Sunday, May 01, 2005
Lalu and his kulhars
As soon as he took over as the Railway Minister in the Manmohan Singh Govt, the alwayz-in-news Mr.Lalu decided that Railways will start serving in clay pots (kulhar, in Hindi) instead of plastic cups. And of course, media initially went ga-ga over the "environmentally friendly" measure. It took a Maneka Gandhi to put the idea in true perspective. As it turns out, the policy ended up where it logicaly could - on paper. An year down the line, PTI has found out that the policy just is not sustainable. Does Mr. Lalu have humility to accept it? It wont be a surprise if tomorrow he will come up with a boisterous and "son-of-the-soil" type defence of his policy, and further reiteration of the commitment of railways to "environment friendly and poor man friendly" measures and some high visibility raids to ensure adherence.
Railway ministry has alwayz been a favorite porfolio of politicians.....for the obvious reason that the scope to "serve" their local constituency/state is highest. No wonder Ram Vilas Paswan and Lalu had a bitter fight to get the railway berth. I guess except Mamta Bannerjee, very few people in recent times did a honet job in running the railway ministry.
This been the case, it probably is time to change the handling of the railway ministry. The railway ministry can be made exclusively available for Rajya Sabha members, or a Railway tribunal consisting of a professional group be given the charge of making policy decisions. Let us hope the Manmohan Singh ministry makes a "disruptive change" in the working of the railway ministry.
Neither seek nor avoid, take what comes.
As soon as he took over as the Railway Minister in the Manmohan Singh Govt, the alwayz-in-news Mr.Lalu decided that Railways will start serving in clay pots (kulhar, in Hindi) instead of plastic cups. And of course, media initially went ga-ga over the "environmentally friendly" measure. It took a Maneka Gandhi to put the idea in true perspective. As it turns out, the policy ended up where it logicaly could - on paper. An year down the line, PTI has found out that the policy just is not sustainable. Does Mr. Lalu have humility to accept it? It wont be a surprise if tomorrow he will come up with a boisterous and "son-of-the-soil" type defence of his policy, and further reiteration of the commitment of railways to "environment friendly and poor man friendly" measures and some high visibility raids to ensure adherence.
Railway ministry has alwayz been a favorite porfolio of politicians.....for the obvious reason that the scope to "serve" their local constituency/state is highest. No wonder Ram Vilas Paswan and Lalu had a bitter fight to get the railway berth. I guess except Mamta Bannerjee, very few people in recent times did a honet job in running the railway ministry.
This been the case, it probably is time to change the handling of the railway ministry. The railway ministry can be made exclusively available for Rajya Sabha members, or a Railway tribunal consisting of a professional group be given the charge of making policy decisions. Let us hope the Manmohan Singh ministry makes a "disruptive change" in the working of the railway ministry.
Neither seek nor avoid, take what comes.
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since May 1, 2005