Recommendations made by two government appointed committees are eye openers. Both has to do with companies that help 'Connect' India - Air India (Indian) and BSNL.
A high power committee appointed by the Government has denounced the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines. The committee has called the merger ill advised and a disaster. Further, they wanted to fix the accountability on those who approved the merger in the first place. This has been endorsed by the civil aviation minister Mr.Praful Patel. The merger became a reality on 1st March 2007. It was a no brainer strategy, for the Airlines industry is strewn with the carcasses of failed mergers and acquisitions. And do you know who the Minister for Civil Aviation was when the merger was approved - the self same Praful Patel. And who finally gave the green signal for the merger - Cabinet headed by the eminent economist Mr.Manmohan Singh. So who should be held accountable?
The second committe was headed by Mr.Sam Pitroda and looked into the working of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). Amongst other things, he identified that 1 lakh employees are redundant. It has even made recommendations on operational issues like leasing equipment instead of buying it.
No one questions the expertise or capability of Sam Pitroda, who had a free hand during Rajiv Gandhi regime and who unleased the telecom revolution in the country. But what is wrong with our PSU is precisely such kinds of external advises from people and committees who are not accountable for the performance. It is easy to give advice as to what is wrong when you dont have to set it right, and also when you wont be in the firing line when your recommended action is not up for review. Will the heads of these committees pursue the action recommended by them were they to be the CEO's of the respective companies? I doubt.
I am not against PSU's, though in today's context Government should adopt the role of a facilitator than the actual owner of any business. But the PSU's have to be allowed to be run like professional companies with a professional board and top management team. There should not be any interference from the Ministers or worse still the government babus. IAS cadre thinks that they can run railways, airlines, hotels, sports, museums etc etc just because they are IAS. Each industry needs specialized top professionals from the industry who knows the dynamics of that particular industry, not a generalist who knows only to administer and who doesnt have the freedom to operate, being under politicians pressure all the time.
PSU's are the assets created by common man's money. Let us at least manage them professionally and give the stakeholder a decent return - at least let us not burden him more by creating huge losses which ultimately the common man has to bear by way of higher taxes.
Let us 'Connect' India rather than facilitate 'Disconnection'.
