The Sam Pitroda panel, constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has come up with the correct prescription to restore the ailing PSU's health. Now the ball is in the government's court.

The reaction was predictable. Fifteen employee unions of the state-run telecom behemoth Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) were up in arms against the recommendations of the Sam Pitroda panel report and went on a nationwide agitation, on March 15, 2010, to symbolically register their protest. Taking strong exception to the BSNL board's decision to accept the recommendations of the said report, the protesting employee unions have also decided to go on a day-long strike on April 20, 2010.

The high-level panel—headed by Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Infrastructure, Innovation, and Information, and comprising HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh and Union Telecom Secretary P J Thomas as members—was constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in January 2010, to look into issues relating to the fast deteriorating financial health and competitiveness of BSNL (its profits declined to just Rs 575 cr in 2008-09 from over Rs 10,000 cr six years ago) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and give recommendations within a month. While granting that the position of MTNL, which offers services only in Delhi and Mumbai, was comparatively better and hence the issues concerning it be considered in the normal course separately, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) minced no words when it came to BSNL: "There was an agreement that the situation of BSNL required immediate action to address both the short as well as long-term issues affecting its financial health and competitiveness."

The Analyst Magazine, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, BSNL, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, MTNL, Union Telecommunications, Decision Making Process, Security Agencies, Voluntary Retirement Scheme, VRS, Business Units, Optic Fiber Cable, Mobile Telephony, Public Sector Enterprises, Telecom Sectors.