Rail Budget 2015: Suresh Prabhu chooses common man over politics

The best thing about Suresh Prabhu’s first Rail Budget is that it has taken politics completely out of train travel. The paucity of reaction from the opposition — apart from the standard line that ‘isme naya kuch nahin hai’ or ‘it is a replica of our ideas’ — shows that Prabhu has succeeded in his objective of keeping the focus on the business of Railways and not on using it as an expensive shortcut to votes and a tool for mollycoddling an ally. [caption id=“attachment_2124291” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. PIB[/caption] So, at least in terms of intent, it is a path-breaking budget. During the past few decades, the trend was to use the Railway ministry to appease a powerful political ally. Mamata Banerjee, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, for instance, got the ministry simply as a reward for contributing the numbers required for a stable government. These ministers had a simple formula for tinkering with the fare: farther the election, higher the increase. Those who defied the norm were either forced to roll-back the hike or take the next fast train to meet the party boss. All of them had a well-defined policy for announcing trains: most of them should benefit voters in their states and pass through their constituencies. It is another matter that most of the trains announced in the rail budget never saw the green flag. Thankfully, Prabhu’s budget is not an election manifesto. By not using the budget for cheap populist stunts, Prabhu has ensured that his maiden speech would remain non-controversial and will, thus, allow him the peace and luxury of implementing it, away from the glare of the critics. The minister can of course be criticised for not having the courage to increase the fare when the ministry is short of funds and a lot of money — around Rs 6 lakh crore — is required for upgrading tracks and making train travel safer. The next election is, after all, at least four years away and Prabhu could have taken the risk of increasing the fare marginally. But Prabhu has had the rare luxury of presenting the budget in a year that has seen an increase in the operating ratio, which has traditionally been close to 94 percent (by spending Rs 100 the railways gets just 6). “I have proposed an operating ratio at 88.5 percent — as against the targeted ratio of 92.5 per cent for 2014-15, which has improved to 91.8 percent,” Prabhu said. So, the minister is hoping that by bringing down his costs, he will be able to save enough money to spend on better services, safety and future expansion. He has also tweaked the freight rates and categories in a bid to raise some more money. For a common man, Prabhu’s budget is like an announcement for adding lots of new apps to an existing gadget. He has promised WiFi at railways stations, bio-toilets, better, cleaner linen, SMS-based services for enquiries and schedules, apps for booking meals and better facilities for senior citizens and differently-abled and using the Nirbhaya Fund for ensuring safety of women passengers. He has taken care of minutest details for the satisfaction of consumers. There is a sneaking suspicion that like a smart salesman, Prabhu is working on the strategy of first delivering a top-class product, packed with several add-ons, to hook Indian passengers. Once he is able to deliver, Prabhu is hoping that he would be able to offer a deal the happy consumers will not be able to refuse. So, treat this budget as Prabhu’s trial offer. He will quote the real price of travel once he hears passengers say: Achche din aa gaye. Till then, enjoy the ride.