~ IX
TRASUi^ORT. Co?fe:JUNICAi^I01I3 AND IHS (yOVUaiMBHT
Tranaj>ort includes within it s sooj^c the movoaent of goods and persona. Coiamunioations, on the other hand, include the exchange o f messages. The systems o f jranspox^ are r a il^ y s , roadways. Inland and overseas navigation and air ways. The media of comisurdcations are the telegraph, the telephone, the post-office etc.
Transport is a very important sector o f the eoonoiay of a country. The development of other sectors of the eco- non^y liice industry, agriculture etc. depends on the proper development of the transport system. Transport by itself is not productive of the national dividend; but it is an important contributory service in modem productive organi sation. Thus transport development beccxaes an integral part of economic planning.
Even in an unplanned economy, the State taKes a great interest in the development of transport. This interest, however, is restricted mostly to safety regula tion and prevention of accidents, subsidies to struggling transport enterprises, ensuring fair rates and fares and control over the anti-social activities of monopolistic transport organisations. The development of transport in these countries is, however, generally unco-ordinated and leads to needless wastes on account of overlapping of sex*vices, ne&lect of the industry and agriculture and so on. — 623 —
In a planned economy, the State is more inti’nately connected with the deTelopment of transport and tries to brixi^ about a co-ordinated development of a ll means of tr&nsiK>rt in such a way as to natch with the deyelopment of the other sectors of the economy. Moreover, the different foms of transport are so built up thut one foim of transport is co-r^ated with another and ensures its development, each in its sphere of effective service.
JRA!^.>PoRJ IK NA!PIu?':U^ tiXJoNOMY s
Before ^oin& to the discussion of tiie different means of transport, a few general aspects of the subject may be noted.
1) In a planned economy, liice ours, the development of different forms of transport cazmot be considered in isola tion. I'he capacity of eadi mode of transport has to be - developed to meet the specific deioands for it as well as in relation to the rest of the transport system. The system as a whole has to be viewed at eacri step both as an inte grated structure as well as in tertas of relationship between different transport services.
2) A large part o f the investment in transport is a long tern investraent. Therefore, investiMnt in transport must look well beyond the current and anticipated needs o f the economy and talce into account future economic, techno logical and scientific developments. — 624 —
3) Transport exerts a considerable unifying and Integra* ting influence upon the econoia/. It enhances productivity* cridene the martot, introduces new stimuli to economic aeti'- vity and tarings village and the remoter and the more deve loped ree^ions closer to on6 another. 4) Since the beginning of Five Y^u* Plans, development of traiisport has become both a handmaid and a precursor of large scale industrial and economic development. ** The transport system has now to subserve a much wider range of purpases than before and has a crucial role in economic» social and technical development at uhe national and r e ^ o - nal levels as well as in the expansion of international trade. 3) '^he Committee on rransport x’olicy and Co-ordination, t which submitted its fin al report in January, 1966 has laid down the following objective of the national transport policy. It says, ' A national transport policy must, therefore, seek to build a transport structure of the r i^ t size and pattern, consistent with the scheme of eco nomic development envisaged imder the Plans and capable of meetixVft the demands of the future, x'he basic problem is to develop the different modes of transport in such proportions and combinations as w ill meet the lUll needs
1. J
The different foms of transport are discussed in the following order t railway transport* road transport, water transport and air transport. *
RAILWAY ‘fKAHSPuRI
DEYELOifiafr OF BAXLAAY5 IN IHBU i The develo^ent of Indian railways i»connected with the histoz^ and prospects of agricultural and industrial life of the country. Railway construe tlon started in India in the latter half of the 19th century. At first* the railways were owned by private companies* vbich received guarantee from the &ovexnment of India ret^ardin^ capital and a certain minlniuia rate of return. I'hen Ihe pattern of owneriftilp and nanagement underwent several changes* axid at present the railways are completely owned and managed by the (roverment. " A hundred years ago the railways had started under company management, later came the phase of company-managed and company~owned railways, existing side b^ side with State-owned and
1. WMil H.»ort of th» coimittw OB JpU m wi« CMardlmtion. ttovemment of lodlfc. Planning Co— tgilont Wew D«1M.*^?66* p. 21. — 626 — a
coiapany-managed railways, arid State-owned and State-jaana^ed railwa/B, In the next phase, the management and control of the major lines passed on to the State, but the control of « the adniinistration vested solely in the soveriign direction o f the British i-arliament. In the fin al sta^/e, the control o f the railways passed into the hands of the State and the direction and sovereign control of the xnachinery of the State passed into the hands o f the people o f India."* *
Frcn 1853 to 19H, there was a continuous increase^ in the railway mileage* The rate of increase was less during the perioci of the iir s t World War. After the war, the railway mileage went on continuously increasin^i t i l l 1930. Prom 1950- 1939, there was very little new construc tion, mainly on account of depression. Durin^; the period of the Second World War, there was no development of the « railway system. Ln the other hand, the railway system was accually overstrained during the period. Renewals and repairs of rolling stocic and other assets were neglected. LSome railway lines were actually dismantled.
The problem of gaiige was discussed several times during the period. In the beginning the broad gauge of 5 f t . 6 in . was recommended. Ihis was, however, foxmd out to be a costly luxury and later on the less expensive
1. Indian Railways - wne Hundred Years - 1^53 to 1S^^» '^.inietrif o f Railways (Railway Board), Oovemment of India, New Delhi, 1953, p. 40. — 627 —
narrow gauges were adopted. The reeult liaa been that, at present, there are four different gauges Tarylng from 2 f t . to 5 f t . 6 in . in different parte of the country. The multi- plioity of gauges has created eeveral difficulties in the way of the development of Indian trade and industries.
Just before partition and Independence India (undi<- Tided) had 41,340 miles of railway lines. ■Dhe partition of the co\intry resulted into a £j;ood deal of dislocation and disturbamieB for the Indian railways. The existing railway equipment was divideo between India and i’aicistan. fhe follow ii^ table shows the division of capital and route milea^^e.
TABLiS NO. 9.1^ DIVISION OF RAIMAY CArIi!AL ASD KOUTS MILM&2 BBfWEfiR INIJIA ATTD I'AJCIS'JJAN
Capital-at-oharge Total route Country ( in crores o f Rs. ) mj.leage
India 667.43 34,083 jr’alcistan 156.00 6,957
The rolling stock i.e . locomotives, wagons. coaches etc. was divided on a mileatje-cum-traffic basis. Workshops were
1. K. P. Bhatnagar et al, Transport in Modem India. Kishore xublishing House, Kanpur^1966, p. 147. — 628 — dirlded on the basle of Icxsation. There was a good deal of dislocation in the staff alec, which created problems, as there was a surplus of staff in some catefjories and shortage in others. As Karachi went to xaJriLstan, the ^oods tr a ffic towards Bombay increased. The creation of ::)a8tern Pal^stan brought in the transportation problwn for Assam. This was solved later by the construction of Assam Hail Link in 1949.
Thus the iimedifete problem after Independence before India ms that of rehabilitatinj; ard raodemising her war and partition-battered railways. Nothing much could be done in the first three yeera. ^'he necessary administrative changes were, however, effected and thus a proper bacicground fo r fast development vms created.
i'he Railway Enquiry Ccxamittee was appointed in 1946, under the Chairmanship of £^hri K. C. FeO(^. 'i'his Committee was, however, required to suspend it s work, due to the disturbances and adjustments following the partition. The Committee was, ti^n, reconstituted tmd Pt. Hirday ^^ath Kimzru was appointed as the Chairman. The report of the Committee was submitted to the Government, in 1949. The Committee stressed the need of 'Job analysis’ in workshops to find Che extent of a\arplus staff and suggested several measures for increasing the operational efficiency as well as the general efficiency of the staff. It emphasised the need of increased research and suggested various measures for it. It also recomtwnded the electrification of the — 629 —
Calcutta Suburban railway. All these recommendations of the Committee were accepted by the Government* The recommenda tions of the Committee relatint^ to the abolition o f urain- ahop organisation and the postponement of the regrouping of railwtii/B for five years, were, however, rej«ci:ed by the Government.
major develoi/iaents in the fie ld of railway mna- gement tooic place during this period; the fir s t was the complete transfer of railways to the Union Government and the Second was their Zonal re^^rouping. With the merger of the Indian States in t>ie Indian Union, all railway lines in the Indian Union except a few narrow gauge lin es, came under the control of the Government* iSven the narrow-gauge feeder lines are not fu lly free. Under the Hel Iwa^ Com panies ( wmergencj Provisions ) Act, 1951, Government Hseumed powers to ensure their efficien t operation in the public interest. Under our Uonst^itution, railways are a Union subject. All lihe railways of the Union of Inaia, therefore, came to belong to the Central Government, which manages them, through a full-fledged !linistry of Railways. The second m»jor development was the regrouping of Indian railways. Regroupir^ was thought to be desirable from the point of view of efficiency ana national interest. The main principles taken into consideration in the - regrouping were as follows :
1) iSvery railway administration should serve as far — 630 - « a» possiblef a oomj^ct region.
2) Every zone should be laz^e enouj^h to i>ruYide a headquarters organisation of the highest calibre, capable of following and assimilating up-to-date improirenients in railway technique and equip>:-ed with adeqiuite workshop f a c ili ties, statistical training and research institutions• 3) ^he regrouping should cause xhe lainiBium dislocation in tbe existing arrangements and should be so phased as to prevent any kind of dislocation or even t«aporari diminution in the efficiency of railway service*
The scheme v»as finalised in 1950 and the inplementa- tion wus completed in 19^2. i'he follijwing sones were formed- oouthem Railways, C
These tr/o Tnajor a'tniniatratlve reforras oaved the way for rapid expansion and growlii of railways in Ii^la. — 631 —
?he Five Year flans Include m«aaurea Intended to bring about »uch rapid expansion and growth of railways In India.
_? IB FIRoI FIVB YKAR PLAN t -i-'he wain aim of the Plan was the rehabilitation and moderniaation of rolling stock aoS
flxad o-aaats. Other alnjs vere to create, to she extent poaalbla, additional facilities for nieetln^ some of the new needs, arlslnji from tii« i'ipleia«ncation of schemes of production and developraent and to provide better amsnltles for the traTelllBii public. ‘Ihe i^lan provided 2a. 400 crorea for the railway i»ro.;raiaraes. ^he actu^il ext»eaditure was la . 432 crorea; the Increise being due largely to the stepp ing up of the rolllnt; stocK prOk^^ramnie durlni^ the closing years of the Jrlan. Purli^^ the pexriod of the Plan, 3B0 mllea of new lines were constructed and 430 miles of lines dismantled during the War were restored, ^ther pro^raames undertaicen Included renewal of obsolate tracic, reduction o f aileae^e under speed restriction , increase in the line capacity, lengthening of crossing loops to enable longer jioods trains to be run, provision of additional crosaln^ stations and loops, improvemem; in yard facilities, exten sion of transhipmant yards, improveaent of sienallln& etc. Liarlng the period of che Plan, the production capacity of the Chlitaranjan IiOcoiao«ive Works and the 'i?ata Locoiaotlve « i'-'ni5lneerin^ Company was increased. I’he Intetjral Coacti Yactory at Peraiibur, Madras, started prodvKJtlon in October, 1955. In apite of the best attempts, however. — 632 —
the replac«ment pr<%raimne could not be completed during tl» i>eriOQ of the Jrlan.
TiiE SECu!.'L IViS YKAH x*LAN t ^'he Second Plan allotted a sum of Rm, 900 crores for railways, in addition to the con tributions to the -ailway Detreciation fund, irtiich were estis&ted at Hs* 223 crores> The total outlay was thus estimated at Rs. 1125 crores. The Plan gave stress both on new construction and rehabilitation and modernisation of railway assets, both mobile and immobile. The Railway ex pansion was closely integrated with prugraaraes of industrial development, particularly of major industries like steel, coal and cement, -t^rovision was also made for better coor dination between various meaim of transport. A considera ble increase was also intended to be broii^t about in the Indigenous capacity for the manufacture of rolling stock and other railway roaterials. -^he rlan provided for doubl ing; of 1607 miles of metre ^auge lines into broad ga\;^e, electrification over sections totalling ti26 miles and disselisation over 1293 miles, construction of 842 miles of new lin es, renewal of tiOOO miles of obsolete track and procurement of 2258 locomotives, 1,07»247 wagons ar^ 11,564 coac'nes. ^he indigenous production was expected to increase to 400 locomotives a year - 100 locomotives in t le i-'BLCO and 300 locomotives in Chittaranjan - IBOO coaches per year and 25000 wagons per year, b^ the end — 633 — of the j^erlod. In the ' Apiiraisal' of the xlan, the ^luan- cia l allotment was allowed to remain the same; but the slcal pro^raromes had to be cut dovm to some extent because of rise in prices, ^'he actual expenditiure during the i*lan period amounted to Hs. b60 crores a& compared to Rs. 900 crtBres originally i>rovided. &oode tra ffic increased to 154 m. tons i .e . by 26 p .c. and passeni^jer tra ffic to 1624 m. i . e . by 27 p*c.
DHS riliU) FIVB YEAfi -fLAIl t i?he railway development progra mme in the ^ird Plan was formulated on the basis of the originating tra ffic reaohine^ a figure of about 24^ m. tons in 1963->66 i.e. the last year of the Third Plan, i.e. an increase of about 59 p.c. over the traffic in 1960-61. In respect of passenger traffic, the railway programme provi ded for an increase of 3 p .c. p.a. in the non-suburban traffic, ^he increase in suburban traffic was expected to be of a very high order. *he intention was to provide during the peak periods the maximm possible frequency of train services v.lth sush marginal increases in line capacity as may be called for.
•i^he cost of the railway development programme in the ihird Plan was estimated to be of the order of Rs.1325 crores, including Rs. 35 crores required on stores suspense account. Later on, it was decided to revise the programme so that it might be even a li t t l e ahead of actiial need at — 63A —
the beginning of the Fourth Plan. The revised allotment amoimted to Rs. 15ti1 crores* i'he revised pro^raxome provided for acquisition of 2070 loeomotiveSf d601 coaches and » 1t57,133 wajjons ( In tenas uf four-wheelers). Chittaran^an ocomotive Works was expected to start production of - d e ctric locomotives. Arrangements w^re also loade for the production of diesel locomotives at Varamsl. Curing the * peri00 of the Plan, 2400 kilometres of new lines were to be constructed, i^he pro^z^ )e included doubling of 3f543 kilometres of lines, <:emodelllng of stations, au^enting of line capacity and signalling arrantiements. Hlectrifi- cation of about 2400 route kilometres was also provided.
The physical achievements of the Three Plans are shown in the following table.
—Contd. on page 633*••
* rhe figures of the revised proj^raatne of the 3rd Plan are available in kilometres, in place of miles. — 635 —
I'ABLfi NO. 9.2^ ACamaiKFi’J 01 THREIS i'LANS IN TriL FltlLi; Oi‘ HAIL.. AY TRAI^bi-oHT
First Second Third Plan Details irlan Plan Sstiaates A.otuals Actuals
Construction of new lines (Kilometres) 1,304 1,311 2,400 Doublin^^i of lines (K.ilametres) 370 1,512 3,548 ii)lectrifioation (route kilcaaetres) 361.5 2,400 Locomotives 1,566 2,216 2,070 Coaches 4,758 7,718 8,601 'agons 61,254 97,959 1,57,133
As r«e,iird8 the actual i/roi^ress in the I'hlrd xlan, figures are availabld upto 31dt March, 1963 i*e. the first four years. J^urlntj; the first four years of tae Jhird Jfc'lan, 1,131 ioas of new lines were opened to t r a ffic , 330 kms of metre ga\%e lines were converted to iaroad e,ua^e, 2720 kms* were doubled and 2,677 were in the process of bein^ doubled. As regards rolling stock, 1499 locomotives, 6,183 new passer^er and other coaching vehicles, 412 -
1. K. P. Bhatnagar et a l, Pransport in Modern India, K i^ore x^bliahir^ 'iouse, Kanpur, 1966, p. 190. — 636 — elttotrio mtdtiple units and 1,11,370 wagons wer« placed on lin« during th s first four years of ttie I h ir d i'lan. A total route kilometrage of 2100 was electrified upto 31 at '^airch, 1965* l^en diesel lucGmotives were assembled end commissioned by the Diesel T.ocomotire WorJce at Vai‘anasi t i l l .'eptember, 1964* A substantial ^ro^ress was also mde in modernisation of signalling, construction of bridges, proTision of ameni t i e s to railway useiNB ana s t a f f -welfare aetiYities.
HAILiyAY .PIHAKCE : The Iraiian railways started earning p rofits towards the end of the 19th Century. In the depre ssion of the thirties, the railway finances again sufferea a set back, i'he second world war resulted in tremendous increase' in traffic and consequently high profits. Since then, the railways, >iave been aaJcing handsome p rofits. After Independence, there has been a rapid exj^nsion in tr a ffic , i-’he railway rates have been reTlsed upwards many tl-nes. i'he result has been the increasing net revenue in spite of fast incrsasin^i expenses. Railways have api^ropriated increased amounts to Depreciation Reseinre Fund as also increased contzdbution to General Revenues, ^he follt^ing table gives an outline of railway expenses since 1950-51. — 637 — o \o •H O • • • • +* i-< » - CO CTi t- 00 t- 0 to Qi a, D *»
VO I QiVO a
3) K\ cn <- • • • • •- o t - 00 VO i/> 'J ) t -
H CM CM V- ••• • H -H a 30 CO CO j4 «> CM irv CM CM eg l A f4O O H®
m a » 3 ) CO O v >• •••• 0 vO VO 0 CT^ i n VO I CM VO
0 }
•♦* - o S i:; C ft> K> r - VO VO e o >» •• •• m CM 0 } 0 ■^9 9 (T> 0 VO VO eo 4:: ^ vX) r - X) ty> 0 4> ^ »- CM +» ► E-iO ^ C -p OJ VIO
CM VO IfN 0 irv i n VO v£> t S C 1 1 1 1 •< (fl 0) 0 X ir\ \o VO cy^ m o> CT> • T“ «— «“ r- *— — 638 - -
In addition to the Dspreolation Beeerve Fiand, the Railway* maintain tii« Development iund, which ^ets the sur plus after meeting all other oblit;ations of the railways. The SHind la meant for ^rovidin^j for paasei^er amenities, and for Trelfara and railway- iirojecta ifrtilQh are neceasary but unreaunerative. In recent yeara, tiiere have been heavy withdrawalB from the Fund.
RAILWAY iINAi\C.aii VlU~ii.yiS lIiI4N0aa : iiailway finaces were separated from general finances in 1924-25, tlrie railways contributine, to the general revenues accord- inii: to a fixed formula. The railways have to j^ay to the general revenues an annual divider:^ at a rate fixed a percenta^^e of the cap it al-a t-c barge, ^ ich includes a small element of contribution over and above interest - charges, i’he quantum uf contribution to the general reve nues was reviewed by i'arl.iaaentaiy Convention Comraittee in 1949, 1954 and I960. The rate of dividend payable to the iieneral revenues rose from 4 p .c. during 1950-51 to 4i P«c. during 1961-63, and to 4i p .c. from 1st Api*il, 1963. All new capital made available after April 1, 1964 reoeived dividend at the rate of p .c. In addition, the r a il ways are paying a lump sum of Rs. 12.5 crores to the general exchequer, for transfer to the States, in lieu of passenger tax mer^jed with fares since April, 1961.
i'he nailway Convention Comm..ttee, 1965 recommended — 639 — that diTld«nd payable to general revenues from 1966-67 should be calculated at 5*5 per cent on the element of dividend — paylr^ capital upto 1963-64 and at 6 p.c. on capital provi ded by general revenues thereafter. The payment of the divi dend on the basis of the enhanced rates w ill absorb the two separate payments that were being made upto 1963-66 as divi dend and as a special payaent uf Rs. ^2•5 crores for trax»fer to the States* Most of the benefit uf the increase in divi dend liability is estirf^teo to go to the States ?iiich recei ved on an civera^e Hs. 12.3 crores per year durii^ the i^hird x'lan railway KAi'iiaS t The rates policy of the railways should have two main objectives - 1) I'he railways should be able to got a reasonable aargin of profit • .i?he financial posi tion of the railways should rwoain sound, and 2) ilie railway rates policy should be so frazoed as to secure a fast deve lopment of agriculture, industry and commerce.
i'he railway rates structure in India before 194B was defective, i^he charging of fla t rates levied on uniform basis discouraged long distance traffic resulting in the concentration of industries near the sources of raw - materials. Ihe railways charged lower rates for traffic to »nd from the ports, thus encourae^iiTg foreign commerce at the cost of Indian commerce. Different railways charged different rates fur the same commodity, harmfully affecting India’ s trade and commerce. The systems of 'mileage - — 640 - -
Inflation* and 'blocK rates' prevalent on some lini^a ^av«> rlae to a good deal of t>ublic discontent. -^'he new system of telescopic class rates with three legs introduced in 1946 partially r«noved these defects in the railway rates stnjcture. Standard races were fixed for differenc cojamoditiea. from let April, I952 fui’tiier cnanges were introauced. -^he policy of cbargii^ rates on the i;M8is of inflated mileage was abandoned* ^'he reniaining rates were standardised am were, in this process, increased. In 1955-56, th« ’ wagon-load’ scale charsed to foodgrains and fertilisersa we ^e reduced and the class rates for dis tances beyond 6CX) railos 'vere enhanced, ■‘•'he biid^jet for 1956-57 levied a further s>ircharge of one anna in the rupee on all freight tiraffic (except grains and pulses, fodder, manure, khadi, new3paper, newsysint and books) with a view -ijo coverin^j the gap in resources consequent upon i'usreased conrffli.tnents under the Second Plan. ■^he Hallway ‘^retght Str^jcture Enquiry CorBmittee ('^hairraan T)r. A HamaswaiBy ’^udaliar), which submitted its report in April, 1957* suggested ei^ht legs instsad cf the for.Ter three and reoonmended an integrated scale of rates covering both class-rates and wagon-load scales with a regular und progressive increase from the lowest class to ihe highest class throu^^h a percenta(se system with a standard rate base. The Government, however, adopted the recommendation with some modifications from 1st october,195*^* — 641 —
•^'heee new rates brought about the following main chan^^es i 1) i’he BUpplementarv surclaarae of ^2k p.c. was abolished. 2) J?he additional eurcharge of p.c. ol the total freight on a ll consignment weighing less than 20 maunds, was increa sed to 10 p .c. on consigrimenis weighing less than 10 aaunds* 3) fhe freight rates for parcels were also revised accor dingly. 4) -^‘he Government replaced the single scale pro posed by the Ccnunittee by two scales, with i;he object of preserviui^ to some extent, the different; degrees of taper in tne wagon-load scales ana class-rates. rhe fir s t scale gave the rates applicable to commodities auch as foodgrains and manures and the second one ^^'•soribed the rates for other comraodities. %e folluwlr^ were the rnain objects of the policy * 1) to reduce the cost of transportation on food grains 2) to see that ^here is no overall increase in t^e freight on fruits, vegetables, &erosene and salt 3) to continue t;he special treatment accorded to handloom - products, khadi, booics and milK and 4) to ensure that the overall increase will be moderate and the minimum necessary to give the extra revenue required. The railways switched over to the decimal coinage fron 15th September, 195/ in the case of psHssenger fares and from 1st October, 195b in the case of freight on goods, i>arcels and o ti»r tr a ffic , i'he commercial departments of the railways adopted the metric system oi weighxs and - measures from 1st April, 196u. i!he unit of weight for the — 642 — purpose of charge from that date is a quintal or 100 Kjj. and the distance between stations is reoiconed in iciloBetres instead of in miles. ^Iiere was a«;ain an increase in » freight rates-50nJk'. per tonne, for tra ffic inoludine, coal, carried upto 40 iciluiaetres and a rupee per tonne in case of traffic carried beyond bO kilometres, fflar^iinal adjust ments being made over distances 41 to BO Kilometres > in the 1962-63 bud«get«
i'he continuouB mileage basis for fare rates was standardised in January 194^ and remained undistixrbed. The fare rates were increased by 20 to 25 p.c. to meet increased expenditure on rehabilitation and replacement. By the 195^^6 budget, the passen^ier rates were revised on the basis of the telescopic fare structure of three legs - the fir s t upto 150 Biiles, vhe second from 151 to 500 miles az^ the third for 301 miles and over. An increase was made in the fares on the fir s t leg, nhile the second leg fares were left untouched. >^inoe ciienthe fare rates have been revised upwards) fir s t in 1962->63 and then in 1965-66. '^hus the Iniian railway rate si;rueture has been rationalised and simplified throu^^h many changes beginnix^ from 1948.
RAILWAY ABMIHISTRATIOW » i?he responsibility for the overall control and administration of the railways vests — 643 — in the Railway Board, which was fir s t set up in 1905. The Board now conaista of a Chairman, who is e x -o fficio , xT±n- oipal Secretary to the Union Rsdlway .'Ministry, the financial Ooami-asioner and three other iuvnbera, #10 are of the - status of Secretaries to the Union Railway Ministzy. Con stant and close consultation between the public and the railway administration is secured thru\;^ the followii^ cOTina ttees. 1) divisional Re^iional Railway Users’ Consul tative Committee; i i ) ^onal Hailway Users' Consultative Conuaittee at the headquarters of each railway zone, and i i i ) the National Railway Users’ Consultative Council at the Centre*
CuNCLUSlCiH t i?he Governoent of India has lliua tajcen iieen interest in the development of railways in India. Svoi in the early period of railway development when railways were owned and naneged by private comi^'anies, the tjovemment guarantee played a very large part in railway development. Without the Gov eminent guarantee, railway would not have come into existence. Later on, the State gradually entered the field of railway construction and management. 2his process stopped with the raan^ement and control of almost all the lines passing on to the State. Now the overall control and administration of the r a il^ s vest in the Railway Board, consistir^ of senior Government u fficers mainly attached to the Union Railway TTinistry. Since In dependent e, and particularly since the beginning of the — 644 —
railways have ahown steady iaipz^vsment* They have ai>i»ropriated substantial contribution to General Kefenues, The railways today constitute the saajor raode of transport and carry a little less than 4/5tha of the total ^oods traffic and about one half of the passenger traffic in India, l^he derelopment pro^r&a&ii^s under the Plans hare increased pressure on them. The railways have tried their best CO cope up with the increased pressure} but have not been able to do so. ilie rate of expansion should be incre ased; otherwise the development in other sectors will be adversely affected. I'he new lines have been laia to suit the requirements of the heavy industries. This has resulted in the neglect of rural areas. Very few new areas have been opened in recent years, fhe expansion policy should taice into account all the relevant considerations. The railways have been facing two new problems in recent years, i'irst, competition from motor-transport has increased especially on lon^ distance routes. Secondly, the pattern of tra ffic has also changed with preponderance of low rated tr a ffic . On the ^ o le , it muy be said that the railways, in spite of difficulties, have registered ^jood progress. >301116 cdiantjes^however, seem to be necessary in the expansion poliCjr and the rate of exi»ansion also needs to be increased.
RU a D
The discussion of road transport is divided in — 645 —
two parts, ^‘he fir s t pert includes the deTelopaent o f roads; while the second part incliKies the other it«ns covered by road transport llKie the vehicles used for carryiBb iiioods and passengers; the agencies itilch own ana run these vehicles; the rules and regulations and the s/stera etc.
ROi^D DSYKL0.ail!:;8T IN INDIA t iJurine, the British rule in India, roads were mostly constructed from the strategic and adnvinistrati ve point of view. rToreovsr, roads were treated as subsidiary to the railways, i^he construction of roads uXX/S from the civic and econoraio points of view never under taken by the Central iiovemment. ‘ his work was le ft to Provincial
In I943f the Qoyemmsnt convened a conference of road engineers at Fagpur to prepare a plan for road develop- ment in the country, ^hls plan eam^ to be known as the Nagpiir Plan, i^e ^agpur j-^lsA laid down a ^bitious constru ction projects for a period of ten years. It was based on the estirnated requirements of India for the fir s t 20 years of the post-war period. I'he objective underlyii^ the Plan was that no Tillage in a well-developed agricultural area shuuld remain more than 3 miles from a main road an d no villat,e anywhere more than 20 aiiles from the road. The i^lan stressed that no road should be considered by itself, but as a part of a national networic. It classified roads as National Highways, rrovincial (now State) Highways, Kajor l>istrict Roads, J'Unor D istrict i^oads and Village Roads. ■^he Plan clearly laid aown the responsibilities of the Central, Provincial and local bodies. It also re commended the immediate setting up of a Central Hoad Board with adequate authority and powers to deal with the policy and day-to-day administration of road plannir^ and to serve impartially the interest of the Central and the State Governments. i'he Plan envisaged a total construction of - t 4,50,000 miles of roads at a cost of Ss. 44tJ crores for undivided India. After partition, the corresponding ' figures for India casne to 3»31,000 miles at a cost of — 647 —
Hs. 375 crores.
iJhe Plan was accepted by the Central end the State t'OvernmentB in the country. J?hey, however, did not a^jree unanijnously, to the time-limit for che implementation of the Plan. Phe Uaitral Uovemraent took over the full fixian- cial responsibility for the construction and xaaintenance of the Na^ionax iii^hvTays. ihis was continued even under the new Constitution. I'he Central Road urbanisation was also aet up. x'he State Crovemments prepared five year plans commencing frcra 1st April* 1947 for tihe development of State, district and villaj^e roads in tlneir respective areas, i’he actual worKin^ of this five year programrae, was, how ever, slow, rhe aggregate amount spent on tiie State pro- tsruBunes amounted to only Rs. 30 orores as against Rs.120 crores originally provided.
RUAB liSYELOP li:. .X IN HS I-IRSI IIVS PLAI>? i 2he First Five Year Plan abandoned the targets of the !Tagpur Plan as financially impracticable and proposed nodest targets. i?he Plan provided a sum of Rs. 131.3 crores for road development; 28 crores for the development of national highways and the rest mainly on State ros^ds incliaiiiig ^Jtie Bannihal Tunnel in Jammu and i:vaBhmir.
In zhe case of National Highways, as against ohe provision of Rs. 2a crores, a total prograame costing about Rs. 57 crores was actually undertaken. Che object was to ensure economical execution and to provide a continuity — 648 —
of work In th« ?'5«cond Piv« Tear Plan. The targets were the confitruction of 1250 miles of missli^ links, 75 major bridges and I’nprovaaent of 6000 miles of e.'clatlng roads, the end of the Jrlan 746 lailes of nissint, links were eons~ tructed; 4000 miles of one and 400 miles of two-way rnodemiaad carriage ways were provided. An amount o f Is . 21 crores was provided for the d«ye> lopraent of roads of inter-titate or economic importance. Phe programme included the construction of 1473 miles of new roadSy 12 niajor bridges and in.^overBent of >000 miles of existing roads in Tarious 3tates. The execution of this p. ograa»e was, however, ver/ sluw. By the end of the rlan, the Central iiovemment had spent only Rs. 4*5 crores on the impleiasntation of the scheioe. i!he physical achlevflnents were that 123 miles of new roads were constructed «nd about 500 miles of existing, roads were inproved by "«he end of 1953-56.
A sum of Rs. 93 crores was provided in the flan fur robid development in States, the State roads are B^in- tained and constructed from State revenues. Osrants are paid to the States from the Central Boad ^und to supplemeit the resources of the States, -^he targets were the increase in the mileage of metalled roads from 10,007* in 1950-51 to 12,453 by the end of the i^lan, in i'art A States. The corresponding figures for Jfart fl ;itat8s were 7f5t>ti in 1950-51 and 0,199 by the end of the ii'lan. — 649 —
^h« fir s t i^lan gave a ^reat es^haais on the rural x^>ad derelopment. i’h« target was ti» deTrelopment o f 16,000 to 17*000 miles of village roads through comjaimity efforts* A’he progress was quite aatisfactoiy In this respect. By the end of the Plan, uhe construction of 22,609 miles of roads - 4,609 miles of metalled roads and 18,000 mil3s of unmetailed roads - was ooapleted, in which the land as well as earth work was contributed almost exclusively by the people.
3y the ind of the ^iret ^lan, there were in the oouixtzy, 1,13,723 miles of soetalled and 1,93,931 Jiiiles of u'.imetailed reads.
ROAD i)]jVjLLUr^a-:yi: IN HE saCuNL PI VS YBAR PLAK j x’he Second ±*lan originally i^roYided for a uotal outlay of Rs. 24o crores for road development, in addition to 23 crores to be Rookol pi’ovided from une Central iited- Fund. In 193t>, on tne - 'Appraisal' of Plan, the ori«iinal allotment of Hs. 246 crores was reduced bo Hs. 219 crores. '^he actual exr^enditure during the period of tne xlan was lis. ^42 croi*es. ^'ae target of t-ie ?Ja^ur i-lan in reisi/eot of mileage of roads was fully acnieved by 1937-5o. x'ioe prograjoae in uue bacond Five ieai' Plan included just US in tiie First Plan, uhe development plans for - National Highways, Inter-Ctate Highways, State Hi^ways and Village roads. The protiress achieved was, on the i^ole, satisfactory. •^he position in the case of National Highways on — 650 —
1st At»rll, 1961 mtfi ae follows :
biasing LlnJcs — Hll une jane modernlBed carriage vmy 69700 Two Lane modernteed carrleeie way 1,900 Ruada requiring i mprovement and widening — 3*200
?otal : 13,800
Ihe Central Jofvernment imdertooK a special echesse of inter>otate ro^ds and roads of economic inportanee in 1934* ^his soheme was continued duri% tne period of the Second irlan. About 1000 miles of roads were %o be cons tructed under this scheme.
The ?lan provided for the construction of 18000 miles of surfaced roads in different States during the ^.econd rlan. Special emphasis was j^iven on the needs of the bacicward areas.
The villa,^e roads development programme included the construction of new roads, as also the improveaenfc of existing low gr£.de earth-roads. Emphfesis in this progra mme was on :he voluntary labour by villegers. The pro gress was, however, slow in this fie ld .
During uhe period of thcjoeoond ir'lan, sux-£aoed roaas increased i'roa 1,13,725 ailss to 1,4o,5l3 miles, and unsurfaced roads from 1,95,351 to 2,94*113 miles. — 651 —
NE^' TERM i^LAN fOR ROAD DBlfELO-da i-KT IN INDIA * As the targets in the Na^ur Plan la Fespeet o f milea^^e of roads were aohieTed by I937~5b, a new plan was prepared by a cummi- ttee, set up in May, 1957, of Chief ^;.n^ineer8 with the Consultin^^ blngineer (Road Development) to the Uovemjsent of India as ooiivener. Xnis plan was examined the Central Hijfi the otate trovei'nineatB arid accepted as the oasis for future road developbient iu he ccunti;^* -‘■'he plan t'^oposed co increase the total read length iroui 3t31fOOO miles i .e . the ^'a^pur jr'lan tar^eii to 6,57*^00 uilea by Vjt>0—81* uut of these about 40 p.c. will be suifaced, i'his vdll mean road- leiifeth o f 52 liiiles per 100 square miles of area. The followin^j table gives the fu ll details o f the plar*.
—Contd. on page 652... 652 -
JAiiLj!; HO. 9«4^
NBf LORa 'JPEfLM i'LATI FV>R H U D DEViSLOBliiKT
Ragpur i^lan Kstinated* New i'lan Cost of Type of Roads Targets DeTelop- targets Hew Plan ( Miles ) ment by (Miles) (Rs.in 1960-61 crores.) ( la ie s )
National High Way 20,000 13,S00 32.000 930 State High Way 53.000 35,000 70.000 1,580 Major Dist.Hoads 50.000 95,200 1.50.000 1,360 T'inor -^ist.Roads 70,000 76,300 1.80.000 650 Village ^oads 1,5b,000 1,56,700 2,25,000 630
Total : 3,31,000 3,79,000 6,57,000 5,200
( * The actual total mileage of roads was 4,40,626 on 1-4-1961), The otoJectiTe of the new plan is to bring every - Tillage 1) in a developed and agricultural area within 4 miles o f a metalled road stnd 1.5 miles of any road 2) in a sttni- developed area within 8 miles of a metalled road and 3 miles o f any road, and 3) in an undeveloped and uncultivable area within 12 miles of a metalled road and 5 miles of any road*
1 , G, C. Jangir, Indian economy. Atma Ram & Sons, Delhi, 1963, p. 522. 653 - -
The flan seems to be rather ambitious as it inwlves « an averat^e outlay of Rb. 260 crures a year. I t , however, rej^resents only the minimum needs of the country.
RuAx, DHViiLUi^.lETTJ IN riVJg IBAJg JfLkll * 2?he original allotment for road development in the Third flan was - Rs. 324 crores. Aft~r the Chinese attack in 1962, the total outlay was raised to 454 crores. The actual amo\mt spent d\xx±xi^ the first four years of the flan was Rs. 329*33 ororea. On 31st December, 1964, the mileat^e of surfaced rotids in the country vr • 1,65,313 ana that of unsurfaced roads was 3,64,113* Out of the mileage covered by surfaced roads, the National Hii^hwa^ system accouiited for 14,925 miles* Xhe emphasis in the Third flan was not on increasing :h« - mileat^e of existing National Highways] but it was on the development of the existing Highways by constructing massing road linics, bridging river cro8sinc,s and iaprovinti i;he existing low-grade sections. A developrr»nt credit of - Re. 28.57 crores was obtained frora the International Levelup- ment association fo r meetint, jjartly the development cost of certain selected road and bridge vnrixB on National High ways in Bihar, Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal States. The following table shows the progress in road developient since 1951* 654 —
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O SB T” t- tn o jn *“ go CM o o > o> r “ 3) tn «> «k • • • tn NA T- CM o>•»m • • • * v » CM K > y \
h- tn CM ^- • « VO CM «— t~ VO ts m t - tn -<• tn * • •> • flh § !<> VO K> VO t - y - . cr> r“ >♦ in tn t “- »• • •k » t> w «-• »“ T“ ^ +> as r^ C8 O i
xt S i P^lM p VO *” CM K> VO -P . s in tn VO VO VO «o g 1 a ) 3 (TV o> «y» S ^ 655 MOnCIMCIiiS IN JriE HUkD SYaTEM t In spite of thtse efforts by tbs Sovemaent, some defloiencles s t i l l exist in the road system. These are as follows I 1) The total len^jth of the roads aTailable is meagre as compared to t:he size of the coxmtry and needs of the economic deyelopment. 2) The loaintenanoe of roads is very unsatisfactory. The roads v^ich were constructed for light tr a ffic are beii^ lused for heavy tra ffic • Consequen tly* seyeral roads are in a damaged condition. 3) The road system iias grown up over time and on several routes* there are s t i l l numerous missine^ links, unbridged river crossings, weak culverts and bridges am weak and inadequate road pavements. 4} riost of the roads are sii\^le lane, that is , 12 feet wide, and travel aloz^ th«s is both slower and less safe than it need be 3) On account of the absence o f proper coordination anu>n oifferent States, highways between neigh- boiirix^ States have frequently remained unconnected. Soow measures have beeffi taUcen in this respect recently{ but the resources available for this categozy of roads have not been adequate in relation to the sise of the problem. 6) In the past, road development was carried out mainly bjf administrative considerations. It is now necessary to adopt econojttic criteria to the utmost extent possible, to undertake careful tra ffic surveys and forecasts and in the choice of major road projects, to proceed on the loasis of cost-benefit studies before committing substantial recources. — 656 — 7) Futi^r* plannix)^ of the road system should be ^ id ed by the following considerations, proTision of roads related to major industrial, mining and other deTelopment projects, rural market roads, roads for the development of bacimard areas and regions, including hill areas and coastal areas, and road systerae in metropolitan areas and large cities and their enrirons. FINANCINB OF RoALS IN INDIA i I’he Jayicar Committee, 1927 recommended that roads should be the responsibility of the Central Crovemment, in Tiew of their national importance and also because of the fact that Ghe direct income that resulted from roads in terms of customs and excise duty on petrol and motor Tehicles, and the additional petrol duty recommended b^/ the Committee, went to the Central rerenues. The Committee also recomnended that railways should extend financial help in the construction and maintenance of roads, as the roads acted as feeders to the railways. Ihe Commi ttee recommended an additional duty of 2 annas per gallon and suggested the formation of the i^oad DeTelopnent Fund by keeping apt«rt she proceeds of this additional duty. i'he GoTemnent created the Central Road Levelopmoat Fund in 1929. ^his fund has proved to be veiy useful fo r the road development in India. It has made it possible to increase the annual road eXi^ndtt^ire by at least 15 p .c. — 657 — The finance for road construction and maintenance comes frota different sources} the finance for Tfational High ways is provided by the Central CKivemment, for State High ways by the estate Cro-femments, for ^ s t r ic t and T illa g e roads by the D istrict Boards and village panchayats. In the case of restrict and village roads, the State gives soue grants, ^ieihty p.c. of the proceeds of the Koad Fund are distributed among the States on lie basis of their petrol consumption. These proceeds are to be spent on roads. The need for road devriopment is being fe lt very seriously in our countiy} but the financial stringency has always been a stwublin^ block. Several ConBoittees v is. the Indian Hoad Congress, Motor Vehicles Taoosition l>:nquiry Comni- ttee, Pazation Enquiry COTimission etc. Imve made recoamen- dations in this respect but these have not been accepted and implemented by the Grovemment as yet. RuAB A3»HSl3litATIoN t The Transport Uinistiy at the Centre is in charge of tiie roads, which are the responsibility of ^ e Central Government. The Central Hoads Wing of the Transport Uinistxy is respo nsible for the construction, development and maintenance of the ^^ational Highways. The State Highways are under the Public v,'oriui Depai'tment • Although the Central Governiaent is responsible for the ad ministration and finance of !?ational Highways, hitherto construction and maintenance of these roads have been under taken by the Public Warks Departoaent in the States, acting — 656 — as agencies on behalf of the Centre. The Kistrlct and Tillage roads are looked after the engineers appointed b/ the respeetiTe lucal bodies. The Forest and Irrigation leparlsBents manage the roads that come under their purview. The Road Transport Reorganisation Comnittee, 1959 (Masani Committee} has recommerded the same pattern of road adminis tration in the States, as it exists at the Centre at ^xesent. ROAD RBSEARCH i The viovemnent of India established in 1934» a s « n i-o ffic la l body icnom as the Indian Hoads Con gress. The membership o f the India Hoads Congress has - exceeded 1200 now. The Congress has been doin^ good work in the tield at research regarding roads e.g. new types of road surfacingf bridge specifications, soil research etc. Another institute in the fie ld was established in -July 1952 in Ifew Delhi. It is known as the Central Hoad Research Iitttitute. In addition, there are ruad research statiorw in some States, as in Madras, Uttar i*rade^, Punjab and West Bengal. These stations perfom the function of testing and control, but are not alwayt^; adequately equipped and staffed for research work. Jhere is a need to co-ordinate properly the work undertaken at the rarious laboratories, to give wide publicity to the results achieved and to encourage the adoption of new techniques. Some efforts are being made in the direction; but they need to be intensified. orilER ASPECTS py RQAlJ TH.iI.orOaT : VEHICLES t One important aspect of road transport is the — 659 — ▼•hides used. Hoads can be used by anybody* Sh9 Tehioles are of two types * those drawn by human beings and anlaais, and X'M motor Tehicles. The fortoer have been in use since olden times, and they exist eT«i now, Their importaf^e, however, has considerably declined* The aotor transport* un the other hand has attained a good deal of iiportanoa In recent ysarg and hEiS attracted the attention of the - Gov eminent* Phe number of motor vehicles on roads in ludia at Jie of March* 1964 was 8,66,33^ as comiiurdd to 2 » Ilf949 at the end of March, 1947. The number of vehicles on road the end of 1966 was about 10 laichs. A ^ood deal of developraent is required, even, now, in ordor to cope up with the needs of the country. AQaI>fCIBS } The agencies erfea3ed in road transport are Jtate ^ovemiacnts, ^ivate oparators and cooperative socie ties* The State 5ov«maents have entered the field of passenger transport* i^assenger transport has been natio nalised in varyl3\j de^jrees in the States* Statutory cor porations have been set up uuder the Road Tranj?port Corpo rations Act, 1950, in 4ndhra ir'radesh, Bihar, iiysore, iaadhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, J:\m3ab, Rajastan and West Bengal. The Second Plan provided Rs* 13*5 crores for nationalised roed transport jjroi^rsmnea in the States* The Third Plan provided Rs. 27 crorea* The State Road Trans port Corporatlor>a also esLTry ^ods to a limited extent* — 660 — An Association of ^tate ^oad i’ransport Undertakix^a waa set up in 1963> to coordinate the activities of the undertalcii^s and to secure procedural uniformity, hi«sh standards of ser vice and econorsic operation. The bus transport of passengers within the bouT^aries o f a city is generally in the hands of the respective Municipal Cort'oration or Municipal Autho r ity . In some txmns, liiis service is rendered the res pective State Transport CtproTHtlBn:. Corponx+ton. '?bff Second agency is tlia private operators. As a motor car can be privately oimegl, th«r« are several private -motor-ownern ueir^ tha vflhiole for their private use. I?he t^ods trannport by njeans of mo tor-lorries is in private hands. I^en thou^ some iState ^ovemraents have entered the field of .^oods transport, they have not been able to compete 3ticcf»ssfulV -?dth private owners. ■J?he i'hird ?*lve Year Finn enviaatjes the possib ility of extending the a ctiv ities of the i»ublic sector in the field of goods transport in viev of the likely prssauro on transport, -he Committee on 7ransport Policy ai^ CoordinSf- tion has alsu recomraended such extension and has ,^n Cooperatives are c&ai*«ritively a new comer» their share ioeir^ very small. HujGU-Uil'IoN wF Mwi'Oh s i?he motor transport in India is governed by the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939* The Act created the Regional Transport Authorities to regulate and control vehicles and utate Transport Authority for the whole ^tate for coordination, hearii^ of appeals e tc. irunaits were made compulsory for a ll public vehicles. A pem it holder is required to fu lfil certain conditions regarding laainte- nance of vehicle, oiaeervance of prescribed speed'-limits and avoidance of over-crowding or over-^rking of employed drivers and other vurkers. jr’ermits were grantea aocorciiog to public necessity* In view of the chan^ied conditions, the Motor - V«hicles Aaendment Act was passed in 1956. The follovring are the fflsin provisions of this Act - (1) Li^ht motor vehi cles liave been excnpted from permits 2) A private ca rrier's permit can be given inter-regional validity with the appro val of State transport Authority 3) Issue of temporary permits, instead of regular ones, i»s been discontinued to facilitate nationalisation at any time 4) ^he period of permits for public carriers has been fixed at five years. — 662 — There ivlll be no distance limit anywhere on the operation of motor Tehioles. 6) A new body icnown as Inter<^tate Trans port CoomlBsion w ill look after the development* coordina tion and re^^ulation of inter-State seryices. 7) 'The pro cedure has been laid down to be followed in nationalising road services so as to ensure uniformity throughout India. rhe Act came into operation from Feb. 1937; but up t i l l now at least, it has failed to bring about any iraprove- ment in the general condition of motor vciiicles. An Inter- State Transport CoBtmission has been set up on tith '^arch, I95b, for the deyelopment, coordination and regulation of road transport services on inter-iitate routes. The Commi ssion has brou^t about reciprocal agz^ements between a ll the States except Kerala and Madras. ihe C«Bmittee on Transport i'olicy and coordination came to the fo il owl n^ conclusions after studying &he present syst«:i of regulation of road transport. i 1) and large, there is no restriction placed at present in any State on the number of pexmits issued for motor txK Tehicles. 2) distance restrictions for the grant of permits are observed in varying degrees in different States. 3) In several States, a large number of tcnporary permits are being issued. 4) Hoad transport operations on inter—otate routes are at present beit^^ regulatea mainly under reciprocal agreements — 663 — arrived at between the State «ioYemiBent8 concerned, i'hese agreements are later on communicated to the Inter-^tate rransport Comalssion. The Commission has now Insisted upon the prior Inti'oatlon of such a^ireements* 5) un account of the narrow Interpretation of the pro- ▼isions In the Votor V ^ icles Act, the very objectives of the provisiODB i.e . cuvrdinatints road and ra il services* prevaitlr^ the deterioration of the road transport aiy8tflra« and preventing uneconomic competition within the road trans port Industx> have not received proper attention. 6) Ihere is imperative need to simplify and introduce greater uniformity in the ezistlne, approach to procedures for regulation of road transport and to bring these into conformity with the changing and growlr^ transport require ments of an economy developing in a planned manner. rhe Commission, in the end, points out that " regu lation of road transport, conceived as a tool of planned and coordinated develojaaent, rather l^an as a restrictive device has a functional role in the development of road traucisport in keeping with tiie growing needs of the econoi^y and as an integral part of the tx>tal transport system of the Countxy.**^ A ll thB recommendations of the Commission are formulated within the framework of this broad objective. 1. ^inal Report of tan Co-ordimtloii. i>ovi T TAXATION OP MUiuii VEiilCLB;i : Motor transport is subject to Central Government taxes. State Crovemment taxes and local taxes, rhe Central Government taxes include customs duty on the 1 iports of motor vehiclest accessories and spare parts, motor spirit and other ^oods and excise duty on motor spirit, power alcohol, tyres and tubes manufactured in Inaia. -‘‘he State taxes include motor vdiicles tax, sales tax on motor spirit and on motor veiiicles and their spare parts and accessories* -i-'he lucal taxes are \xrheel tax, tolls and ter minal taxes. In addition to the above taxes, vi^en a motor vd iicle passes through otiier States, it has to pa;>' a - separate tax in ev.ry State. Some States hav^ aome sort of reciprocal arrangements for a lindted number of vehicles with some adjoining States ii^ereb^ tax reciprocity is con ceded | but such arrangements do not exist amoj^ a ll the States. ?4otor vAicles taxation is verjf high in India, particularly when it is compared with that in other coun tries in the world, ^'he taxation per vehicle in India is about Rs. 2070, as against Rs. 800 in France, Hs. 1300 in U.K., Rs. 1500 in Italy and Hs. 1200 in West Gerraany. More over, the burden of taxation has increased at a rapid pace in recent years. 2he tax per vehicle was Rs. 1,115 in 1949-50, 1,906 in 1954-55 and is Hs. 2,070 at present, oeveral Committees via. Motor V ^ icle Taxation Enquiry Committee, 1950; tiae i?axation Bnquiiy Committee, 1953; the ?.stimate8 Committee of the i:'arliament etc. have — 665 — recommended that the iaeayy burden should be reduced. They hare aade several su^geetiona to solve the j,>robl«ra, i’he important su^estione are centralisation of a few taxes, uniformity in the vehicle tax amoi^ all States, simplifica tion of procedure and rules regarding taxes, abolition of a few taxes and an overall reduction in the level of taxa tion* It is very necessary that tiiis problem is givm a serious consideration by i;he Central and btate ^^orveminents. ‘Recently, a hi^h level Road Transport Taxation inquiry Co- lamittee has been appointed to conduct a comprehensive exa mination of motor vehicles taxation in the country* CRbJ)IT FACIJjl .IgS t In motor transport, small scale opera tors predominate* i^hey suffer from paucity of funds and hence are unable to make arraogements fur repairs or better maintenaiKje of vehicles, booking and storage fa c ilit ie s . The State BanJc of India Act was amended in 1957 to help them in this respect. The Amendment Act permitted Ijans to hire purchase organisations. This step, however, has not proved very useful as the vehicle owners in many parts of the coitntry have to pay a high rate of interest*' It is necessary that the Reserve Bank of India should look into the matter ar.d see ^at loans are made available to suita ble operators at reasonable rates of interest. The State financial Corporations Act has also been amended to it»ke ^oad transport operators eligible for financial assistaxMse — 666 — under th« Act. Recently, the Government ham appointed a study group to examine the question of providing financial assistance to road transport operators. I-ORMATI an adequat« supply o f vehlcl98« spares and aecessoriss is necessary* !i?he ioanufacture of these in the country falls short of the demand, mainly owin^ to the ahorta*ie of foreign exchange. I'he actual production in India in 1964 was 67,000 vahicles am bS p.c. of its components w^ere Indian. Efforts are beii% laade to inor*:iase the production of vehicles in the country. Sfforts are also bein^ made to produce as many components in the co\mtry as possible. CuHCmaiON : !£he above review shows Xhk^t road transport has got a bright future in India. The development of roads was neglected in the past} but since 1943 particularly since Independence, the dav^opoent has been quite rapid. ‘Dhe Central and State Groveztunents have shared the responsi bility of road developnent. The District Hoads and Village Hoads are the responsibility of the local bodies and emphasis has been laid on voluntary labour of the villagers in this respect. Grants are also paid by State ilovocnments to looal bodies for the development of these roads. It is gratifying to note that the targets in the Tiagpur xlan in respect of mileage of roads were achieved b^ 1957-56. A new plan has been prepared, which has laid down the targets for the next twenty yearc. i'he Five Year rlans have alsu laid stress on road development. For the administration of the roads, there is a separate wing at ^he Centre and a separate depaurt- mcnt in each State, f’or lookir^ after the lis t r ic t and fillage roads, engineers are separately appointed in local — 66b — bodies, ^he (lOTemnieRt has also ^iYen du« ezu; our element to road research. In spite of the efforts on the part of ttxe Government, seTeral doficleneies ev«i now exist in the road system in India. Innediate stents should be ta&en to remove these deficiencies. i?he future road deyelopment should be guided entirely aifferent considerations, which have been fiointed out in the course of the discussion, i'assenger transport has be^ nationalised in var/ing degrees in ths States and Statutory Corporations have be«»i formed in sevoral States, fhe tuoods transport is le ft mainly in the hands of private operators. i‘he expansion of the public ssctur in Che field of goods transport is , however, envisaged. The motor transport is ^ovezned by the '.otor Vehicles Act, 1959 and the otor Vehicles (Amenoment) Act, 19^6. The Inter-btate Transport Commission has been establi^ ed in for the development, coordination and regulation of road transport services on inter-^tate routes. The syetara of reifulations, however, suffers from several defects and needs revision, rhe motor»vehiclea taxation is very high in India bnd several conmittees have su^ested measi^es to solve the problem. J?he government ise^i^ini^ a serious con sideration to this aspect, i'he problem of credit facili ties to small scale motor operators is ulsu ^iven due con sideration by the uoveinment. xhe State Banic of India Act and tiie State linancial Corporations Act have been ameiided for the purpose. Jhe small scale operators are encouraj^ed — 669 — to amalgamate, in ord«r to form viable units. Cooperativea are also encouraged with a view to foormirvs viable units. Thus the Government has been giving increasing attention to roed transport. The role of the Government is three-fold » direct participation, assistance and regulation. There is no doubt Jhat, by »nd large. Governmental policy since Inde pendence has been designed to ^ive a fillip to road transport. A great deal, however, remains to be done in order to satis fy the needs of the country. V>AT:Ji ^ater transport can be broadly divided into two types - l) inland water transport and 2) Sea transport. XtlLAi^ly WATJHi t Inland \^ter-ways played an impor tant part in India's transport system for a loi% tioie. With the development of railways in the country, their importance declined, ^he reasons were the preference given to railways and the wdthd-awals of large quantities of imter for purposes of irrigation. Some efforts ^ere made to develop inland water transport during the ^jeriod of the second world war; but they failed to achieve aubetantial progress. In the Constitution of India, National wateivways have been inclu ded under the Union lis t , ^ i l e inland navigation appears in -he Concurrent lis t . TJo waterways Isave, however, so far been declared as ^rational Waterways, i’he executive responsibility in the field of Inland Water Transport is . — 670 — therefore, of the State Government. The leisgth of navigable waterways in India is 13t^00 icllometresy of Niaich about a fifth is navigable by ateaaers. Xhe important ones are the Gan^a and the .^ahiaaputra and bh«lr tributariesy Uie uodavari and cJae r^ehna and their oanal8« the bacjiwaters and canals 01' Kerala, the Buckingham canal in the ^Aadras and Andhra States, the West Coast canals and the Delta canals in Orissa. I'here are two aspects of the inland navi^tion pro« bleifl. i?he fir s t is improving und construc tin^i water channels suitable for navigation, i'he second is the or^^anisir^ of the inland water tra ffic in such a way as to reculer efficien t servi* at a reasonable cost. The first aspect is looked after uhe navigation branch of the Central Water and Power Cosuaission. ?he second aspect is to be solved by the State viovemoents by giviz^ due encoura,^ement to the starting of steamship anu country>boat services on cooperative lines. The State ^ovemiaents have been given ihe authority to enact laws for the regulation uf inland waterways tr a ffic . i^he Act of 1951 Made registration of inland bteam vessels compul&oxy. In 1952, was set up the tian^a->Brahma- putra Water Tran^ort Board, bj the voluntary cooperation of the Central and State Governments to coordinate the developmeait of water traneB>ort on the Ganga, the - Brahmaputra and their tributaries. The Central Water and Power Coiimxssion has also been constituted wh&se functions — 671 — ar« to survey, plan and develop water transport In the try. The expert deputed in 1952 by the United ’Nations Technical Assistance Administration, to inr^iitlgate the po ssibilities of navigation in shallow waters of the various rivers, su^sci-sated tha construction of a special type of boats to be plisd in shallow winters, ^hia su^^aatiun is receivir^ careful consideration. The different aiultipurpose projects hav3 navi^atiou as one of ^heir objects. JHiJjjH t Phe -I'irst Pive Year Plan provided only a dniall suu of Hs. 16 lalchs for inland water ways, and that too in the Caatral 3actar. ^iie ?irst Plan ained at investi- t^ation of only laie ^'uctioal possibility ui' the varioun pro posed scheiiids. l’jw Second i*^ve Year Plan ainied at intensive impro vements in limited retiiona in order to lay the foundation for further developiaenli. -he Secona rlou originally provi ded ?i8. ? crores. Iiacer on, che aiaoimt was reduced to Rs* 142 lakhs, actual exi>t:ndi'&ure came to Ks. 73 laidas. -he itollowin^ ^'cheiaes were undertajcen : conservancy on the Prahtaaputra, contribution to the uanga xiruhmaputra Water 'transport Board, purchase oi ared^ers, development of Pandu Port and iJdproveaient of west coast caimls. i'he Crovemment appointed the Inland Water Transport Comraittee in 1957 to exxiuire into the position regarding the development ot the inland Vater Transport and mke — 672 ~ r«oomm«ndations for its future development. The Cosaaittee submitted its report in 19^9* The following are tiie main recommendations of the Ccoimittee x 1) Special technical wings should be created in the Ministry o f Transport and Comraunicationa and in the Central Water and Power CoBsaission under the Ministry of Irrigation and i*ower, for planning and supervision of execution of worics intended for development of inland water transport. 2} Traffic should be allocated, fron time to tlMe, between the various modes of transport, keeping in view the needs of each re«;ion. 3) Greater emphasis should be laid on evolving standard designs for the manufacture of propelling machinery and ancillaries witiiin the country. 4) Encouragement should be given to the manufacture of inarine diesel engines and dredgers. 3} The existing facilities for trainix^ of masters, seran^s and drivers ehuuld be improved. 6) The coimtry boats ^ould be given facilities for their proper development. Cooperative societies of boat owners should be organised and encouraged to manufacture country boats and run regular organised services. The system of towii^ country boats by mechanised tugs be intro duced on a cooperative basis. The Committee also recommended a number of specific — 673 — derelopaent projects for different areas, rhs prograame in the Third Plan was mainly based on the reooomendations o f this Committee. The Third Five Year ^lan originally provided Hs.7*5 orores - 5s. 6 ci-ores in the Central iieetor and Hs. 1.5 orores in the 3tate ic'lans. The total allocation was after wards raised to Rs. 8.7 orores. By 1964 the amount of Rs. 2.8 erores was actually spent. The progrsunne at the Centre prorided for loan assistance to the Joint Steamer Companies already agreed to and for the conpletion of an inland port at Pandu anol of the naYigational works in the BTC canal already imdertaken in the Second Five Year Plan. Important fissoiv^ new schemes included in tbe prc^ramne are 1) a p ilot towii^ project to be undertaken by the ^anga» Brahmaputra Ik>ard in the Sunderbans 2) setting up of a central organisation to advise on matters relating to inland water transport 3) purchase of dredgers and launches for the Sunderbans and the Brahmaputra 4) improv«nent of the foreshores at Gauhati* and 5) tz«ining establishments. In the Stale Sector, substantial provisions have been made, amor^ other schemes, for the improvesnent and extension of the West Coast Caml in vsrala, the inprorwient of Taldanda and Kendrapara Canals in urissa in connection particularly with export of iron ore liirough raradip, and for the deve lopment of navigational facilities in the Rajastan Canal. i’he Ganga-Brahmaputra Board has also undertaken — 674 — several projects fo r the deTelopment of Inland waterways; providing better navigation taoillties, development of shore fa c ilitie s , establisiuQent of a system of inland river ports vdth suitable sheds and modem ametiities, inprovin^ river control and conservancy etc* A •''aster Plan for inland navi gation has been prepared b> the Central Water and Power Co mmission. ?he aim is to develop a national network of navi gable waterways in the country. In 1964--6^, the Government of India purchased the share capital of the Rivers Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. Phis Company’ operates river services on the river Brahmaputra from Calcutta to Assam. The 3BA TRANaroRT i Ineiia has a coastline of 2500 miles. Her foreign trade is worth more than Hs. 2000 crores at present. The need to increase Indian ^ are in the sea transport to and from Indian ports is very great. Xhe efforts towards this end can be broadly divided under three heads t i) growth of Indian shipping ii) Development of ship-build- ing in Imlia and iii) Development of ports and harbours in India. i ) SliOW'JH uF INDIA:: SHlrPlSG : In the pre-Independence days, Indian shipping did not maKc much progress. 'iJhis was mainly because of the hostile attitude of the iJovemaent. The (Jovemment of India all alonti patronised British shipping — 675 ~ to the exclusion o f Indian companies. W hateTer lit t le progress was achieved, was due to the persistent efforts o f the courageous Indian cap italists, backed a strong public opinion. I'he iJecond >^orld <^ar revealed the vulnerabilitj o f Indians p o s i t i o n . The (rovemment had to change its policy towards Indian shipping. Bren t^:»n no substantial progress was achieved t i l l Independence. In 1947 was appointed the Shippine Policy Ccnmittee. ^‘tae CoiJBiittee reconttiended that 1) the target for national shipping should be 9 lakh tons (GRX) by 1950 and 20 lalOi tons (CrR7) to be achieved within 5 to 7 years 2) India should secure 100 p .c. of her coastal tradei 75 p .c . o f her trade with Buroa, Ceylon and other nei^bourlnt£ countries; and 50 p .c. of her overseas trade 3} The Govexnnent ^ould protect Indian shipping against rstecuttingy deferred reba tes etc. rhe Indian tonnage in 1947 was about 1.5 laKh tons (uHT). The target laid aown by the U(»mittee was thus bold and ambitious. Xhe target has not been achieved as yet. POST^INDEx-ENDiSHCii: ivFi'URTS : 1) CoA^jTAL SHI.fc*PIWG I The Control of Shipping Act was passed in 1947, which enabled the National Grovemment to accept and implement the policy of reservation of coastal trade for Indian shipping in 1950. foreign coastal tonnage progressively withdrew fr Coastal shipping is predor.inantly in the hands of priTtite companies tu3d most of th® shipping Gorapa.T?les opera ting cn the coast ere members of the Indian Coastal Confe rence. Under the T^erchantShipping Act* 193&« the Central Cfovecrnaent has pow^s to f i x shipping rates. Ihe laaln Ckxsmodities t^ich are carried b/ ships arouiid the coast are coal, salt, cement, food«^rains etc. The following table shows the growth of coastal traffic from 1951 to 1963. —Contd. on page 677••• — 677 — TAMJS NO. 9.6^ COASTAL TiUiTIC lNi)IA I DRjf CARuO Traffic (Total) Year ( lakh tonnes ) . 1951 — 25.U 1952 — 27.79 1953 — 28.78 1954 — 29.05 1955 — 27.04 1956 — 25.92 1957 — 25.77 1958 — 26.66 195$ — 25.57 I960 — 27.45 1961 — 33.49 1962 — 40.77 1963 — 40.29 o i l tra ffic on the coaat increased from 8.17 lakh tonnes in 1955 to 29*59 laich tonnes in 1962. The Rail-Sea Coordination Coamittee, which reported in 1957 studied the problems of coastal lAipping and rall-sea TraMPort PoUoJ La, rlanning CoaoKLssion, Coaa ~ 678 — coordination. The Committee recommended that the Government should take stepe to ensure Va9 attainment of coastal tonnage o f 4.12 lakh tons (GRT) by the end of the second Plan against the then existing tonnage of 2*40 lakh tons (GHT). The requirements of coastal cargo were estimated by tiie Committee at 4 million t<^ yer annum, ^he Commxttee estimated that the coastal caigo would reach the limit of 4 million tons. It alBc/ suggested soioe measures for achieTic^ this target of exi^ansion. This estimate of the Committee was, however, not fulfilled in practice. In 1961, the Government, in order to relieve press\;)re on the railways, decided to divert a quan tity of one million tonnes of coal from the railways to coastal shipping. With the easing of the r a il transport position, thera has been a tendency on the part of the indus trial lasers of coal to switch back to the rail route. tUl'URiil Op COASTAL SHli'PING j future role of coastal shippinei to be considered in relation to its overall national and strategic importance. At the same time ita role as a part of an integrated transport network in the country should never be lost sight o f. Another ini>ortant point is the organisation of coastal shipping* i'he present structure of several private companies, ^ ic h several times indulge in wasteful competition with one another, suffers from several drawbacKS and weaknesses. The Conference arrange ment has not been able to remove these weaknesses. The Committee on Transport Policy and Coordination has suggesTied — 673 — the foraation of a public corporation for coaatal shipping. Acoordin«, to the Conmittee, such • a single Corporation operating the coastal fleet will be in a position to secure fuller utilisation of the existinb oLlpe, provide re^lar services, improve operational efficiency, both directly and throu^ i'ni;rovement of fa c ilit ie s at the ports, and take steps to replace overused ships. 2) oYadiHSAiS i‘RAl>S i India entered overseas trade in 1947. In 1^ ^ , the bcindia a»d India Steamship ccxaj^ies i»ere admitted as fu ll members of the International Shipping Conference. At present there are more than 30 Indian shipping companies in the private sector, uf these 6 are operatix^ both on the overseas and coastal trades, namely the - ;Cindia Steam Navigation Company (3.98 laich OHT), Jayanti iahipping Company (3*04 laich GHT), Indian Steamiblp Com pany (1.33 lakh tiRT), Great Eastern iihipping Company - (1.35 lakh GHT), ^atnak^r ^hippin^ Company' (0.28 lakh GH!T), and Chowgule Steaiaship Company (0.4-6 lakh URT). The Indian 'National Steamship '^wners* Association came into existence in 1930 with the main object of organising united action to promote and protect the interests of national shipping, ship-building and allied industries, fhe - 1. Pinal Report of the Comaitt** on I!ran8i>ort I'olicy m l Ov-ordination. Government of India,Planning Co®ai»»ioii, ^^ew Del5r^9b6, p. 133. — 6 6 0 — Association has been reco^^nised the »0¥«miaent as a re presentative bod^ of Indian shipowners and .^iTcn d u e repre sentation on most of the Government bodies concerned with shipping. In the public sector, two corporations were opera ting up to 1961 - the iiiHstern ohi^ping Cor^uration established in 1930 ana the Western Shipping Coj^^-poration ttBi.ttbli&hecL in 19^6. i'heae two corporations were aintil^anated in 1961 and the Shipping Corporation of India was established. It has a fle e t of 26 dry car^o vessels, 2 passenger-cum-eart'O vessels, 2 oyersea.s tankers and 2 coastal tanicers aggregat ing 2,82,491 GRT. *he cargo vessels operate on India-Aus- tra lia , India-Far ':^ast-Japan, India-Blacic Sea, West Coast of India-ffest J’aklB t.an-Japan^ India-Pakistan-UK-Continent, India-Poland, India-UAH and Indiar-USA routes. J^he passeit- ger-cunt-careiO vessels run on 3omba/-East Africa and riadras- oingapore routes. -Che tankers are on tioie charter to o il coiapanies for carr/ing refined products alono the coast. i?h0 Corporation has also entered the coastal coal trade and the overseas taziker trade, •‘■'he logul Line Ltd. inhich is a subsidiary company of the ^hippix^ Corporation of India, has a fleet of 4 passent^er-cu'ti-cargo ships of about 26,000 tons (GTIT) engaged laalnly in the Haj pilgrim tr a ffic . GROWIIT UF INDIA” fOl^AGB * At the beginning of the First Five Year Plan, India's total tcmnage was about 3«90 lakh tons. The target for the F i r s t Plan was fixed at 6 lakh — 681 ~ > tone (GE?). The provieion for ohipping was, at first, Rb. ^ crores, later on raised to Rs. 26.3 crores, The actual expRTUliture incurred diaring the period of the Plan aisoiinted to Rb. 18.71 crores? but coisnitaente worth He, 26.3 crores wer<% finBliemi »>urlng the Pl£in period. A sm of Rb. 95 lakhs V&& spent cn th e tminirg of personnel. The tornage at t.he end of the P3ar ros 4,60,000 tors (GRT)| but a total tonnage of 1,20,000 tons (3BT) were in the process o f con struction. The target of 6 laifl) tons (GHT), could tJaus be eeid to be practically achieved. The Second ilve Year ilan i&ia down the following targets for the developnent oi' dipping s 1) to cater fu lly to the needs of coastal trade with due reg&rd to bha possi* b ility of divertines some tra ffic from railways to coastal shipping. 2) to secure an increasing share of Indians overseas trade for Indian ships, and 3) to build up the nucleus of a tanker leet* ^’be target of tonnage was fixed at 9 lakh tons (GRT). 'I?he financial provisions in the Plan for shipping were, Ha. 45 crores for the develo]^ent of shipping and Rs. 1.5 crores for the develupment of tra ffic with and between Andamans and -liicobar Islands. Xhe actual ext^enditure came to uS. 52.7 crores. In addition, a sum of Rs. 16 crores vrae expected to be spent by the companies from their own resources, for expansion iirograames. Rs.40 •}nifha #aa *;ruvid*^d for assietarice to nailing vessels - — 682 — lndi2Str> and TvS. 75 laichs for training of personnel* the end of the Second rlan, the total tonnage waa 9»0^ lakh^ ton® wR5, The target of the 3econd Plan rae thus fu lfille d . ^'he Third ilaa proviaed a auut of R«. 53 crores for tiae development of saippiz^. In audition, a bum of Rb, 4 cro'es m s liit.el^> to be msnde av&ilable from the <^aippin£ lievelopment -Lund* Re. T croi'ee wue uw ue spent bj U1& anxppini^ compani«6 out of their own resourcee. The bai*(iet for w tal tonRa^ts was fixed at Tis. 11 lakh tens. .'he tar^fct wusi uubseqoentl^ raised to 13 lakh tons. The actual tontSa* ^7 the end o f ly64 w£.s 13*9 lakh tons. It was expected that "bj the end of the Third i'lan jr>erlod, the total tOErage would reach 15 lakii tons (GRT) exclutiiii^ &hips unc^er ottiA&trvictlor!. FINAHCIKa ijt t A non-lapsable Shipping DeTelopment Fund has been established b;> the iforemment for adTancing loans to Irsdian Shipping Companies in the public and private sectors, i’he amounts credited to the Fund are the annual contributions from the consolidated fund of India, the actual amount to be decided every year, the re»- payments of loans already granted to the Indian Shipping Companies bj the Government and the interest payments on these loans. In order to tide over the d ifficu lty of shortage of forsibh eotchange, the companies are allowed to purchase 683 — « new Bhx^n only on the 'S elf Hnanclng 3ohezse', l . « . th« ships can be pvircbased by the companies only i f they get the fa c ilit y to pay the priie in inatalnents spread ov«r a period of tirw and i f they iindertake to pay these instalnents out of she foreign exchange earnings of the Tessels theiaselTes. FIELi* GIYKT? S i ’JtUa: a^Ui.?Ti? O i' INMA To iNI^lAg aHimiTS » Since Independence, the Govemnent of India has been giTii^ help to Indian shipping in several ways. It has given loans on liberal tersns to shipping companies for the purchase of vessels. 1^’or overseas trade* loans upto b5 to 93 p .c. o£ tile value of th^vessels have been givm . The period has been between 12 to 15 years and the rate of in terest 2i p.c. For coastal trade, loans upto to 90 p.c* of the value of the vessels have been given. The period has been between 12 to 13 years and rate of interest between 4 and p .c. The government has given fis c a l r e lie f also. The shipping companies have been ex^apted from the paynent of Wealth Tax and Corporation Tax. The development rebate of 40 p .c. has been allowed on ships. has The Groveniment of India r served Uie coastal trade for the shipping of the country in 1950. Moreover, the Government has started tiie ^hipping Corporation of India and thus it s e lf r\ins the services, i’he Shipping Coordina tion Committee, set up in 1958, enswes effective use of available Indian shipping and coordinates the shipping — 6b4 — arrangements far ixoTernment-owned or oontzvlled cargoes, fhe National ^hlppii^ Board, set up in I9^9t advises the uoTemiaent on all policy matters relating to riiipping inalu> ding^its deTdopaent. India is alsu a member of the Inter- aOYeminent MaritiM ConsultatiYe ^rgamisation, the agency of the UNO, v^ich provides a sKichinery for ecraperation between irovemments in all ^ippii^ leatters of international importance. NAUTICAL XHAlNIHGr } Irollowii^ the recomraendations o f the ’Merchant Navy C<»Qmittee, 194b, the s^atBm of tralnir^ on the traininj$~ship "Dufferin" has been completely reorganised. ?wo colleges have als^ been started; .t'ost-^ea Nautical and :^n6^ineerin& CoU»^^« at iioabay and -arine ii)ntiiineerli%^ Collet;* at Calcutta. ^ number of ship’-cum-'shore establishsients have also been started for training of saarine ratings. At present there are three training centres at Visaichapatnam, Calcutta and Tavlaidii. II) mEIiOF-E?rr 01 SHIP-BUILi)INu IN INDIA » Dhe i^ e rm e i* of India ptirchased the TisaJchapatnam Shipyard from the Scindias in larch, 1952. The Hindustan Shipyard Ltd., vshich is fu lly owned b^ the (foverniasnt raanat^es the Visaichapatnaffl yard, i'he fir s t and second phases of a Rs.2.60 crore development pro- graame for the shipyard have been completed, ^om the ^ ip - yard can proditce about 3 ships of modern design per year. The capacity was to be raised to 4 ships in 1966—67 and 6 ships per year tliereafter. Jhe Shipyard has so far - — 685 — delivered 36 ocean goii% veBsels, a mooring vessel and 3 m a ll craft a^regatin^ 3«Ob,000 DWT. i-‘he cone true ti on coet at the Shipyard is high. The Bhii>8, however, are sold at the U.K.i:'arlty i’rice . Ihe di fference between the construction cost and theU.K. 'Parity r r lc e ' is paid by the (^ovflmToent as subsidy • A secorKi shipyard i s bein^; established at Cochin yiiVa an initial capacity to build ships totcdliz^ about 63000 &RT per year, xhe capacity is to be increased later on to QOfOOO GRT per year. For the development of the Visaichap atnara ‘Shipyard, help has be^i obtained first fxvm a < rezkch firm 5uid later on from a (iermn f i m . i'or the developraent o f the Cochin Shipyard, help is beii^ taicen from a Japanese firm, III) DBYSLOBIEUT OF Po AKl) ilARBOUho IN IlfDiA s The ports of India are broadly divided into tvio categories t major porta and minor ports. All the major ports are ad ministered by statutory port-trust boards subject to the overall control b^ the G«itral Government. i?he minor ports are administered b^ State ^over naents. India has seven major ports namely, Calcvitta, Jomba^, Madras, Momaiugao, Cochin, TisaJchapatnam and x uoverment of India has been followlx^ a — 666 — ▼Igorous policy of develo^^ln^j; ports ana h&rbours* '^be First Plan provided Rs, 45 crores fca: port development, accoimt of the late start in the execution of the port dsve- lopaent pro^ramnief the actual ex^enaiture came to only — Ra. 27.57 crores. louring the period o f the First Plan, the new port Kandla «i3 developed. iJesides, aajor iapruvs- ments were luidtjrtaxen both at Bombay and Calcutta. The total capacity of the m jo r ports increased during the First Plan from 20 million ^ns to 25 m illion tons. i>uring the period of the t'.econd ir'lan, Rs. 33»4 crores - Us. 28.4 crores on major ports and Rs. 5 crores on minor ports - were spent on the development of ports and harbours. The capacity of major ports incresused to 37 m illion tons by the end of the Second i^lan period. The Third Plan provi ded Ha. 115 crores fcr port dev^upment. j^'he actual expen diture upto larch, 1964 caoe to Hs. 4^*4 crores. i'be capacity of the poi'ts was expected to increase to 49 m.tons. by the end of the x’hird Pive Year ±*lan. Some of the important schemes that are bein,:^ executed are, the settix^ up of a satellite port at 4aldia, construction of additional berths and mechanisation of or^handlin^^ fa c ilit ie s at Visaichapatnam, the dredgings of ttie main harbour channel and modernisation of the docios at Bombajr, completion of the wet dock berths and remodelling and improvement of woricAops at "Jadras, training worics for the bar channel at Kandla etc. — 667 — NATIONAL HARB'wUBS BOAR33 t The ^^ational Harbour Board «as constituted in 1950 for advising the Central and State aoremments on the coordinated deyelupment of purta with speoial attention to ninor ports. It consists repreeen- tatiYes of Parliataent, tiie sioTemment of India, the mari- tia» Si^atesy major ports authorities and non~offieial meidiers repreaentin^; trade, industry- and labour. CuWCLUSIO!? t J-'he above review brii^a out very s ig n ifi- oantljr the fact that the «iove nment of India is ^ivinb a very careful attention to water tiansportj pa.: ticularly to ocean transport. ?he Government is fu lly aware of tiie i portance of the Indian shipping industzy and haa been trying in every possible way to laaxe up the earlier d«fi> ciency» But the deficiency iKis been so big that in a^/ite of the beat of forts b;y the Govemmeirt it has not been loade up as yet. India's sriare in world shipping in 1963 haa only been 0.83 p.c. We were not able to achieve the target of 20 laich tons laid down b^ ^he Shipping Policy Committee, 1947 even by the end of the i’hird Five Year Plan. Never theless, consideriiv^ the several d iffic u ltie s in the way of the develupnent uf Indian ahippii^, the progress caxmot be said to be unsatisfactor;/. ^ e foundations have been laid down on a sure sjid firm basis and there is every reason to hope that in future India will certainly attain it s due place in the international trade and beco-ie an inportant maritime nation. — 688 — Aia JRAN3.PiJ^ Air transport oan be said to have bt,^un in India in 1911, vAien the fir s t expert cental service was started between Boaba^ and jiarachi. The real pro,^res8 was, however, made in the inter-war period. Flyiry clubs were started in some c itie s in 1928 and in 1929, the Imperial Airways Service was extended to Few Delhi. A few Indian corapanies came into existence bj this tine. e.g. The I’ata Air Lines Ltd. was started in 1932j the Indian National Airways in 1933! the Air Services of India Ltd. in 1936 etc. I’he Second World War led to a considerable increase in the demand for air crafts for defence purposes. Consequently, several aero planes were purchased anc^laerodroTnes were constructed durii^ the period of the Second World War. i'he wartime boom in air traffic, ea^y availability of certain types of surplus aeroplanes and stoc^cs at low prices and the proaiise of the •iovemment of India in 1946, to help the civil aviation in India led to the floatation of several new corapanies after the war. The Air India International was started in 1946 for external services b^ the uovernment of India in coopera tion with the Tatas. J3y 1949 as xaany as eleveii companies were granted licenses to operate internal lines, b^ the Air t'ransport Licensing Board, set up in 1946 for the pxirpose. Air transport did a very useful job during disturbances — 639 — following the partition of tbs countly. Large niwiber of refxii^eee were evacuated froia I'aidstan toy a ir. iik^ually useful eervlce was also rendered in the Kashmir operations. " The part jplajred by civil aircraft in the evacuation of refugees and in the i^shmir struggle showed the potentiality of this form of transport and considerably influenced the ixovemmoit in determining their aviation polioy. The post"Vrar development of air-transport in India was, however, not on a sound footix^. i’he financial condi tion of most of the companies was shaky. The operational cost was very high. The Air Transport Licensini^ Board had granted licenses indisoriminately, and by 1949 there were eleven companies in the fie ld while the available wortc was sufficient for only four companies. The result was over- crowdim^ leadiix^ to losses for several companies. In addi tion, the non-scheduled operators, wurKix^ uivier temporary permits frora the T)irector ueneral of Civil Aviation, were indiilging in keen oorapetition with the regular air lines. The freights were unremunerative. All these factors created an extremely uncertain situation in the air transport indus try . A need was, therefore, felt to appoint a Conaittee to study the situation and make reooigmendations for the improvement of civil aviation in India. Accordingly, the 1. C. W. Yakil, Economic Consequences of Divided India. Vora & Co., Publishers Ltd., B Air Transport Baqulry Conaaittee was appointed in NoT«nb«r, 1949* undor th« CbairTianabip o f Justice Rajadhyaicsha• Tiie Coinmitt«e» after a very careful study of the position of oiT il afiation in India, isade far reaehiit^ recoioa^ndations for the reorganisation of air transport in India. Tbs followii% were the niain recooaendations of the CoioBittee t 1) The existing eomptinies should be integrated into four cO!apanies vdth bases at i3ombay, Calcutta, Pelhi and Hyderabad, Committee favoured voluntazy amalgamation of onaller companies into bi,gger ones, in order to reduce the nuraber of oomj^nies to four. 2) existiiv^ routes should be redistributed to avoid duplication and to eliminate waste in flyipg hours. 3) ^he redundant sta ff ^culd bs retr<»iched and the nu'aber of air-orafts should be reduced. 4) rhe fare rates should be upgraded so as to provide reasonable profits to the companies. 3) ^he vovemiaent should grant subsidies to the com panies on the basis of standard costs. 6) ■‘•'hs a ctiv itie s of the non^scheduled operators should be subjected to several restriction s, so that they laay not be able to indulge in unhealthy corapetition with the regulr a ir -lin e s . J:be Cofflm-ttee, however, was not in favour of nationa- list-tion air transport in India, iyaaediately• It - 691 — reconraended tiie iiosti^onement of Uie issue fo r at l»a«t fir * years, >i« ths ti >•« was not ripe enou^ for private enterprise from the fie ld . In c&sa tiie i*ovemment tlien decided to jsationalise oItII aTiation« Uie ^<(»aaittee felt that the fori of urgaoioation should be a statutory corporation x^ioh ediuuld \nork purely on ooiomercial lines ^ ic h should be ^iven complete freedom from govemaent con trol, except of course, in regard to the main policy. The oompanlesy in the field , toojc no action In the l i ^ t of the recontmemations of the Air i'ranaport ^^ulzy Oomiittee* ^Hey, on the other hand, approached the CrOTem- nent for financial assibtance on a lai|ie soale. -^'he (xovem- aient came to Uhe conclusion that under the existinti condl- tioiKi of the traffic and intensity of operation, prli'ate operation could not work economj.oally and decided to >- naiilonaiise civil aviation, contrary to che opinion of ohe CoBimlttee. Regardlr^ tiie form of organisation, however, the oplzilon of the Committee was accepted. In 1953 was passed the Air Corporations Act and tw corporations via. the Indian Airlines Corporation for operating domestic services and the Air India International for lonti distance international air services were set up. ^hese corporations were expected to result in 1) the reduction of wastage of flying hours, duplication of services ‘md Ijsses 2) the In cre a s e of operational efficiency due to unified management “ 692 — and 3) ibha better coordlmtlon with defence. UND£R Jili^ jIV£ YEAR r.LAIIi> t loirli^ i^e >»erlod of th« First Five Year Plan as against a provision of about Rs. I3.4 croies for the fievaLopnent i)rQs,ranaae of the C ivil Aviation Department, the actual exp«iditure was about £s. 7.24 croresi incurred mainly on the construction of new aerodromes •> 9 were completed and 2 weiH# nearing completion - new runways, terminal buildii^js, residential quarters etc. i^rogress in the provision of telecofflfisunication fa c ilitie s at the air ports was slow on account of the t i ae taken in the procure ment of e(;Luipnmt. Progress on tiie Jcheaies relating to edu cation and training was also slow. A provision of Rs. 9.^ crores was included in the i"lan for the development progira- ames of the two corporations. <^'hese corporations were enga ged during the period o f the llan, in consolidating >helr services and strengthenint^, their organisation, besides undertaking expansion progorarames. '-he actual expenditure on the prOoramiaes durint; the Plan i>ei'ioti was o f the order of Be. 15.4 crores. rhis included over Tin, 9 crores for the purcxiaae of a ircra ft. 3oiae expenditure was incurred by ttie Corporations on modifications of their existing a ircra ft, the opening up of new o ffic e s , the renovation of existing offices and the piarchase of surrace transport. In addition. Airlines Corporation added 8 Herons and 3 Skyiaasters to its fleet and placed orders for 5 Viscounts which were to be delivered durlr^ the Second i^lan period. — 693 — Th« Air India International add id 5 Super-Constellationa to its fleet and placed orders for 3 more Super-Constellations for delivery diirin^ the Second ^lan period. With these additions to their fleet, the Corporations were able to extend their operations over new routes and open up new serrices. ^he total route mileage (unduplicated) operated bj the Indian Airlines Corporation increased from 17,170 miles in August 1953f to 19#985 miles at .he end of the First irlan period. Xhe serrices operated the Air India International increased two-fold after August 1953 and they covered a total route milea^^e of 23i4b3 at the end of the Plan and reached out to 15 countries. During the period of tiie Second Five Year i*lan, civil aviation wor^ estimated to cost about Hs. 18 crores were expected to be started, the provision in the ±'lan beii^ about Hs. 12.5 crores. '^'he prggrasune for c iv il aviation included works at aerodromes (Hs.8.3 crores), teleconuauni- cation equipment(Rs.2.8 crores), air routes and aerodromes equipment (Hs.70 lakhs), training and education eqiiipment (Rs.50 lakhB), research ai^ development equipment (He.16 - laidis) and aeronautical inspection equipment (Hs*3»6 lakhs). A provision of Rs. 30.5 crores was mjide in the Second x'lan for the development of the two Corporations - Rs. 16 crores for the Indian Airlines 'Corporation and Rs. H .5 crores for Air India In ten »tion a l. i*he raain items of expenditure were payment of compensation, purchase of aircraft, working — 694 ~ losses on the Indian Airlines^ office and residential acco mmodation (Indian A irlines), expansion of woricshops of Air India International, equipment etc* for the Indian Airlines and redemption of debentures of ^ir India InteiTiational• The actual expenditure on civ il aviation programmes during the Second I'ive Year irlan amounted to about He.13*91 crores. It ms incurred on worioi at aerodromes, aeronautical telecommunication equipment, air routes and aerodromes, train ing and education equipment and research and development equipment* Extensive developsuint wrics were undertaken during the Plan at ^anta Cruz, l^>um -^im and x^alam airports, primarily to fcu^ilitate the flights of jet air craft* I’hey were expected to be craapleted during the 3rd Five Year Plan. Both the Air Corporations recorded a ra^id expansion of a cti v ities during; the period of the Second Plan. By the end of the Second Five Year Plan, the operatize fle e t of the Air India Interoational Corporation consisted of three Boeii^s and nine Super-Constellations, wAiile that of the Indian ^irlines Coxi>oration consisted of 34 Pakotas, 3 Skymasters and 10 Viscounts. The carryine, capacity of the Indian lines Corporation^' in 1939*>60 was 67.67 m. ton miles, ^ ile that of the Air India International was 39*32 m.ton miles* In the i!hir* Five Year Plan, it was proposed to spend aboixt Rs* 23*6 crores on c iv il aviation, the iten» of expenditure bein^ the same as in the Second Plsoi* This provision included a provision of Rs. 2 crores for under- — 695 — -taking, i f necessaz^ , the construction of an entirely new airport at Delhi. The i^rovlelon for the Air laila Corpora tion In the Plan w< s H», 14,5 crorea, Rs. I3.5 crores for the pixrchase of aircraft and Ha. 1 crore for expansion of woritahopB and hangars, purchase of equipment etc. i?he prograame provided for the purchase of four additional Jet aircraft and for the establishment of a je t engine overhaul base at Bombay, ^he provision for the Indian M rllnes Cor poration was Hs. 15 crores, of wdiich Rs. 10 crores were estl!!iated to be required for the purchase of medium-sized aircraft for replacement of Mkotas and Rs. 1 crore for 4 additional second hand Viscounts. The renalning amount was provided for construction of staff quarters at the head quarters office and other buildli^s required the Corpo ration, for purchase ot' workshop equi^jment, v ^ ic le s and for trainings fa c ilitie s for the crew for new types of a ircra ft. At ttie end of 1964-65 the ^ Ivll Aviation Pepartaent maintained H2 aerodromes. In regard to aeronautical commu nications, the progress in the purchase and installation of equipment was alow on account of difficulties of foreign exchange. The ^ir India completed its prot.rafflme by the end of 1964-65. The capacity of Air India in terms of availa ble tonne kilometres increased fron 162 ra. in 1960-61 to 329 m. in 1964-65 l*e. by 103 p.c* ^ le traffic in terms o f revenue tonne kilometres increased during this period — 696 — fTOn 76 !&• to 157 ffl» 1*9« by 101 p«c* Th* Inilazi ^Irllnss acquired during the fir s t four y« ar» of the Third Plan ten Fokker Priendahlp a ircra ft, foiu* secondhand Tiscounts and four CaraTelle aircraft. i?he oTerall capacity of the Indian airlines during the fir s t four years increased from 113 m. tonne kilometres in 1960-61 to 157 m. tonne kilometres in 1964-65 i .e . by 39 p .c. < ^ le the tr a ffic in terms of revenue tonne kiloaBetres increased during the period from b3 m. to 109 m. i .e . by about 31 i^.c. WORKING OF THB AIR CORir’ORATIOMS t INDIAi^ AIRLINES COIti^ORATIOK : This Oorporation was fonaed on 1st A^^ustt 1953 by asaal^amating B coaf^nies in the i>ri- Tate sector. of t^ese wei e in a very weajc financial posit ion, with yery low efficiency, ^he Indian Airlines Corporation, therefore, Ivsd to suff<^ losses for l^e first six years of its existence. From the year 1959-60 it began to get profits. But the amount of profits has been very small, ^’he rsain reasons were the hi^h price of aviation fu el, hl^h salary b i l l , runnli^ of uneconosoical services as they w Corporation has been tryir^ to aver-O Jae theee difficulties end has been successful to a great extent. It has expanded — 697 — ItB fleet and there has been a marked inor^seff in its oarryln^, capacity during the period of the Five Year Plane, as pointed out above* In l96i^~63» the Corporation had a fle e t o f 6 Caravelle Jets, 12 Viscounts, 3 Sjsjyioasters, 10 Fokker Frlendiahips and 34 I^ o ta s and linked up most of the principal centres In he countiy and also proTlded services to the neighbouring countries. It niay, however, be pointed out that clv U aviation and coimBunlcatlon fa c ilit ie s avai lable at present are deficient as compared to the growing needs of the country. i‘he rtana^eraent urouy of the Conmittee on I'lan projects^ Planning Cojimxsslon, has niade several recommendations to Inprove the efficiency of the Indian AItIIbsb Corporation. i.he Committee on Dranaport Policy and Coordination has -> siit,^«sted a reappraisal the -^ndian Airlines Corporation in consultation with the Government of the existing struo- ture of air services, it has also roognmead^ a revision of the freight structure. ^'he Government of India bas recently decided to set up a C ivil Aviation Development fund with an in itia l grant of Hs. 1 crore. ^his fund will be utilised for subsidising the Indian Airlines Corporation for operating services which are undertaiten at the instance of the - Uovemment in the interest o f tourist promotion or to meet the re^^ioml reqvdrements of a particular area or for construction of air stripe and provision of ancillary - — 69B — facilltlos for the operation of services in addition to those proTided under the general protiraame of the CiTll Aviation Department • ^ir services have a vital role in the pruBotlon of toturiaa. ^'he Cornu ttee on rransport Policy and Ooojrdlnation has stressed, from this aspect# the quality of service avai lable, both on regional amci on txunK: routes and the need to improve the existinti travel facilities, transport, uceoiBmo> dation, catering and other conveniences, specially outside the metrupolitan centres. In addition to the Indian Airlines Corporation, in the case of doiaestic air services, there are eight amall private air companies yhich operate non-scheduled services in Assam region. Air companies in the private sector, accounted in 1964 for a total freight of about 42.5 million tonne idiom etres* AIR IITDIA CUaPOBAIIwN i At the t i ie of nationalisation the name of this Corporation was ■'^ir India International. In 1962, it was chane^ed to Air Inaia Coj^^uration* i.'he Cor poration earned the profits from -^le ver/ beginning. It has also expanded its fleet aod carrying capacity to a great extent during the period of tiie Plans as pointed out above. In 1964-65, it had a fleet of b Boeing Jets and provided services reaching out to 21 countries. Its aircraft cover eve_y continent except South America. It — 699 — earns about T?a, 6 erores erary year, for the oountry. During the past ten years the rate of deTelopaent has been of the ord«ar of 12 to 15 P«o. i'tae followli^ table t^lvea Btatifrtlos separately for Air India and Indian Airlines for the year 195‘3-56, 1960-61 and 1964-65. — Contd. on page 700... — 700 tf\ O to CTi kO CM• CM• cr>• • • • cjsom S toe- CO 0 0 ^ CO IXN t-pjin• • • \ o ir> o• o• o• o• o• o• o o o iTl o o o a\ §88 M ITV VD O VO 0 3 VO • • • • • cnc*-c>- § I K\m M S D s o ■^T-• • l£\• VO• O • VO • CM '♦VO J> I VO r ” t ^ oo *“ CTv o <3> t - r - CM ifvvo »- 55A \ o m r- to •»4' 0 0 0 o ; • • • M ifVVO CO '«*• J-« OB « o (4 5 + » o o (0 OS •H SI'' ■< u S ■s g •> o ■a ^■r4 dH o +* ® H ■rt-< O « O• X VO VO CV< CM ^ :-=J I • • • • • • JO < - ^ « y v P «- »rvvo t~ <»vrM Cy t- r- f j • - 5?; VO iTV o o o o o o A • • • • • • r» 888 8§8 ON if\ • • • CM• O• CM• oo iruA ♦ u’vcrvITV CTi CM CM ♦ O M Cm VO KNCM i n cO irv K\ I • • • • • • o K\**- o »cyv o «"CM(X)»~ r~ CN i * ♦ ♦ « o m • ♦ '♦ C D ot^vo I • • • irv VO o ^o t i iTk iTVO tfv a \ cr» irv m a \ >4 3 ■ 0 o o li E«tiiaa1;es Coranitt«« ot fch« Parllaaent has yointed out thfot the o ffic ia ls of the Ixovemnent l»ve a pr«dcminant r«pr«aentation on the Board* of both the Cor porations. It haa also renarxed that there has be«i an excessive concentration of respcneibilities In the Director- -ate Genoral of Civil Aviation* It has su^ested the •> integration of both the Corporations, with ti«o wlne^s, if necessary, one for domestic services and the other for external services. Jhe Committee has also recommended that if i^lvate entuprise is expected to play its part in the further growth of aviatlont the policy i^ould be clearly stated, so as to enable the priva&e operators to adjust their operations aecordln^?ly. A-l3Rt>DR(/.'ES t At present ihere are 04 aerodromes controlled and operated b^ the C ivil Aviation Department. They are classified into three categories i 1) international aero dromes 11) major aesodroToes and i l l ) minor aerodromes. The interm tional aerodrojiws are .iombay (Santa Oruz), Calcutta (Bum Bum) and Delhi CPalam). The constiruetlon of a new aerodrotae at Kha.jursOio is complete and that at Jogbaru is in progress. Attaapts are beitiy: made to ^.ro- vide all the modern facilities on the aerodromes, parti- cvdarly the international aerodromes. AlitOHAi-T :ANUyACJUi^.a l:i IHBIA t Dhe be«innia,i for air craft Manufacture was made in India in 1940 with the — 703 — establlsh-TBfint o f the Hindustan Aircraft Company at Baogalore. It was a ^olnt undertaking of tfa® 'Mysore ^oirernment and - Wale hand iUrachand. In 1941, the Ox>vernffl«nt of Imdia parti cipated In the Yenture by talcing 33 p.e. shares of th« coa- psiny. After the second world ^ r WalchaM Hlrachand with drew frOTTi the coapany and now the HlndiJStaa Aircraft I-td. ia a purely Gorernment undertaking wibh the jorernwent of India and the GrOYemmeni of ''ysore as shareholders* Hoard of rireetors conaists of the representatives of the Go^ernwsnt of India, bha Defence "inistry and the -fysore Crovemment# It is now engag<»d on the conversion and overhaul work: both for c iv il aviation and th« Indian Mr Force, It has designed a small cra ft, H.'C, 2 Urainer, intended to meet the instru ctional needs of the Indian Air i'orce and the Indian flyinej clubs. The engine is forelgn-raade while the body is iDanufactured in India. H.7. 24 has also been manufactured in India. Alfi tHAINliIG : Xhe Civil Aviation Training Centre, Alla- habud provides facilities for training in flying, aircraft en^inoeriEL-tCOTOunications, air navigation and air tr a ffic control. Pha flying clubs provide facilities for ordinai7 citizens to lear^^, flyir^ at reasonable cherges. At present there are 19 subsidised flyi'JS clubs in the country. "Jhey are now integrated iti the new Flyi?»g Tralnint -Jcheme. L*he Governtoent conducts the Glider Praining Caatres at Jr-oom, — 704 — Allahabad and Bangalore, viiile th« centre at Delhi is subsi dised the uoT«rnment. Research in aeronautics has also been making headway. A Research and DeTelopment directorate set up under the directorate (reneral of C ivil ATiation concerns it s e lf with type certifica tion , manufacture of aircraft and derelopgaent of specifications for aircraft materials. Research in aero nautics is also carried out at the Indian Institute of Scisnce, Jiangalore. INDIA IN IHiaRNAIIONAL aYIATIOK t India is a lasmber of the Int^national Civil Aviation Organisation* Accurdiz^ to the agreement entered in 1952, India receives frota ICAO technical aid in various matters connected with aviation. The Govemraent of India has entered into air transport agre«ea«its with about 23 countries, vdiich provide mutual facilities to air-craft and tiieir personnel #ien in service in the foreign country. CuNCliJSIOK t Most of the credit of the development of air transport in India goes to the srovemment. Before nationalisation, the grovrth of air transport in the countxy was haphazard. The financial position of several companies was weaic and they also suffered from several other dis- -advantages. After nationalisation, both the corporations steadily but surely found their way out of all the - d iffic u ltie s and at present they are able to stand on a — 705 — firm footing. In this, th^^y receiTcd Yaliiable help at sta^e from the uOTernm#nt. India has s t i l l to go a lon^ way to stand in line with the advanced countries in the world! but it can easily be said that the progress is on ri^ht linfts. Tl{ANoPORg CUdPigPITluy RAlL-aoAl; OOl.li^c;TITIOR t i’he problem of r a il road cumpe- titio n in India is comparitively of a recent growth, the main reason beiz^ that deTelupment o f roads on mod In the post-war years, also, the ra il road compe- tiU on did not exist ri^sht upto 1958, the main reason being tnat both railways and motor vehicles i^ot adequate — 706 — tr a ffic to ca n y . In 1959, however, the railways coniplain«d of the diveralon of hi^h rated traffic to road transport on routes parallel to the raLlwa/e and pleaded for restri cting road transport in the name of coordination, Tho Hoad Transport Reorganisation Coamittee, «^ich reported in 1959, howerear, put fortii a struii^ ease for a ll round support to the derelopiaent of motor transport in the country* 7h« GovemiMnt of India appointed a nevr Coomittse in 1959 to farnulate a national transport policy, and to laake recoiB!aen> dations to hrii^ about coordination of transport in the country* The 'Final Re^iort' of the Coiiaa...ttee was submitted in 1966. The main findings and recoxamendations of the Conmittee on this problem are given alseiAiere in this - chapter* RAlLAtfATER coMPjSTIfluS t Before the develojaaent of xwdl- waye, inland water transport was a fa irly important means of transport* -^he inland water transport, hower^, declixwd owiivs to the con^tition from railways* 'Phe coastal shi pping also suffered a lot in the past owint^ to the compe tition from railways* i?he Qovemment was apathetic to water transport and supported the railways* The result of rail-water competition, thus, was ttie decline in water transport* The competition, however, is lik ely to arise in future, with ~.he completion of multi-purpose river projects tmd better organisation of water transport* — 707 — ♦ RAIL-.AIR CCMi:‘BTITION t Coamerclal a ir transport has not yst fully dsTsloped In India, i'he passenger fares are far more than railway fares and therefore this type of competition is'not yet felt in India. The Competition is not felt in goods traffic as there are obvious limitations on Gdr transpurt in the matter of cazryiE^ the goods. Icreover, both railway ana air transport are nationalised and the effective coordination between them would be brou^t about b^ the (ioremment. CuOtPlNATlON In order to avoid wasteful competition among diffe« rent means of transport and to ensure the efficiency and sufficiency of transport services to the community, coor dination amon^ different ni^eans o f transport should be brought about, ^'his is particularly necessary in the case of a country, which is trying to bring about a planned eco nomic development with the best possible use of ret^urces. aioIORICAL RE9IEK t .ransport coordination in India has been mainly restricted to rail-road coo^ ^ n ation and the attempt has always been to maintain railway interests intact. The Mitchell Kirioiess Coamittee, 19352 recommended a scheme of control of motor vehicles, with a view to bringing about rail-road coordination, t’he rail-road conference, 1935 recommended that rural motor transport should be n»de complementary to railways, certain classes of railways — 708 — should be allowed to run th«lr own motor-bus serrlcest motur vehicles should be subjected to ^rea^er control and the future road development progranstes should be in aocordance with the polio/ of coordination, -^e Hailway Act, 1933 empowered the railways to run their own motor services on parallel roads* The Central ilransport Advisory Council was set up in 193!> which tooii several steps towards trans port coordination in the country. i!he a Wed«^ewood Commio tteet 1936 pointed out that both the forsis of oxiganisations should be developed in the public interest. It pointed out that the regulation of railways was adequate; but m otor- transport should be subjected to a mure effective ri^ulation. i>everal measures of re^julation lixe inspection of vehicles* maximua /nrJiine^ hours for drivers, speed lim it, licensing of vehicles etc. were su^^ested bj' ^ e Oosnittee. ^he cosBittee recommended that t*he Centre and the provinces should coopez«te in developing road system in a proper manner. It also su^ested so’^e improvements in the service provided b^ the railw ays, ^’ h e Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 empowered the State (xovemments to regulate and control motor traffic more closely. Before any other step could be taken for brine^it^ about rail-road coordination, the second world war started and the problem of transport coordination was thrown into the bacitground as the entire transport system was geared to war purposes under the direction of the «ar Transport Joard. In the post-war — 709 — period, a need was felt to z^lse th« produotlTlt/ of a ll the means of transport de'velcplntj a systaoi in India whleh at the o^apest possible cost in capital and running expenses would provide for India's developijr^ needs. The Central ^oYerximent undertook the responsibility of the maintemnoe of national highways with effect from 1st April, 1947. The majority of the States accepted the responsibility of the deYelopaent of motor transport fa c ilit ie s , without brin&ing into existence the imeconomlc competition between roads and railways. Motor transport in the field of passent^er s^rYices has been already nationalised in majority cf the States in the country. !)?he Central Water and i'ower Cooaisaion is endeaTuuring to coordinate the efforts of the State GoTern- ments in order to Improve Inaia's natural waterwaja on a multipurpose basis. Efforts are alsu obde to reserve some specific ooxBSOdities liice coal, salt etc. for coastal snipping for the transpoi^t oi «^ich it is best suited, there*- by releasxr^ a number of railway wagons for general use. With the formation of two 0orporationa, air transport ia aleo expected to njake mach headway. Prom these developments, it can be assumed that transport coordination will be brought about in India by the Government through nationa lisa tion o f the major transport systems. TRA' iairOKI! COohPIHATloK Ji*LAKb i i'ne need for transport coordination has been well realised bj, the Planning Commission and the development proijraame in the — 710 — ' Plana of different means of transport has b«an prepared accordlntjly. The First Pire Year i^lan pointed out that plans for different fonns of transport must f u l f il the fun damental objeotives of matehinij; transport derelopment with TariouB industrial and agricultural plans and they must be 80 built that one form of transport is correlated with ano ther and ensures its deTelopment each in its sphere o f - effective service. The Second Five Year i^lan statea, " Phe Railway plan has to taice into account the derelopnent of other means of transport, namely, roads, inland waterways, sea ana air. Effective coordination of all forms of trana- pcfrt in their appropriate functions so as to avoid wasteful duplication is essential, for the development of nationalised road transq^ort the general policy has been to favour the setting up of corporations under the Transport Corpo ration Act, 1930 which enables the Railways to participate. The formation of sucia corporations should lead to the coor dination of ra il transport with road ti'ansport so as to secure 'integrated operations' in the best interest of the country. There is also the problem of coordination between r a il transport and inland water transport^ this has special importance in the north-eastern part of the country ^ e r e the Joint Steamer uompanies carry considerable t r a ffic . There is a furtherjproblem of coordination between rallweyB ar*d coastal shippinis bo as to ensure bannonious development of — 711 — tliese two fonas of transport. An expert cosnmittw is at present azaminin^ this subject. I'hese and other probXoas of ooordinbtion have to be iaspt under reTiew* bu that the adaptatiuns needed can be laade from time to tiae."^ The 7hird iriye Yeax' Plan referred to the preliainary report of the Committee on Transport lo lio j and Coordination (Neogy Ccnomittee), submitted in 1961, and pointed out that the progranuaes of transport in the Plan would be reviewed after the final report of the Goaaittee vms available. In the meanwhile» tibe develoj^ent programraes of different laeans of transport were drawn in suoh a way as not to result in any wasteful competition with other means of transport. i^he need for effective coordination among differ«nt neane of transport has thus been well realised and steps have been taken in the ri^ t direction. The future policy w ill naturally depend mainly upon the recommendations of the C 1) >^116 capacity of each mode of transport has to 1 . Govcroment of Ind ia, ^'lanning Commission, Second Five Year Plan. 1956, pp. 474-475. — 712 — be developed to meet the specific demands far i t &» well as in relation to the rest of the transport system. The system as a whole has to be viewed at each step both as an integra ted structure as well as in terms of rela cionships between d iffe ent traraport serrices. 2) In seeking the objective of coordin ation , it w ill be necessary not only to establish appropriate criteria for the distribution of traffic between different modes of trana- +o port, but also consider, the given conditions of India, tlie economic policies and the organisation and structure through whicii these criteria can be given practical effect in the day to day woricing of the transport systeni. 3) 'iJhe problem of coordination in transport l»s to be considered in the dynamic context of growth, the essential elements to be reckoned being changes in zlat volume and Cumyosition froa period to period o ^ the services needed by the economy and the costs at which these services can be established and operated. 4) In considering the problem of coordination in trans port, the social costs are decisive. While reckoning social costs, the social benefits derived from the services must also be considered, '^’hese are not always easy to measure. They may reflect the social valiies and .judgement of the community furctioning through its various organs and may in fact be of great importance in reaching conclusions on — 713 — public policy for transport. 5) The central purpose of trausport policy is to ereata such technical aconoiaic other co^itiona for the d istri bution j f tra ffic between diffarent modes of transport as w ill help ensure to the greatest extent feasible that faci lities in each modt* are developed in such proportions and operated in such manner as nuuld meet the total needs of the econoniy at odnimum oust w the contmunity. 6) In a country like India where laajor derelupments in the transportation syston are expected to take place in future as part of plans for the growth of the eoonomy as a wnole, ix saouid be possible to taice care of the problem of coordination of different transport services largely trirou^ investment p olicies undet the Plans* i^ s e i^ould be directed towards buildictg up right combinations of different transport services in Keeping with the needs of growitv^ tr a ffic . 7) Most of the new investment on the railways w ill have to be devoted to building up an increasingly efficient r a il transport system rather than to the expansion of the networic it s e lf, ttoad transport fa c ilit ie s w ill be needed on a much larger scale than ever before to open up new aad less developed areas, to caiTy economic develOt^ment and social services to the farthest village, to promote the growth of agriculture and the rural economy and to provide — 714 — for tntra-city transport services. Wherever possible, inland water transport and coastal shipping, ahovild provide useful supplementary services to cater particularly for movement* of bulJc traffic over lon& distances. I'urther investments in these services will have to be directed to modernisation of the services and technological iraprovements for reducing their coats etc. 8) ^’he approach of integration can be ext waded with advantage in three principal directions, r i r s t l y , wherever possible, joint rail-road transport for passengere and ^oods should oe facilitated throu«^'h arrar^ements arrived at mutually between the Indian Railway’s and State Road Transport Corpo rations as well as Corporations «daxch the Central Govern ment might set up for opera cing on specified Inter-State routes. Secondly, efforts ^uuld be made to devdlop the ope rations of the Central and dtate Corporations wi’Ja the parti cipation of the Indian Railways, on a scale sufficient to give them a significant share of the t r a ffic . Thirdly, ^erever at present public transport enterprises are org«t- nlsed as departmental undertakine^s, tb.ey should become coi-poratiotis or companies so tiiat «hey csai operate on wholly commercial lin es. 9) ffir«lly, the CoMiittee has made suggestioMi regarding the machinery to be set up for achieving coordination - between transport programioss and p o licie s. It is essential to devise suitable idachinery within the Central i^vernnent — 715 — as well as at th® State level. In the field of transport, the overall responslbili of tbs Central ^oveztment is a « necessary condition of planned and coordinated development, The Central Govemraent can provide an appropriate fraaeworic of policy^economic, ewciul .uoid legal - within #iieh State v^ovemaents saay itndertake developaient in the spheres - assigned to them and ensure the nscessar^ coordination anonti different transport services. Phe Cosa.ttee has propooed the setting up of three organisations at Jis Centre, namely, the Transport Planning and Coordination Cooailttse, the Ceatral Ccmnittee of Ministers on Praneport and the Council for Transport Coordination. At the State lev el, ths foriaa» tion o f a State Advisory Transport Board is recommended. CO^’^?€^»ICA!glOKS Coranunications include postal, telegrSjjh and tele phone services, overseas coraaunication and meteorology. Ths growtii of all these services is an integral element in the economic and technological advance of ths country. The * expansion of industrial and coiaroereial aetivioy since ths startiz^ of ths Five Year Plans has led to a growing demand for eoffinunication fa c ilitie s . The outlay on communications was Rs. 4-3«53 crores, in the First Plan and about Rs. 53 crores in ths Second Plan, ihe Third Plan has provided Hs. tJ8,3 crores for coTnmunications. ~ 716 — t JPost and r«le^ra^h ••z^lces constitute the second l&rgflBt State undertaklr^ In India, next only to the Railways. On 31st March, 1963t 4,70,370 persons were employed in the department, wiiile the capital outlay was Hs* 243*43 czx^res. rhe adni.zii8tration of the Deparls&ent vests in the Posts and lelegraijhs Board. Pixrin^ he ^ r io d of 16 years, fr<»i 194U-49 to 1964-65» the general postal t r a ffic - postal arti cles, registered a r t ic le s , money orders etc. was more tnan doubled. Durii^ dtie aane period, telegranua increased more than teii tl’nes* v^ile telephones increased more than six times, '^he postal revenue inoreased from Rs. 21.04 crores in 1951 to Rs. 59-40 crores in 1964-65. ^he number of urban post o ffice s increased from 4*665 (permanent) and 619 (tem- poraiy) on 31 et riarch, 1951 to 7 , 14B (permanent) and 1,885 on (teraporary)jt^3l8t March, 1965. ?he number of rural post o ffice s increased froin 21,441 (permanent) and 9,369 (tem porary) to 55t577 (permnent) and 32,285 (temporary) durii^ the same period. Faoilities like urban mobile post office^, night post-offices, air mail and all-up schemes, air parcel service with forei<^ coxmtries etc. have alsu been provided. The postal savings bamc and life insurance business have * also registered good progress. The number of telegraph offices increased from 8,205 in 1950-51 to 12,151 in 1964-65. Under telephone services, several schemes liice 'Uwn Xour Telephone Scheme’ , '^'easured Rate System", ' Ship to Shore Service',’ Subscriber Trun^ Bialliiv^ Service', Telex Service* — 717 — $ etc. h&ve been in operation, ^'he Indian Telephone Indus tries Ltd., Bangalore, rnanufaotured 1,87,788 telephones during the year 196^, besides auto-exchange lines, tranami- ssion equipment, measuring instruments and road tra ffic sig - nalliiig equipment, ^he Hindustan Teleprinter lt d ., ! m 0 * -national t»lex service. v^verseas ComaunicationB Service 9 also handles news transmissions on behalf o f the Govemaent India for the benefit of Indian consular posts abroad and on behalf of certain iiress agencies to differ«it areas outside India. Twenty-three teleprinter channels have been leased to Government agencies and private business concerns for coBtmunication by permanent teleprinter lines directly between the parties. P^cilities also exist for spoicen despatches by correspondents of broadcastine^ organisations. India has signed two agreemaits in Iebruary« 1965» envisagii^ a Global CoBsaeroial Coiomunications' S atellite i^ystem to be established by a ntoaber of coiajitries by the end of 1967* i^he India I^eteorological Bepartment* with its headquarters at New Pelhi and regional offices, divisions and observa tories at different places spread all jver the country pro vides «Awather service to a wide variety of interests such as aviation, navigation, railways , coimunications, irriga tion and power projects, agriculture etc. The review, giv«n above, of the progress of commu- % nications is up to Jae end of the fourtii year of the Dhird Five Year Plan, i'he targets to be achieved by the end of the Third Five Year Plan were as follows * It was proposed to set up 2,00,000 new direct telephone connections and in addition conversion of 50,000 manual lines into auto—lines. Automatic exchanges were proposed to be installed in about 45 towns and the already existing exchanges were proposed — 719 — to expanded. Phe prograaiae for truaic telephone# provided for the installation of ten trunk autoaatic exehano«a axki a number of additional manual trunk exehanc^es and about 2000 public ca ll o ffice s durinti the Plan period, I’he pro achieved in the fir s t four years of the Third Plan has be«i quite encouraging and it can be saia with a%reat amount of certainty, that the targets in the field of communications must have been fu lfille d bj the end of the Xhird Plan. Thus, the responsibility of the develOi^nent of coiamu> nications in the countzy has be^ taken by the ^oveinaent. 'I'he progress achieved so far has been satisfactoiy; but a good deal of expansion in the near future will be necessaiy, in view of the increasi% dencind for coiomunication f a c ili tie s , consequent upon the expansion of industrial and conaer- cial activity. coNCLUSioy •^he uovemment has thus been playix^ a very predo- minsnt role in the devaLoproent of transport and coonaunioa- tions in our country • A major part of this sector of the econooy has been directly under the control of the Uovem- n»nt • rhe railways came into existence in country under the irovei-niBent guarantee. Later on, the Govemaent graiually entered the field of railway construction and mnageaent and the ^rocess stopped in 1949 with the nanageiaent and control of almost all the lines, except a few narrow gauge lines, passing on to the State. The construction of roads for civic purposes was left till the ^'agpur iOan to the Provin c ia l Governments which, in turn, placed most of their res ponsibilities on local bodies, following the recoinmendations — 721 — In the Nagpur xlan, I943t the Central Government took over lully the financial responslbilitQT for the oonatruction and maintenance of the ^^ttional Hie,himyB which was continued even under the new Constitution, i'he State t^oremaents have takai the responsibility for State Highways, i'he District and Village Roads have be«D under the control of D istrict Boards and Village J^anchayats} but the State uovemment pays some grants to these bodies for t;he construction and main tenance of roads. In the case of village roads, emphasis has been laid on voluntary labour of the villagers. Great stress has been laid on develoj^ent of roads in the Five Year Plans, i’he targets in the Najipur ii-lan were achieved by 1957-5ti. A new plan fo r the next 20 years has been prepared. The passeiager bus transport has been nationalised in var^iOti, degrees in the States and Statutory corporatioxffi have been formed in several States. The goods transport, however, is mainly in ^/riyate hands. It is , however, regu lated by the aovernmeKit. i-l)e expansion of the public sector in the fie ld of goods transport is , however, envisaged. As regards the inland water transport, the wcrk of improving and constructing water channels suitable for navigation is looked after b,; the navigation branch of the Central Water and xower Commission, i’he actual transport of goods and passengers bi means of com*trj-boat services or steamships is in private bands, though some restrictions are placed - - 722 — on It by the Act of 1951. In l96i-65, the CJovei«na®nt of India purchased a large nunber of shares of the Hivera Steam 'aviijatlon Canpan^' Ttd* The Governsiezit of India aow^ has a controllinb interest in the coapany. As regards sea traus-> port both goods and passmi^'er transport are in private hands. Coastal trade has been reserved for Indian shipping since 1950. In the oase of overseas transport, ttie Govemiaent has started the ^hippint^ Corporation of India; but the com-> panids in the private sector have a lB O been ellovred to carry on the transport, side b^- side, ^'hese companies have been ^ivsn help of vaiious icinds b^ tne (rovemiaiant • The responsi b ility of ship<-buildii\, and development and loam^eiBent of major ports have be&a. takea uver o the GoverniBeut. Air transport tes at fir s t in private bands; but finding, tb&t it vtould not develop on sound lines under private suimgement, the Ciovemment nationalised air transport and two corpora- tions were for'ned, one for domestic services and the other for international services, i^he work of construction and maintenance of aerodromes has been the responsibility of the uovemraent since the beginning of air transport in the country. -Hhe aircraft manufacture is carried on entirely in the public sector. The problem of coordination ansong diff erent means of transport has also be«a receiviiiife careful consideration fro:; the Grovernment. It seems thac coordina tion of transport vd.ll be brought about in India b^ the ^ovemoent through the nationalisation of the major transport — 723 — syBtems* l?he CoBniittee on Tranaport rolicy and Coordination has nsade faivreachiuii reconnaendatione and the future policy of the Government w ill be based, to a ^jreat extent, on bhes* recoauaendations* This Conmittee has also etreeaed tiie poinfc i;hat GoYcx'nment s;hould play a more important role in future, ir^ the field of transport, i’he different servicea that are (grouped under one headinti 'cooimunic at io n s' have bean coznpletely imder the control of the Crovoinaent. ^Thus, in India, the Gov eminent has played, is playiz^i^ and w ill continue to play a predominant role in this important sector of the Indian e c o n o m y .