These are some of the new initiatives which we have taken.
Some Members certainly made a point about the provision for Bangla Desh. Some of them think that Rs. 60 crores is small amount; but as I said earlier, this is a problem which will have to be looked at in its proper perspective because naturally we will have to see that ultimately our brothers from Bangla Desh who have come here will go back to their country in an honourable and dignified manner. You cannot make such commitments as permanent factors of a Budget and make provision for that. We want the international community to take its proper share in these responsibilities. Here or outside some important persons say that really speaking the deficit in this budget will go to some Rs. 1100 or Rs. 1500 crores on this basis. Well, this is a very fantastic statement to make. But certainly the provision made in the budget is a symbolic provision that this country can afford to make in its Budget. But this is essentially a political question. We will have to make a judgement not as a purely budgetary matter, but as an important political matter as such.
Now, I would like to come to the performance of Public Undertakings. This is an important matter. Several Hon. Members referred to the performance of Public Enterprises and urged the need for improving their functioning and efficiency all round so as to generate adequate surplus for re-investment.
I share the anxiety and the concern of the House in this important area. As the Hon. Members will recall, I dwelt at great length on this problem in my Budget Speech.
While I am acutely conscious of the deficiencies of the public sector, I must mention that during 1969-70, the performance of the public sector has shown an improvement in comparison to the previous years. Of the 81 running concerns, 49 made a profit of Rs. 72.27 crores as against 41 in 1968-69 which made a profit of Rs. 66.07 crores. 32 enterprises including Hindustan Steel Ltd., made a net loss of Rs. 75.76 crores in 1969-70 as against 32 enterprises which made a loss of Rs.94.18 crores in 1968-69. I am saying that improvement is there.
The overall return on the capital employed in 1969-70 after providing Rs.175 crores for depreciation was 4.2 per cent on capital employed as against a return of 2.7 per cent in 1968-1969. In 1969-70, 24 enterprises declared dividends ranging from 3 per cent to 21 per cent.
To take a particular category of public enterprises and say that the whole thing is wrong, is very wrong. As one of the Members of this side explained yesterday, the public enterprises have got a historical task to perform, they have undertaken initiative in establishing production in very important sectors. There again, we have identified the problems. (Interruption)
