This refers to Debashis Basu's column "'Minimum government' starts here" (Irrational Choice, March 23). The author has rightly pointed out that it is high time we did away with the public sector. All public sector undertakings (PSUs) are big white elephants and a drain on the taxpayers' money. These organisations were started in the Nehruvian era with a different motive. Back then, they were the temples of nation-building and people of high eminence headed these organisations and had support from equally committed ministers such as C Subramaniam. They served their purpose.
Over the years, many of these organisations have become symbols of inefficiency and corruption, and have ended up as personal fiefdoms and milch cows for ministries and bureaucracies. Arun Shourie, disinvestment minister in the Vajpayee government, had left his job unfinished. The Modi government should fulfil that legacy now. Air India, which was nationalised by the government long ago from the efficient hands of J R D Tata, leads the herd. If we think that the very purpose of nationalisation of civil aviation in the country would have been to make the airline available to the common man, Air India could never fly down to that level. Only the recent competition among private airlines has made the common man's dream of flying a reality. Air India exclusively serves bureaucrats and ministers, the new maharajas of independent India. Over the years, in the name of PSUs, we have bred unionism and a lack of accountability. The government's job is not to run shops and businesses anymore, but to concentrate on governance.
K Rajagopal Pune
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