echarcha
September 22nd, 2000, 10:06 AM
The latest Telecom strike once again proves how the old 'policies-without-a-vision' set by our founding(?) fathers are now coming back to haunt us and hamper the welcome changes in the economic policies of India.
At the time of Independence and immediate years after 1947, maybe it was necessary to form government sponsored companies to start progress in the industrial direction and provide employment to people of India. We had just faced the consequences of letting a foreign British trading company come in and take us over. So having free enterprise and total capitalistic approach was not right at that time. Fin at that time and the environemnt in the country. Hence we had a very closed economy with lots of rules and regulations to start any industry.
We kicked the British colonial yoke, but definitely followed their system of bureaucracy. Maybe that system was good at that time, and possibly a better approach. But our politicians know who to screw things up really well.
Even if you wanted to have a petrol pump, you had to apply for a thousand licesnes. If you wanted things expedited then 'greasing the palms' of the powerful 'sarkari babus' and the ministers was the only way out.
Take the case of sugar mills in Maharashtra and elsewhere. Western Maharastra produces a lot of sugarcane, but to start a sugar mill you needed the license from the government. Even farmers from a certain area had to go only the mills in their areas to trade in their sugarcane crop.
Except to breathe air, almost every thing needed a license!
As 'License Raj' took firm roots, the politicnas discovered a goldmine and abused it so very well to make money and become more powerful. How? Public Sector undertakings were a gold mine where favours could be performed in exchange for votes and other benefits. The result was that any 'sarkari babu' or 'neta' could appoint favored people in exchange for favors,votes or money to these public sector undertakings.
This has resulted in major catastrophies like Air India where the number of employees far outweigh the number of people required to run an airline. Air India has a small aircraft fleet but surely has the maximum number of employees for an air-line anywhere in the world! Similarly with the Indian Railways or state run telecom companies!
Also, the system of making employees permanent for life and later promotions based on caste and not on performance added more to this cesspool. Even if caste was not considered, then there was no accountability as everyone was permanent for life! So you could not fire an employee even if it meant poor performance and neglect of duties. Our wonderful Labout Courts always favored the 'poor' worker without thinking how this poor worker's performance was making the company 'poor'.
The government never ever allowed certain sectors to be privatised. They simply did not allow entreprenuers like Tata's and Birlas to start a competitive company, like say telecommunications or petro-products and many such infrasturcture areas.
Look what happened with Maruti! We were forced to buy Maruti at a higher cost. It took Daewoo, Hyundai, Tata Indica and other cars to come in and bring Maruti cars down to their correct prices.
So there is no use about cussing and crying about disrupted telecom services. This is all a legacy of our great 'License Raj' system. We invented it, so now we have suffer it!
At the time of Independence and immediate years after 1947, maybe it was necessary to form government sponsored companies to start progress in the industrial direction and provide employment to people of India. We had just faced the consequences of letting a foreign British trading company come in and take us over. So having free enterprise and total capitalistic approach was not right at that time. Fin at that time and the environemnt in the country. Hence we had a very closed economy with lots of rules and regulations to start any industry.
We kicked the British colonial yoke, but definitely followed their system of bureaucracy. Maybe that system was good at that time, and possibly a better approach. But our politicians know who to screw things up really well.
Even if you wanted to have a petrol pump, you had to apply for a thousand licesnes. If you wanted things expedited then 'greasing the palms' of the powerful 'sarkari babus' and the ministers was the only way out.
Take the case of sugar mills in Maharashtra and elsewhere. Western Maharastra produces a lot of sugarcane, but to start a sugar mill you needed the license from the government. Even farmers from a certain area had to go only the mills in their areas to trade in their sugarcane crop.
Except to breathe air, almost every thing needed a license!
As 'License Raj' took firm roots, the politicnas discovered a goldmine and abused it so very well to make money and become more powerful. How? Public Sector undertakings were a gold mine where favours could be performed in exchange for votes and other benefits. The result was that any 'sarkari babu' or 'neta' could appoint favored people in exchange for favors,votes or money to these public sector undertakings.
This has resulted in major catastrophies like Air India where the number of employees far outweigh the number of people required to run an airline. Air India has a small aircraft fleet but surely has the maximum number of employees for an air-line anywhere in the world! Similarly with the Indian Railways or state run telecom companies!
Also, the system of making employees permanent for life and later promotions based on caste and not on performance added more to this cesspool. Even if caste was not considered, then there was no accountability as everyone was permanent for life! So you could not fire an employee even if it meant poor performance and neglect of duties. Our wonderful Labout Courts always favored the 'poor' worker without thinking how this poor worker's performance was making the company 'poor'.
The government never ever allowed certain sectors to be privatised. They simply did not allow entreprenuers like Tata's and Birlas to start a competitive company, like say telecommunications or petro-products and many such infrasturcture areas.
Look what happened with Maruti! We were forced to buy Maruti at a higher cost. It took Daewoo, Hyundai, Tata Indica and other cars to come in and bring Maruti cars down to their correct prices.
So there is no use about cussing and crying about disrupted telecom services. This is all a legacy of our great 'License Raj' system. We invented it, so now we have suffer it!