One For The Money, Two For The Show

 

One For The Money, Two For The Show

The Modi Government’s second year has begun, and some of the foundations for major structural change that will transform this country over the next 10 to 15 years have indeed been laid. Economic benefits from this are expected to begin in year two of this administration, now just underway.

And each passing year of this term in office will see momentous structural changes taking place. Whenever this happens, particularly in a democratic polity, there is bound to be huge protest from all whose vested interests are affected.

But the public seems to understand this, and even welcomes it. What they want above all, is an end to the inaction. They do not share many of the concerns that a partisan media would like to thrust upon them.

To paraphrase current Political Editor of Swarajya Magazine Surajit Dasgupta’s  recent comment on the drift, the people want a clean and authoritarian Modi alright, but not so much a seemingly ‘democratic’ BJP, that is yet far less inspirational, and therefore less easy to follow.

It is this perception that may be agitating more minds than one within the NDA, let alone elsewhere, because the stature of Modi is definitely bigger than that of his Party, or indeed of any in his alliance. But since it is based on sheer merit and the energy he brings to his job, it is a very strong act to follow. 

The revamped Land Bill, for example, currently running on renewed ordinances, will mean relentless industrial progress and infrastructural development. Even though it ensures adequate financial compensation, it still threatens the status quo , and will expose the povertarian agendas long pursued by the Congress Party instead.

Similarly, the Black Money Bill threatens to burn a lot of politicians on both sides of the aisle, amongst others; with undeclared or benami properties abroad. These may have been purchased with hawala-sped funds, quite often from the proceeds of bribery and corruption. Unlike their money in Swiss and other banks, properties are not so easy to shift out of sight, or conceal under a mass of misleading ownership documents.

The Railway Reforms, almost underway, will change the way this country travels and moves its goods, and touch the lives of millions.

Narendra Modi, born poor, but unhampered by any psychological need to be personally corrupt, is in a unique position. He has taken care to distance himself from his family, and has never been accused of any financial skulduggery, on his own, or on their behalf, throughout his time in public office. This is, circumstantially, a first in Indian politics, and one that puts the prime minister in a very strong position to implement his ideas without being compromised. But, it also makes a lot of dishonest people, and their protectors, very uncomfortable indeed.

Recently, quite by dint of external circumstance, an internal political remodelling of the Government’s power centres, and perhaps of the Party too, has also, willy-nilly, been set into motion.

The time may have come to end the influence of a section of the BJP more comfortable with the ideas of the discredited and corrupt Congress Party, than with those pulling in a bold new direction within its own fold.

That Mr. Advani has sought to undermine Modi from the day he aspired to the prime ministership is pathetically obvious. But, even now,   the old man cannot seem to understand that positioning himself as an alternative to Modi whenever there is any political turbulence, is still unlikely to yield him any dividends.

His known supporters, Sushma Swaraj and Vijayraje Scindia, are now much weakened, mostly as a consequence of their own doings. And so, the Modi/Shah/ Bhagwat combine has been handed the opportunity on a platter to consolidate NaMo’s hold on the Government and Party as a consequence.

A new consolidated BJP/RSS agenda, under the leadership of Modi/Shah and Bhagwat respectively, needs to rule henceforth. Bhagwat’s recent improved security status may be an indicator of his increasing stature to achieve a smooth and seamless interface with the RSS.

It is they who collectively possess the vision and the operational ability to deliver a developed India, using their commitment to broad free-market principles, appropriate to a globalised economy. This alone will bring about the prosperity that this nation has long deserved, but been denied, because of an inadequate and short-sighted leadership invested in a socialism that has completely failed to remove poverty.  

Together they can win the elections that count. Together, this triumvirate can aspire to a second and third term in office.

Others, erstwhile BJP leaders, now on the side-lines, most without any grass-roots support, cosy from years in Delhi’s incestuous and darbari Opposition, are stunned and outraged at being out in the cold.

Yet, these left-over leaders too have changed into seeming moderates in the Congress gaze for their covert opposition to Modi. But, sadly, to oppose Modi, they use none other than the Congress line. They call him authoritarian and undemocratic, refusing to accept he won the popular mandate fair and square. They do not understand that the people want decisive leadership after years of a highly educated but ineffective munimji as prime minister.

It is no small irony that LK Advani, once the Hindutva poster boy of the Rath Yatra to Ayodhya, is now thought to be a moderate secular liberal. He who praised the unrelenting Shia MA Jinnah at his mausoleum as a ‘secularist’! Of course, Advani used this convoluted logic to describe the architect of the two-nation theory, to indicate his timely change of heart before BJP lost the general elections - putting paid to his failed bid to become prime minister in 2009.

No wonder the Congress prefers this pliable octogenarian. It was the same reason why Reagan and Thatcher used to flatter Gorbachev, who brought about the end of the USSR. And that is why a humiliated Congress and its rag-tag and bobtail friends applaud every time Advani or his followers/sympathisers take a pot shot at Modi.

And all this tomfoolery has been given further impetus with Advani himself speaking out lately, wearing his jealousy and frustration on his sleeve.

But Modi has demonstrated a steely will, despite the intense clamour from the Opposition, parts of the media, and sniping from dissidents, to take his usual brand of inspired action. To him, it is as if the noise was simply not there. So what if they taunt him as Maun Modi in a throwback to the description of his hapless predecessor. This is a very different situation and prime minister to contend with.

For: The Pioneer

(1,093 words)
June 21^st, 2015
Gautam Mukherjee

 

The Phoenix

 The Phoenix

 The FTII, Pune, India’s leading and celebrated film and television training institution, does indeed have an illustrious list, but mostly of older Alumni; with a few notables amongst its Directors, Board of Governors, and Faculty thrown in. Still, it must have done something right, over the years, since it was set up, way back in 1960, to earn its considerable reputation.

But a one-time glamour list has not proved to be sustainable, probably because there has been little rejuvenation, modernisation, quality improvement, and moving with the times.  Inflation, both in fiscal terms, and by way of expectations, seems to have taken its toll.

The problem may be, just as is the case with many States in the Indian Union, let alone our many institutions of different kinds, that the FTII is steeped in fuzzy ideological dogmas, a befuddling bureaucratic outlook, and an abject dependence on Government funds.

There are today, as always, just a limited number of seats, no more than 400, for the post graduate three year diploma course. The course fees are deliberately held down to make it accessible to most people, there are faculty shortages, and not even very many short-term courses to make up the budgetary shortfall.

There is also a towering ideological resistance, both from within and without, to any big brotherly moves on the part of the government, in return for its largesse; all in the name of  being a crucible for creativity and artistic freedom.  

So here is yet another institution inherited from long-time socialist India, with the forbidding attitude that its lack of ability to generate its own resources and funds has given it!

This, even though the FTII is ostensibly autonomous, and therefore theoretically and practically free to plough its own furrow.  It is only overseen by the central I&B Ministry because that is its administrative conduit through which indents can be raised for more government money to support it.

The fact that a lot of FTIIs famous personalities are a little long in the tooth,  speaks for itself. Where are the brash new FTII bred actors, directors, editors, or other less glamorous kinds of Movie/TV/Theatre people?

The FTII has, indeed, been in a steep decline for ages. Today it is an administrative and political morass with dire need of sweeping reform and great strides in efficiency. The last happy convocation of graduating students held, graced by thespian Dilip Kumar, was in 1997; and the one before that was in 1989! The clock seems to have stopped for the FTII in 1997. It is now a place where the last diploma certificate was also handed out in 1997.

But from 2014, we may be looking at a Phoenix, rising once again from the ashes. In 2014, by some quirk of fate, the FTII received Rs. 80 crores in fresh funding, courtesy the erstwhile Planning Commission. It also started taking three year post-graduate course students afresh after a hiatus, and a new syllabus, was, at last, adopted. And then, FTII also announced that it would issue diplomas for courses completed by people between 1995 and 2006!

The Institute seems to have been hijacked for a long time before this by a status quoist mindset. But who is holding it back? If its not the students, is it perhaps the faculty, fearful of being turfed out, if they allowed any changes. Is it an unimaginative administration, conducted by short-tenure bureaucratic overseers, who neither understand how to run such an institute, nor have the necessary energy and commitment?  

To wit, the  I&B Ministry hired management consultant Hewitt, which put out a report in 2010, suggesting a public-private partnership and expensive/profitable short courses to bring in the  money. This did not find favour for its utilitarian bluntness, its attempt to professionalise artistic endeavour, nor its thrust towards a perceived elitism.

Another committee, this time made up of Movie/TV/Theatre people such as Kundan Shah, Saeed Mirza, Nachiket Patwardhan etc. plus students and faculty to bring up the rear, suggested administrative tweaks to get abreast of the backlog in conducting courses. There are students from 2008 who haven’t managed to finish and leave as yet! And this is because they haven’t submitted their assignments on time, and the faculty/administration haven’t cracked down on them either.

The FTII hostels, canteens and corridors are naturally overflowing with ancient mariners rubbing shoulders with bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ingenues ,many years their junior. And everyone can afford to stay on and on because it is cheap at the price.  

So, the rot has been settled in for quite some time. Until its present head Gajendra Chauhan, a saffron appointee of particularly jarring and garish hue, amongst all the pink and red the FTII   is familiar with, took over, there has been one short tenure  IAS babu or another from the I&B Ministry, running the Institute for the last 15 years.

Of the Governing Council of 15 Members, all bureaucrats, barely 5 of them bother to attend meetings. The faculty has about 70% of its number appointed on a contract basis, and even after all this, there are just 30 teachers to 400 students. There are gender issues too. Over the last twenty years there have been just 3 female teachers employed on a tenure basis, and currently all the 21 tenured teachers are male.

The last film person who headed the FTII as Director was Mohan Agashe, but he was hounded out for trying to change the syllabus.  So, that the place has gone on strike because Gajendra Chouhan, a relatively obscure saffron ‘Yudhistir’ from a TV serial Mahabharata, who does actually have some experience in running film-world associations, is not surprising. But, can he do any worse than his predecessors of recent decades? At least the man wants the job badly.

The real solutions to FTIIs woes however, won’t come from any magic wand solution of kicking out a low-wattage Chouhan, in favour of a celebrity Director who could be inveigled to take the job in his place.

It may lie in looking for successful and contemporary role models such as Juillard of New York. Juillard is probably the world’s best private music , drama, and performing arts school. There are also scores of top film and television faculties in universities around the world.  

These can be invited to set up shop in India, and give this has-been situation in FTII a run for its money, in qualitative terms, and on a private, full-fee-paying basis. Everywhere, it is seen, that they are expensive, and they won’t be cheap when they come here either. But they will provide high standards and robust competition.

Meanwhile, the powers that be at FTII have two simple choices. Allow standards to decline, and the debate to descend into irrelevancies of  a saffron versus secular narrative; or creatively muscle up the resources and devote all energies towards the pursuit of cinematic and television production excellence.

It is impractical to expect much money from the Government year after year without strings, and without it becoming part of its own agenda and patronage system. It is therefore imperative that the FTII raises a great deal of its own finances from rich patrons, foreign collaborations, course fees etc. Only then can it reclaim its glory days and perhaps surpass them.

 For: Swarajyamag

(1,210 words)
June 20^th, 2015
Gautam Mukherjee

BOOK REVIEW: SHOVON CHOWDHURY:MURDER with BENGALI CHARACTERISTICS

BOOK REVIEW

 

Title:                    MURDER with BENGALI CHARACTERISTICS

Author:                SHOVON CHOWDHURY

Publisher:                      Aleph Book Company,2015

Price:                    Hardback Rs.399/-

 

 

Spoilt Girls Come For Parties

Shovon Chowdhury has an absurdist sense of cerebral humour that permeates every line of this delightful read. Part of the humour comes from his seeming translation of expression from the Bengali. And other bits from his insights into the Bengali character.

Ostensibly, however, Murder With Bengali Characteristics, is a whodunit potpourri. It is Chowdhury’s second quixotic offering in this particular genre, and comes after a very well received first entitled: The Competent Authority (2013).

 Murder… is set in a future Kolkata, when Bengal has become a Chinese Protectorate, with neighbouring Bihar still a part of India, run by, who else, but the aforementioned Competent Authority. All this, in the aftermath, gleaned from a mention here and there, of a nuclear war between China and India.

Chowdhury paints amusing word portraits of his characters and progresses his murder investigations at a suitably languid pace, attuned perhaps to the temperaments of the touchy and excitable Bengalis that populate the book.

Quite early through the 184 page, beautifully produced hardback from Aleph Publishing Company, you begin to realise this narrative is more about the ride than the destination.

There are inevitably, the sometimes caricatured, but often hilarious Chinese overlords like Governor Wen, chief protagonist Police Inspector An Li of Lal Bazaar, with an ex-wife, Gao Yu, in China, for whom he still carries a torch and vice versa, Propagandist Wang, Sexy Chen, Crazy Wu, General Zhou who destroys Kalighat, etc.

This search is for a murderer of  ‘Mister Master Barin Mondol’, an old Communist ideologue who taught. The narrative is also leavened with the constant interplay of Bengal’s on going love affair with Communism, and how it pans out.

For Chowdhury it trundles on, with the same contradictions and conflicts that exist now, projected into the technologically advanced future, just with a seriously altered political map.

A Jyoti Basu figure, thinly disguised as “Bijli Bose”, replete with prop, his whisky glass, has been resurrected from DNA found on, you guessed it, his very own whisky glass. Only he comes back as an old man , more or less at the point when he had died, rather than his more vigorous younger self.

Another character, clearly modelled on current CM Mamata Banerjee, is “Pishi” who bullies her way out of a lunatic asylum to come live in Bose’s house. The world of wheeling, dealing, wheedling business, is represented by an Agarwal and a Verma.  

The Far Left, represented by a Maoist infested ‘Liberated Zone of Junglemahal’ features, independent of the Chinese protectorate it adjoins. And the Right, prime suspects in the murder, is in the form of The New Thug Society, complete with training in strangulation and devotion to Goddess Kali.

Shovon Chowdhury’s artistic sensibility is the striking thing beyond the details of his story. This is a man who thinks through a refracted, irreverent, prism. In India, more and more new people in the creative arts, writers, painters, movie-makers, actors, photographers, some industrialists and businessmen, even journalists and commentators, are beginning to do so.  As this nation matures and grows into a post-colonial assurance about itself, it probably becomes fatigued with the old formulas and outdated sensibilities. 

The new outlook is not offended by backhanded compliments, is often wicked in its insights, comfortable, even fond of the given reality, with all its flaws, the seamier side face-up, and this, without the moralising that would have animated the old school.

Internationally too, some like Hollywood filmmaker Quentin Tarantino have made statements using gratuitous violence, a kind of staccato ballet on ketchup, choreographed to a signature.  In Indian films, a bold, free  actor Kangana Ranaut is making being asli Indian seem pretty hip.  Director Anurag Kashyap, at least in Gangs of Wasseypur, was right on the money, with his depiction of desi  grittiness and gangsterism. 

 Adman Shovon Chowdhury is part of this brave new movement towards a reassessment, of how to write a novel like this, and the content of the commentary. The plot, when it comes to Murder… is clearly not everything.

In the end, the most sobering thing that Shovon Chowdhury seems to predict for Bengal, even decades hence, is its unchanging insouciance. This, of course, is most telling, even amongst all the hilarity.

For: Swarajya

(701 words)

June 16^th, 2015
Gautam Mukherjee

Mind It! Andhra-Telangana Rivalry Hotter Than Its Weather & Food

Mind It! Andhra-Telangana Rivalry Hotter Than Its Weather & Food  

Let me lay out the backdrop here first of all. The burden of  sonorous promises and not enough money to see it through, makes Batman style Jokers out of the Chief  Ministers of both bits of what was once  undivided Andhra Pradesh.

 ‘So much to do, so little time’,  is how the painted psychopath from the DC Comics put it, aided by noon-day madmen such as Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger. And then there’s the tension bug: ‘that black dog gnawing at my back’. That’s how that warring, overweight, brandy swilling depressive Winston Churchill  put it, in between, arguably, saving the civilized world.

Now may be a time to be compassionate though, days after this first anniversary of both the  new states with empty coffers and wolves at the door.

This naturally makes for irascible CMs, both, taking umbrage at any signs of fiscal denial from any quarter, including the distant Centre. And it makes them turn on each other amongst all the dyspepsia it generates.

It is entirely likely that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of Telangana- he of the gigantic tilak and impressive proboscis, carries a large chip on his shoulder.

This despite the dignity imparted by his leanness, his crisp white cottons, his being  undisputed master of the State with the Charminar, the Nizam’s palaces, all those chandeliers, silver, paan daans, hookahs, and the steel and glass of Hyderabad’s IT hubs.

This is a perceived philosophical position, of which Rao himself may not be entirely aware, mistaking his feelings instead for righteous indignation, which they certainly resemble.

The chip on KCR’s shoulder however, is not universal in nature, and he is not known to kick any dogs in his path. But it manifests most strongly with special regard to his neighbour and default rival, the redoubtable Chandrababu Naidu.

In a recent skirmish, that blazed despite the blistering heat wave that claimed the lives of scores of Andhraites caught out in the open, Rao accused Naidu of  master-minding a cash-for-vote scandal in the recently held vote for the Telangana Legislative Council.

Naidu, in turn, asked, through gritted teeth, about who had been illegally tapping his phone?

He also dubbed as fake a voice-recording purported to be his, being bandied about by Rao’s party, the TRS. He said it could well have been spliced from various sources in order to malign him, and he wasn’t even sure if the voice was his, implying actors and stage managers good at reenactment.

And all this broke out, just short of the first anniversary of the formation of the two

new states on June 2^nd 2014. The Governor of the two new States, ESL Narasimhan, nimbly and discreetly side-stepped the fracas, even as the FIRs and court cases flew thick and fast from both sides. Each new thrust was aimed at the other, like so many vicious Khartoum javelins, with stereophonic sets of ACBs on each side, the better to both quote and confound.

A new entrant, conjoined, for the moment, to Rao’s side, is baying for Naidu’s blood too. This is the YSR Congress, led by the cross wearing and muscular Jagan Mohan Reddy, a southern Indian Travolta figure, the wealthy son of the former Congress Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

Jagan has done considerable jail-time already, mostly, it is alleged, for defying Sonia Gandhi and demanding to be made CM immediately after his father’s death in a helicopter crash. And also, to be fair, for possessing hugely disproportionate assets, along with his widowed mother, as well as sundry relatives and minions.

Naidu, undaunted by all the ambient noise, went ahead and performed the bhoomi pujan  on June 6^th for Andhra’s new capital, named Amaravati, replete with Buddhist associations, to come up between Guntur and Vijayawada towns. Some brokers have made killings on land speculations thereabouts, of course, and others wish they had, given the loud murmurs in the air, for long: the location was, transparently enough, far from secret, because Naidu did a lot of his thinking  very much aloud.

Amaravati will have, like Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati, a 30 km. waterfront, fit to host Xi  Jinping too. And Naidu has been saying that it would far surpass the charms of Hyderabad (also once revived and refreshed by himself), and be a truly ‘world class’ capital.

This, knocking out the scam-related bad press off the media as it did, must have got under Rao’s skin, and taken some of the joy out of being bequeathed the relatively ancient seat of Hyderabad, what with Naidu’s stamp and odour on it from recent times.

Besides the two Governments, with their respective equipage and paraphernalia, must necessarily rub up against each other for 10 years yet, well, till Amaravati gets built, timeline slippages excepted. The policemen of Hyderabad, the traffic ones, are all developing Parkinson’s disease from the tension, and so recruitment needs to be stepped up with an eye to the future.

But being wiped off the map does not suit Rao any more than it does Delhi’s Kejriwal. So Rao got his stuff together and fired a fresh salvo, aimed at getting back in the headlines, and illustrate his altogether better governance credentials, on June 12^th just past.

With this, Telangana also becomes the first in the country to put in a Right to Clearance proviso in the very first enunciation of its maiden Industrial Policy. But in fact, the Telangana State Industrial Project Approval And Self Certification Systems Act, 2014, was made law months before the unveiling of the Industrial Policy itself. This Right to Clearance will result in the bureaucrat found responsible for tardiness to be fined Rs. 1,000/- a day till he completes his task.

It may not, however, turn out to be that much of a deterrent, because the accused ‘responsible official’ may manage to enmesh and entangle almost everyone linked to the process of granting clearance for an industrial project. This could, include the political top bosses and, potentially, include Rao himself. If only he could see it. And distributing a thousand rupee fine per day amongst a bus load of people may become less disincentive and more guffaw-worthy farce as we go along.

Still diplomats and captains of industry present at the unveiling of the Industrial Policy and this RTI-like Right to Clearance sang hosannas of praise. They also predicted Hyderabad and Telangana will become a most favoured destination for investment under Rao’s sagacious leadership.  It all made for excellent press.

The flatterers, predictably, included all the ones invested in Hyderabad and the  its environs, including the bosses of  ITC, GMR,  the Ruia Group,  the GVK Group, Walmart India, Apollo Hospitals, TCS, and august trade bodies like NASSCOM,  and CII . 

This story has a back story, of course. It was, after all, in Naidu’s Telegu Desam Party wherein Rao was once ensconced, albeit with some assistance from an earlier still stint as a Congressman.

Rao, curiously, for a South Indian, knows his Hindi to deal with Delhi, but not his English. Not even to speak directly to his then Italian/Indian High Command.

Naidu, on his part, does a masterful ‘mind-it’ Andhra accented version of it, that  proves altogether serviceable, if a tad menacing, even when he’s trying to be nice. Besides, Naidu, the son-in-law of the legendary NT Rama Rao, has long been a highly successful CM of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

He was IT savvy years ago, much before Narendra Modi rose to prominence, and even hobnobbed with Bill Gates, getting him to base Microsoft HQ in Hyderabad. Naidu is credited with rejuvenating and modernising Hyderabad/Secunderabad, cleaning it up, putting in infrastructure and new hotels and starting a real estate boom there.

He also began to give Bengaluru a run for its money as the IT Capital of India. But even after all this, he came a cropper in the elections, for ignoring the villages and the voting population  in them. That was, nevertheless, a long time ago.

But here he is again, Chandrababu Naidu, in his bright yellow TDP party colours, the current CM of  the newly truncated Andhra Pradesh, with 16 seats won in the recent Lok Sabha elections to boot - contributing its crucial strength to the ruling NDA at the Centre.

The demand for a separate Telengana, headed by Rao today, has also been simmering for decades, but the opportune moment came in the run up to the general elections of 2014, when the High Command of the UPA thought it would afford it an electoral boost. 

Instead, the rump of Andhra Pradesh, led by Chandrababu Naidu, joined hands with the NDA and won the bulk of the Lok Sabha seats from both halves of the old state.

What can we do now?Let us wait for the next episode of this pinging-ponging thing, without however laying any hurtful bets on who will come out on top of whom…    

For: Swarajyamag

(1,477 words)

June 14^th, 2015

Gautam Mukherjee

Railway Reforms Or Wrastling A Croc

 

Railway Reform: Bhadralok Debroy Rolls Up His Sleeves To Wrastle A Croc

 To friends of Crocodile Dundee, the tie-me-kangaroo-down outback movie from a few years ago, ‘wrastling a croc’, is just good manly sport.

You catch a firm hold and try not to be knocked senseless by its long and formidable tail. And then there’s the added frisson of sawed-off danger. That of losing a limb, or more, to its extremely toothy pair of jaws.  

To those of us who are not aspiring C. Dundees, this would be a pointless wrestling match indeed, particularly with a disgruntled crocodile looking for lunch. Besides, such field tests of manhood are not an Indian thing, even though, the ghariyal, and several crafty cousins, are as plentiful and abundant in the rivers of India, as the crocodile is, in those of the Australian outback.

But we sub-continentals like to choose our own battles too. That an unassuming bhadralok sort, a meritorious, eminent economist, should undertake to lay the groundwork for a momentous one, is not, on balance, very surprising. Renaissance man that he is, Bibek  Debroy  has recently completed a lucid and unabridged 10 volume rendition of  The Mahabharata that must have taught him a thing or two.

And now, his Railway Reforms Report is to be the basis of a formidable joust with the status quoists, the railway trade unions, contractors, suppliers, other vested interests, all of whom are soon expected to crawl out of the woodwork in opposition.

But this report will be used, with the proper political determination behind it, with a view to restore the Indian Railways, to efficiency and financial health. It is designed to unlock its potential, and bring about unprecedented modernisation in the nick of time.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expects this reformation of the Indian Railways, presently India’s biggest PSU, to contribute significantly to India’s economic turn- around, its employment objectives, and its GDP.  

Of course, the Debroy document, previewed in interim form in March already, is only a report, like many others that have been commissioned by the Government of India over the years, and for a variety of reasons.

This one is different though, not only in its strongly reformist suggestions, but  because it was commissioned by the Prime Minister himself, and as recently as last September. Narendra Modi intends to use the Debroy Report as a starting point to revamp, reform, restore and transform the Indian Railways. A dynamic Union Minister, Suresh Prabhu, has already been put in place for the purpose, and will do his part, both to raise investment, and to overcome huge inbuilt bureaucratic resistance to change.  

Debroy has the erudition, the boldness, and the zeal; and his committee/ panel is packed with eminences: a former Cabinet Secretary, a senior think-tank man, the well-known corporate honcho turned pro-reform writer Gurcharan Das, a retired National Stock Exchange MD, and an erstwhile Financial Commissioner from the Indian Railways itself.  

But of course, not everyone at the receiving end is predisposed to agree with the Report’s thrust. The Railway Board, for example, is straining to prevent Debroy’s Report, ready since at least April this year, from being presented formally, at least till the end of June.

The powerful and highly centralised Railway Board is said to be less than enthused about the Report’s suggestions that it be turned into a macro-level advisory, with all of its executive authority pushed down to much lower operational levels.

The Report meanwhile, has been leaking profusely into various media outlets, ever since it was made ready, birthing a series of wondrous pieces on it, describing a very different architecture from the impenetrable monolith we have been used to so far. This more so, because it was preordained by the Modi administration.

The Debroy Committee Report is a thinly veiled manifesto, its stridency in the interim report, diluted diplomatically in the final one, aimed at decentralisation, unbundling, hiving off and unabashed privatisation in parts.

It is bolder than most such documents because it bites the bullet and makes specific suggestions. It dwells on how to generate better revenues, mainly by overhauling the freight handling capacities of the behemoth.

It wants the Railway Budget merged with the Union Budget, within about five years, and the passenger fare subsidies to be borne by the Union and State Governments respectively as applicable, for inter-state and local applications, in a budgeted and transparent manner. The implication is the cross subsidisation of passenger fares by freight is dragging down the entire enterprise, particularly in the absence of adequate capacity to handle more freight, losing it therefore to  the more expensive but plentiful road transportation.

This proposed separation of subsidies will free the Railway finances from its non-standard formats of accounting, and make it far more attractive to potential investors from abroad and the private sector.

The report also calls repeatedly for extensive modernisation of track, rolling stock, and station, of signalling equipment, of accounting practices, of administration. It wants recruitment practices streamlined and standardised, private sector and specialised talent accessed as necessary, monetisation of assets like stations after they are upgraded first, professional catering, out -sourced security, and so on.

That the Railway administration is absolutely byzantine at present is, of course,   more by deliberate design, than by any professional ineptitude or inefficiency. But it needs shaking up, because the Indian Railways have become unwieldy and unviable as it is.

The Railways are India’s biggest employers, but yet is chronically inefficient. It runs hospitals, schools, owns immense tracts of real estate. It moves over 23 million passengers per day, and 3 million tonnes of freight alongside. And this, over a 64, 460 km. network.

It is the 4^th largest railway system in the world, but still well behind the biggest, that is nearly four times larger, and privately run to boot. The American network, criss-crosses that enormous country with 224,792 km of track. It is not for nothing that the American freight train is so much a part of its culture and folklore. And it is freight that can produce the green-field big bucks for the Indian Railways too, as the Debroy Report has identified.

The State runs the Russian railway system with 128,000 km. and  China with 103,144 km. of track, just  as it does in India. But now, there is a compelling case, both because of the huge investments involved and a need for efficiency that the private sector/foreign investment  is brought in. This is also just so in defence production, and all the ‘Make in India’ initiatives.

After all, only these same four nations carry over 1 billion tonnes of freight per annum. India however, is carrying much less than it potentially could, only because it does not have the facilities like dedicated freight corridors, and better quality, faster trains, with the capacity, availability, and the material handling systems that it badly needs.

Where do Bullet trains fit into all this?  Well, let us realise just how many people can be accommodated in an aircraft, in a populous, ever growing country, and you have the answer. The future beckons, and the Indian Railways will not be found wanting, if Debroy and Modi can help it. 

 For: Swarajyamag

(1,184 words)
June 12^th, 2015

Gautam Mukherjee

Consolidation Time

A consolidation in governance towards effecting strong deliveries across the board should be setting in just about any time now. There have been indeed many, and continuous, preparatory moves, scattered across the first year of the Modi Administration.

But now, being able to go into Myanmar, with its permission, in an American style helicopter   borne raid, to eliminate insurgents attacking our Army positions in Nagaland and Manipur, is a thrilling demonstration of the difference of approach. Our armed forces have been unshackled, and given their head by the political authorities after a very long time.

The same Maoist insurgents knocked off  here, ambushed and killed 18 armed forces personnel in Manipur just a few days ago, with plans to kill many more, right across the North Eastern States.  But our swift and effective retaliation, unprecedented as it goes, is a demonstration of the fruits of Modi’s hectic regional diplomacy; and, of course, his much more muscular stance militarily. 

Mercifully, we had no casualties this time.  Our Army decided to generously use its best equipment for a change. It was an operation approved by the PMO. We killed 15 insurgents in a surgical strike, and sent out a strong message that things have changed in how we will handle provocations like this in future.

How long then, before we pursue terrorists from POK across the loC, even as we call Pakistan’s nuclear threatening bluff?  When we chase Pakistani terrorists like this, by land and air, with a view to eliminating them, we will asuredly get some decent results. And, as things stand, we will probably do it with US, Israeli,  Saudi and Russian backing; probably as a full and permanent member of the UNSC ourselves, and possibly - surprise, sursprise, with Chinese tacit support as well!

Back at the Ranch, for now,  we find the corruption at the top has indeed been stymied. The permanent bureaucracy has been reshuffled, somewhat, and tuned up to work for specified objectives in a time bound manner.

Some cobwebby laws have been scrapped, others are being drafted from scratch, and yet others are being revamped/adapted for current relevance. The statist sarkari bent, Kafkaesque in its convolutions, is being reoriented, with even a rationalisation and regrouping of  ministries.

Road blocks, created by impossibly high environmental standards, have been eased. Money has miraculously been found by the Government where it was lacking. Terms of contracts and tenders have been revised to make things go again; and the private sector, has been, and is, definitely being encouraged.

PSU and nationalised bank shareholdings are being diluted. The monetisation and tweaking of national assets are being undertaken. A new broom is attempting to sweep the land clean, and moves are afoot to stop polluting the river waters.

The pledged foreign money, into infrastructure and industry, particularly for roads, power, ports, railways, and defence-manufacturing, will soon start to flow. Defence manufacturing in particular, despite the immense payola and wondrous honey traps that will have to be foregone, alongside an honest to goodness modernisation of the  Indian Railways, will be remembered long after Narendra Modi is gone.

The new job creation platform, touted over the last year and a half, is beginning to show some green shoots. But soon enough, the newspapers and TV Channels will be  quite full of it.

Modi’s duck taking to water foreign affairs thrust, something of a major feature of this administration, is going particularly well, and will become the mainstay of transforming his grand vision into reality.

The world of Narendra Modi may be small-town, but it is as  brash and confident as any Kangana Ranaut.  This is baffling to the established Nehruvian set,  quite at sea from what it has tackled in the past.

Modi is, after all, the quintessential outsider, a provincial politician made good, and the Lutyens Media find it hard to predict what he will do next. Modi, and reigning No.1 female actress Kangana Ranaut  of Bollywood, without benefit of the triumvirate of successful Khans, are small town folk; albeit with spectacular, grand destinies to fulfil. They are both remarkably at ease being alone, and, having taken their knocks- keeping their own counsel.

It is true however that the honeymoon period, if it was ever there for the highly resented Modi, is indeed over. And the euphoria of its supporters, just a third of the electorate anyway, has also ebbed. Everything is now down to actual valuations and hard news. 

The equity stock markets have corrected back to the levels of October 2014, and the Debt Market is volatile and jumpy in anticipation of possible interest rate hikes in the US. But this is all as it should be. We cannot run on hype and empty for any longer length of time.

The many Modi promises must be made to come true, and when they do, the ground rules will have changed forever. This is a Prime Minister and Government that wants to be judged on performance and not ideology.  And its ideology, such as it is,   is not an unheeding Hindutva, as his critics would have it, but to bring prosperity to all, in the shortest possible time.

Many people believe him,  and unanticipated changes are afoot. Lakhs of Muslims have joined the BJP as primary members. Mumbai will, at last, build it long awaited coastal road from end to end, under the present BJP/SS administration. Coal, Telecommunications Spectrum,   Insurance, and sundry other things, have already had their values unlocked, and enhanced for exploitation.

Bangladesh, a Muslim nation within SAARC, has, once more, become a warm ally; even as an unmoved Pakistan, still plays to the old Muslim League script, alongside our own Owaisi and Geelani.  But what will Pakistan do, economically irrelevant as it is in world affairs, when a slowing China finds it fit to do feverish business with India? 

The Bihar Assembly elections are looming, and the Opposition, midwifed by the Congress mother and son combine, has united to try and defeat the Modi/Shah duo. Lalu Yadav, and his now relative by marriage, Mulayam Singh Yadav, have been made to yield pre-eminence to the ambitious and tenacious Nitish Kumar, as presumptive CM, backed, at last, by Congress. 

If this alliance of convenience, which is as yet well short of a merger, fails to stop Modi/Shah from taking Bihar, then it is probably all over for it, even for the general elections of 2019. Modi, sitting pretty though he is, may be consolidating already, but there is a lot of growing up to do, and in the process, he might still be in charge a decade from now.

For: The Pioneer
(1,099 words)
June 9^th , 2015
Gautam Mukherjee