contracts at comparative terms , which resulted in securing the business at very uneconomical rates ”. ( Page-22 )
This particular instance is enough to show how the foreign monopolies are occupying the summits in the public sector to reap profits as in the case of the partnership of Burma Oil Company , in Oil India Ltd , in the case of product exchange arrangements between Indian Oil Company and other foreign oil companies ; and further , as in the case of sale of imported Soviet oil , due to undercutting of prices . In all cases , the public sector , instead of curbing the monopoly designs for super-profits , has played into their hands .
Growing dependence on foreign oil companies for imported crude even in the case of public sector projects , is having a distorting effect on our foreign exchange bill . Successive investigation made by the Shantilal Shah Committee and the Damle Committee have shown that we have been paying through our nose for our oil products because of our total dependence on a few international oil companies which dominate the world market . In an editorial on petroleum policy in the ‘ Economic Times ’ on May 25 , 1969 , it is said that “ in 1968-69 , of the 16 million tonnes crude processed indigenously , we imported as much as 10 million tonnes ...... projections suggest that in the next 4 or 5 years , the imports may be nearly two-thirds of the crude oil required ”. It is not only a question of excessive payments in foreign exchange . Much more , the oil policy of the Government of India , under the influence of the foreign oil companies , has completely discouraged the efficient use of our own raw materials such as coal on a priority basis , resulting in underproduction of coal , closure of pits , and increasing unemployment . The dieselization of railways and increased use of furnace oil in our industries is a case in point . Thus the concessions and incentives given to the oil companies clearly show that India , more than being an
12 independent and sovereign nation , is much more a semi-colony .
Any number of examples can be given to show how the public sector has become a profitable pasture for the private sector at the cost of the nation . Only through two examples , it can be shown , how the private sectorespecially the foreign private sector - is profiting directly from the public sector . Loss to Public Sector , Profit to Private Sector
The UP Electricity Board suffered a loss of Rs . 103.57 lakhs during 1967-69 due to underassessment of power charges supplied to the Hindustan Aluminum Company of Birlas - one of the biggest industrial giants in India built with US Funds - almost under the control of the Kaisers of America . Power minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari , admitted in the State Assembly on July 13 , 1971 , that the State Electricity Board was suffering a loss of Rs . 2.5 to 3 crores a year because of the supply of power at concessional rates to Birla ’ s Hindustan Aluminum Corporation . This American - owned firm is supplied power by the Electricity Board at a rate of 1.99 paisa a unit , which is very much less than the cost of production itself .
The public sector company , Indian Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd ., sells bulk drugs to the predominantly foreign-owned drug industry in the private sector . The drug industry stamps tablets , packs and distributed these drugs , at rates of profit touching 2000 per cent of the ‘ production cost .
Productioncost is being put-up under inverted commas because it is not the drug companies that are tableting , packing , and distributing them . But we do not hear of the IDPL , insisting that the price of the finished drugs should bear a reasonable relation ( say five times even ) for the prices of the bulk formulations which IDPL is supplying to the drug companies . The information that has been provided in a ‘ Mainstream ’ article , October 16 , 1971 , clearly indicates how Soviet help to the public sector industry is helping the foreign monopolies to reap exorbitantly high profits to the detriment of the Indian people .
Even so , the Soviet revisionists proclaim through their books , pamphlets , and the articles in their newspapers , that the aid from the socialist countries has undermined the former monopoly position of the imperialist powers in India . As it has been quoted in the first paragraph of this chapter , the Soviet revisionists proclaim that the growth of the State sector in India has played an important part in reducing the power of the monopolies . How false the statement is can be seen from the above example even though they are only a few .
Joint Sector and Foreign Private Capital
This is not the end of the story . In the name of the joint sector , and establishing industries in the state sector , more and more foreign capital has acquired for its own benefit the scarce Indian capital , through the Government . The following few instances taken from the Annual Report on the working of the Industrial Commercial Undertakings of the Central Government , 1964-65 show how foreign and Indian monopolies have with vigour occupied position of strength in the public sector to use it for their own benefit as against national interest .
Engineers India Ltd . was incorporated on March 15 , 1965 , in collaboration with Bechtel Corporation for providing engineering , technical , and consultancy services for petroleum products , development of oilfields , pipelines , petrochemical facilities , fertilizer projects , and designing and constructing general engineering , mining and other allied products . Of the shares of this company , 50 per cent are held by the Government of India and 49 per cent by foreign companies .
The Indian Oil Corporation which was set up by amalgamating the two public sector companies , the Indian Refineries Ltd . and the Indian Oil
Class Struggle