KSRTC from private players - http://praja.in/en/~bangalore/blog/murali772/2009/04/24/petition-cm-end-bmtcksrtc-monopoly#comment-35865
2) Privatisation of power distribution, on the lines of what the Sheela Dikshit government did in Delhi - http://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2008/05/28/imperatives-privatisation-power-distribution#comment-35862
3) Outsourcing of water supply (as being attempted in Delhi and a number of other cities in the country) - http://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2012/07/21/can-sheila-dikshit-make-success-water-supply-outsourcing

The posts linked against each will by themselves give the gist of what they are all about; the entire debate can be read by scrolling up.

These steps by themselves will improve liveability in the cities vastly. Many other things can follow therefrom.

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Chief minister Siddaramaiah is facing the wrath of the Congress's rank and file over the year-long delay in reconstituting the 110-plus boards and corporations. These are statutory bodies where the chairman's post is equivalent to that of a cabinet or a minister of state in rank. These help the ruling party to dispense political patronage and keep its party leaders in good humour in addition to accommodating MLAs who couldn't be fitted into the cabinet.

- - - According to party sources, there are about 110 boards and corporations and other bodies such as urban development authorities. It's estimated that, in all, the government can accommodate about 1,300 positions like chairman/vice-chairman, members/directors, which could be filled with non-officials.

For the full text of the report in the ToI, click here.

It's over a year since this ministry took charge. All it has been bothering with is furthering more and more of its Socialist agenda, through various kinds of "bhagya's", and running the state treasury dry. This is even as the erstwhile Congress (MMS) government at the centre, had sought to reverse them, realising the damage it was causing, not just to the country's economy, but even to its own re-election prospects, and the realisation coming rather late, paid the price for it. Apparently, this ministry and the party haven't read the message sent out by the electorate clearly, and their members are only bothered about cornering the biggest loaves of office for themselves.

Meanwhile, our power, water, bus services, garbage management, in fact the entire infrastructure, is just crumbling. Perhaps, it's time we helped ease out this this (non)-government.

NaMo has said "less government; more governance", and from all indications, he's pursuing that line too. May be we too could do with Modi-fied BJP rule, as compared to the earlier Yeddi-fied one.

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A government that describes itself as “pro-market” should also lay out a path to the privatisation of state-owned lenders. It is no coincidence that private-sector banks have experienced only a small fraction of the losses of state-backed rivals. Mr Modi should also aim to scrap socialist-era rules that force all banks to make a fifth of their loans to support farming and that dictate where they can open branches. The government has made some welcome changes. But until it abandons its belief that a state-owned banking system is the right way to allocate credit, India’s banks will hold the economy back.

For the full text of the editorial (emphasis added by me) in The Economist, click here.

I don't consider myself competent enough to comment on all the aspects brought out here. But, very clearly the kind of mis-use that's going on has definitely to do with the excessive government ownership, and that perhaps needs correction.

Detailed below is another form of blatant mis-use that has been going on from long:

Reproduced below are data (for the year ended 31/03/2014 - the latest available) extracted from the Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd (KPCL) web-site:

Gross income - Rs 6,592 cr; PBT - Rs 254 cr; dividend - Rs 34 cr; Total realisation from ESCOMS/ KPTCL (their only customers) for the year - Rs 5,231 cr; Total outstandings as on 31/03/14 - Rs 11,690 cr.

In essence, KPCL's debtors figure is equivalent of 21+ months' billings - meaning its banks are carrying NPA burden of 18+ months. However, the lending banks being all government-owned, are no too bothered about it all, since KPCL also being fully government-owned, they take comfort in the fact that their money is safe. In fact, they have very little work to do, since using the excuse of low liquidity, they generally turn away all prospective borrowers.  

The beneficiary is the state government, which holds onto the money owing to the DISCOMs (in terms of farm subsidy), who are in turn forced to hold on to the money owing to KPCL. And, the government uses the money for all its "bhaagya" (populist) and other such schemes.

Meanwhile, deprived of timely funds availability, the entire power sector in the state is in a shambles, leading to more and more dependence on captive power (more on that is accessible here).

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The government has decided to shut down 15 loss-making public sector units, of which at least five have been cleared by the cabinet, while opting to go against internal advice and revive three state-run companies.

Sources told TOI that there were another half-a-dozen sick public sector companies, which had been identified by NITI Aayog for closure, but their fate remained uncertain amid hectic lobbying by ministries, which want to keep them alive in what may be an effort to protect their turf.

- - - Out of 74, the Aayog had suggested status quo in case of two PSUs, strategic disinvestment of 10, plan for revival with option for strategic disinvestment for 22, transfer of ownership of six, merger of three, long term lease of five and closure of 26.

For the full text of the report (emphasis added by me) in the ToI, click here.

"Protect their turf' to what intent is what is debated in this blog - very clearly it's not altruistic; but, on the contrary, plainly serving the vested interests of a small coterie whose fiefdom these have become. Instead of vacillating endlessly, it's time Niti Ayog moved on, and perhaps time too that the tax paying public, on whose hard earned money these parasites feed themselves, demanded it, and from the rooftops.

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Misuse of government funds can only be described as corruption. Union civil aviation minister Ajit Singh and steel minister Beni Prasad Verma stand accused of misusing government funds for political purposes. In both cases, the modus operandi was the same—force the public sector undertakings under their command to spend a major portion of their funds meant for corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the development of their constituencies.

For the full text of the editorial in the New Indian Express, click here.

As long as you have the "public" sector, they will be put to the "private" uses of the neta's.

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