BSNL Crisis Continues, Over 1.68 Lakh Employees Yet to Receive Salary

In an earlier post I wrote about how BSNL is cutting cost by reducing employee benefits and giving the option of VRS to the employees. These are symptoms of an impending disaster; a self made disaster. With a work force four times that of any private telecom operator it is natural that BSNL is making losses on yearly basis. Even with the huge workforce - which has become a liability instead of asset - BSNL provides a poor service which is why it has the lowest market share among all telecom operator.

Poor Work Culture: The huge workforce and low market share imply a poor work culture at the organisation. The work is not done effeciently which results in a poor network availability and customer support. These two combined result in a low market share. To compensate for the poor efficiency more personnel are hired which eat up the profit. It seems BSNL neither has long term vision or short term goals. This company is going the RCOM way and sooner than later will go bankrupt.

For the first time in 18 years, full-time BSNL employees haven’t received their salaries for the month of February, which they were supposed to get on the 28th of last month. On the other hand, contractual employees are in a worse situation in some circles, as they haven’t received their salaries for the last 3 months, and while others haven’t received a penny since the last 6 months.

The employees’ union has written to telecom minister Manoj Sinha urging that the government release funds to the company so it can pay the salaries as well as revive the ailing firm. They have also been reportedly holding demonstrations.

According to a report by Financial Express, BSNL officials said that the company has started paying February salaries now to staff in Kerala, J&K, Odisha and the corporate office. The official said further added saying that as and when the income is generated, salaries will be paid to the staff. As the government has not given any financial support, the salaries are being delayed.

BSNL is allowed to take loan only for capital expenditure in accordance with the rules laid by the Department of Telecom (DoT). The report further adds saying that BSNL has debt of Rs 13,900 crore, Airtel has debt of Rs 1.13 lakh crore while Vodafone has debt of Rs 1.2 lakh crore.

Sources : https://www.news18.com/news/tech/bsnl-crisis-continues-over-1-68-lakh-employees-yet-to-receive-salary-2065127.html

How to buy land in Kashmir?

When Kashmir was under Dogra Rule certain laws were passed which prevented non-Kashmiris from buying land in Kashmir.

After 1947 these laws were left untouched, as per Nehru, to prevent moneyed people from buying all the land there.

Are people really ready to buy land in Kashmir with wads of cash in their hands?

Why are not not moneyed people buying land in other parts of the country where they are free to do so?

Let's do some mathematics and try to find out.
People buy land for two main reasons (1) To build a house live & live there or (2) as an investment

Let us first look at buying lad for the purpose of living. The climate of Kashmir is freezing cold and harsh. Anyone outside from J&K can found the climate good for a few days but living there is uncomfortable. Another factor is cost of living. Here is a comparison of cost of living of Raipur, the capital of Chattisgarh and Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra. As clear the cost of property(Rent/Own) in Raipur is almost ten times cheaper than Mumbai. Why not people are flocking to Raipur? Why Raipur has a population of 10 lakhs while Mumbai has 2 crores?

The reason is the earning potential of Mumbai is more than 60% higher than Raipur. Jammu & Kashmir has a lower per capita GDP than Chattisgarh which doesn't translate into a better per capita GDP than Raipur. It is unlikely that people would go to Jammu & Kashmir to live.

Now come the second reason of buying a property - Investment. Given the violence, militancy and terrorism it is unlikely that people would invest in J&K. We all know what happened to Kashmiri Pandits and their property. When people purchase a land they expect a Return on Investment. In case of J&K it is nearly zero. Hence, it is unlikely that people would buy land in J&K as an investment.

From the above analysis it is clear that even if buying land is made open for people outside J&K, it is unlikely that any buyers will come forward.

Kashmiris should stop living in the delusion that people outside J&K are dying to buy their land.

Sources :
1.  https://scroll.in/article/665862/myth-no-1-about-article-370-it-prevents-indians-from-buying-land-in-kashmir
2. Mumbai vs Raipur
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_states_and_union_territories_by_GDP_per_capita
Image Credit : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rangdum_village_grazing_fields.jpg

BSNL going for cost cutting measures

BSNL the fourth largest telecom company by subscribers is facing losses after arrival of Jio on the scene. BSNL has been forced to cut employee benefits and reduce other benefits.

BSNL is a typical Sarkari Indian company with for times the workforce as that of other telecom players while only having 10% of the marketshare.

"We are cutting costs in terms of electricity, administrative expenses and freezing our employee benefits. For the time being, we are not giving any LTC (leave travel concession) benefits, etc. The medical expenses are also being controlled," Shrivastava said.
"We are working on various models on how to meet the costs (for VRS package), it could either come from the government support or through a soft loan. All these modalities are being worked on," he said.
One of the biggest challenges for BSNL has been its large workforce. Even with the change in technology, the headcount stands has been on a higher side. While other telecom players have about 25,000-30,000 employees, BSNL has over five times that number.
When asked if there have been protests from employees on this move, he said, fortunately, employees have come forward on their own. "They said if you (BSNL) have to really survive, we need have to do various such activities to ensure that company survives the turmoil in the market and benefits to employees can come when the company is profitable."

It's time the top executives of BSNL start to think about the company first and their benefits later.
Sources : https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-bsnl-freezes-employee-benefits-plans-vrs-package-2718511