All hope is not lost. At least some people in government think straight. Planning Commission member Montek Singh Ahluwalia suggested at a seminar in New Delhi on 5 July that ministries should be kept out of the privatisation process. Considering the shoddy job that the ministries have done during the Congress, National Front and BJP regimes, and considering that the process has actually deteriorated rather than improved with time, it's high time we cut the talk and handed over the task to specialists.

Ahluwalia believes a separate implementation agency should handle the disinvestment process. We already have one, or, to be more precise, we at least have an agency that is supposed to advice the government in the matter. It's the Disinvestment Commission, headed by former diplomat and chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, G.V. Ramakrishna.

This commission, created by the Congress government, has found less and less work to do with every change in government. And today the debate in Delhi seems to be centred round whether it should be wound up. Fortunately the government has decided to give the commission an extension of tenure.

But that's hardly what's wanted. Extension has no meaning for a castrated commission when what it needs is some strong doses of statutory Viagra. The Disinvestment Commission should be strengthened, and given powers of implementation that are not left to the tenders mercies of ministers and administrative ministry bureaucrats.

There is good reason for excluding officials (and ministers) from the administrative ministries that control the various public sector units. Control gives them power (and more), and they have a clear vested interest in not letting go.

If the government is serious about reducing its holdings in many PSUs to minority stakes, the companies will be freed from interference from Delhi's officialdom. That will obviously reduce the importance of ministers and officials, and they will do everything they can to stop it from happening or delaying it as much as they can. And coming up with ridiculous schemes such as exchange of equity between PSUs, which makes a mockery of privatisation because it leaves the ministers and bureaucrats in as much control of these companies as at any time in the past.

At least two things will not happen unless the government relinquishes control. One, the strategic and operational objectives of the companies will not be served. And, two, the government will not get a good price for the PSU shares it does sell – because nobody believes that the government can augment their value.

Expect to read more on this in the near future.