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Public Sector Enterprises & Lack of Profitability :

Hindustan Zinc was a profitable venture of the Government of India. It made a profit of about 250 crores a year. It was sold to the Vedanta group; upgradation,innovation, privatisation later the same company is making a profit of 8000 crores annually.

We visited Samrat hotel in Chanakyapuri yesterday. It is a government owned enterprise. It is run in the manner of a government organisation, not the hospitality industry. The website said functional swimming pool, but the staff showed us a pool filled up with metal scrap, and said it hasn’t been operational for the past 18 months. To a reply of why the website claims the hotel has a pool, their reply was , speak to make my trip, who did your booking. We are not responsible for what they have told you.

I’m sure the same building in such a prime location, in private hands will be making tons of money in no time. If the government has an enterprise in hospitality, why is it not run in the same professional manner as we expect from say Taj, Hyatt or Sheraton groups ? Why is it accepted that if it is a government run place the service will be slow, the place will be run down, the taps may or may not work?? Why must we accept inadequacy on their part???

Air India. A giant organisation with more than 28,000 employees who once they join get benefits of health, job security, pension. Having the largest air fleet and widest network and 30,000 crores of public money later, they are finally going to make a profit for the first time in 9 years.

Public sector enterprises in the west provide a large segment of jobs and people are proud of having government jobs. In India, we are so used to being held unaccountable that the moment we know we can’t lose our jobs easily, we start taking them for granted. I have seen Secretaries in government departments struggle with their supporting staff and work alone in deserted offices post 5pm.

Giving the best to your job and giving your all to your profession should come naturally and should be a universal trait. We are a country where students want degrees, not education. We want jobs , but don’t want to work. We want respect , but don’t want to earn it. We want money, but we want it fast and easy.

Can we as a society collectively decide to work to the best of our ability, in whatever we do?? The best teacher , the best doctor,the best engineer , the best plumber, the best of everything we can put into our work.

We want a perfect nation. Can we start becoming the best versions of ourselves first?