IRON AND STEEL 159The Bokaro Steel Plant: A Study of Soviet Economic Assistance, North-Holland Publishing Company, 1972, ch 4. 1® Ibid., p 26. 17 Ibid., p 27. 18 Quoted in Padma Desai, op. cit., p 29: Also of interest is Padma Desai's comment that the withdrawal of request for aid by the Government of India "was clearly dictated by the desire to avoid the certain alternative outcome of an explicit rejection by the US which would have jeopardized the US image in India yet more seriously." (P31). 19 Economic Research Unit, ISI, Calcutta, Coal, Power, Steel and Transport in the Eastern Region: A Study in Interdependence, 1975, p 90. 20 Labour trouble is given as the major reason for the huge losses incurred by public-sector plants especially Durgapur. Not a single man-hour has been lost due to 1 labour trouble in Durgapur plant since July 1975, but it "is slated to incur a loss of Rs 24 crores in 1976-77 against Rs 2005 crores in 1975-76," See The Economic Times, editorial, 8 December 1976. 21 K N Raj, "The Economic Situation", Economic and Political Weekly, 3 June 1976. 22 A measure of the hopes placed on the public sector to generate surpluses for economic development can be had from the net profits (after charging depreciation and interest) anticipated from the HSL:Net profit Actual net profit Tear forecast (+) or (—) (In million Rs) (In million Rs)1964-65 + 64.0 +21.45 1965-66 +112.2 + 16.65 1966-67 +132.9 —229.39 1967-68 +137.7 —401.18 1968-69 +151.9 —399.16 Total +598.7 —991.63See G C Agrawal, Public Sector Steel Industry in India, Chaitanya Publishing House, 1976, p 215. 28 Editorial in The Economic Times, 22 December 1976: It is interesting that" in spite of increased production and productivity and profits, no bonus will be payable to steel workers this year since there is no allocable surplus.-" The Economic Times, 25 December 1976. 24 "Deeper in the Groove", Editorial in Economic and Political Weekly, 21 August 1976. 25 Editorial, The Economic Times, 22 December 1976.