HON’BLE GOVERNOR, SRI M.K. NARAYANAN’S SPEECH ON SEPTEMBER
11, 2012
I feel very much at home at St Xavier’s College. I have
a rather unique distinction of spending six years in Loyola
College, Chennai and so I have very close links with Jesuit
Fraternity, though little fade these days. I thought
Principals never write books but make students read them but
these days things are changing.
When Father Felix Raj whom I got to know very well since I
came to Kolkata asked me, to release the book, I had little
hesitation in agreeing to do so. I had been very happy of my
visit to St Xavier’s last year on the occasion of the
College Convocation and Valedictory Function. In any case I
would not hesitate to do what my Principal or Father
Principal asks me to do.
Students who are present here, you may not believe this,
that I do also possess a Master Degree in Economics. It was
so long ago that I can hardly spell now the word Economics.
I therefore felt quite unequal to the task of releasing an
extremely very well conceived and well-thought out and a
near technically perfect economic treatise on a specialized
subject on ‘Disinvestment in India-Trends, Problems and
Prospects’. I do remember a little bit of my Economics
today.
As I went through the book, I realized that the title of the
book is misleading. The book focuses as much on Economic
Reforms as on disinvestment, covering nearly three decades
of India’s recent economic history. Disinvestment is no
doubt a fulcrum around which arguments have been induced,
hypotheses have been put forward and tentative answers
indicated but yet this cannot obscure underlined micro and
macro aspects of this competent study.
I want to tell Fr Felix Raj that I went through the book. It
is not an easy read. This evening you heard about the
tradition of St Xavier’s College but I would like to say
about the Jesuit tradition. One must be always true to
oneself. I wouldn’t want to release the book without having
read it. The launch of the book is very timely as the
disinvestment is very much again in the news.
The new Finance Minister, Sri P. Chidambaram has vowed to
restore the robust health of the economy with fewer steps
that include calibrated changes in fiscal policy. Crucial
amongst them is disinvestment, which is of highest priority
to generate additional resources and reduce fiscal deficit.
Its almost three weeks ago, the Finance Minister called the
officials together and told them to expedite the process of
disinvestment in many PSUs, so that State could hit the
stock market in time and help the government to achieve the
target of Rs. 30,000 crores in the current fiscal.
I think that this book has a lot to say about disinvestment.
The book is not solely on disinvestment. Fr Felix Raj said
just now that the book is also about development. It is loud
and clear that the true purpose of economic reforms
including privatization and liberalization is to ensure
proper development. In the Introductory Chapter, Fr Felix
Raj quotes Lewis Preston and I quote, “Development theory by
itself has little value unless it is applied, unless it
translates into results, and unless it improves people’s
lives”.
Fr. Felix Raj takes the concept of development one step
forward and states, I quote, “Development is liberation and
much more a continuous process of creation and never ending
process, a praxis’. Economic reform is thus seen in this
book as indispensable, not only for rapid but also for
balanced development. Analysis and estimates in this book
should be viewed against this background. For me the real
value lies in the fact that a great deal in it will be of
value to different strata of people. For under graduate and
postgraduate students, for instance, it covers the gamut of
policies and politics with disinvestment as the centerpiece
starting almost since late 1960s to the present day.
How many of today’s youth are aware of Industrial policies
of 1948 and 1956? These policies guided PSUs for decades. To
the connoisseur this book is a veritable encyclopedia of
various writings on the management of PSUs in India. This
has been skillfully interpreted with the cases for and
against the disinvestment issues. For example, the
introductory chapter contains brief survey of available
literature on the subject of disinvestment. Many of the
authors mentioned in this book have belonged to my
generation and some of whom I know personally and their
thoughts are still relevant. For researchers and analysts,
the book postulates three important hypotheses, which are
discussed extensively.
Firstly, whether actual process of disinvestment of PSE is
damaging to the functioning of PSE and economy as a whole
and whether beneficial results may not necessarily be what
the government is expecting; secondly whether PSEs that have
taken the route of disinvestment have improved efficiency in
performance and thirdly, whether there is any gap between
the target and realized amount of disinvestment proceeds and
whether the disinvested resources will be adequate to meet
fiscal deficit. I think this is particularly very important
at this moment. Tentative answers have been provided to each
of these hypotheses in the concluding chapter.
If I got it right, it seemed from the text as far as
individual PSEs are concerned or in matter the economy as a
whole, disinvestment has not been an unmixed blessing for
PSUs. Many PSUs that were disinvested have, no doubt, come
out with the problems and improved their efficiencies but
the proceeds from disinvestment have not substantially
reduced the fiscal deficit and consequently did not have
significant impact as expected on the economy. Undoubtedly
the conclusions will be questioned and debated at length.
What is evident however is that the conclusions based on the
extensive research including analysis of many disinvested
PSEs carried out in many years.
The two case studies are fascinating- BALCO and LJML. It has
hence not been easy to discord these findings. It will
nevertheless lay result to this interesting and intensive
debate. Speaking for myself I find that the chapter three:
Economic reforms in India (1991-2010) and their impact on
PSEs is particularly illuminating and thought provoking.
Chapters four on policies and six on analysis of specific
disinvested PSEs - these three chapters have significant
value to policy makers apart from the students of Economics.
As Prof. Raj Kumar Sen. in writing his foreword to the book,
mentions that Fr. Felix Raj has done the country a great
service by expanding the frontier of economic literature of
economic reforms on PSUs. He also highlighted the particular
importance of chapters three and four. Consequently I think
we can all agree that disinvestment in India is likely to be
a valuable addition to the existing literature on economic
studies in our country. What lends the book greater and
higher altitude than most other works of this nature is the
vast amount of valuable statistics, which is clearly the
outcome of brains conducting research, which reflects
scholarship of higher endeavour.
The impact is to be felt across the entire spectrum of
economic and statistical analysis of this country. The
economic fraternity will welcome this aspect. It is not an
easy read and quite difficult to go through, if you are
looking for enjoyment in other ways. Yet I would say that it
should be an essential read for under graduate and post
graduate students of Economics. For those who teach
economics in colleges and Universities across the country
they must read and digest its content suitably to be able to
use the ideas in their lectures. Those who write on
Economics in journals and newspapers they must utilize the
well-researched content to explain it to the less erudite
members of the public.
There is a great deal of wisdom in the book that requires
wide dissemination. The content of the book should be the
object for further research. I do not have adequate words to
praise Rev Fr. Felix Raj for this excellent effort. I would
specially like to compliment him on the depth and extent of
his research. Till date I was under the impression that
administration and piety were his qualities. I now realize
that behind the gentle eminence lies the shrewd and sharp
intellect accompanied by burning desire to contribute to
nation’s development. Fr. Felix Raj is hence a true icon not
only for those who have gone through or will go through the
portals of St. Xavier’s College, but also for those who
study in other competent institutions as well.
He has demonstrated that classrooms are not solely intended
to impart knowledge but in equal measure to inspire the
students to search for truth and arrive at their own
conclusions. I am sure that St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata,
would be richer with the presence of someone like Fr Felix
Raj as Principal and those researchers who have helped him
in the task of bringing out such an excellent publication. I
cannot think of any other Principal who would have produced
the volume of this kind. Thank You.
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