27 Friday Jun 2014
Posted in PSU
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The Modi Government has started it disinvestment spree. It is going to start disinvestment of shares of at least 8-9 PSUs in the near future. The proposal is to increase the sale of shares in the PSUs which are already disinvested up to 10%. This will be increased to 25%. Disinvestment of other PSUs also will be considered.
23 Friday May 2014
Posted in PSU, TU News - India
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While most of the departments of the government are sluggish in taking decisions on the governance of the country, there is a particular department which seems to be working round the clock. It is nothing else than the Disinvestment Department. During the earlier NDA government it was a ministry itself, but was downgraded to a department after the UPA I government took over.
Disinvestment was at very low pace in the UPA I since it was sustaining itself with the support of the left Parties,which strongly opposed disinvestment of PSUs. The UPA II wanted to speed up disinvestment, but could not move much due to various reasons. Its target of enriching the exchequer through sales of PSU shares could not be reached.
Now that the NDA with huge majority is taking over the government, the Disinvestment department will be feeling that it is the right time to directly sell the PSUs, instead of piecemeal. The sale of PSUs to strategic partners ( as in the the case of VSNL to Tata Telecommunications) they want to pursue now.
Accordingly, the Disinvestment Department has recommended to the new government for strategic sale of PSUs in the non-core PSUs like Cement, Steel, Textiles, petrochemical, fertiliser etc., which may also be extended to core PSUs later.
What will be the decision of the new government is not known.But there is real danger to the existence of the Public Sector. The Public Sector banks, which have stalled the recession in India to a certain extend is under severe attack. State Bank activities are already outsourced to Reliance company. The corporates and India Inc have demanded privatisation of the nationalised banks.
The working class under the Central trade Unions will have to seriously consider these issues and pressurise the new government from proceeding in the above matter, failing which mighty struggles should erupt to stop this selling of the national assets.
15 Wednesday Jan 2014
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If there is any Department of the Central government which is working 24 hours, it is the disinvestment Department. Their duty is to sell stakes in PSUs one after another and if possible privatise the same at the earliest.
Tomorrow, 16th January, the Empowered Group of Ministers(EGoM) headed by Finance minister P.Chidambaram is expected to take a decision on selling 10% stakes of Indian Oil company (IOC). 24.27 crore shares are expected to fetch around Rs. 4,800 crores. The government at present holds 78.92 % shares and after the present disinvestment, it will be reduced to 68.92%.
The Central Trade Unions have to strongly protest and put a halt to these PSU stake sales.
15 Wednesday Jan 2014
Posted in PSU
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The Hindustan Zinc Limited, a Central PSU will be privatised shortly. The Government is having only 29.5% stake in the PSU now. This also will be sold through action. the proposal is already approved with the Attorney General clearing the proposal. The Government is expecting Rs. 16,000 crore from the sale.
One after another, the Public Sector Units are being sold to the private companies at cheap rates. These PSUs are located in central areas with a large area of land. The market prices are high. The equipment, building etc. also cost much. But in the name of liberalization, all these are handed over to the private at very cheap rates.
The Government is only the Manager and not owner of these PSUs. The people are the owners. But the Management is selling these PSUs at their whim and fancy. A strong movement should come against these anti-national disinvestment.
12 Sunday Jan 2014
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Unable to meet the Disinvestment target of Rs.40,000 crore this financial year, the government has started harassing the PSUs to somehow get the money from them. Disinvestment in coal could not take place due to the strong opposition from the workers. Now the disinvestment in IOC also could not take place.
In this situation, the government is asking all the cash rich PSUs to provide funds to the government either through disinvestment, ross-holding or special dividend.
This has been what happened to BSNL also. The government took away all the cash through Spectrum charges, notional loan, interest and so on. Now BSNL is not having funds to expand and even to pay the wages of the employees. The government wants all the PSUs to reach that position so that privatisation will be easy and the corporates and big business can maximise their profits.
13 Friday Dec 2013
Posted in PSU
The Government had declared 10% immediate disinvestment in Coal India Ltd. and was proceeding in the matter. All the unions in the CIL had issued notice for strike against disinvestment in this month itself. The government is reported to have changed its decision in view of the proposed strike. However, the government wants more dividend from the PSU to make up the financial deficit.
We congratulate the Coal India Workers for their success in stopping the Disinvestment for the present.
06 Friday Dec 2013
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The decision of the government to disinvest 10% of stakes in Coal India Limited (CIL) is strongly opposed by the unions in the PSU. At present the government is having 90%, out of which another 10% is proposed to be disinvested. The Unions have given a call to go on a 3 days strike against the same from 17th December.
Sensing the strong opposition of the workers, the government is proposing to disinvest 5% only at present. It does not want a strike in the strategic coal sector, along with the already crises due to the serious corruption cases.
But the Unions are sticking to their position, and rightly so. They are continuing with the strike preparation demanding that no disinvestment should take place in CIL.
Our complete support and solidarity to the CIL workers in their struggle to defend the PSU.
02 Monday Dec 2013
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One of the most important agenda of the UPA-II government has been and is the selling of the Nation’s wealth to the private on the plea of reducing the financial crunch. But it is more than that. The government wants to wealth of the Nation’s wealth for maximising the profit of the private corporates.
Tomorrow, 3rd December 2013, a meeting of the high level Ministers are going to take place to speed up the Disinvestment process. A target of Rs.40,000 crore was fixed for 2013-14 through selling shares of PSUs, but so after it has received only Rs. 1325 crores by selling shares of six PSUs.
Government wanted to disinvest 10% shares of Coal India Ltd. but due to strong opposition from the trade unions, it could not be done. Now the government is proposing to sell 5% of the shares of CIL. Government has 90% shares in CIL now.
Further the government is proposing to hand over the balance shares of 49% shares of BALCO and 29.5% shares of Hindustan Zinc Ltd., the majority shares of which are are already with Vedanta group of companies. These were sold in 2001-03 despite strong opposition and strike from the unions. Now both these will be fully under the private companies. This is what the government wants to do with all PSUs one after another.
I am sure the workers of these PSUs will fight against this privatisation process. They should be given full support and solidarity.
21 Saturday Sep 2013
Posted in PSU
The strike by the coal workers scheduled to start from 23rd September 2013 against disinvestment / privatisation has been postponed after meeting with the management as also to bring further unity amongst the workers.
07 Wednesday Aug 2013
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New Delhi/Kolkata, Aug 7:
The trade unions of Coal India on Wednesday decided to slap three-days strike notice opposing the Government’s proposal to divest shares in the public sector miner.
“All the unions have agreed to declare strike from September 19-21. The workers cannot be kept in vacuum,” Jivan Roy, General Secretary of All India Coal Workers Federation of India (AICWF) told Business Line.
Coal India workers are represented by five leading trade unions — INTUC, HMS, BMS, AICWF and AITUC. Other than INTUC, all the four unions have decided to go on strike. The INTUC workers are yet to make a final decision on participating in the strike. According to the unions, the stake sale would adversely impact its workers across 35 districts in the country.
The Union Coal Minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, today said the Government is confident that the unions will agree to 5 per cent divestment proposal. Jaiswal was talking to media after a conference in Kolkata.
A single-day strike can cost the Maharatna miner loss of more than one million tonne of production.
There are nearly 3.5 lakhs permanent workers in Coal India, in addition to another 2 lakh contractual employees.
AICWF claims that the strike declared by it would mean 70-80 per cent of workers not working.
Last week, the Government failed to convince the workers of Coal India even after it offered to reduce disinvestment stake to 5 per cent from the earlier proposal of 10 per cent.
The Government is hoping to garner nearly Rs 20,000 crore by selling 10 per cent stake in Coal India. This is seen as one of the most important share sales to meet the Government’s divestment target of Rs 40,000 crore in the current fiscal.
In addition to opposing the share sale, the workers want coal mining to be given infrastructure status. Also, they want captive mines allocated to the private sector that have not been explored to be allocated to Coal India. (Courtesy: Business Line)
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