E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Over to the voters
An end to the cacophony of election campaigning marks the return of peace and quiet. This feeling of relief must be all the more palpable in Himachal Pradesh this time, because the electioneering has been particularly shrill, to the extent of being undignified. Not only the peripheral parties but even the main contenders, the Congress and the BJP, thought nothing of stooping to the gutter level.

Relevance of NAM
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee made some relevant observations on the link between politics and economics in the course of sharing notes at the 13th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Kuala Lumpur. Economic cooperation among nations should indeed not be slave to the domestic political compulsions of member-countries.

Clash in SGPC complex
First a controversy about the alleged gender discrimination erupted when two Britain-based women recently expressed their desire to perform seva inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple. It is well known that Sikhism does not discriminate against women. When denied the permission to do so, the two women chose to assert their desire to do the seva through the media.

OPINION

Anticipating the Railway Budget
A blueprint for ensuring sustainable growth
Shanti Narain
Indian Railways is at the crossroads. In order to survive as a viable transportation organisation it has to refashion a self-sustaining growth strategy. While a short-term restructuring exercise can and should be undertaken to kickstart the rehabilitation strategy, the long-term solution has to focus on enhanced generation of internal resources by maximising revenues and cutting expenditure.

MIDDLE

The “kolhu” days!
K. Rajbir Deswal
During cold winters, the village skyline in those days had a spiral trail of black smoke, rising high and getting lost in the all-engulfing fog domain. Near the source of fire were huge cauldrons filled with sugarcane crush, boiling and steaming. A pair of bullocks went merry-go-round way, to keep moving the crusher spools, squeezing out the juice.

Meaning of the media debate
P. Raman
New Delhi’s media is in the midst of an intense debate on the growing practice of masquerading paid publicity as genuine news. Those who have lent their space for the discourse included big players. Former and serving editors, managerial executives and PR experts have all put forth their views forcefully.

Shoes to be made of chicken skin
Now you can eat your chicken and wear it too — on your feet. Leather technologists in Kolkata have developed a method to produce footwear from soft chicken skin. And taking advantage of this technology, the West Bengal government wants to make a mark in the footwear industry.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Over to the voters

An end to the cacophony of election campaigning marks the return of peace and quiet. This feeling of relief must be all the more palpable in Himachal Pradesh this time, because the electioneering has been particularly shrill, to the extent of being undignified. Not only the peripheral parties but even the main contenders, the Congress and the BJP, thought nothing of stooping to the gutter level. The advertisement and poster wars that they fought were a new experience for the serene state. Who started it all is beside the point. What matters is that allegations flew thick and fast from both sides and most of them were the kind which one normally associates with the fish market. It is nobody’s case that corruption in public life should not be exposed. But there are fora available for raising such issues. Doing so on the election eve — that too without due sense of responsibility — was hardly in good taste. What is worse, rules of civilised behaviour were conveniently ignored and many hits were aimed below the belt. Most of the attacks were personal in nature. Not only that, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also got involved and mud-raking soon turned into a free for all. Apparently, the voter is not amused. Instead of being misled by the high-profile mud-slinging, he might punish those who brought the peaceful state into undesirable focus.

If it is any consolation, the fears of communal virus being let loose did not come true. Even the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, restrained himself and did not arouse passions. Ironically, this did not go down too well with some of his admirers. In any case, the leaders of the state proved self-sufficient in fouling the atmosphere. The ball, as they say, is now in the people’s court. Signals emanating from Himachal Pradesh so far are not very encouraging. No party is in clear lead to be able to romp home comfortably. The experience so far is that in such a situation, people’s aspirations become secondary to the exigencies of politicking. One hopes the voters will keep the larger picture in mind while exercising their franchise.

Relevance of NAM

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee made some relevant observations on the link between politics and economics in the course of sharing notes at the 13th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Kuala Lumpur. Economic cooperation among nations should indeed not be slave to the domestic political compulsions of member-countries. The reference was to Pakistan''s refusal to talk business with India because of the former’s irrational stand on Kashmir. India has consistently advocated a two-track approach for making the most of multilateral exchanges between countries. It is not that the members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations do not have bilateral disputes. The primary reason why ASEAN has helped change the economic profile of South-East Asia is the self-regulatory mechanism that discourages the airing of bilateral issues at the multilateral forum. Pakistan has suffered more than India because of its refusal to rise above narrow domestic political compulsions for expanding its regional and global agenda that recognises the importance of broad-based economic cooperation. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was supposed to be the region’s answer to ASEAN and the European Union — the two regional groupings that have wisely given priority to increased economic cooperation over bilateral irritants. But SAARC has not been able to achieve the objective of regional economic growth through multilateral efforts because of Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir.

Mr Vajpayee touched upon other important issues like the role of NAM in reforming the international financial structure “whose time has come now”. The summit is being held at a crucial juncture with the USA flexing its muscles for invading Iraq. The economic consequences of even a short war will be far more severe for the developing economies, mostly located in Asia, than for the war-mongers. The sceptics have again questioned the relevance of NAM in a unipolar world. The Kuala Lumpur summit is aware of the global interest in its agenda. The Prime Minister has rightly emphasised the need for turning the multilateral forum into a powerful voice against the tyranny of the few that has pushed the world to the brink of war. NAM had started as a forum of just 25 members. But this so-called “international debating society” today boasts of a membership of 114 nations. It was wrongly seen as a club of neutral players at the height of the Cold War. It had an important role to play in keeping the Soviets and the Americans on diplomatic leash. But the American attempt to force its agenda on every nation should serve as a timely reminder of the importance of multilateral forums like NAM. The member-states should rise above their narrow domestic interests and reinvent NAM as the voice of reason and justice for drowning the shrill rhetoric of America and its allies for an unjustified attack on Iraq. America is not likely to take the forum seriously unless it develops its economy through sustained and wise regional cooperation to a level where Big Brother is forced to show to NAM the same respect that China commands today.

Clash in SGPC complex

First a controversy about the alleged gender discrimination erupted when two Britain-based women recently expressed their desire to perform seva inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple. It is well known that Sikhism does not discriminate against women. When denied the permission to do so, the two women chose to assert their desire to do the seva through the media. A small issue, which could have been sorted out quietly, was unnecessarily blown up. How can anyone be allowed to misbehave with women in the sacred shrine? Saturday’s clash involving activists of the Shiromani Khalsa Panchayat, members of the Sikh Students Federation (Mehta group) and employees of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee inside the SGPC complex made headlines. The unfortunate developments caused concern among the well-meaning people in general and shocked the devout Sikhs in particular. This was followed by the removal of Mr Manjit Singh as the Jathedar of Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib the next day. While his supporters say that Mr Manjit Singh has been punished for taking up the issue of gender discrimination, the SGPC executive has given corruption as the prime reason for the surprise removal of the Jathedar. The SGPC President, Mr Kirpal Singh Badungarh, has refused to divulge the details of the alleged corruption or be specific on the charges against Jathedar Manjit Singh.

Those managing places of worship ought to be very gentle, sensitive and respectable persons of substance. They are expected to be free from any blemish and ought to stay away from controversy. The growing practice of making unsubstantiated allegations in public against religious personalities is highly regrettable and avoidable. An in-house effective method of inquiry and an acceptable grievance redressal mechanism can be helpful in defusing a crisis situation before it goes out of control. The media too should be extremely cautious in reporting sensitive religious affairs. The mixing of religion and politics is the root cause of many a problem and often leads to undesirable consequences, inviting state intervention, which further complicates matters. The last SGPC election witnessed a new low in politico-religious matters in Punjab. The latest developments show the SGPC has not learnt any lessons. The clash on Saturday, which left 19 injured, points to the failure of the SGPC’s crisis management system and it did not invite the police to handle the situation. All this calls for introspection and a fool-proof systemic check on the recurrence of such events.

OPINION

Anticipating the Railway Budget
A blueprint for ensuring sustainable growth
Shanti Narain

Indian Railways is at the crossroads. In order to survive as a viable transportation organisation it has to refashion a self-sustaining growth strategy. While a short-term restructuring exercise can and should be undertaken to kickstart the rehabilitation strategy, the long-term solution has to focus on enhanced generation of internal resources by maximising revenues and cutting expenditure.

Revenue increases have to come through higher business throughout for which the system capacity has to be suitably enhanced along with improvement in the quality of service. Cost-cutting has to be a matter of faith and has to span all departments.

The demand for transport, being a derived demand, is largely dependent on the growth of the national economy. However, the macro-economic policy initiatives of the nineties have resulted in an unmistakable upswing in the GDP which should spur growth in the demand for transport.

In order to realise its full potential, the railways will have to unfold a focused marketing strategy to take the advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead. A well-thought-out marketing strategy will have to appreciate the monumental changes in the socio-economic environment in which the railways will have to operate. This means a market-driven competitive scenario accompanied by ever-rising aspirations of rail-users in both passenger and freight segments.

In order to address these challenges adequately, a customer-orientation has to take the place of the historical “production mindset” requiring a sea-change in the attitudes of not only the staff at the cutting edge but also at all levels of the management hierarchy. An across-the-board enterprise HRD programme will, therefore, be an essential prerequisite.

In addition, certain structural changes will be imperative. A business-like approach will have to be introduced for which focused corporate entities on the lines of the Container Corporation (CONCOR) for a multi-modal transport system will have to be replicated in respect of other freight business segments. Such corporate entities will require operational freedom in fixing tariffs on purely commercial considerations as well as to re-engineer the processes and procedures on business lines. It will also be necessary that the staffing patterns approximate to the structures in any commercial undertaking. The newly-created Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) can be made a corporate entity for bringing customer focus to the passenger business segment.

The marketing strategies will have to incorporate the following basic components: reduction in the cost of operation to meet the competition evolution of segment-specific transport packages through market research improvement of services in quantitative as well as qualitative terms with a provision of integrated logistic solutions for seamless movement of goods and development of long-term relationships with major customers.

The most urgent and effective strategy can be to align tariffs to costs. The rationalisation in this area undertaken last year needs to be continued and additional revenues generated not through raising tariffs but through the generation of higher volumes of freight traffic. To achieve this greater decentralisation of authority for the quotation of differential/contractual rates will have to be given to zonal administrations after making an in-depth appraisal of the railways’ costing systems and bringing transparency in the underlying principles governing the quotation of rates. The concepts of “marginal”, “dependent”, and “fully distributed” costs for different classes and distance slabs will have to be made available to zonal administrations so that they can balance these costs while quoting tariffs. The governing guideline should be to maximise revenues by attracting new traffic using the available resources of sectional and rolling stocks.

Integrated transport solutions to provide door-to-door services can be another strategy to attract white goods and FMCG items. Loading from sidings provides a rail option at the door-step of industry and has to be exploited fully through re-engineered customer-friendly features like the assisted siding concept as well as cutting costs of maintenance, establishment and connected operational activities presently loaded onto the siding-owners. Development of rail-side warehouses at major rail terminals in partnership with private sector freight forwarders can be another means to eliminate secondary movement at the other end, particularly in the case of FMCG companies which could use such warehouses as their distributors godowns. Roll-on roll-off (RORO) services can be another package to be offered to trucking companies to take advantage of the faster and cheaper rail services.

The railways is today incurring losses to the tune of over Rs 3,500 crore annually which is obviously unsustainable and is threatening the viability of the undertaking. In order to reverse the trend, break-even economics has to be restored. Where subsidised fares are considered essential the difference between costs and revenue receipts must be covered by an explicit subsidy.

For the commercially viable services a two-pronged strategy is suggested. For the business traveller and foreign tourists, the services should be upgraded in terms of comfort and hygiene requirements and commercially viable tariffs introduced. Revenue increases should come through largely higher volumes by such upgradation. In the case of lower class travel, additional revenues should come through fare increases which cover inflation plus an acceptable increment so that the subsidy level is progressively reduced in real terms.

Rationalisation of concessions should also be undertaken by reducing the ceiling rates by at least 10 to 15 per cent. Simultaneously, the number of persons entitled to concessional rail travel should be reduced by targeting only such segments of society as really deserve State support.

In respect of commuter traffic, the extent of subsidy should be progressively reduced by aligning tariffs in terms of number of single journey fares for all distance slabs. To begin with, the tariff should be equated to 12 single journey fares and raised gradually to 25 over the next five to seven years.

An enormous business opportunity exists in the parcel segment in which the railways has a minuscule market share of hardly Rs 385 crore equivalent to less than 1 per cent of the total business. The existing packages require to be offered to private courier agencies and parcel forwarders through a dedicated management team in one of the existing or proposed corporate entities in order to reach the potential level. A weekly parcel express on the 10 inter-metro routes with a composition of 15 VPs could generate Rs 75 crore annually. Round trip VPs on the sides and diagonals of the golden quadrilateral alone on a daily basis can generate Rs 60 crore annually.

Thus, the marketing of appropriate transportation packages after a focused market research can provide a sustainable strategy to put the rail transport business on a high growth trajectory. The potential is enormous and the suggestions made are more in the nature of indicative thrust areas which can provide the direction for a multi-splendoured strategy for sustainable growth of the Indian Railways — the flagship of the national transport infrastructure.

The writer is former Member (Traffic), Railway Board.

MIDDLE

The “kolhu” days!
K. Rajbir Deswal

During cold winters, the village skyline in those days had a spiral trail of black smoke, rising high and getting lost in the all-engulfing fog domain. Near the source of fire were huge cauldrons filled with sugarcane crush, boiling and steaming. A pair of bullocks went merry-go-round way, to keep moving the crusher spools, squeezing out the juice.

A menial, wrapped in a multi-window blanket, sat near the “kolhu”, or the crusher, above whom a long wooden shaft, made out of a log, moved like the hand of a watch. And in a jar, tucked in the ground, trickled the emerald-greenish sugarcane juice.

It used to be a quiet agriculture activity with a lot of cultural and societal concern. No shouting. No yelling. No cranking. Not even at the bullocks or the labour that was employed for spread-drying the waste roughage, used as fuel for the fire in the ovens under the black cauldrons. The screeching sound of the “kolhu”, the crackle of burning fuel, the jingle of the bells dangling from the bullocks’ mane, and the slurp of the gur-makers’ trowel, made a melody of sorts only to be savoured by those who have an ear for nature’s musical compositions.

In a hut, erected centrally, only to last for a season, sat some people chatting and waiting to nurse their stomachs with some hot gur, or jaggery, if you prefer to call the delicacy by that English appellation. Obviously there had to be some urchins around who were invariably obliged with the sweet offer, despite being shooed away every now and then for the reason that they seemed to be having an unsatiable appetite for “garam-garam-gur”.

The men, sitting almost inseparably close to each other seeking and giving a reciprocal warmth, smoked the hubble-bubble or the hookah, with no discordant notes of politics, nukes, cross-border terrorism, crises of faith and morality, not even MSP (Maximum Support Price). Their topics of discussion centered round the crops, the weather or at the most the common village folk.

The crushing and cooking activity went on through dawn till the setting sun. Even during the night the “kolhu” staff worked relentlessly. They carried out their tasks in shifts. A dimly lit lantern hung by the projected log sustaining the thatched roof strove throughout the night to ward off the darkness added to by smoke, steam and fog. Some hot, syrupy carrots and potatoes, boiled in the juice offered the much-needed warmth to the palate and the guts of the nocturnal workforce. Some stray dogs who slept coiled into a heap were always there to oblige by mouthing up the leftovers.

While the juice or rus added with lassi made a really delightful drink, some housewives prepared kheer also with the crush. Certain delicacies made to order were baked gram cured with a gur paste; saunf added gur; gur with grated coconut; “shakkar” and “khand” etc.

The size of a bheli or a lump of gur also varied on personal preferences. Sometimes it could weigh even 5 kg. For this size of a lump you might need to have juice of as many as a hundred sugarcane sticks.

It is said of the farmers that they would rake up heavens if you steal away one such stick but would offer you a bheli of gur instead. Such was the artless naivety of the guileless humble farmer, not very long ago. But yes, those were the “kolhu” days!

REALPOLITIK

Meaning of the media debate
P. Raman

New Delhi’s media is in the midst of an intense debate on the growing practice of masquerading paid publicity as genuine news. Those who have lent their space for the discourse included big players. Former and serving editors, managerial executives and PR experts have all put forth their views forcefully. But missing in this has been the reader, consumer to some. Even the regular letter writers seem to have chosen to ignore it.

Herein lies the crux of the debate. Here is a product on which the consumer is not the king. He is only incidental. It is dumped on him at the price of a pan, as a business executive wrote. Eighty per cent price is paid by the advertiser, and hence the latter should be the real king. For all practical purposes, the reader’s role is thus limited to his being a target of the advertisements. In exchange for this, he has the news and the “news you can use”. For all other consumer goods, the buyer pays the full price. Hence the war on paid publicity in the guise of news has to be fought in the minds of the readers.

It all began with the “Page 3” of the daily colour supplements. The debate reveals that it is fast catching up with other pages as well. Certain regional papers have been quick to take the cue. One of the top Gujarati dailies have extended it to the lucrative field of politics. A senior staff trusted by the ruling party has been made in charge of routing the party’s stories and their display anywhere he liked. The payment was made according to the space used. An editor in his debate piece talks of the local Gujarati newspapers unabashedly asking for payment from the candidates for editorial coverage.

In this era of opening up, any lobbyist, even foreign powers, can fill news columns with inspired stories if they settle for the right PR/advertisement firm. If the present trend catches on, there will be no way to stop it. We already have the system of sponsored cover stories in popular weekly journals.

Another interesting message from the ongoing debate has been that much of the media’s contemporary problems flow from the greed of a section of it. Surprisingly, the established ones with decisive market domination indulge in this pernicious practice of selling news columns for payment with a sinister purpose.

Apparently, advertisement masqueraded as news has better gullibility value. It is difficult for an average reader to distinguish between the genuine stuff and the fake. Absence of a regulatory body, greed for quick money and the urge to grab larger market share and advertisement pie have provided fertile ground for the unscrupulous. Over the years, a neat nexus has been built with the help of sections of the media and the advertisers. Attractive packages for concealed publicity are offered. The nexus has been able to sell several myths to the gullible, each of them, in turn, facilitating easier commercialisation of news.

The colour picture supplements with its “Page 3” meet the requirements of both the patrons and clients. They can smuggle in anything — publicity for hotels, cars, readymades — without anyone raising an eyebrow. Exaggerated pressures from the TV are used as a pretext for further trivialisation of news columns which, in turn, helps more crass commercialisation.

The threat could be met not by trivialisation but by more detailed stories and background on which the print media is on a stronger wicket. Market surveys create cherished myths like the Generation Now is disinterested in serious political and economic news and every one is a casual glancer of colour pix and pizza ads. But the popularity of the “competition” pages, intelligent quiz programmes tell a different story.

It is not the free market competition but competitive marketisation of the media that creates a generation of the ignorant under false notions. Mindless marketisation by interested sections could be countered only by better marketisation. In this era of better produces and stiffer competition, brand equity, however strong, cannot be permanent. The consumer durables market the world over is replete with the rise and fall of giants. The product quality alone is ultimately supreme. In the case of media, quality is credibility on which we all live. Better and more news to serve a highly intelligent and an upwardly mobile generation, and not the packaging alone, can make the product more acceptable.

The newspaper that has become the centre of the present controversy had for some time ignored news as dispensable. Soon further surveys revealed that brand and packaging alone cannot sell a product. It had to hurriedly realert its ‘content providers’. Instead of an imagined Generation Now mindset, newspapers will have to spread horizontally — like consumer producers exploring the vast rural market. Newspapers will have to sell the news to the readers, not to PR men. This seems to be the message of the current media debate.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Shoes to be made of chicken skin

Now you can eat your chicken and wear it too — on your feet. Leather technologists in Kolkata have developed a method to produce footwear from soft chicken skin. And taking advantage of this technology, the West Bengal government wants to make a mark in the footwear industry.

Leather is a major thrust area for West Bengal’s industrialisation with the government building a leather complex on Kolkata’s eastern outskirts. About 525 tanneries in the city are to shift there, but so far most have not relocated, allegedly because infrastructure at the new complex is not ready. IANS

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

For the soul,

To live is to love.

Every loss of love

Is a loss of soul.

Love is

The measure of one's being.

To grow is

To love more.

Love is the soul of Life.

Joy is the soul of love "

— Paul Richard, "The Gospel of Love"