Page 204 - Education World Dec 2021

Postscript

Elusive Nobel comes! 500,000 barrels per day!’ for Business ndia.
I
At that time under the dynamic leadership of engineer-
technologist N.K.V. Prasad, specially appointed by prime
HE CENTENARY BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF minister Indira Gandhi, there was every possibility of
Dr. Verghese Kurien, the brilliant visionary who
Tengineered India’s White Revolution (1960-80s) India becoming a major producer of crude oil, natural gas
and petroleum. Prasad believed it was impossible that the
that transformed chronically milk deficient India into the huge Indian subcontinent and its territorial waters didn’t
world’s largest producer thereof, was grudgingly celebrat- host large oil reserves.
ed by way of a few paid ads in the Times of I ndia. Typically with ONGC transforming into a valuable na-
Given the posthumous encomiums showered upon him tional asset and one of the country’s largest importers of
these days, it’s difficult to believe that during his lifetime oil exploration and drilling equipment, Prasad didn’t last
Kurien was as much vilified on public platforms — includ- long in ONGC. The cuts and commissions-hungry neta-
ing Parliament — as he is glorified today. One of the great babu brotherhood took charge and a succession of pliant
achievements of your correspondent is a significant role chairmen were appointed. As a result, ONGC’s crude oil
in foiling a communist conspiracy to destroy Kurien and production over the past half century has crept up to a
the White Revolution aka, Operation Flood. mere 19 million tonnes per year. Consequently, energy-
According to one Claude Alvarez, a freelance writer hungry India is one of the largest importers of crude oil
of uncertain antecedents commissioned by self-styled worldwide, with 80 percent of the demand for oil and
poet Pritish Nandy then editor of the llustrated Week ly petroleum products imported at huge cost to the public
I
of I ndia, Kurien was an agent of the European Union treasury (Rs.75 lakh crore per year).
dumping its huge surpluses of dairy products in the Somewhat belatedly the Modi government is exerting
Indian marketplace through the Gujarat Cooperative Milk pressure on ONGC to step up its exploration and produc-
Marketing Federation (GCMMF) which was passing them tion or permit Indian and foreign oil companies to drill
off as Amul milk powder, butter, cheese etc. This feature ONGC’s rich, unexplored and dormant fields. But this is
in the Week ly generated a huge furore in Parliament being resisted by the corporation’s overpaid employees
with comrades leading a chorus for Kurien’s immediate and closet commies who support their dog-in-manger
resignation. justifications. Meanwhile by a curious anomaly, the June-
At that time as editor of BusinessWorld, your corre- September quarter profit of ONGC — Rs.18,348 crore
spondent responded with a 12-page cover feature titled — is its highest ever recorded quarterly profit. But the
‘Operation Flood: Case for the Defence’ (1984), explaining company’s crude oil production declined by 3.8 percent.
that far from being a EU agent, Kurien had persuaded the Go figure!
Union government to canalise surplus dairy products that
the EU was poised to dump in India as aid to GCMMF
which calibrated their release in the Indian market. With Ballooning iceberg
the sales proceeds Kurien built GCMMF’s hi-tech milk
processing plants that converted winter milk surpluses N UNPRECEDENTED OFFICIAL LETTER written
into milk powder which was “recombinated” into liquid by D. Kempanna, president of the Karnataka State
milk for shortages-prone summer months. AContractors Association (KSCA) to the PMO (prime
The GCMMF model was subsequently replicated coun- minister’s office), Delhi, complaining that civil engineer-
trywide by NDDB (National Dairy Development Board) ing proprietaries and firms in Karnataka that execute
conceptualised and chaired by Kurien for several decades. civic projects for the state and municipal governments
Thus within two decades the income of millions of farm- are being forced to pay bribes of 30-40 percent of their
ers was augmented. project fees, has exposed the extent to which corruption in
For his heroic contribution to rural development Ku- this southern state, once renowned for clean and efficient
rien received numerous awards and accolades during his administration, has become institutionalised.
lifetime including Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma This extraordinary KSCA complaint to the PMO ex-
Vibhushan and the World Food Prize (1989). But the No- poses merely the tip of the below-the-waterline corruption
bel Prize which he yearned for, eluded him. Kurien should iceberg that’s ballooning in Karnataka (pop.63 million).
have been awarded it. Lesser individuals have. A series of raids conducted by the state’s Anti-Corruption
Bureau (ACB) in late November against 15 lower bureau-
Dog-in-manger corp cracy (class C and D) officials across the state uncovered
assets grossly disproportionate — including 7 kg of gold,
Rs.15 lakh in cash, luxury cars, and urban and rural im-
HE LEISURELY PACE AT WHICH SLOTHFUL bu- moveable property — to their incomes.
reaucratic public sector enterprises (PSEs) are be- However, nothing much is expected to come of these
Ting privatised is costing the public heavily in terms raids. Under a curious law, government permission is
of lost production and high prices. A case in point is the required to file criminal cases against government em-
public sector Oil & Natural Gas Co Ltd (ONGC) which has ployees. Moreover, ACB’s convictions record is a mere 6
totally belied its early promise. percent.
Way back in 1980, on the occasion of ONGC’s first ma- An amoral rural gentry steeped in caste politics and
jor sub-sea oil strike in Bombay High which generated tre- routine corruption of rural India has swamped the state’s
mendous enthusiasm countrywide, your editor wrote the administration with kith and kin. Therefore, the below
first cover story on ONGC under the euphoric title ‘Here it water-line corruption iceberg is continuously expanding.

204 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2021