Report of Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent of the meeting on above topic on September 9, 2024 organised by All India Forum Against Privatisation (AIFAP)
Since the policy of globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation (LPG) was adopted by the Congress government in 1991, all governments at the Centre and most at the state level have tried their best to implement it.
Outright sale, as in the case of Modern Foods faced many hurdles due to the united fight of the workers. After that various stratagems have been adopted by different governments, at the bidding of the ruling capitalist class led by the monopolists.
Many PSEs have been broken up into smaller departments, divisions, or even into independent corporations like in the case of the IR. State power generation companies have in almost all the states been broken up into Generation, Transmission and Distribution companies. There are states like UP where the workers have foiled this step by their resolute fight. However, in many cases like those of ports and docks, state transport, defence, etc. governments have successfully implemented these anti-worker steps.
In many cases different services have been privatised or outsourced. In the IR we have examples of catering services, ticketing services, ticket checking, outsourcing of spares, etc. In the power sector bill collection has been outsourced; there are contractors for installing cables and poles. In the telecom sector, fault repairing, new optical fibre laying, etc. fall into this category.
Contractualisation of the workforce has been occurring in all PSEs.
In all sectors there is either stoppage or major restrictions in recruitment of permanent employees.
All these steps break the unity and fighting strength of workers. Workers on contract have no job security or employment benefits whatsoever. Often they are poorly trained. This often endangers their lives and also that of the people who use the services. Track maintainers on contract are prime examples. The government violates its own laws like that of paying at least minimum wages or that regarding no use of contract workers for work of a permanent nature.
These steps reduce the cost of operations of PSEs and make them more attractive for the private sector.
PSEs are further crippled by not providing them sufficient funds for expansion, maintenance, etc. and by not allowing them to compete with the private sector. In the Telecom and Power sector funding has been cut even for maintenance, while in the case of Coal there are no funds for capacity enhancement.
We have already seen what happened in the case of BSNL vis-a-vis 4G. Modernisation of PSEs is actively opposed by the government. In the telecom sector, 4G was effectively disallowed to BSNL for many years. Indian Railways is not allowing its own manufacturing facility of Integrated Coach Factory in Chennai to manufacture Vande Bharat Trains, but giving it to Private companies.
These steps make the public sector enterprises cannot compete with the private sector, thus ensuring higher profits. They also create an increasingly bad impression about PSEs in the minds of users of services thus enrolling their support for privatisation.
There have been several examples when the PSE has been sold to the private monopolist for a small fraction of its cost. The latest is the example of Air India. Just its planes were worth more than Rs. one lakh crore, whereas it was sold to the Tatas for only Rs. 20,000 crore!
The PSEs and public services cannot be run for profit!
Many of the steps outlined above ensure that several PSEs run up losses. Air India was deliberately wrecked by the government and turned “loss-making” by taking a variety of steps like buying many more plans than needed, barring it from flying profitable routs that were left for the private sector, while it continued to serve loss making routes, etc. While this is hidden as far as possible from the public eye, there is relentless propaganda that profit should be the motive of every PSE too. We have to challenge this!
We need to explain to people that earning PROFIT should never be motive behind providing service to the people. The government has the right to collect taxes from all the people. While better paid people pay income tax, everyone without exception pays indirect taxes such as GST. Indirect taxes are a big fraction of what the governments collect.
Along with the right to collect taxes, is the duty of looking after people’s welfare. Providing all essential needs of good quality like Roti, Kapada, Makan, Water, Health service, Transport, Power, Telecommunication, Education, Medicines etc. to all people at affordable prices is the one of the most fundamental responsibilities of the government and any government which cannot provide them is not capable of governing.
Whatever is needed to provide such services like Coal, Steel, other metals, minerals and raw materials etc. should also be ensured by the governments?
Under the capitalist system that is prevailing in our country, while the tax burden is borne in the main by people, capitalists escape by many ways, and the bigger the capitalist, the more he manages to avoid (legally as well as illegally). In addition, subsidies, tax benefits and even loan write-offs are provided to them. People literally get a pittance by way of much publicised government schemes.
So we have the scenario that capitalists are getting the benefits whereas people increasingly pay more and more!
It is all a part of the plan of the ruling class!
To understand why privatisation has not only been attempted but promoted by every government, we must go back to Bombay Plan. This plan was drawn up by the big capitalists and big merchants of India in 1944-45. They were sure that the British colonialists, weakened by the Second World War, would have to relinquish their hold over India. They wanted to ensure that they would wield power in India and that independent India would follow the path which they desired. They drafted the Bombay Plan.
They did not have enough capital, but they needed power, transport, steel and other minerals, educated workers etc. so as to build industrial empires of their own in India. Public sector providing infrastructure with public money was created. Power generation, transport, coal, mining, education, plant for steel and other metals were created using people’s money that had been collected by the government by way of taxes.
All these services like power, coal, transport etc. was supplied at subsidised rates to the capitalist industry. People also could avail of certain small benefits from these facilities but it was mainly used to enrich the capitalist class of India.
As Prime Minister, Shri Manmohan Singh had expressed his admiration for the Bombay plan and pointed out that all five year plans have been based on it. Every political party or coalition in power at the centre has faithfully followed those footsteps.
The same Bombay Plan outlined as to how the public sector thus created should be handed over to the private sector once it became big enough.
Since the decade of 1980, culminating in the openly declared policy of LPG in 1991-92, the same desire of capitalists is being executed by way of privatisation of PSEs.
The conclusion is clear. From the beginning, our country has been run according to the wishes of the biggest capitals its and it is the same tod ay. The ruling class of capitalists is led by the biggest capitalists. That is why today the big capitalists of India are among the richest of the world, while the people are among the poorest.
What is to be done?
Privatisation amounts to loot of people’s money and is anti-social as well as anti-worker.
We need to unite crossing all barriers of posts, union and party affiliations, religion, caste, etc. Permanent workers have to unite with temporary and contract workers. Organised workers have to unite with the unorganised ones. We need to draw people at large into our struggle against privatisation.
Permanent employees of PSEs need to build unity in action with the contractual employees in this struggle.
We cannot rely on any of the big political parties like BJP and Congress in our fight against privatization. They are funded by big capitalists precisely to implement their bidding if they get to form the government. Governments may and do change after elections, but the ruling class does not. Its rule continues. That is what we have to work towards to change.
The example of RINL Steel in Vishakhapatnam is a glorious example where the workers have not only untied firmly as one, but motivated the people of the entire city as well as state to stand in their support. They have soldiered on even after being paid only half their salaries and the struggle has continued for over two years!
The fight against privatisation of PSEs is a component part of struggle to uproot the rule of capitalist class and establish the rule of the workers and peasants. In that struggle, we, all the working people of our country are on one side and the capitalist class with their political parties are on the opposing side. We need to isolate the opposing side more and more and need to unite working people more and more.