Articles by Ramaswamy R Iyer

Ramaswamy R Iyer Public Enterprises in India: Changing Perspectives by S N Raghavan; Asian Institute of Transport Development, New Delhi, 1994; pp xii+227, price not mentioned.

Public Enterprises and Private Purposes Ramaswamy R Iyer I HAVE read with considerable interest Sudip Chaudhuri' s article 'Public Enterprises and Private Purposes' (EPW, May 28). At the outset (particularly in view of the criticisms I am going to make later in this note) let me establish my credentials as a friend and not a foe of public enterprises (PEs). As Secretary of the Economic Administration Reforms Commission (the Jha Commission) I played a not unimportant role in the preparation of its reports including four on PEs (three of which have been cited in the references at the end of Chaudhuri's article). I also made a systematic attempt in my book A Grammar of Public Enterprises: Exercises in Clarification (Rawat Publications, Jaipur, 1991 , under the auspices of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi) to analyse and dispel the persistent confusions, errors and fallacies that characterise much of the thinking and writing about PEs. (Chaudhuri, who too has tried to discuss some wrong assumptions about PEs, has probably not seen my book.) 1 am broadly in agreement with Chaudhuri's proposition that PEs have not received the right kind of support from the government. (The fact that PEs have in the past had relatively easy access to capital funds, from the government budget does not imply 'the right kind of support1.) I am also in agreement with the thesis that PEs have been used for private purposes. This was so particularly from the mid-70s onwards when a process of subversion of all institutions began, and as a part of that process PEs came to be regarded as channels through which money could be collected (for whatever purposes), and also as instruments through which certain political purposes could be served. As a corollary, appointments to the top posts in important' PEs began to be governed by considerations other than those of the requirements of the job. While those tendencies perhaps abated somewhat later on, it cannot be said that they have disappeared; in fact some of them have become common form and have lost the power to shock.

The Cauvery River Dispute: Towards Conciliation by S Guhan; a Frontline Publication, Madras, 1993; pp viii + 78, Rs 50. THE long-standing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on the sharing of the waters of the Cauvery has been a difficult and seemingly intractable one. Driven by the forces of party politics, the two state governments have generated or fostered strong chauvinistic sentiments among the general public, which tend to limit their (the governments')own negotiating freedom and flexibility. Popular frenzy led to tragic violence a year ago and introduced a new strain in the relationship between Tamils and Kannadigas, adding one more potentially divisive element in a country already torn by dissensions of various kinds. A fragile calm has been prevailing for some time, and fortunately it seems to have survived the strain imposed on it by the drama of the Tamil Nadu chief minister's brief fast and the attendant events. However, the situation is unstable and violence can easily erupt again. That must not be allowed to happen. The two governments must be persuaded to abandon their untenable extreme positions and to seek a fair and reasonable settlement. Goodwill between Tamils and Kannadigas must be restored and strengthened. This requires as a first step a campaign to rescue public opinion in the two states (and in Pondicherry and Kerala) from the miasma of error, confusion, prejudice and anger which has clouded it. It is necessary to promote a clear understanding of the evolution of the dispute and the points at issue, and of the lines on which a fair and reasonable settlement which will do justice to all the four basin states can be reached.

78 Representative Men of Bombay, p 200.
79 Bombay Native Observer, March 13, 1843,
80 Natesan, Famous Parsees, pp 164-65. Both K R Cama and Dadabhai Naoroji were idealists in business. Masani Dadabhai Naoroji, pp 72-3.

'Mindsets', Old and New Ramaswamy R Iyer Granting the need for radical reforms in our industrial/economic regime, this paper explores some of the possible consequences of the reforms initiated by the government and the implications of the underlying ideas. It points out that many of the components of the new approach, such as the scrapping of industrial licensing, the unquestioning faith in market forces and the virtues of competition, the strong advocacy of FDI, the liberalisation of imports and the denigration of the old ideas of import substitution and self reliance, while partially valid, have certain implications for the future. It projects a possible scenario of that future. It urges that the concerns that it voices should be recognised as legitimate and addressed, without necessarily reverting to excessive regulation and bureaucratic control.