The Hindu : `AP being used as laboratory for privatisation'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

`AP being used as laboratory for privatisation'

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JAN. 28. Even as an international debate rages on outsourcing and shift of low-wage jobs from the US and the UK to India, George Monbiot, popular British columnist and author of "The Age of Consent", and other books, has defended it, saying it is one way of repaying for the 200 years of colonisation.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Monbiot criticised the Department For International Development (DFID) aid policy and said it was being used as a tool for recolonisation, privatising public utilities and opening up window of opportunities for British companies.

He referred to the manner in which a major part of the staggering 342 million pound DFID aid was being spent for "restructure" and "reform" of the State and its utilities. It virtually meant privatisation and giving a toehold to companies much like the East India Company. "Andhra Pradesh is being used as a laboratory for the kind of mass privatisation, the DFID is seeking to encourage". These policies that go in the name of restructuring and reforms would dispossess a large number of people and contribute to poverty.

Mr. Monbiot related the British experience in privatisation of drinking water, railways and health system, all of which had been "disasters". The management of the water supply system had been lampooned as a "fat cat" in the press, as it had only helped the big business. It had become inefficient with 40 to 50 percent leakages and the private company was not spending money on repairs.

The Railways too had become expensive. The train fare from Oxford to London, a distance of 55 miles now costs 31 pounds as against 8 to 9 pounds before privatisation. The public-private partnership in setting up hospitals was equally disastrous. And an example of this was the way an operation theatre was flooded with sewage after a pipeline started leaking. This was because the private company used plastic pipeline instead of a sturdier copper one to cut cost and earn more profits. He said India should retain the pride instead of merely aping the policies of the West or those dictated by aid agencies. "India should say we have to teach you as much as you teach us".

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