Even after two decades of economic liberalisation, there are few examples of industrial restructuring
The urge for safety is one of the driving forces of human nature. The defining characteristics of individual behaviour are often found to be replicated in the behaviour of organisations. This is the reason which leads to the emphasis on the need for a synergy between individual and organisational goals. Closer home, the need for corporate revamp, across the full spectrum of the typology of organisations, is needed.
Selective, episodic and fragmented interventions across the range of Government entities, regulatory agencies and more seem to have produced bewildering results. Private organisations are no exception. Whereas the number of professional degree-holders among the owner-managers has gone up, the values and quality of their decisions are often rooted in traditional practices. Whereas the powerful and the influential very often get away with what they want to do, the honest and the compliant are inundated with forms, questions and investigations.
Taking the discussion to a higher level, the issues affecting the governance of enterprises and the corporate sector haven’t changed much over the last two decades. And if the concerns haven’t changed, neither have the positions. There has been no radical shift between the policies of one set of the cabinet members to another.
The process of economic reforms initiated in July 1991 has been fairly steady in the last 23 years. The emphasis has been on the external sector, fiscal policy reforms, reducing entry barriers for industrial investment and liberalising foreign investment. These are comforting domains where a lot of energy can be spent, without affecting the cosy comfort of the powerful or mitigating the misery of the honest.
Safety of the status quo, in terms of power distribution, is a significant driving force for the intelligent. Interestingly, examples of industrial restructuring, privatisation and/or nationalisation, not to mention the basic re-examining of the paradigms governing action, have been few and far between.
Over the last few years, one has heard arguments in favour of making India a low-cost economy. Now, with onions being sold at Rs 70/kg, frugality is a fairy tale proposition. So much so that even the proverbs are changing. The old quip used to be: “I can survive on chapattis and onions”. Today even that is lyrical. A basic transformation is on its way.
The facts are simple. Industrial re-structuring cannot be a painless process. It involves justification of each item of expense, often causing reduction of function-specific manning levels. Re-deployment of staff is also inevitable. It is not an easy job, with bulging figures of people seeking employment, and innovative definitions of poverty. And this is not to refer to the creation of a climate wherein claiming to be a person below the poverty line has large political and economic advantages.
It does not take a genius to realise that unviable industrial units must close. State-owned enterprises and private ones too must streamline their operations. But this means re-defining the rights of workers and enabling growth in viable areas. It is significant that that in the recently concluded general election, no political leader, no political party found it worth their while to raise the issue of population control or advocate family planning.
The logic of unfettered expansion of the supply side cannot be ignored, in practical terms, if we want to create a safe India. Many measures are possible including monetary compensation to a re-trenched worker. The Ramanujam Committee reports, produced decades earlier, had dealt upon this. A National Renewal Fund has been talked about, employment assistance centres had been talked about, and unemployment insurance fund has been talked about. But talking apart, no action has followed. Perhaps the ‘genie’ defies control.
The simple proposition that population control will need to walk hand-in-hand with improving the employability and skill dimension of those already in the labour market, and those wanting to enter it, has been talked about as well. Now, it needs action. To be a nation of achievers we have to discipline our instincts. We have to work on the paradigms that govern our productive forces. The mind-set of getting by on contacts and privileges is unacceptable. Reality abhors evasion.