The current job losses are the result of impractical experimentation with privatisation and systematic leakage of public finances to boost it

The nation has to act holistically, discuss the problems and stop the economic slowdown, right from the portals of Parliament to all public fora. India’s administrative system is groping in the dark. The tax system, including tolls, fee, charges and duties, are becoming oppressive and banks, despite mergers, are in crisis. The bid to sell institutions, industries, airlines and the heavy losses incurred by many are taking the country into an economic abyss.

It is a matter of intense concern as governance is drifting away from the governed and the State is becoming too powerful. It takes decisions not in favour of the voters but for those who can manage votes. Over the years, the system has become myopic. It does not want to listen to the governed and comes out with decisions that hurt them more. Job losses are now considered natural and the diagnosis is missing. Strange views are being aired by the powers that be. A country usually creates jobs with people-friendly decisions but the current job losses are being attributed to “lack of skills” of the workers. Also, atrocious income tax slabs and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) are being justified as the people’s holy duty. However, if these very people lose jobs, the State turns a blind eye.

The remedy is not easy to find as the necessary dialogue with the people is missing and a powerful system does not enter into deliberations on critical issues. Occasionally a voice is heard in the Parliament, but State Assemblies hardly meet to hear their MLAs’ out. The Chief Ministers even of failing States like Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu are despots and no party members or Opposition leaders dare voice their concerns. Unfortunately, the syndrome does not change with the change of regime. Every successive regime carries on in the same way as the previous one and changes are limited. Democracy in provinces is limited to the rights of the Chief Minister and the Government machinery is a slave to him/her. An apt example of this is Madhya Pradesh, where it is alleged that the former and present heads run the show. In such a situation, they invent methods to strengthen their families, hold power shows at the cost of the State exchequer, while people continue to languish (like in the case of the Saifai show in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s stronghold). Such whims and fancies led to the bifurcation of a thriving Andhra Pradesh and the bifurcated Telangana is in a mess now. The despotic Chief Minister’s family-hold is killing the State’s economy. One example of this is the bid to privatise the State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC), which was vehemently opposed by the employees who went on a 52-day strike. In many other States, the SRTCs and other similar undertakings are also being set up for privatisation so that influential families can benefit.

The disease is not restricted to the States. A similar despotic attitude of some Ministers led to investment in faulty power programmes like Enron and the collapse of Indian airlines and Air India. The ostensible reason was to give a boost to the rising private airlines or the power industry. However, that only benefitted many powerful families.

Now, before it is too late, the political attitude of “can’t do” has to change. Despite many follies of the leaders of the 1950s and the 1980s, the public sector contributed to the nation’s economy and institutions were built. Later, systematic divestment and conspiracies of closure of many others led the country to a “Manmohanomic” collapse.

Now, the culture of interfering with the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) has led to the swindling of the Life Insurance Corporation, banks and IL&FS and the consequent end of many smaller financial institutions. No white paper on the loot of PSBs or financial institutions has come out as yet.  The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBIs) non-performing asset (NPA) reports are not complete without going into the methods applied by various individuals or officials, as is apparent from the PMC bank’s near-closure. The Employees Provident Fund lost Rs 1,300 crore of workers’ funds and DHFL swindled Rs 46,000 crore savings of retail investors.

In such a situation why does the RBI cut rates instead of increasing them is perplexing. It also needs to come out specifically on the note-ban decision as each of these methods is killing the economy. The decisions are taken ad-hoc without a holistic approach. The job losses are the result of impractical experimentation with privatisation and systematic leakage of public finances to boost it. The number of jobless is rising due to it and even rural jobs are being lost and consumer purchasing power is officially dwindling.

That corporates are not holy internationally has once again been established with the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) probe into Tata Steel, Sweden’s SKF and Germany’s Schaeffler collusion on pricing bearings or Volkswagen’s pollution-suppressing software. The country has to correct these ills to be internationally competitive and have a people-oriented strong economy to sustain the targetted growth projections of the Narendra Modi Government. It must act now.

(The writer is a senior journalist)