Public Sector or not

Why is government in the business of business ?? They should stick to governance!

Haven't we heard this a million times. The argument I am making is that Public sector has been essential for the well being and the economic balance of this world.

I am a product of the public sector in bangalore. Dad left home to join the airforce. He took early retirement and then joined Hindustan aeronautics Limited as a aircraft service engineer and worked his way to become a Senior Manager. During this course he gave us , my brother and sister included a good life, a good education and eventually we got a better life , than, what he himself lived for a long time.

This is the story of thousands of families in Bangalore, in HAL, BEL, ITI, BEML and other score of Indian public sector, where the government wealth was spread to ensure thousands of people at the bottom of the pyramid got a chance to escape out from poverty to some income and for some from low middle class to upper middle class and propel their children into HNI. It is these institutions that created the talent pool that became the big "IT story of India".

Public sector is the tool that the government has, that allows it to insert money at the bottom of the pyramid and ensure spread of wealth and spending that allows economies to pull out of recession when needed. I am not surprised that the corporate tax cut in the recent past did not yield result for the government. The same money if pushed to build Roads, Trains and weapons would have resulted in millions buying the "shampoo sachets" at the village kirana store. Figure the economic impact out.

Private sector in fact does the opposite. It brakes investments and holds back. It removes people from employment. It is all the time thinking of consolidating wealth with a fewer people. It is the philosophy that becomes the reason for the great gap in haves and have nots and eventually if not controlled lived will lead to social anarchy.

It is for this very reason that we need public sector. I would argue that some areas of human consumptions should stay only with the public sector. Yes, there are management issues to tackle, but efficiency read as "too many people" is not one of them.

If SBI steps in to save investors money, I say more power to government. It is important for the man at the bottom of the pyramid to know that his money is safe. Every other intellectual view can take a back seat.

Lastly, I spent enormous time with a public sector bank these days. They work theirs butts off, and believe me more than their private sector counter parts. They are slow in adopting technology and making decisions, only because they are in public scrutiny for making any decision. Eventually , like SBI they will get ahead on technology (Heard of YONO ??). They will give the private sector banks a run for their money (pun intended) because they have intrinsically built in them something called "Trust".

PS : These are my personal views and very much a simplified view to make a point. Go ahead and share if you are a public sector product and also tell your stories in the comment.