O P I N I O N S

Guest Column
Railways needs pragmatic, not big-ticket, projects
Rather than taking up new initiatives, completion of all projects that would enhance line capacity, and consolidation of the breadwinning freight business, should be the top priority.
RC Acharya
Thanks to the rampant populism by an assortment of self-seeking political heavyweights who have adorned the corner room in Rail Bhavan for the past two decades, unabashedly using it as a milch cow, the Railways is dangerously close to becoming a basket case. Turning it into an efficient workhorse — which it was meant to be — should now be the highest priority for Pawan Kumar Bansal.

Touchstones
Land of four-lettered public discourse
Like Tudor England, we are a half-made society unfortunately trapped between the deep roots of a feudal system and the aspiring shoots of an egalitarian future.
Ira Pande
THE on-going slanging match between our various politicians and social activists has so polluted the atmosphere that reading the newspaper has become a nauseating experience. Scams, accusations and seamy revelations about cosy crony relationships are now all that is reported. Is there anyone left to admire? Political language and behaviour has sunk so low that I fear we may soon forget what should be the norm in our vocabulary of daily public discourse.

ground zero
Lanka beware, cubs can become Tigers again
India feels frustration is again growing among the Tamil minority, and has warned Sri Lanka that by dragging its feet on devolution of powers it is laying the seeds of fresh militancy in near future.
Raj Chengappa
The composure and calmness with which Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiries speaks reminds me of Oogway, the wise old tortoise featured in the Hollywood hit “Kung Fu Panda”. In one scene, Oogway tells Shifu, his student who is a master himself: “There are no accidents.” Shifu sighs and says, “Yes, I know, you already said that twice.” Oogway replies, “That was no accident either.” Exasperated, Shifu interjects: “That’s thrice”.

Guest Column
Railways needs pragmatic, not big-ticket, projects
Rather than taking up new initiatives, completion of all projects that would enhance line capacity, and consolidation of the breadwinning freight business, should be the top priority.
RC Acharya

Thanks to the rampant populism by an assortment of self-seeking political heavyweights who have adorned the corner room in Rail Bhavan for the past two decades, unabashedly using it as a milch cow, the Railways is dangerously close to becoming a basket case. Turning it into an efficient workhorse — which it was meant to be — should now be the highest priority for Pawan Kumar Bansal.

The new Railway Minister's refusal to tread the populist path was made known in his first press briefing itself, when he boldly announced that passenger tariff, which has remained stagnant for almost a decade, would be in for a hike, primarily to enable the Railways to improve the services and give the passengers a better deal.

Hopefully, he will also put the brakes on introduction of new passenger trains, as suggested by scores of Railway Users Consultative Committees, which have so far guided the ministry’s agenda for growth. Adopting a policy of absolute pragmatism would be needed in order to get the Railways to claim its place as the “ultimate logistics machine”, carrying freight and passengers at the lowest possible cost.

Pawan Bansal taking charge at Rail Bhavan.

The populist embargo on passenger tariff hike for the past decade, which necessitated frequent freight tariff increase — sometimes even midterm, much to the dismay of the industry — to balance the budget, should now be a thing of the past. A skewed tariff structure has resulted in nearly 6,000 freight trains earning almost two-thirds of the revenue, while the 16,000 passenger trains, including 5,000 suburban ones, end up garnering a much smaller pie of one-third.

An embargo on new projects, and prioritising Rs 80,000 crore worth of works that are already in the pipeline, would send a message to one and all that UPA-II now means business, and the Railways, being a key piece of infrastructure, can no longer be allowed to be the fiefdom of any politician to gain popularity at the cost of the nation’s economic growth.

Undoubtedly, there would be a multitude of urgent issues requiring immediate attention of the new minister. However, he would perhaps do well to take his time to learn the ropes and not get hustled into decisions that may need review or even reversal later. Very much like a large oil carrier, the railway system takes time for a course correction to become effective, and such steps need to be taken after due deliberations.

More than anything else, Bansal will need to put down with a firm hand any attempt for a restructuring exercise, a highly popular management jargon that achieves pretty little while losing the existing in-built strengths of the organisation. Besides, he will be holding fort only for perhaps the next 18 months, and any major initiative will need getting all stakeholders firmly on board for times to come.

The same applies to repeated attempts by vested interests to push the Railways into a horrendously expensive initiative for high-speed trains capable of running over 250 kmph on dedicated elevated corridors. With a price tag of over Rs 200 crore per km of track and Rs 200 crore for each 10-coach train set, Bansal needs to carefully consider the long-term effect it will have on the organisation's balance sheet.

Rather than taking up new initiatives, completion of all projects that would enhance line capacity, and consolidation of its breadwinner, the freight business, should be of top priority. This undoubtedly would include putting on fast track the Dedicated Freight Corridor project, which could prove to be a game-changer for the economy.

Recommendations of the Kakodkar Committee on Railway Safety and Pitroda Committee on Modernisation, costing Rs 1,00,000 crore and Rs 5,00,000 crore, respectively, will need a more realistic approach to get the most bang for the buck. Achieving an operating ratio below 85 per cent and funds from its own earnings rather than beg the Centre, Asian Development Bank or the World Bank for handouts, should become the norm. The much touted public-private partnership route has had limited success in areas such as new lines, connecting ports, etc.

In spite of the odds, the system has been running 24x7, thanks to the dedicated team of nearly 10,000 engineers, managers, and the 1.4 million workforce, who ensure that 17 million passengers and nearly 3 million tonne of goods daily reach their destinations fast, safe, and in time.

Untainted by scams, it is perhaps one of the few government entities that delivers without much fuss or fanfare, keeping the wheels of the Indian economy moving along. It deserves a dynamic political leader with a vision, and maturity to steer this behemoth through the next few crucial years to revive its fortunes.

Will Bansal make it happen?

The writer is a former member of the Railway Board

Touchstones
Land of four-lettered public discourse
Like Tudor England, we are a half-made society unfortunately trapped between the deep roots of a feudal system and the aspiring shoots of an egalitarian future.
Ira Pande

THE on-going slanging match between our various politicians and social activists has so polluted the atmosphere that reading the newspaper has become a nauseating experience. Scams, accusations and seamy revelations about cosy crony relationships are now all that is reported. Is there anyone left to admire? Political language and behaviour has sunk so low that I fear we may soon forget what should be the norm in our vocabulary of daily public discourse.

My disquiet on this score comes from the fact that I have just finished reading the first part of a brilliant trilogy on Oliver Cromwell by Hilary Mantel. Titled "Wolf Hall", this 2009 Booker Prize winner is the first of three novels Mantel is writing on an extraordinary parliamentarian who changed the tradition of absolute monarchic rule of England to that of an exemplary democracy. Mantel was awarded this year's Booker for Part Two ("Bring up the Bodies") and is currently hard at work on the last of the Cromwell novels. As the first two parts of this trilogy have already been awarded the Booker Prize, if she pulls off a hat-trick, she will be not just the first woman to ever get the Booker twice but the only writer to have won it three times! We may have to wait for that but what makes it a literary feat is to bring an entirely new focus to the art of writing novels. Truth is often stranger than fiction and from the time of Shakespeare to now, history has the ability to provide us with characters and narratives that we can never tire of reading. Mantel has managed to breathe new life into a forgotten truth.

At a rally, all she can do is wonder at the lies politicians feed her.

“Wolf Hall” explores the intersection between individual psychology and a wider political framework. Behind the imagined torment of the principal character is the living throbbing reality of a country weakened by immorality and greed. Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Cardinal Wolsey and the Pope: the action set in motion by these great personalities bestows gravity on whoever comes into contact with their machinations. What this novel brought alive to me is that just 500 years ago, England was going through a moral crisis that makes the romps and rampage of our desi politicians seem like children's games. Mantel's skill lies in peeling back the layers of history to reveal the flesh and blood of the characters that created it and in doing so, she points to a political reality that seems to elude so many commentators of present-day politics in India. That, like Tudor England, we are a half-made society unfortunately trapped between the deep roots of a feudal system and the aspiring shoots of an egalitarian future.

To make this clearer, a friend recently sent me this extract from Cromwell's speech delivered to the House of Commons on April 20, 1653, that could equally be addressed to our parliamentarians today:

"It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches and would, like Esau, sell your country for a mess of pottage and, like Judas, betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter'd your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth? Ye sordid prostitutes, have you not defiled this sacred place, and turn'd the Lord's temple into a den of thieves by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress'd, are yourselves gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go!"

The question is: who is our own Oliver Cromwell? Is it one from the rising cast of rabble rousers that includes self-styled Gandhians, Yoga gurus and ex-Army chiefs? Is it the news channel anchors who seek answers from all and sundry 'for the people of this country'? Or is it someone who is none of the above?

At this point, I recall a poker-faced genial Sardarji who first taught us to see the hypocrisy of our social reformers and politicians. His irrepressible humour spared no one, not even himself, but he spoke in an idiom remarkably free of any personal anger. Jaspal Bhatti realised before anyone else the need for a moral corrective but he chose to do so without mounting any moral high ground. He nurtured a whole generation of viewers without ever losing their respect and affection. How many can claim that today? What we see now is Gandhians who have perverted the very political vocabulary they seek to uphold. They spread venom and hatred, where Gandhi taught us to hate the sin and not the sinner, they play favourites and settle political scores to promote themselves and may ultimately become the very monsters they seek to unseat.

If I want a mirror held up to see my world, I want it to be held by Jaspal Bhatti: a man who was king among the mango men. How unfortunate he was snatched away when he was needed the most!