Balco's a good deal -- PM pushes for PSU reforms

Balco's a good deal -- PM pushes for PSU reforms
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, February 24: With Parliament set to debate the Balco sale next week, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today sent a strong reforms signal defending the Balco decision as a ``good agreement.'' And emphasizing that the Government would push ahead with disinvestment and even the closing down of loss-making PSUs.

On Balco, he said: ``There is no confusion. I'm sure that after discussion in both Houses of Parliament, it will receive assent.'' He was speaking to reporters after releasing the memoirs of late D P Mishra, father of his principal secretary Brajesh Mishra. Vajpayee also denied the Opposition's charge that the deal with Sterlite wasn't ``transparent.''

Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie has already said that the Government is ready to place all documents before the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

Earlier in the day, at a function where Shram Awards were distributed, Vajpayee stressed on workers' rights in the age of reforms. ``Perennially loss-making PSUs'' would have to be shut down, he said, adding that `protection and promotion of workers' interests are an integral part of our reform strategy.''

Vajpayee said that the fruits of the decade-old economic reforms were now visible. The growth rate of the economy had accelerated to six to seven per cent a year and poverty had fallen by 10 percentage points to 26 per cent.

``Now, India has to aim higher. We have set a target to double our per capita income in the next 10 years, so that we can further reduce poverty by half. For this, our economy needs to grow at nine per cent a year in the next decade," he said.

Globalisation, the prime minister said, wasn't going to be easy or painless. Calling for a spirit of partnership between the government, workers and entrepreneurs, he said there was an urgent need for a change in the mindset of Indian entrepreneurs as well as that of workers. It's also important to realise that industries could not forever hope to function behind high tariff barriers or non-tariff measures, he said.

Lauding the role of labour in nation-building, he said that he was often disappointed that some votaries of economic reforms do not refer to workers' welfare in debates on development. ``And when they do refer to workers, it is by showing them as a liability, rather than as a valuable productive asset,'' he said.