Open sky is not the limit…Minister of state of Civil Aviation, Praful Patel must be telling himself, but not because of Air India, which is fighting for survival at the moment, but refering to his own personal business. The richest minister of the union government of India is heading the sector which on the verge of a financial collpase.
Praful Patel also runs his Rs 500-crore CeeJay Group & owns one of India’s biggest bidi and tobacco-derivatives businesses. He is also referred as the ‘Bidi King’ in certain parts of Maharshtra. On one hand his business has grown at a tremendous rate, with his revenues increasing each year substantially, and on the other national carrier, Air India which is a public sector unit is struggling to survive. The national carrier has incurred loss of over Rs 7200 crores & accumulated a ‘massive’ Rs 15,000 crores as debt. The problem is that Air India was run comfortably if not profitabily over the past so many decades. The real problem started in the 90’s when a series of irrational steps were taken by the management. But the main trigger point for the speedy downfall was the merger of Air India with the government’s domestic carrier ‘Indian Airline’. Employees in the organization blame the merger as the main cause for the abysmal financial position of Air India.Other major carriers Jet Airways & Kingfisher are also under huge debt and fighting to stay afloat. Many from the industry blame the genuise ‘businessman’ cum minister Praful Patel for not helping the sector to come out of thi mess in any way.
Sharad Pawar the union agriculture minister might be having a tough time fighting the drought that has hit the country but when it come to his own business he has been laughing away to the bank. Though on paper his assets are worth 3.6 crores, but his family has business interest in agricultural land on prime highways which if converted to non agricultural land would fetch a premium of atleast 300%!!! His family also has huge stakes in various projects build around Mumbai & his party controls 70% of the sugar factories in western Maharshtra. According to an article in ‘Covert’ magazine there is a famous joke in Maharashtra about Pawar’s wealth, which people say is enough to run 5 delhis!!!...But yet the state of agriculture is in doldrums.One cannot blame the minister for the drought but what about the steps been taken to reduce the damage. Between 2004 & 2008, from the time Sharad Pawar has been the union agriculture minister, the average number of farmer suicides per year has been 17,513. Assuming that the number will remain the same for this year as well, even though it has been a drought this year, the total number of farmer suicides would be touching 90,000!!
These are just two examples from the current union cabinet of ministers who have been super sucessful businessmen but complete failures in lifting their sectors. The idea is not to target these 2 politicians, as there are many more such names…some of them making wealth illegally. Making personal wealth is not a sin for a politician as long as that is done legitimatly. But when successful businessmen fail to lift their respective sectors as ministers, then it really leaves a big question mark on his ability to deliver.
Sharad Pawar is also the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) president in waiting and has been the successful president of the cash rich Board Control Cricket of India (BCCI). Praful Patel is also on the verge of becoming the president of the All India Football Federation of India (AIFF).Both are known for their business & administration acumen.Then why is that these two ministers have completely failed in their respective sectors???? Aviation ministry was booming 3 years back and is now on the verge of a breakdown. Patel will be blamed for some of the policies and his inabilty to help the sector to fight the crisis. Many would argue that globally the aviation sector is struggling, but then what would one say about Air India, which was atleast able to some how sustain itself till 2 years back. The merger of Air India & Indian airlines (Patel’s brainchild) was implemented against the wishes of many has proved to be a blunder. Similarly, Pawar has failed to device any kind of methods & concrete startegies to help the farmers. It would be unrealistic to completely eradicate farmer suicides in 5 years which has been an ongoing agony for years, but in the last 5 years including the ones in which the rainfall was good, Pawar has failed to bring the number of suicides down. There has been no sign of any williingness to curb this ongoing deadly financial & social virus. In fact in 2006, in the Vidarbha region, which is in his own home state of Maharashtra, 4000 farmers committed suicide. Even if 10% of the revenues which the BCCI generated in the last 5years were invested in helping the farm sector, atleast a few thousand farmers could have been saved.
It would be unfair to generalise all businessmen cum politicians in the same bracket. The Sibals, Marans have atleast proved their agility in their respective sectors.But if changes for these important portfolios are not made soon then it won’t be surprising to see the current UPA government leaving a new legacy behind in the form of ‘Union (Failed ) Minister of successful businesses & sports bodies’.
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