The First Bitter Pill

The first bitter pill declared by the Modi Government was the Rail Hike. The hike was justified in my opinion. It was already planned by the earlier government, but it was not announced . It is not of any importance to know if it was planned by the earlier government or not. What is important is to know if it was needed or not, and if yes, then could it not be coupled and timed it with the Railway Budget in two weeks time.  I really doubt if there can be an argument on the first part, but yes, it could certainly have been part of the regular budget. 

But the larger question is " How long we will live on the free bees and subsidies ? ". Let there be any government coming out with such policy decisions. The opposition, the Media and People in general are just waiting to grab the opportunity to occupy the center stage of attention. Nobody is interested in looking at the statistics, the bottom lines. 

There is hardly any party or media channel who thinks rationally on such issues. They all want attention and TRP ratings. 

In fact if one looks at the Railway deficits seriously he or she would realize that it was necessary. Forget the bullet trains, the new infrastructure, the better signalling systems, the new railway coaches, new trains, the tracks etc, this hike is necessary for sustainability and overall health of the railways. Where will the money come from to compensate for the regular salary hike ? where is it, along with the increasing diesel cost factored in ?

We want better services, more safety, better platforms, but are not ready to shell out more. We want salary hikes to compensate for the inflation but are not ready to shell out part of it. 

In fact the burden seems more because it comes after big gaps ( 6 - 10 years ). A better approach would be to increase the fares and freight charges by about 2 %  every two years at least, if not every year. It should be planned and rolled out as a policy for 5 years period, which could be reviewed , retained or increased by the new government. Then there will not be so much of hue and cry.

But then what the Opposition and the Media will live on ? I would love to keep many other issues at their disposal, like the 4 years' degree course of Delhi University.

I have an opinion on that too. It is reserved for the next blog.