Supine public deserts

Hooray! a consortium of public sector banks led by the State Bank of India has given in principle nod to a revised debt recast package for the ailing — rather tail-spinning — national airline Air India, according to a relieved report in the Economic Times (February 18). Under the debt restructuring plan, the banks will immediately subscribe to new government-guaranteed bonds valued at Rs.7,400 crore, and later chip in with Rs.13,600 crore by way of a long-term loan to this airline, which has outstanding loans and dues aggregating Rs.67,520 crore. Lest the banks are nervous about increasing their exposure to this sputtering airline which has run up losses aggregating to Rs.16,000 crore, the SBI has helpfully suggested that the bonds could be subsequently disbursed among several insurance companies and mutual funds where they would be lost within their portfolios — much like sub-prime mortgages were sliced and diced and sold to mutual funds and institutional investors in the US, precipitating the global financial crisis of 2008.But while for government and public sector banks saving Air India is axiomatic, one wonders why the public — which ultimately foots the bill of repeatedly recapitalising this overmanned and underefficient airline — is willing to do so. For over three decades, your editor has been continuously attempting (Business India, Businessworld and EW) to arouse public opinion in favour of privatising Air India, arguing it has long become the private airline of the nations political class. The latest example of politicians converting this deep-in-the-red public sector airline to their own use is the outcome of an RTI (Right to Information) response by Air India whose management has confirmed that on April 25, 2010, an Airbus 319 which flies the Bangalore-Male (Maldives) route was replaced by an Airbus 320 with larger business or J class capacity, for the specific convenience and comfort of Avni the daughter and in-laws of the then Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel. Unfortunately, the brazenness with which the neta-babu kleptocracy has bent and broken Air India to its will is the rule rather than exception. Despite this, your editors persistent recommendation to auction Air India and its assets and invest the proceeds in education and healthcare, has been an unheeded voice in the wilderness. The cynics are right: the supine public gets the politicians it deserves. Porn wave protest Sont you watch porn? this was the rhetorical question Karnatakas disgraced former chief minister and BJP strongman B.S. Yeddyurappa — who has over a dozen corruption and a murder case pending against him — asked media scribes when they sought his reaction to three of his henchmen — all ministers in the ruling BJP government of the state — watching pornography in the state legislative assembly on February 7. Unfortunately, your editor was not present when this question was posed and remained unanswered by members of the fraternity. I would have answered: Once in a blue (pun intended) moon and that too in the privacy of my home after locking all doors…