It is unfortunate to note
that on September 8, 2013 the government initiated the process to sell stakes
in two blue-chip PSUs - NALCO
and NMDC. It is expected it mop up around Rs 9,000 crore based on present stock
prices. A week back it had sought merchant bankers for Neyveli Lignite, where it plans to sell 5% stake, again through the auction route. The
total amount expected to be moped up is around Rs. 10,000 crore. The stated
purpose of the proposed disinvestment is to bridge the deficit that the Centre.
In the cases Neyveli Lignite and NALCO - the share is also said to be necessitated
to comply with the new SEBI norms that mandate at least 10% non-promoter
holding in listed companies. Reports show that a section of the politicians and
bureaucrats have developed the mind set against the public sector. They are
lobbying to privatise the public sector units, including the profit making
units. One of the routes suggested by them is disinvestment. The assets owned by the public sector units
are the property of the people of India. Th government is only the custodian of
the property. Therefore, the government should be careful in diluting the assets
of the general public. Already vast resources of the people of the country have
been looted by the crony capitalists with the support of corrupt politicians
and connivance of corrupt officials. The
country has lost nearly Rs.15 lakh core in illegal mining and fraudulent allocation
of mining rights, allocation of coal blocks, gas/petroleum blocks, and spectrum, besides allotment of land,
quarrying rights, liberty to collect tolls,
etc. As a result, a few industrialists, businessmen, real estate tycoons and others
have benefit ted vast amount running to lakhs of crores of rupees. If the natural resources of the country are
fairly and judiciously allocated, the country can raise thousands of crores of rupees
every year, which will be more than sufficient to wipe out fiscal deficit of
the country, besides facilitating investment in development programmes and
welfare schemes. Moreover, hundreds of thousands of crores of public money is
lying with banks and post offices as unclaimed deposits as well as interest, and remaining with the insurance
companies as unclaimed policies for a long period. Such unclaimed amounts can
be mobilised by the government for bridging the fiscal deficit and raising
resources for development programmes and welfare schemes. Similarly, thousands
of crores of rupees is lying unspent in several schemes and programmes, which
can be re-channelised to bridge the fiscal deficit. Under the circumstances, disinvestment
of public sector units is warranted and unadvisable.
Dr.C.Murukadas, The Times of India, Sep. 8, 2012
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