Dr Jitendra Singh’s endorsement of CEL’s contribution to nation-building shows how mindless NDA government’s disinvestment policy is- High time to review it before selling valuable CPSEs
To
Smt Nirmala Sitharaman
Union Finance Minister
Dear Smt Sitharaman,
More than two years ago, I had cautioned the NDA government that it should not sell away a valuable CPSE like the Central Electronics Ltd. (CEL) and even cautioned your Ministry that the price at which CEL was proposed to be sold to a non-descript private firm of questionable background would imply underselling the CPSE, suggesting that it was going to be a scam. My letter of November 30, 2021 refers (https://countercurrents.org/2021/11/the-sale-of-cel-is-not-justifiable/)
It was ironic that DIPAM, without application of mind, misled the Cabinet and got the proposal to sell CEL approved in haste, at which stage, your Ministry realising that what some of us had said was true, revoked the proposal, causing embarrassment to the Government and throwing a shadow of doubt on the whole process of disinvestment. The proposal of DIPAM to disinvest Pawan Hans, another CPSE also ended in an embarrassing misstep, confirming the apprehensions expressed by many of us about the rationale of the hurried disinvestment policy proposed by you in the Union Budget of 2021.
A CBI investigation into the way CEL and Pawan Hans were about to be privatised, I am sure, will bring many ugly facts to the notice of the public and the Parliament.
What is laughable about DIPAM’s hurried move to privatise CEL is that Dr Jitendra Singh, the Minister of State in charge of Science & Technology, announced to the public recently through an official press release (https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2028866) as follows:
“Over last few years CEL’s financial stability, profitability, and operational excellence have touched new heights,…Smart Boards produced at Central electronics limited will promote Smart education in schools across the country…..CEL’s contributions in the fields of Defence, Railway, Security, Surveillance and Solar energy to play a vital role in promoting indigenous technologies and manufacturing capabilities”
I am happy that wisdom has at last dawned on the NDA government about the futility of its indiscriminate disinvestment policy. It involves a mindless transfer of ownership of valuable public assets including talented human resources to not-so-capable private parties at questionably low prices, without any fiscal advantage whatsoever. Disinvestment of CPSEs not only introduces uncertainty in the future of their employees but also permanently closes avenues for reservation of employment for SCs/STs/OBCs, thus disempowering them. In most cases, the sale of CPSE lands is illegal. Most CPSE disinvestment exercises, I am afraid, amount to outright scams that cost the public exchequer heavily and hurt the national interest.
In the immediate pipeline of disinvestment are several highly valuable CPSEs like RINL (Visakhapatnam Steel Plant), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and BEML. I apprehend that, in case you choose to rush into selling those CPSEs, you will be causing an enormous cost to the economy and hurt the national interest. The sale of each one of them would, I apprehend, end up in nothing less than a scam.
May I therefore demand that the NDA government reviews its disinvestment policy. The effort should be to empower the CPSEs, not sell them away.
Regards,
Yours sincerely,
E A S Sarma
Former Secretary to the Government of India
Visakhapatnam
