The government has now made it "practically impossible" for political appointees to find a place on the boards of the public sector units (PSUs) as independent directors (IDs), a top official said.
The government has asked central PSUs to sponsor the Commonwealth Games even as state-owned firms, including the Railways, have already committed Rs 200 crore (rs 2 billion) for a "good cause".
Corporate social responsibility for a state-owned firm may no more be a "photo opportunity" for its chairman but would involve people-centric projects to be funded by 2-5 per cent of the company's net profits.
Public sector units, which saw a reduction in their head count in 2008-09 due to voluntary retirement schemes, have started hiring again and may return to the 2007-08 level of 15.66 lakh (1.566 million) employees this fiscal, a senior official said.
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