The Hindu Business Line : Empowering PSUs

The Prime Minister's observation that more PSUs should go public will open up avenues for the increasing accountability of these enterprises. Now the PSUs have the freedom to operate in a fairly unregulated fashion. But once they go public, their performance will be closely tracked and monitored by the various stakeholders.

The government can certainly improve the functioning of public sector units with the right political will, instead of the shares being offered to the public. Instead, the government lacks the necessary will and PSUs that are not doing too well are often managed by personnel with few professional or administrative skills.

Running a professional enterprise skilfully was effectively demonstrated by Mr V. Kurien as the head of the milk societies at Khaira, Anand. He ran the show efficiently and took the Amul brand to new heights through the dedication and dynamism of the entire team under his management. Various government organisations should emulate his ways in running the enterprises with commitment. But, alas, such a situation may remain the stuff of dreams as the most ruling regimes treat PSUs as mere milch cows, to be used for political mileages and party gains.

C. P. Velayudhan Nair

Kochi

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