commentary that have been thrown up in the course Indian Railways: o f the turnaround. Poor investment decisions or under-­ Has It Really Reformed? investments on the part of the railways in the past have been major constraining f­actors in improving physical and thereby S Sriraman financial performance. But equally con- straining has been the suboptimal use A look at the interim budget of the ess than a decade back, there was a made of assets that have already been railways against the backdrop of widespread feeling that the railways built up. Rao and Sriraman (1985) the challenges thrown up in the Lhad entered a declining phase from o­bserved this in the context of an attempt which it could be difficult to disentangle to understand the extent and nature of turnaround of the organisation, and get back on track once more. The disequilibrium prevailing on the Indian the building of an extensive Rakesh Mohan Committee Report pointed Railways in regard to the provision of network of freight corridors, this out very emphatically with a rider services. For a long time, supply pro­ and the expansion of commuter that things could improve provided cer- cedures prevented fuller utilisation of tain hard decisions were made. Obviously, c­apacity on the system. As a result, the transit services. from a political perspective, such deci- substantial surpluses required for expan- sions were not easy to take. As a result, the sion of facilities and services could not report and its recommendations appeared be generated. S­riraman (2000; 2002) to have been kept in cold storage. No one, pointed this out more emphatically while at least in railway circles, talked about it trying to examine the revenue implica- since then. tions of a sub­optimal utilisation of exist- ing capacity. Turnaround Strategy Fortunately, during the past decade, Given the arrival of Lalu Prasad on the attempts have been made by the railways scene of decision-making in 2004, it was to increase asset utilisation as a result of expected that the reforms suggested by which the tonnage lifted and thereby the the committee would be buried forever. revenues have gone up substantially, pro- The next five years saw the railways min- viding a basis for the expansion of the ister and his team devise a strategy which a­sset base which is badly required in has brought about the (so-called) turn­ c­ertain parts of the system. Some non- around of the railways. Though a certain conventional thinking and a strong com- (a positive one too) direction has been mitment to follow the road less travelled given to the working of the railways, it has has made it possible to exploit the inher- not been realised (or rather recognised) ent economies of scale that were waiting that many of the elements involved in the to be tapped all these years. And this has process have been very much a part of the happened both in freight and passenger recommendations of studies stretching movement. All the railway budgets for the from the early 1980s to recent times. In past decade or so (more so after 2004) fact, a new publication penned by a civil have reflected a certain determination to servant, currently the minister’s most enable this to happen within the frame- trusted aide, claimed that the entire pro­ work of the restructuring process that has cess served the political mandate well, quietly been undertaken during this wherein lay its success. It is easily recog- period (S­riraman 2007; 2008). nised that good politics is based on good economics and vice versa, with each Bulk Movement Business r­einforcing the other. How else can the The organisation has registered an excel- emphasis on the railways’ core business of lent performance in freight loading and transportation be interpreted? The interim earnings till September 2008, the growth railway budget for 2009-10 that was pre- rate being 10% more than that d­uring the sented last week reflects the optimism corresponding period in 2007-08. The for- generated by such a focus, adopted during mation of a strategic business unit within S Sriraman ([email protected]) is the past five years. We look at the interim the organisation that deals exclusively with the Department of Economics, University budget in terms of the positive features with the crucial bulk movement business of Mumbai. that have emerged and also the challenges is reaping dividends and could soon be

Economic & Political Weekly EPW march 7, 2009 vol xliv no 10 19 commentary expected to place the railways in a posi- minister rather than any attempt to draw reflected in the widespread dissatisfaction tion to be able to prevent more diversion some political mileage out of the move. It amongst the travelling public, especially to the roads if not as an aid to a reversal of would have been wise to confine even this on long distance movements. Mere availa- some movements to the railways. Though reduction to the lower classes since such bility of tickets through local area booths some shortfalls (in particular movements) reductions in higher class fares could lead or the internet is hardly the response to are expected during the rest of 2008-09 to a reduction in revenue given the nature the passengers’ requirements. There has due to recessionary trends, the overall sit- of demand for trips made in these classes. to be a paradigm shift in effectively pro- uation is likely to be only m­arginally worse It is obvious now that there is only very viding a host of simple services to the com- off than expected with reasonable sur- limited competition between the railways mon passenger on trains. pluses being generated. However, it must and airlines. We have always maintained The budget announced action on a fea- be recognised that the days of higher that it would be useful to raise passenger sibility study to run bullet trains between growth rates in freight loading and move- fares at least marginally every year so that Delhi and Patna and such studies would ment (or even sustaining the current the cross-subsidisation burden on freight also be undertaken for other corridors movement) may soon be over in the movement decreases, and by offering between major cities. Some preliminary absence of additional effective capa­city. It competitive rates on freight, the railways work done by various agencies has pro- is quite possible that the next two years or are able to control, if not stop, the move- vided some estimates. With these high- so may witness stagnation in freight load- ment towards road transport. But any speed corridors expected to be elevated ing. Internal sources suggest that the wear increase in passenger fares must be backed ones, the cost per kilometre of the infra- and tear in facilities is a­lready high and up by an improvement in service quality. structure facility has been estimated to be pose major safety p­roblems which officials Efforts towards this objective require a far Rs 500 crore. For instance, that would claim to ignore and even overlook. On the more systematic strategy (even when com- mean an expenditure of the order of other hand, they proudly record a signifi- pared with the strategy on freight move- Rs 1,00,000 crore for the corridor bet­ cant improvement in safety in terms of the ments) with the necessary elements in ween Mumbai and Pune. While the declining number of railway accidents place to monitor service levels. Although, response to the proposal has been posi- during the past five years or so. Recession- railway budgets have continued to empha- tive, it appears that this is so without a ary trends are useful in such situations sise, year after year, the importance of real under­standing of the implications of and enable organisations to build this quality of passenger services, efforts in these enormous plans. Zipping through badly required capacity, especially in this direction have been inadequate as the countryside at 300 kilometres an hour terms of the line and track capacity. The budget reflects continuing efforts that are being made to technologically upgrade the system in a number of dimen- sions. Superior types of wagons are being designed to raise rake capacity by nearly 80%. Modernisation of the network is also expected to raise sectional capacities by increasing speeds and permitting higher loads. The Dedicated Freight Corridors – on two of which work has already begun and can be expected to be in place in two years – could take care of seamless move- ment of freight in the absence of inter­ ference from passenger movement. How- ever, apprehensions have been raised about these corridors relating to viability of these projects, especially when we take into account the fact that they may have to compete with existing corridors on the Golden Quadrilateral, provided, of course, the railways limit existing corridors to passenger movement.

Passenger Services The across the board decrease in passen- ger fares to the extent of 2% seems to be more by way of a parting gift from the

20 march 7, 2009 vol xliv no 10 EPW Economic & Political Weekly commentary does seem an attractive and even a s­ubstantial part of the total movement in require a more network extensive of dedi- r­omantic proposition. They do it in Japan the case of bullet trains. cated freight corridors than the one that and in Europe, some devotees say, why has been proposed. Equally important is not in India so as to relieve airport and Need to Upgrade the need to expand the commuter transit highway congestion? From a social point of view, the railways services in the urban areas, besides, of The railways admit that they are not in are best suited for long distance move- course, providing for seamless movement a position to fund these projects fully. The ment while roads are more effective for of people on an inter-regional basis. These alternative would be a public-private part- short distances. Given that this has been responses can be expected to provide solu- nership (PPP) as has been adopted in the established in many studies all over the tions to movement problems rather than case of the highways. It is well known that world, it would indeed be foolish to under- bullet trains which may be a romantic many of the sections of the Golden Quad- take high speed rail services on the pro- solution in search of a problem. rilateral of the National Highway system posed short distance corridors. Moreover, in India, which have been taken up by the having decided to go in for dedicated References private sector, are still far from viable and freight corridors in addition to the exist- Rao, T V S R and S Sriraman (1985): Disequilibrium in have required a good deal of funding from ing quadrilateral of the high density rail Rail Freight Services (New Delhi: Ajanta Publica- tions). the public exchequer based on additional corridors it would indeed be difficult for Sriraman, S (2000): “Indian Railway Finances”, Eco- cesses and levies. All this has happened the railways to provide the alignments nomic & Political Weekly, Vol XXXV, No 12, March. – (2002): “Indian Railway Finances: A C­ritical partly because traffic has not materialised (even on an elevated basis) without really Review of Basic Issues and Emerging O­ptions”, to the extent that was visualised. The acquiring space for such developments. Journal of Indian School of Political Economy, Vol XIV, No 3, July-September. problem has always been that traffic esti- What India needs is upgradation of its – (2007): “Railways: On Path to Permanent Recov- mates have been exaggerated. This may r­ailway system, especially on long dis- ery?”, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol XLII, be true of daily commuting estimates tance routes, which involve crucial move- N o 10, March. – (2008): “Indian Railways on a Fast Track”, Eco- which are normally expected to be a ments of different commodities. This may nomic & Political Weekly, Vol XLIII, No 11, March.

to be mistaken for its present shabby ver- Amita Malik (1921-2009): sion), I found an immediate rapport with Amita Malik when I met her for the first Irreverent Dissenter time in 1967 in the corridors of the Delhi office of our paper soon after my transfer there. She used to write columns on films Sumanta Banerjee and cultural events for The Statesman at that time. Being a warm and outgoing per- Amita Malik belonged to a small mita Malik, who passed away on sonality, she was quick to discover old con- group of irreverent dissenters 20 February at the age of 88, would nections – my elder brother and sister-­in- who could dare to defy orthodox A have had a good laugh at being law, who were her friends among many described as the “doyenne”, “the first lady others (including Samar Sen, Sunil Janah norms and follow their own style of Indian journalism”, in the newspaper and the crowd of intrepid Bengali intellec- of living and writing. obits! She herself was less generous in tuals of Calcutta who were our heroes at using such laudatory terms for members of that time). her own profession. In fact, she was feared I soon began to call her A­mita-di, and (and perhaps also hated) by the present she took me under her wing to introduce generation of television anchors for her me to her peer group in Delhi who used to acid comments on their inept performance. address her as “Amie” – among whom I met A few years ago, in one of her columns she a variety of wonderful personalities. One famously described an NDTV newscaster as of them was Tiny Chatterji (P C Chatterji of a “drone (who) sounds like a tanpura from the All India Radio (AIR) fame) who was the next room!” She remained a stickler for to write later a splendidly frank review of the old, well-tested norms of matter-of-fact her autobiography – Amita, No Holds journalism and clear articulation, and had Barred (which also revealed her talent as a no patience for the slipshod manner of historian of Indian broadcasting). Being present-day n­ewfangled television presen- close to her for years, Tiny could claim to Sumanta Banerjee ([email protected]) is tations, or news reporting. chide her for being “self-­effacing to a fault” best known for his book In the Wake of Having been trained in those old profes- – a charge which might surprise those who Naxalbari: A History of the Naxalite Movement sional norms in my early days of journalism had always thought of her as just the oppo- in India (1980). as a Calcutta reporter of The Statesman (not site. But a­lthough gregarious in company,

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