http://www.thestatesman.org/arc.news.php3?id=37845&type=Editorial&theme=A&dat=2001-08-20 http://www.thestatesman.org/arc.news.php3?id=37914&type=Editorial&theme=A&dat=2001-08-21 > The wind of denationalisation is blowing over the country
> demolishing the pillars of the public sector one by one. Now it
> has struck the coal industry. ... A government sponsored report
> prepared by the Tata Energy Research Institute and International
> Mining Consultant of the UK has suggested privatisation of Coal
> India as part of the reforms in the key energy sector. The
> report, a part of the structural reforms package of the coal
> sector rehabilitation project initiated by the Centre and the
> World Bank, has felt that the current structure and ownership of
> CIL is not conducive to the opening up of the coal sector. So
> political considerations have taken precedence over
> techno-economic reasons.
>
> The reaction from the workers has been sharp. In reply to the
> questionnaire set by the Parliamentary Committee attached to the
> Ministry of Energy on the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Amendment
> Bill 2000 all the trade unions including one connected with the
> ruling party have said "no" in one voice. The Vajpayee government
> at the Centre can at least claim credit for uniting the colliery
> workers.
>
> Needless to say, coal being major source of energy is the
> country's most precious wealth. It supports not only industry but
> our domestic life as well. According to the Geological Survey of
> India the total reserves of coal up to a depth of 1200 metres is
> about 212 billion tons, of which 25 per cent is of the coking
> coal variety.
...
> It is true that the aims of nationalisation have remained
> unachieved and frustration prevails which even has prompted
> even Mr KSR Chari, one of the protagonists of nationalisation,
> to suggest privatisation. But beheading is never a treatment
> for headache. As warned by a coal commissioner, delay in
> nationalisation would leave very little to take over.
(see original for brief historical background: committees and
negotiations in 1936, 1945, 1951, 1954-55)
> Now the same argument is being given for privatisation. The
> government does not have money required for the production of
> extra coal required in the tenth and eleventh Five Year Plans,
> so the private sector should step in. At the time of
> nationalisation, private owners did not have money and the
> government had to invest to increase production and now the
> government does not have money and the private owners are to
> step in.
> The issue is to be discussed in detail as the government is
> harping on this point. First, the figures quoted about the
> future demand and internal production vary widely. Arguing in
> favour of privatisation, the Chari Committee?s report (13 May
> 1996) estimated the demand of coal as 513 mt and 716 mt in
> 2001-02 and 2006-07. According to the planning commission,
> requirement was to be 460 mt by 1999-2000. But now the official
> figure of the demand for coal in 2001-02, the terminal year of
> the Ninth Plan, is only 370.8 mt and internal production 328.86
> mt, leaving a gap of only 48.18 mt which can be easily made up
> by pit head stock and pruning the present set-up without
> investing anything.
> It seems inflated demand is being projected to create the
> ground for private participation while the ground reality is
> that coal is not getting sold and lying on the pithead as
> surplus. The production has to be lowered increasing loss and
> inviting sickness and also to promote import. Between 1997-98
> and 1999-2000 the production of BCCL, ECL and CCL was lowered
> from (mt) 30.92, 27.44 and 33.07 to 27.90, 25.12 and 32.02,
> respectively, increasing the loss from (Rs crores) 140.91,
> 541.89, 85.67 to 692.32, 728.23 and 121.24 respectively while
> the import increased from 17.21 mt to 17.5 mt. What is this new
> liberal economy which lowers domestic production, renders
> industries sick and promotes import?
> The figures placed by the Parliamentary Committee on the new
> Bill are also confusing. When at the end of the Eighth and
> Ninth Plan the gaps between the demand and production have been
> shown as 20.75 and 42.74 mt by what magic could it jump to 235
> mt at the end of the 10th Plan (2006-07) requiring Rs 19,000
> crore investment when the economy is in recession?
...
> The reaction to the proposed privatisation, even if partial, is
> very intense in the coal belt as it has seen the working of the
> private collieries. In the words of Kumaramangalam: "The
> private employers indulged in a variety of malpractices in
> respect of labour. Large-scale illegal deductions from wages
> were common. In addition to underpayment of wages and avoidance
> of provident fund by manipulation of record, private collieries
> were guilty of default in depositing the provident fund
> dues. On the top of these malpractices the Coalfield Recruiting
> Organisation perpetuated a system of bonded labour in the coal
> mining industry."
...
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