Fractured Factories

Government wants to corporatise ordnance factories to make them more professional, but employees fear it would lead to privatisation.

- Pradip R. Sagar

SUBHASH CHANDRA’S first day in office as secretary, defence production—August 24—began on a good note: the defence ministry convinced the employee unions of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to suspend their month-long strike, launched on August 20.

More than 82,000 employees from 41 ordnance factories across the country were protesting against the government’s move to corporatise the OFB, fearing the eventual privatisation of the factories. In a first, all three unions—the left-affiliated All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF), the Congress-affiliated Indian National Defence Workers Federation and the RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh—joined hands in protest.

Though Chandra, in an hour-long meeting, assured the unions that no final decision had been taken about the OFB’s corporatisation and that all their concerns would be addressed by a high-level committee, there is little the defence ministry can do. For, the move to corporatise the OFB figures in the 167 ‘transformative ideas’ to be implemented in the first 100 days of Modi 2.0. The OFB, once corporatised, would become a defence public sector undertaking (DPSU); currently, it is an attached office of the department of defence production. In a statement, the defence ministry said: “Corporatisation will bring the OFB on par with other DPSUs. This is in its interest as it will provide operational freedom and flexibility, which it presently lacks.”