Articles by R K Mishra

they drag on. Tyranny and oppression is not unknown in the countryside. But when it goes beyond endurance, the oppressed leave the village for some unknown destination never to return. This has been the practice since ages. But this option is closed for them for they are indebted and the police will arrest them if they run away. The landlords have an understanding among themselves not to employ any person who has run away. On the other hand he will inform the landlord from where he has run away who will then come along with his men. thrash him THE Scheduled Caste (SC) Corporations are a part of the welfare enterprises set up by the various state governments. These enterprises are the latest breed of state level public enterprises (SLPEs) in the country. Though there is no all-India act governing the setting up and functioning of these enterprises, most of the SC corporations have been established by the state governments on their own initiative. Recently, the central government has set up an apex level corporation to finance programmes for the welfare of the masses in this category. It is expected that this apex level institution will more or less work in the same way as the apex financial institutions in the area of industrial and agricultural credit, viz, the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) and the National Agricultural Bank for Rural Development (N AB ARD). While wediscuss the working of these corporations in detail later, we have to bear in mind the fact that the SCs form a sizeable component of the Indian population. The SCs, STs (scheduled tribes) and BCs (backward classes) all put together constitute about 50 per cent of the population of the country, It is no secret that the economic conditions of the SCs is vulnerable and though the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, acknowledged this fact way back in the early 1930s, in his weekly Harijan, no material transformation has taken place in their lifestyle as the programmes for their upiiftment have had a heavy dose of political tint. To provide an economic thrust mercilessly and drag him again to his house for torturing. From then onwards his life will be hell.

Frittering Away Nation's Wealth R K Mishra R Nandagopal A Lateef Syed Mohammad Absence of a permanent advisory mechanism to guide the government on the modus operandi for launching its disinvestment programme has given credence to the suspicion that disinvestment is not for the benefit of the state but for the benefit of a few interested parties.

Public Enterprises Promise and Performance T L Sankar R K Mishra R Nandagopal The manufacturing State-level public enterprises are operating in vital areas of the economy. Their efficiency and effective working would strengthen not only their functioning but also the effectiveness of State governments as a whole. However, these enterprises suffer from many infirmities which call for suitable policy and operational reforms not merely at the State level but also at the enterprise level in each State. The structural reforms suggested in the paper could go a long way in helping them turn the corner MANUFACTURING enterprises arc a very fascinating area to study in the domain of the State-level public enterprises (SLPEs). With the direct involvement of the various State governments in the industrialisation process of the country, such enterprises are being set up in increasing numbers by every State. The budget allocations provided for equity support for these enterprises have registered a phenomenal growth. However, their working has become a matter of great concern to policy-makers in view of the non- fulfilment of their objectives to a large extent. An intensive study is required to dissect this phenomenon and to suggest measures for the turn-around of the manufacturing SLPEs. We propose to investigate in this paper the genesis, growth, objectives, investment, financing, physical and financial performance, and problems of these enterprises. The information contained in the paper has been collected from the data base on the SLPEs set up by the Planning Commission and the Ninth finance Commission at the Institute of Public Enterprise, GENESIS, GROWTH AND OBJECTIVES The manufacturing SLPEs have a long history of working to their credit. Even before independence the princely states of Travancore and Mysore had set up rubber, soap and oil factories and encouraged sericulture. The success of this direct intervention encouraged the princely States of Rajaputana, Jammu and Kashmir, Vijayanagaram and Hyderabad to set up more and more of such units. After independence and with the onset of the planned era it became obligatory on the States forming the Indian Union to participate in industrial reformation and restructuring. Many States as a result of this deliberate policy started setting up manufacturing units in the middle of the 1960s, Between 1955 and 1965, 180 manufacturing SLPEs were set up by the various States. The period 1965 to 1980 saw a great spurt in the number of and investment in these enterprises. It was in this period that the base of such units was widely diversified from soaps, detergents, sericulture, paper, mining, cement and sugar units to light and heavy engineering, steel and scooters. Many such units were set up by the Industrial Development Corporations (IDCs) in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Haryana to produce steel, paper, scooters and engineering items. It was during this period that the States in the north-east set up manufacturing enterprises to exploit the agro and forest based local resources while States such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra started cement, fertiliser, textiles and sugar units as a part and parcel of their area development programmes. The 1980s were a decade of consolidation for these industries. During this period, manufacturing SLPEs have come up in the area of electronics, drugs and phar maceuticals, telecommunications, beverages and computers. The takeover of sick units has also added to the portfolio of PEs in this decade as many State governments decided on socio-economic grounds on the acquisition of such units from the private sector. These units mostly include textile, tea, chemical and engineering enterprises taken over by the West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu State governments.