Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

NLC disinvestment

This refers to the Government's move to disinvest 10 per cent shares in the Neyveli Lignite Corporation and the National Aluminium Company Limited. It will start with 10 per cent; after a couple of years, it will increase to 30 per cent, then to 49, and finally the PSUs will be fully privatised. It is claimed that the money raised from the disinvestment will be used for the social sector. Maybe, but things will change when people's memory fades away.

Catchwords like efficiency and productivity have come to mean jobless growth, continuous downsizing, refusal to increase minimum wages, and ever-expanding hyper-obese executive bonus and perks. To the consumer, it has come to mean spending hours listening to: "Your call is extremely important to us. Please continue to hold."

V.V. Raman,
Hampton, Virginia

* * *

The Centre's decision is retrograde. By divesting in NLC, the Government proposes to get Rs.1100 crore, which is a very low sum seen in the context of plan allocation for different sectors. In a country where even the NPA of scheduled banks run into thousands of crores, one wonders how Rs.1100 crore will help to fund any major social sector project. The Government would do well to withdraw the move.

K. Murlidar,
Chennai

* * *

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's proposal that the Centre give the divested shares to NLC employees does not seem to have borne fruit. The employees have rejected it saying it is impracticable. An indefinite strike by the employees could have serious repercussions, as it may hit power supply in Tamil Nadu and neighbouring States. Disinvestment in profit-making PSUs is a violation of the National Common Minimum Programme.

K.S. Thampi,
Chennai

* * *

Key ratios such as return on investment and equity, and dividend yields of NALCO and NLC are good. One finds it difficult to understand the Government's proposal to disinvest in them to mop up over a thousand crores. The wealth the government will create for itself will be much more if the managements of PSUs are made more dynamic and given the autonomy needed to function.

G. Srinivasan,
Kumbakonam, T.N.

* * *

The employees argue that they would have to shell out Rs.5 lakh to Rs.5.5 lakh for buying the shares. They need not contribute equally. Each can contribute according to his capacity, while the employees' welfare association or cooperative society can contribute the balance. An NLC share has a large potential value, given its near monopoly in the power sector. The Government's objective is to encourage workers' participation. Stock option schemes carry tax concessions. Friends of the working class should not politicise the issue and deprive the NLC staff of a valuable opportunity to become partners in a precious venture.

S. Rajaratnam,
Chennai

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