The revised estimate for the year 1999-2000 was Rs.1287.7 crore. Out of this, 99 per cent amounting to Rs.1275.2 crore represents the Internal & External Budgetary Support (I & EBR) of the PSUs and the remaining one per cent, amounting to Rs.12.50 crore constitutes Plan Budgetary Support. The budget estimate for the steel sector during 1999-2000 was Rs.2082.40 crore.

    The Budget allocation for investment in public enterprises of the steel sector, this year, is 416.5 crore more than the revised estimates of 1999-2000. The major schemes being implemented by the PSUs with the Plan Outlay are modernisation of some plants of SAIL, modification/replacement of plants and equipments of other PSUs, and mining related activities of NMDC, KIOCL, MOIL, etc.

‘18’

PLAN OUTLAY FOR STEEL SECTOR 1992-2001

    The Actual Expenditure (AE) for the years 1992-93 – 1998-99, the Revised Estimate (RE) for 1999-2000 and the Budget Estimate for 2000-2001 for the steel sector are given below along with the yearly Budgetary Support (BS). The AE, RE and BE include the Budgetary Support from the Central Government and the Internal and External Budgetary Resources (I & EBR) of the Public Sector Undertakings:

YEAR ACTUAL EXPENDITURE BUDGETARY SUPPORT

'28'

REFORMS NECESSARY FOR POWER SECTOR IMPROVEMENT

    The Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the one-day conference. Shri P.R. Kumaramanglam's speech at power ministers' conference held here today :

    "This conference of Power Ministers' of the States and Union Territories Government has been convened with the object of agreeing on a common and collective approach to supply reliable and quality power at affordable prices to all sections of the society. I consider this conference to be a historic one for more than one reason. Not only is this the first meeting of the Power Ministers in the 21^st century, but by the outcome of this meeting the entire spectrum of the power sector in the country would gain a new dimension.

    The Power Ministers of the country had met in October and December 1996 and evolved a National consensus for improving the performance of the power sector in a time-bound manner. To achieve this end, they unanimously adopted a 'Common Minimum National Action Plan for Power' (CMNAPP). Two years later, in December 1998, we had met again and drawn a 'Power Reform Initiative' . I am happy to inform that both CMNAPP and Power Reform Initiative have been by and large implemented in letter and spirit. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has been set up and is fully functional. Fourteen states have already set up State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs). Necessary amendments have been brought in to the legislation to enable private sector participation in Transmission and Distribution. Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have unbundled their State Electricity Boards (SEBs) and set up Industry corporate entities. A special package for power development in the North East has been announced. It includes development up of major hydel projects like Dehand Subansiri Basin (20,700 MW) in Arunachal Pradesh, Tipaimukh (1500 MW) in Manipur and Ranganadi (405 MW) in Arunachal Pradesh and subsidised wheeling charges for transmission of power, Government announced a Mega Projects. Two Mega Projects viz. CEPA and Pipavav are in an advanced stage of negotiation. A proposal for securitisation of outstanding dues is under the consideration of the Cabinet. In order to enable CPSUs to take up new projects for generation and transmission more and more state Governments are opening Letters of Credit to purchase power from Central Power Utilities (CPUs). A new Bill on Energy Conservation has been introduced in the Lok Sabha just a day before. By these measures, the agenda of reforms as envisaged in the CMNAPP and Power Reform Initiative has been fulfilled. Let me go on record to state that implementation of the above stated measures was not a smooth sailing. Both the Central Government and State Governments had to face stiff resistance from vested interests. But people's support reinforced our resolve to implement these measures without dilution.

    Before proceeding further, I shall like to make a pointed reference to the specific remarks made by the Hon. Prime Minister during his address at the last Power Ministers' Conference. He had announced that six groups have been constituted under the Council of Trade and one group was pertaining to Power and other infrastructure sectors. We have implemented almost all the recommendations made the Group on infrastructure. The Hon. Prime Minister had also given a very valuable suggestion that the Ministry of Power set up a Crisis Resolution Group (CRG) to resolve the so called last mile problems of the private power projects. The Ministry had promptly set up the CRG and steady progress has been made towards achieving financial closure by the selected power projects. Thirteen projects with around 5500 MW capacity have already achieved financial closure and 6 projects with 2000 MW capacity are on the verge of achieving it. Despite the maximum cooperation shown by all the members of the CRG including the financial institutions, it was generally observed that there is an apparent inhibition on the part of the financial institutions to finance power projects. This is largely because investments in the power sector are per se perceived as unviable by the Fis due to the extremely poor financial health of the SEBs. The apprehensions of the financial institutions are not misplaced. But still I would urge the FIs to adopt more prudent approach towards the power sector.

    Outstanding dues of CPSUs on State Electricity Boards (SEBs) have reached Rs. 23,000 crore and is estimated to increase to Rs. 1,50,000 crore by 2005 and Rs. 500000 crore by 2012. The operational inefficiency in the SEBs are resulting in an annual loss of over Rs. 12,000 crore (Financial Year 1999) and expected to increase to over Rs. 1,70,000 crore by the financial year 2012. The avarage national T&D losses stands at over 40% with very high commercial losses due to thefts and pilferage with an active connivance of employees of SEBs. According to the estimates made by one of the consultants, average losses due to thefts and pilferage of electricity in the country as a whole amounts to over Rs. 30,000 crore annually. Can this situation continue? Can we in this state of affairs commit ourselves to supply power to all by 2012?

    You will be surprised to know that 35 crores of population and 7.7 crore of households are still without electricity. Our per capita power consumption stands at only 338 unit, which is one of the lowest in the world. Given the present financial health of the SEBs , which will further worsen, the state sector may at best and another 4000 MW and the private sector another 10,000 MW in the next 12 years. The central sector is likely to add 40,000 MW during this period. If the outstanding dues of CPSUs continue to mount as estimated, even this capacity addition by the central sector would be difficult. Out requirement as per the draft 16^th EPS is about 100000 MW thus there will be a gap of nearly 46000 MW in the requirement. Given the situation that emerges before us now, the energy shortage will widen from present 6% to 18% and peak shortage will widen from existing 11% to 24%. It will adversely effect the economy as a whole and slacken development of the country.

    We have virtually, reached a stage of no return and the entire sector is caught in a spiral web. To increase efficiency and create additional generation capacity, we need huge investments. It is estimated that Rs. 720,000 crore would be required during the X and XI Plan Period for power generation and transmission purposes. The generating companies are unable to make these investments because their plans are getting affected due to the inability of the SEBs to pay them back. It is a vicious circle. The SEBs cannot raise revenue as they have poor and accountable system of selling electricity and collecting revenue. Financial institutions are not coming forward to finance private sector power projects because of their assessment that such projects would not be in a position to recover investments due to poor financial health of the SEBs. Government both Central and State, cannot provide budgetary support to their corporations and boards owing to their own financial constraints. The CPSUs are getting increasingly constrained from making new investments as their balance sheets are getting adversely affected due to poor recoveries from the SEBs. After analyzing the entire scenario, I have reached the conclusion that perhaps our diagnosis of the problem was not correct. So far, the diagnosis and prescription have been as simple as that there is a demand and supply gap and if this gap is bridged, the entire country can be supplied with elecricity. Therefore, the accent of our endeavors had been on creating additional new generation capacities. In the last couple of years there has been some attention towards rationalisation of the tariffs to ensure some reasonable Rate of Return. The experience with this approach has also not been very satisfactory.

    I think, we will have to change our strategy to tackle this complicated problem. In this conference, I would therefore like to mention that in my assessment the power sector can improve only if we can account for every unit of electricity sold and recover the revenue for the same. Unless this is done, there cannot be any respite from the increasing problems of the sector. Further, the States will have to make sincere and extensive efforts for upgrading and strengthening sub-transmission and installing capacitors system by converting LT lines to HT lines, installing capacitors to improve power factors & energy efficient transformers coupled with installation of electronic meters at sub-stations and all the consumers, losses to acceptable level. Similarly, extensive Renovation & Modernisation (R&M)/ Life Extension (LE) programme would need to be initiated to increase the operational efficiency of more than 50% of the power stations from existing level of less than 40% to over 70%. R&M/LE can create capacity at less than 25% of the cost required for a new capacity addition. Considering substantial benefit that could accrue to the power sector through strengthening of sub-transmission & distribution and implemeting R&M programme, the Government of India proposes to provide a special dispensation beginning the next financial year. This scheme will have grant as well as loan component. However, without reform the power sector can not improve. Therefore, it has been decided to provide assistance under this programme only to those States, which undertake systematic reforms.

    However, this alone would not result in tackling the theft & pilferage problem which has assumed menacing proportion in the power sector. Not more than 40% of the total consumers in the country are metered, many of which are often tempered to show lower consumption. All these losses of theft, pilferage and non-metering are camouflaged under T&D losses. WE today need to resolve to prevent this National loss with zeal and determination. We need to launch a new programme and introduce innovative methods like energy auditing at sub-station level, electronic and remote control metering, pre-paid card metering etc. to overcome this malaise. It would be a stupendous task. There could be opposition from vested interests at various levels to allow the prevailing inept system to continue. We shall have to withstand the onslaught of vested interests unanimously and firmly.

    Considering the problem facing the sector as a whole and with the intention of achieving commercial viability and providing power at a reasonable to all, reform in the power sector must be undertaken with determination and sense of urgency. Delay in reform will increase the cost of reforms. It has been estimated that a delay of three years in undertaking reforms will increase the fund requirement by over Rs. 150000 and will increase exponentially thereafter. To enable the states to undertake reforms speedily, a central legislation which would obviate the need for separate enactments for the states, is being proposed. A draft Bill has been submitted by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has already been sent to you. The draft Bill suggests corporatisation of all the State Electricity Boards and their restructuring into separate entities that would prove for accountability based on profit centres, whether public or Commission on the lines of the 1998 Act. The draft Bill also provides for a clear delineation of roles and responsibilities . The States will get more powers and freedom. The draft also recommends sufficient elbow room for the States to determine their own pace and priorities. Job security for SEB employees has also been recommended by NCAER so that redundancy does not cause any undue hardship Power theft, the most daunting menance of this industry, has been severely dealt with through summary trial as well as stiff penalities. It may be recalled that very large volumes of power theft are currently covered under the euphemism of T&D losses by most SEBs and the brunt of these thefts is borne by the honest consumers.

    A draft Bill submitted by NCAER would form the basis of national debate and the consensus on the contents of the new Bill. I request the States to send their detailed comments on this draft Bill to the Ministry of Power at the earliest.

'17'

GOVERNMENT POLICY FOR DEVELOPMENT OF AGRO AND RURAL INDUSTRIES

    Agro and rural industries have been identified as a thrust area for Government support in terms of technology and skill upgradation, identification of viable shelf of projects and promotion of such industries through cluster approach. There already exist specific institutions such as the Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC) for essential oil industry, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants and Regional Research Laboratories for providing advisory services in the area of food processing industries and essential oils. Apart from this, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission makes special efforts to assist agro and rural industries under various schemes, including the Margin Money Scheme, which has resulted in creation of rural employment to the tune of 44.44 lakh as of 31.03.1999. Moreover, KVIC also assists in setting up Common Facility Centres and artisan clusters for the promotion of agro rural industries.

    This information was given by Minister of Small Scale Industries and Agro and Rural Industries, Smt. Vasundhara Raje in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

'17B'

RURAL CLUSTERS’ AIM TO SUPPORT COTTAGE INDUSTRIES

    The Government has launched a National Programme for Rural Industrialisation under which 100 rural clusters are to be established every year. KVIC has identified 50 rural clusters, of which 11 clusters have already been extended with need-based support. The clusters identified are located in the States of Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and the North Eastern States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur. The activities covered include soap, handmade paper, bee keeping, leather, silk khadi, acane and bamboo, medicinal plants, palm gur, fruit and vegetable processing, rural engineering etc. Similarly, such clusters are also be identified and assisted by SIDO, SIDBI and NABARD. The cluster approach is aimed at helping cottage industries emerge stronger and competitive in facing the emerging challenges.

    This information was given by Minister of Small Scale Industries and Agro and Rural Industries, Smt. Vasundhara Raje in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

'17B'

EMPLOYMENT CONTRIBUTION OF SMALL AND COTTAGE INDUSTRIES

    The Small Scale and cottage sector contributes more than 50 per cent of industrial employment in the country. Promotion of small and cottage industries for increasing the employment opportunities is one of the accepted policies of the Government. An outlay of Rs. 4,304 crore has been provided in the Ninth Five year Plan to the Ministry of SSI & ARI for development and promotion of small and cottage industries. At the Central level, Small Industries Development Organisation has been running a large number of schemes for promotion of SSI sector; these include technology upgradation, market development, infrastructural development, entrepreneurship development and dissemination of information. Credit to SSI sector is provided through Small Industries Development Bank of India, State Financial Corporations, commercial banks etc. Similarly, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission works for the promotion of Khadi and Village Industries with a package of assistance covering finance, training, marketing R&D etc.

    A special scheme of employment generation called, Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) for educated unemployment youth, was launched in October, 1993.

    This information was given by Minister of Small Scale Industries and Agro and Rural Industries, Smt. Vasundhara Raje in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

'14'

FOREIGN ASSISTANCE TO PAKISTAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME

    Government is aware of reports of foreign financial assistance to Pakistan’s nuclear programme. In addition, China has provided assistance, inter-alia, in setting up an unsafeguarded reactor and plutonium reprocessing facility, provided ring magnets, heavy water, diagnostic equipment, etc. Pakistan has also acquired nuclear technology and equipment from Western Countries. In contrast, it is universally recognised that India’s nuclear programme, the oldest in Asia, is totally indigenous.

    India has an extensive civilian nuclear programme that generates considerable socio-economic benefits. Further, India’s nuclear policy has always been marked by restraint ensuring of minimum necessary action to safeguard the country’s critical security interests. Thus, the costs involved with the exercise of India’s nuclear option have been minimum.

    This information was given by Minister of State in the Department of Atomic Energy, Smt. Vasundhara Raje in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

CUBAN AMBASSADOR CALLS ON UNION HEALTH MINISTER

    The Minister Shri N.T.Shanmugam, apprising the Cuban Ambassador of the various on going health programmes in the country, has assured full cooperation with Cuba in the field of health.

    The Minister has also formed a Committee of Secretaries to take up the issues of payment of wage arrears and other statutory dues to PSU employees. The Committee of Secretaries comprises Secretary, Ministry of Labour; Secretary Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance; & Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises and Heavy Industry. The Secretaries of Ministry of Textiles, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of steel, Ministry of Surface Transport, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Commerce, Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, and Department of Fertilizers have been co-opted as members.

    This information was given by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Shri Muni Lal in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

    There are 182 ILO Conventions and 190 ILO Recommendations treated as international labour standards. Conventions are open to ratification by member States whereas Recommendations are guidelines to member countries. India has ratified 38 ILO Conventions including 3 core Conventions which is a far better record compared to even many developed countries. Out of the remaining 5 Core Conventions, the Government has decided to ratify Convention No.105 concerning abolition of forced labour and a statement to this effect will be laid before both the Houses of parliament during this session.

    The Government is also contemplating to introduce a central legislation fixing a minimum age of 14 years for admission to employment and work and its satisfactory compliance would enable India to ratify Convention No.138 concerning minimum age for admission to employment. Government of India is also undertaking tripartite and interministerial consultations with a view to taking a decision on the ratification of ILO Convention No.182 concerning worst forms of child labour.

    The guarantees provided in Convention No.87 and 98 are by and large in conformity with the Indian Constitution, laws and practices but India could not ratify these due to reasonable restrictions put on government servants. Ratified Conventions are implemented through national laws and practices and their enforcement is achieved through labour inspections at workplaces.

    This information was given by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Shri Muni Lal in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

'18S'

ESI NETWORK FOR WORKERS

    The Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has set up 137 ESI hospitals, 43 annexes and 1452 dispensaries for providing medical care to the insured persons and their families. Besides reserving 3519 beds in other hospitals, the Corporation has also set up 2722 IMP clinics. The latest super-speciality service are presently being made available to the beneficiaries through tie-up arrangements with reputed medical institutions. A Revolving Fund has also been constituted by the ESIC for providing advances for super speciality tests and treatment.

    On the basis of recommendations of the Satyam Committee, ceiling on the expenditure on medical care has recently been enhanced by the ESIC from Rs.500/- to Rs.600/- per I.P. per annum with effect from 1.4.99. In order to improve medical care facilities in ESI hospitals/dispensaries, the ESI Corporation has recently formulated an Action Plan and forwarded the same to the State Government for implementation. The Action Plan includes, inter-alia, provision of modern equipments in hospitals, establishment of Regional trauma centres, establishment of super-speciality services, blood banks, cancer prevention centres, development of indigenous system of medicine and provision of necessary equipments in dispensaries. In order to provide proper diagnosis and timely treatment of occupational diseases, the Corporation has set up four Occupational Diseases Centres one each at Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai and Chenni.

    The objective of the ESI scheme is to provide certain cash benefits i.e. sickness benefit, maternity benefit, disablement benefit, dependent benefit and to provide for medical care to the insured persons (IPs) and their families . It is the responsibility of the State Government to provide for insured persons reasonable medical, surgical and obstetric treatment.

    This information was given by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Shri Muni Lal, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.