President gives away Scope Meritorious Awards at Public Sector Day Celebration

President gives away Scope Meritorious Awards at Public Sector Day Celebration

The President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil today gave away the SCOPE meritorious awards in specialized fields for the year 2009-10 on the occasion of Public Sector Day Celebrations organised jointly by Department of Public Enterprises(DPE) and Standing Conference of Public Enterprises(SCOPE) here today. The Minister for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises Shri Praful Patel, the Minister of State for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises Shri A. Sai Prathap, Chairman BRPSE Dr. Nitish Sengupta, Secretary Department of Public Enterprises Shri Bhaskar Chatterjee, Chairman SCOPE Shri Arup Roy Choudhury and Director General SCOPE Dr. U.D. Choubey were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion the President drew attention to what needed to be done in the future, to ensure that CPSEs prosper and grow at an even faster rate. “High priority should be accorded to developing human skills in the area of management and innovation. There should be a focus on investing in the next generation of technology, and in creating more capacities, as well as product development and process improvement. Appropriate relationships with other institutions, public and private, local and global, to enhance their own technological competence, could be established. Transparency in working and operations, which includes financial accountability and probity, is of utmost importance. The empowerment of profit making CPSEs and restructuring of sick and loss making ones, are important issues which need to be addressed on a priority basis.” She said that a more open mind was needed to deal with the complexities of the issues involved, while addressing the problems of sick and loss making Units.

The President said that she would like the PSEs to come up with a new viable model of engaging with the farming community that takes into account local conditions, and attracts and creates confidence in farmers by making them stakeholders. In such a model, the corporate sector would become contributors to and, in turn, gain from bringing rural prosperity and enhancing agricultural productivity.

Addressing the gathering the Minister for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises Shri Praful Patel said that the PSEs continue to be the backbone of India’s industrial growth and economic progress and the time has now come to give them more impetus and strength. The benefits of economic development, the Minister said, specially in the far flung areas, have resulted because of the public sector enterprises who have carried out yeomen’s work across the length and breadth of the country. However, the Minister said, they are not in isolation nor they do work in the monopolistic environment any more. They therefore have to be given more teeth and more operational freedom while maintaining all the requisite checks and balances. He said that the current list of Maharatnas and Navaratnas are to be augmented with companies like BHEL and GAIL joining their ranks. Shri Patel also said the succession planning in the Public Sector companies is an area of neglect. A proper system must be put in place to ensure continuity and to allow for better planning of the companies . He said that there should be changes in the process of selection of the board of members of the PSU companies, only those people should be selected to the board as members who can significantly contribute to the development of the company.


The Minister of State for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises Shri A. Sai Prathap also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the significance of the public sector companies in India’s growth.

The President gave away the SCOPE Gold trophy to:

• Steel Authority of India Ltd. for Environmental Excellence & Sustainable Development
• Bharat Electronic Limited for Corporate Governance
• Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. for Corporate Social Responsibility & Responsiveness
• Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. for R&D, Technology Development & Innovation
• Indian Oil Corporation Limited for best practices in Human Resource Management
• Punjab National Bank for best managed bank, financial institution or insurance company
• National Safai Karmacharis Finance & Development Corporation for best managed PSE set up under section 25.

Commendation certificates were given to:

• NMDC Limited for corporate social responsibility & responsiveness
• Central Mine Planning & design institute Ltd. for R&D, Technology Development & Innovation
• Power Finance Corporation for best Managed Bank, Financial Institution or Insurance Company.

The President gave the SCOPE felicitation award to the Maharatna CPSES – Indian Oil Corporation Limited, NTPC Limited, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited and Steel Authority of India Limited. On the occasion, the President also released the Public Sector Flag.

The President also gave away certificates of conferment of Mahartna status to Coal India Limited, conferment of Navratna status to Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited and conferment of Miniratna status to Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited.