SHORT NOTE ON INDIAN PUBLIC SECTOR

Globalisation is the philosophy of greed. It is surmised that the greed of manufacturers and sellers to have more sales would have them fight each other and under-sell. The customer would thus benefit.

However, in newly globalised economies like India, we find them ganging up together against the consumer. The new generation banks of India are an example. In fleecing the customers, they are always similar. It is the same with most new services from the new Capital.

The public sector in India is owned by the people, but run by the bureaucracy and the politicians. While the private sector stands for profits to the owners, Indian public sector has been for profits to the managers. The practice of government's bailing out such criminally managed PSUs still continues in India, when the tax payer is made to pay from their taxes for the private profiteering of PSU managements.

In militant areas like Kerala, the trade unions also get a huge share of the booty. An example is Kerala's FACT, a fertiliser company whose manufacturing costs render their products un-saleable in the market. The factory is also responsible for total pollution of the Periyar River and the ill health of the total population of Ernakulam district. The union government is shelling out hundreds of crores of rupees every year to help the factory out. This money is used only to pay off the suppliers of the company. Such payments help grease the palms of the executives and the union leaders, for which reason they use their political muscle to force money out of the government.

The question is where and how we can find the golden mean of efficiency and usefulness from enterprises, in such a dilemma.