When the light goes out
ANAND SANKAR
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Satya Sivaraman's short film on the effects of privatising the power sector raises some hard questions
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The problems of privatisation are common throughout the developing world because the ideas are coming from the same think tanks based in the U.S. Power privatisation is a complex issue and not like water. Electricity cannot be stored; it is generated and consumed immediately SATYA Sivaraman
Photo: Mohammed Yousuf
`Privatisation of power is a reality'.
"A country is not a corporation," once wrote The New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman. And journalist and documentary filmmaker, Satya Sivaraman, echoes similar feelings when he says: "Today, you have companies that are far richer than countries. Microsoft's turnover is more than the G.D.P. of most of the poor countries in the world. Companies today want to become countries by themselves."
Sivaraman's background is covering political cultural and development issues in South and Southeast Asia for both the print and television media for over 20 years. He has authored the book, Asia Sees America and other Rants, which is about the Asian response to the American-led invasion of Iraq. He was in the city to attend the screening of his film: The Big Blackout: Debunking the Myths of Power Privatisation, organised by Visual Search. The title of the 28-minute movie is self-explanatory, it deals with the issues that developing countries face if and when they go about privatising their power generation, distribution and supply.
Privatisation of power is a reality, Sivaraman says. The biggest story to go with power privatisation in India till now is of course the Enron scandal, but in many developing countries privatisation has progressed beyond the phase of just building new power plants. The Big Blackout predominantly uses Brazil, Columbia and South Africa as case studies of power privatisation. India also features in the movie in the starting sequences, which shows a protest against power tariff hike in Hyderabad. Three people are killed when the police open fire to disperse the crowd. The movie, produced for the Transnational Institute, Amsterdam, is shot from the viewpoint of consumer. It basically documents people's reactions when they are faced with issues that arise from power privatisation. For example in Brazil, a country blessed with abundant hydroelectricity, people face blackouts and want their old and reliable public sector power company back. In Soweto, South Africa, poor people are grossly overcharged for their electricity and in Columbia private power companies even side with rebel guerrillas to quell trade unions.
Complex issue
"The problems of privatisation are common throughout the developing world because the ideas are coming from the same think tanks based in the U.S. Power privatisation is a complex issue and not like water. Electricity cannot be stored — it is generated and consumed immediately," says Sivaraman.
Though we have always known electricity as something that the government provides, Sivaraman says that its supply initially started in the private sector.
Photo: Mohammed Yousuf
DIFFICULT DAYS Satya Sivaraman.
In the 1930s, General Electric started power supply in the U.S. But soon they hit the first roadblock, who will pay for street lighting. There was a heated debate and finally municipalities had to step in collecting taxes and paying for the lights.
Sivaraman says that electricity can no longer be called a luxury; it is today a basic right.
"What is a basic right and not changes with the times. We need to define common good. The issue goes beyond the debate of public and private."
He goes on to come down heavily on the Indian middle class, which welcomes privatisation in the hope that it will bring better efficiency. "The public sector created employment and the middle class for years benefited from public subsidies. Today, they want to kick the ladder and not want anyone else to come up. The public sector across Europe is excellent. It boils down to work culture. The solution is not to make the public sector private with little accountability. Monopoly (public or private) breeds inefficiency and non-transparency. Law and order in India is also inefficient, can it be privatised?"
Today's company culture is another thing that Sivaraman warns about. "Companies today indulge in pure speculation.
Share values rise overnight because of some piece of news. The thief is probably the best economic model today. He invests nothing, employs probably only himself and gets all the returns."When asked about his approach to journalistic filmmaking, this is what Sivaraman had to say: "I am biased. Objective journalism is an oxymoron. There is no such thing as objective journalism and I don't want to practice it."
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