A call to Nehruvian Nationalism

Over the years it has been repeatedly proved that public sector companies fare a lot better than their money-crazy private competitors. Be it BSNL or ONGC or LIC or whatever, India as a nation I feel is yet to realize that nationalization of industries is a lot better and our beloved forefathers weren't wrong after all. Of course people complain about the speed of delivery, corruption and quality of service... and what not. Its so interesting to note that, they gleefully ignore to ask if the private players are any better!!!

PSUs have been accused of monopoly for decades. So what am I supposed to accuse the private players of? Monarchy?? Most of those huge private players, say Reliance, or Jindal, or Mittal, have a huge portfolio. Reliance for example does all kinds of integration - vertical, horizontal, cross, you name it. Where's the perfect competition market or the emancipated consumer that the LPG revolution boasts of so often.

On the other hand, PSUs have stood the test of time. There have been pitfalls, agreed. But they've braved the rains and storms and still stand tall. Here's an incident that took place right before my eyes. A colleague of mine was asked to report at Chandigarh (while most of the vacancies were at Maharashtra and Gujarat - quite unheard of in private cos) because she's married and a mother too. She requested the management to change her posting to Ludhiana because her family was there... and guess what??!! THEY DID! And that's the pleasure of working for a public sector.

I'm reminded of a PPT that took place at a college. An HR of a software major proudly announced that the average age at his organization was only 32. A young voice rose from one of the back rows shot back, 'so what happened to those loyal old people, did y'all kick 'em out?' Its a known fact that one out of one ages. One of these days we're getting old. Forget the profits, quality, reliability, stability and trust which are of course a part of the package. But at the core of it all, PSUs have a heart and that COUNTS! Its time to return to Nehruvian nationalism. After all, socialism works!