Former Union energy secretary and social activist E A Sarma on Tuesday requested Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) to take the lead in the fight against the central government’s sweeping policy to disinvest in the central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), including Life Insurance Corporation of India.
In a letter to the chief minister, Sarma, who held the Union secretary post between 1997 to 2000, referred to the latest guidelines issued by the Centre on December 13 and the Telangana government’s stiff resistance to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s decision to auction four coal blocks belonging to Singareni Collieries, the largest public sector enterprise in the state.
Stating that Telangana’s fight against the privatisation of the public sector enterprises has set the tone for a wider coalition being formed among the states to protect federalism, Sarma said the central guidelines also ignored the states’ role in setting up the CPSEs.
“The policy would also expose the Centre’s orchestrated moves to shrink the federal domain of the states. Telangana should coordinate with other states, especially, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and the others in forming a states’ forum to protect federalism and the relevant provisions of the Constitution,” he said in his letter, which is also marked to chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh..
The retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer asserted that the concentration of authority at the Centre, at the cost of the states, should not be allowed as it violated the federal structure.
{{/usCountry}}The retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer asserted that the concentration of authority at the Centre, at the cost of the states, should not be allowed as it violated the federal structure.
{{/usCountry}}Telangana has been strongly resisting the Central govenment’s move to privatise the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd, a PSE. In the recent past, Telangana CM KCR also made strong comments against privatisation of LIC.
“Matters such as CPSE disinvestment, which have wide-ranging public interest implications, need to be subject to discussion among the state legislatures and in the Parliament, in addition to wider public discussion,” he said.
Sarma said the central policy would dismantle almost the entire edifice of the public sector within a couple of years, without caring to understand the role played by the CPSEs over the last several decades in building India’s self-reliance in many strategic areas such as coal, oil, minerals and so on.
Describing the move to disinvest in the LIC as disastrous, Sarma said it would result in dismantling the vast social security cover the corporation provides and endanger the interests of its crores of policyholders, with whose help and contribution, the LIC has grown to its present status of an insurance behemoth.
“Soon, the LIC’s character and the role will be dictated by a handful of affluent, speculative, stock market investors, including foreign investors,” he said.
Sarma said the argument of the Centre that disinvesting the CPSEs would bring additional fiscal resources was facile. By adopting the disinvestment route, the government would lose ownership and control over the CPSEs. “The Centre would only be underselling its assets in disinvestment,” he said.
On Singareni coal mines, he said they were mostly developed well before the Centre stepped in as a joint shareholder in 1960, on the clear understanding that the Centre and the state would consult each other and jointly develop the coal mines for the common good of the people, without compromising the interests of Telangana.
“Considering the bizarre idea of the Centre to monetise public assets, one should not be surprised if the Centre takes a unilateral decision to privatise Singareni in its anxiety to hand over its assets to a chosen business house,” he warned.
The retired IAS officer pointed out that since the states had acquired the lands for most of the CPSEs, they have a claim on the disinvestment proceeds. “The Tamil Nadu Finance Minister has demanded compensation on that basis at a recent Finance Ministers’ meeting in Delhi. The other states, too, should press their claims, as otherwise, the Centre may ignore the states while handing over its CPSEs to corporate houses,” he added.
The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) is yet to comment on the letter.