Rlys privatisation on the sly

Bibek Debroy-headed panel has recycled the reports of Rakesh Mohan Committee and Prakash Tandon Committee, and unlike its predecessors, it has invoked the liberalisation-transparency mantra to hard sell its privatisation roadmap for the railways. Privatisation per se is not bad just as sarkari outfits are no manna; but we should not forget the rationale that justified the entry of government in enterprises that range from running buses to air services and hotels and steel plants. Private sector is not cut for the role of a service provider where private interests must remain subordinate to societal interests

Reform Ayatollahs are back on prowl. Make no mistake. You cannot expect anything different in the dispensation of a party which thinks its clothes were stolen by a Telugu bidda two decades ago.

So, while erecting a memorial for the leader who was disowned by his own party, it is doing its best to bring smile to the Bretton Woods twins, the unabashed champions of economic reforms that are tailor-made for the market place, where games are played by deep pockets with money mopped up from bankers on an unlearning curve, and from faceless shareholders.

Bibek Debroy-headed panel has recycled the reports of Rakesh Mohan Committee and Prakash Tandon Committee, and unlike its predecessors, it has invoked the liberalization-transparency mantra to hard sell its privatisation roadmap for the railways.

Privatisation per se is not bad just as sarkari outfits are no manna; but we should not forget the rationale that justified the entry of government in enterprises that range from running buses to air services and hotels and steel plants. Private sector is not cut for the role of a service provider where private interests must remain subordinate to societal interests.

The concern for independent regulator for tariffs voiced by the Debroy as well is misplaced. Because, the buck stops at the political executive! This is the message that comes out loud and clear with India’s tryst with electricity sector.

During the PV days, the high priests of privatisation and experimental models touted from tiny African states guided Rakesh Mohans of the day to present a scenario where consumer would be the king. It was a tantalising picture but it is nowhere in sight in the power sector, for example.

And in the name of transparency, the Manmohan Singhs have flooded the land with regulators from insurance to radio waves. Superannuated bureaucrats found new sinecures as a result. Take telecom sector.

Long years after Rao was dead and gone and Pandit Sukh Ram became a dot in history, private players are no where beyond the urban landscape. The much maligned BSNL is the only reliable network in the countryside, despite every trick employed by successive telecom ministers to stymie its stride.

The Open Sky policy made India taste Good Times for a while, and the Reform Ayatollahs proved how good they are at selling mirages. Same is the story from the insurance sector where the LIC is still forced to virtually give away policy holders’ money to the bottomless pits called municipalities.

Lately, it’s being asked to be the white knight in shining amour for the Railways with Bibek Debroy selling dreams of turnaround in railway fortunes with competition on the rails.Operational efficiency is the basic thrust of Bibek Debroy Committee’s interim report, the pink papers have told us in bold letters. Who does not need operational efficiency? The railways certainly need.

Barring the brief period of aberration called Internal Emergency, our trains have always been running late. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has just been pulled up by his ‘Prabhu’ for these delays. He hopes to find ‘margadarshan’ in the emergency files his mandarins are now trying to locate in the Rail Bhavan vaults.

The standing joke during those days, which we never dared to report, was that the trains ran on time in the AIR news bulletins. We do not know how wise Prabhu & co., would be in the end. Having been a regular traveller for over 40 years, I can say one thing: delays are inherent in the system; Indian trains can never run on time.

The problem is not with the men behind the rails; the problem is the absence of enough rails to let the ever increasing number of trains to run. No exception to the plight is the summer specials announced year after year with a flourish. Over the past several decades we had this fixation with uni-guage, and poured crores into the venture. At least with half that outlay for additional lines on the trunk routes, the situation could have been different.

The Debroy report makes no reference to this problem in its “transformative” recommendations. In fact, its unidirectional focus is on a makeover to the railways; in its wisdom this is possible only by bringing in private players to run trains and by adopting nationally and internationally accepted commercial accounting practices. The advisory the railways should shed ‘non-core business’ like catering, schools, hospitals, and manufacturing is a natural corollary.

Market gurus have been doling out such advice to Indian private sector behemoths like the Tatas. It is, therefore, not unexpected. Many Indian business houses love to ignore Guru Gyan delivered after a fat fee was paid. They appear to go through these motions for the benefit of the market. It is beside the point.

Debroy’s recipe for private train operators is a true Gyan Mantra. “The reason private players find it unviable to operate is because they do not have access to the tracks. They do not have access to tracks because as it inevitably happens, Indian Railways gives preference to the Indian Railway trains.

Therefore, we recommend having a separate track holding company, which remains public, from that part of Railways which runs trains. This track holding company will be neutral between Indian Railways and the private players”, the report is quoted as saying.

Who do the Reform Ayatollahs want to fool? This is an open call for privatisation of the Indian railways. Why should a publicly funded and run enterprise foot the bill for the private players? If there should be competition, let there be open competition. Whoever wants to enter the fray let them bring their own money, buy their own land, and put their own rails to run their freight trains or bullet trains.

Not through the back door!

Even if such players make their Good Times with bank money like the Good Times Malaya! Because there is nothing called private business any longer. All business is funded by public money directly or indirectly.

(The writer, a Delhi-based senior journalist and South Asia analyst, can be reached at [email protected])