Responding to a RTI query , the RBI released list of top 50 wilful defaulters , until September 2019 where public sector banks have written off as much as Rs . 68,607 crore . They include the companies of absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi , fugitive business man Vijay Malya and Neerav Modi . Moreover , till Dec 2018 , the top 100 borrowers of public sector banks had bad loans worth 4.44 lakh crore . It is curious to notice that the government supports this process as it continues waiving off loans of top corporate powers .
Thus the government consciously throws public sector banks into crisis and tries to pump finances to raise their lending capacity . Again , our PSBs are forced to lend to powerful corporate defaulters whose huge loans will be written off later furthering the crisis . This process will end with the privatization of public sector Banks . Disinvestment and Strategic sale as a Big Neo-liberal Policy drama :
The Budget 2021-22 proposes to raise Rs . 1.75 lakh crore through the process of Disinvestment and Strategic sale . The main objective is to minimize the presence of Central Government Public Sector Enterprises including financial institutions so as to create new and wide investment space for private sector . Thus , the “ Disinvestment and Strategic sale ” is a strong neoliberal tool with which all the public sector undertakings , their assets including land will be handed over to powerful domestic / foreign global corporates as quickly as possible . The Budget classifies strategic sector into i ) Atomic Energy , Space & Defence ii ) Transport and Telecommunications iii ) Power , petroleum , coal & other minerals iv ) Banking Insurance and financial services .
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The budget says that in strategic sectors , there will be bare minimum presence of the Public Sector Enterprises . The remaining CPSEs in the strategic sector will be privatized / merged / rationalized with other CPSEs or closed .
In the Non-Strategic sector , CPSEs are either privatized or closed .
The Finance Minister “ proudly ” says that despite covid-19 , the government never stopped working towards disinvestment . This clearly indicates the government ’ s ‘ commitment ’ to transfer the wealth of the nation to corporate forces amidst miserable sufferings of the marginalised due to the covid-19 pandemic . In 2021-22 , disinvestment of BPCL , Air India , Shipping Corporation of India , Container Corporation of India , BEML Pawan Hans , Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd among others will be completed . Further , to fast forward the policy , NITI Ayog will work out on the next list of CPSEs that would be taken for strategic disinvestment . Moreover , States will be incentivized to hasten the process of disinvestment in State PSUs .
Atma Nirbhar Bharat will not accept public assets lying ‘ idle ’. Therefore , surplus land with government Ministries , Departments and PSEs will be monetized by direct sale or concession .
To hasten this process , a ‘ Special Purpose Vehicle ” in the form of a company is proposed to carry out this activity .
This clearly indicates that the government is in a hurry to identify the surplus land available so as to transfer it to Monopoly capital quickly .
In this context , it is seriously warranted to discuss about SVAMITVA [ Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas ] Scheme which is mentioned in the Budget speech as part of one of the six budget pillars of “ Inclusive Development for Aspirational India .” This is the Central Government Scheme under the Ministry of Panchayat Raj , announced hurriedly on April 24 , 2020 , amidst serious crisis of Corona pandemic , to transform rural India into ‘ Atma Nirbhar ’. The aim is to enable villagers to use property as a financial asset for taking loans and for selling and buying . So far , property cards related to the residential land property have been issued to beneficiaries from 763 villages across 6 States . All the 6.62 lakh villages will be covered by 2024 , the Budget says ! The property cards indicate the Residential land ownership in rural India using modern technology of drones . This will be the basis for property tax in rural India . With this the government will clearly estimate the public / common land available in rural India after deducting the land with individual residential land property cards . In fact , rural India consists of various forms of common land which ensures the survival of rural people . If government takes over it , in the name of ‘ Atma Nirbhar ’ to hand over / transfer it to the global corporate forces , what will happen to the common land ? It will disappear totally . The future of India especially rural India will be critical and horrible .
Despite serious Farmer ’ s protest , the government is not ready to repeal the ‘ black ’ Farm Laws and would like to implement them at any cost to alienate the farmer from Farm Lands so as to transfer it to powerful corporate forces . Thus , the transfer of wealth to global monopoly capital in third world countries including India is land-centred which results in the extinction of common / collective public lands which is very much essential for the survival of majority who are excluded from the process
Class Struggle