Relevance of public sector enterprises and the danger of privatisation of these enterprises was organised by Neelam Rajasekhar Reddy Research Center at Parwana hall , Gun foundry, Hyderabad.
The topic was extensively elaborated by key speakers Prof. Nageshwar, Ex.MLC, Sri. D. Papa Rao, Economist and Sri. BS Rambabu, Secretary, AIBEA.
Dr K Purnachandra Rao, Director, NRR RC, presided over the seminar. He suggested alternative methods of analysis like Total Factory Productivity and Social Benefit Cost Analysis to assess the comparative efficacy of public and private sectors in stead of only financial returns.
Sri D. Papa Rao said that the capitalist model of development created a deep divide between rich people living in gated communities and poor people with meagre incomes and lack of employment opportunities. He mentioned that all over the world there is demand for public sector institutions in key sectors of the economy. The unrest of farmers in india should be seen as a rebellion against the lopsided policies of the government.
A number of instances show how the governments are hiving-out precious public sector enterprises at throw away prices. In Visakhapatnam steel plant, all that the Government of India invested totals only Rs 5,000 crores. It got back till now Rs 42,000 crores by way of taxes and dividends. It has 20,000 acres of land whose value is Rs 100,000 crores. The plant and machinery is valued at another Rs 100,000 crores. But efforts are on to sell it dead cheap at less than Rs 5,000 crores. Similar instances are Hindustan Zinc and Centaur hotel in Mumbai. Since it is the political party which is doing it at will, the solution lies in defeating it in elections, said Professor K Nageswar, former MLC.
Sri B S Rambabu, secretary, AIBEA, outlined how political pressure is influencing the loans given to industrialists and their turning in to non-performing assets, resulting in losses due to provisioning for bad loans. He called upon all the employees of banks to resist the sinister attempts to privatize the banks.
Sri P J Chandrasekhar Rao, secretary, NRR RC, welcomed the speakers at the beginning and proposed vote of thanks at the end of the seminar.