Bansal takes Urban India on board
27 Feb 2013 6:48 AM IST
Weighed downed by the measures of his predecessors Mamata Banerjee and Lalu Prasad Yadav and the demands of his boss, prime minister Manmohan Singh, railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Tuesday attempted to maintain a balance between – fiscal discipline and populism.
The member of parliament from Chandigarh became the first Congressman in 18 years to present the Railway Budget. The last time a Congress minister presented Railway Budget was CK Jaffer Sharif in 1995 during the PV Narasimha Rao regime. Incidentally, the Rao government during the last few months had not much envied Suresh Kalmadi holding the Railway portfolio.
The Railway Budget of UPA-II government, with polls scheduled for summer of 2014, could not have been high on fiscal discipline and it’s not. It needed to address popular aspirations of its cadres, its allies and likely post-poll allies, it does it in ample measure. If the states of Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand (all Congress ruled) and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s constituency of Rae Bareli are major beneficiaries, West Bengal, which held sway over the Rail Bhawan for past four years under Mamata Banerjee, has not been singled out for any harsh treatment either. Not surprisingly, Tamil Nadu is another beneficiary.
Accustomed to vigour and aggression which underlined presentations by Banerjee and Yadav, Bansal’s calm demeanor came as quite a contrast as he started his presentation with a Railway poem by Christine Weatherly and picked it up with revolutionary poet Dushyant’s ghazal.
While Bansal spoke at length on the wisdom of having fiscal discipline and need for safety, he also chose extravagance, expected in a poll year, to announce introduction of 109 new trains and declare that there would be no passenger fare hike but for minor revision in ticket service costs.
Through the budget of the government’s biggest undertaking, the railway minister tried to reach out to the nation’s urban constituency with a major focus on making the services IT-enabled. With the promise to keep e-ticketing open for 23 hours a day and also increase ability of the website to take a greater load of ticket-seekers, the minister tried assuage ruffled feathers of the frequent travellers from urban middle-class India, who find themselves constantly bogged down by slow, crashing website and never available tickets.
Going bullish to woo urban India, the minister also promised Wi-Fi services in trains, improved food from ISO certified base kitchens with provision for third party audit, creation of over 1,000 model stations, booking of tickets through mobile phones and augmenting the local train services. Not forgetting the nationwide urban turmoil which women’s safety had caused end of last year, the minister announced substantial enhancement in the number of women constables in the Railway Protection Force and increase in number of women special trains. UPA owes it’s second term to urban India .
With promise of superlative services like super-luxury coaches – Anubhuti in select trains, and strengthening service to places of worship like Katra, railhead of Vaishno Devi temple, Bansal hopes to present another budget next year, propelled on dose of service and spirituality.
The member of parliament from Chandigarh became the first Congressman in 18 years to present the Railway Budget. The last time a Congress minister presented Railway Budget was CK Jaffer Sharif in 1995 during the PV Narasimha Rao regime. Incidentally, the Rao government during the last few months had not much envied Suresh Kalmadi holding the Railway portfolio.
The Railway Budget of UPA-II government, with polls scheduled for summer of 2014, could not have been high on fiscal discipline and it’s not. It needed to address popular aspirations of its cadres, its allies and likely post-poll allies, it does it in ample measure. If the states of Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand (all Congress ruled) and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s constituency of Rae Bareli are major beneficiaries, West Bengal, which held sway over the Rail Bhawan for past four years under Mamata Banerjee, has not been singled out for any harsh treatment either. Not surprisingly, Tamil Nadu is another beneficiary.
Accustomed to vigour and aggression which underlined presentations by Banerjee and Yadav, Bansal’s calm demeanor came as quite a contrast as he started his presentation with a Railway poem by Christine Weatherly and picked it up with revolutionary poet Dushyant’s ghazal.
While Bansal spoke at length on the wisdom of having fiscal discipline and need for safety, he also chose extravagance, expected in a poll year, to announce introduction of 109 new trains and declare that there would be no passenger fare hike but for minor revision in ticket service costs.
Through the budget of the government’s biggest undertaking, the railway minister tried to reach out to the nation’s urban constituency with a major focus on making the services IT-enabled. With the promise to keep e-ticketing open for 23 hours a day and also increase ability of the website to take a greater load of ticket-seekers, the minister tried assuage ruffled feathers of the frequent travellers from urban middle-class India, who find themselves constantly bogged down by slow, crashing website and never available tickets.
Going bullish to woo urban India, the minister also promised Wi-Fi services in trains, improved food from ISO certified base kitchens with provision for third party audit, creation of over 1,000 model stations, booking of tickets through mobile phones and augmenting the local train services. Not forgetting the nationwide urban turmoil which women’s safety had caused end of last year, the minister announced substantial enhancement in the number of women constables in the Railway Protection Force and increase in number of women special trains. UPA owes it’s second term to urban India .
With promise of superlative services like super-luxury coaches – Anubhuti in select trains, and strengthening service to places of worship like Katra, railhead of Vaishno Devi temple, Bansal hopes to present another budget next year, propelled on dose of service and spirituality.
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