By M H Ahssan
India's Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had good reason to feel a sense of pride in a job well done when last week he announced to parliament his final budget, setting his seal on a hard-won reputation for being the most successful holder of the post. Indian Railways, operator of the country's rail network under his command, has posted a historic pre-dividend profit of US$18 billion over the past five years,
Indian Railways (IR) is the world's largest employer, providing 1.6 million jobs - the number of onboard catering staff yelling "chai" relentlessly from 5.30am to 9pm makes it appear as if there are 16 million of them - and Asia's second-largest rail network, carrying 18 million passengers daily. Yet it has, so far, stayed ahead of a near-global recession, and Yadav is not one to let the scale of his success be overlooked.
"The same railways that faced a paucity of funds ... have now surprised the whole world with a historic financial turnaround," Yadav crowed in his final budget speech. "The year 2008 witnessed financial turmoil and a worldwide recession, making it difficult for even Fortune 500 companies to raise debt from the international markets."
Yadav has earned his gloating rights. Five years ago, anyone seriously mentioning profits at Rail Bhavan, the IR headquarters near Parliament House in New Delhi, would have received stares of disbelief, if not prompting an urgent call to the nearest lunatic asylum.
When he took over, the 156-year old Indian Railways was dismissed as a hopeless, loss-making organization, with too little revenue, too many problems and too many employees. State-owned IR was spending 91% of its income just on salaries and maintaining an aging organization.
The Rakesh Mohan Committee report, a study that former Reserve Bank of India deputy governor Rakesh Mohan headed in 2001, termed IR a "white elephant' heading for a $12.6 billion loss-making bankruptcy by 2015.
The dying animal seemed assured of more misery when Yadav took over as railway minister in 2004. The general opinion across the country, which this correspondent gloomily endorsed, was that his appointment was the last nail in the IR coffin, given his controversial track record.
When chief minister of Bihar, that state continued to be one of India's most backward and violent regions. He earned a slew of corruption charges (the most famous being a $500 million cattle-fodder scam), went to jail, then triumphantly rode an elephant while returning home after being released on bail. He resigned in 1997 as chief minister but promptly handed over the job to his barely literate wife, Rabri Devi. The "backwardness" of Bihar under Yadav has been challenged in credible quarters, while he himself has maintained that the state suffered due to the central government being hostile in allocating it funds during his leadership.
Even when not in jail, Yadav was keeping colorful company with convicted murderers, such as his political mate Sibu Soren and brother-in-law Pappu Yadav, both directly elected members of parliament.
But then Yadav unleashed his unique brand of economics and stunned India and the business world. He declared he would earn profits without raising passenger fares - which he actually cut. And the Yadav gloat of success has enriched every IR budget speech since 2004.
Last February, while presenting the railway budget for 2008-09, he again informed parliament of a "historic" cash surplus. "The benchmark of net surplus before dividend of 25,000 crore rupees [US$5.1 billion] makes us better than most of the Fortune 500 companies in the world ..." he said.
By 2006, IR was posting record profits and "Professor" Yadav was lecturing gawking business-school students from Harvard, the Indian Institute of Management and Wharton on how he turned around the hopeless rail company.
Yadav's brand of economics, like his controversial life and his famous wit, is centered around his rural origins. "Indian Railways is like a Jersey cow," he has often said when explaining the rationale behind "Lalu-nomics". "It not milked fully, it would fall ill."
The IR "milk" was freight capacity. Each freight wagon had an under-utilized capacity which corrupt railway officials were privately selling. Yadav explained his management mantra at a media conclave in New Delhi, in April 2007:
- I assured all 16 lakh [1.6 million] gang men, signalmen and others [IR employees] that they will not be retrenched.
- The turnaround in the railways is not one man's effort, I have merely directed it.
- I just said, "We will not let anybody steal. We have to stop it."
- I have personally checked goods trains, weighed the goods on the weighing machine and found huge disparities in load booked and the actual load carried. Several officers have been punished.
- Earlier the loading and unloading used to take seven days, now it has been reduced to five days.
- By taking these few small steps only, we were able to save about 10,000 crore rupees.
- Not just that, we have reduced the expenditure and last year we had a surplus of 13,000 crore rupees and we have paid dividends. This year [2006-07] again we had a surplus of 20,000 crore rupees.
Adding more cream to the "milk" formula, Yadav commissioned India's first dedicated railway freight corridors, two east-west corridors across the country costing $7.5 billion, backed by a $4 billion loan from Japan. On February 9, Yadav commissioned the first 100-kilometer link of the two new tracks, each enabling higher speed goods trains.
"Almost 60% of freight in India is carried by road and I want that to move to the railways, " Yadav said.
The Railway Ministry stint has added a remarkable gloss to the curious legend of Lalu Prasad Yadav, and not just inside the country, with India's foreign offices reporting that he is one of the most sought after Indian politicians overseas.
His charisma seems to cut across bitter international conflicts, borders and even political rivalries. Reports of him being wildly mobbed during his visit to Pakistan in August 2003, as a guest of the South Asian Free Media Association, amazed the Indian public and angered an ignored official delegation of parliamentarians visiting Pakistan at the same time.
Javed Hashmi, then acting president of former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said Yadav would be a major success if he addressed public rallies in Pakistan. "We don't have any such popular leader in Pakistan," Hashmi said, according to media reports.
Yadav's successful Railway Ministry stint and his political nimbleness demonstrate a shrewd strategic mind lies behind perhaps a deliberately cultivated buffoonish demeanor, complete with a hairstyle generally associated with half-wits featured in Indian movies.
Yadav can be both court jester, who can have parliament rocking with mirth with his wit, and a king-maker - he stood like a rock behind Sonia Gandhi after the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party threatened nationwide agitation over her foreign origin, following her Congress Party leading poll results in 2004.
Yadav urged Gandhi, an Italian citizen until 1985, to accept the people's verdict and become India's prime minister. She chose instead to have Manmohan Singh lead the government. Yadav's 29 Rashtriya Janata Dal MPs became the largest and most reliable partner of the ruling United Progressive Alliance, and the Yadav lore received another lustrous.
"I know some people say I can be funny, but there is always a deeper meaning to what I say," he told Asia Times Online just over four years ago (see India's man for all seasons , September 29, 2004). "I am a socialist at heart and have the interests of the poor in mind. When people see how I manage to work my way out of tough situations, it gives them hope in their own life."
To back his "socialist" core, every IR budget since 2004 includes plans to help the poor. One example - replacing paper cups for servings of tea and coffee with earthen cups to help potters. Not all are successful - the mud-cup ambition did not last long, and paper cups are now back on rails.
Yadav proposed khadi (handspun) bed sheets in the bedding for passengers in air-conditioned coaches; provision of social security for contract workers and porters in India's 6,856 railway stations; running vegetable retail outlets in stations to help farmers get better prices for their produce; and special air-conditioned trains with reduced fares for "poor people" to also enjoy travelling in comfort.
In 2006, he announced using excess railway land - IR is the second-largest land owner in India after the defense forces, owning 43,000 hectares of vacant land - to construct "world class" budget hotels near major railway stations.
Few politicians in the world can claim as colorful a biography as Yadav's, and not many exhibit as simple and grounded an outlook. The 61-year-old cowherd owner from the badlands of Bihar is son of a poor peasant couple and is father of two sons and seven daughters. He became in 1977, at the age of 29, one of India's youngest elected parliamentarians after once wanting to become a police constable; 13 years later he became chief minister of Bihar.
A photograph of Yadav in his early days as chief minister shows him sitting cross-legged on the floor at home, in a vest, and tucking heartily into a large plate of rice and lentils curry, unabashed at the media presence.
Journalist Sankarshan Thakur sounded wonderstruck in his book The Making Of Laloo Yadav - The Unmaking Of Bihar. In a discussion of the book in The Hindu daily in May, 2000, he said: "No chief minister of Bihar has ever ruled from the two-room tenement of a peon [his elder brother] employed by his government. No chief minister of Bihar has ever held cabinet meetings under a tree by the roadside ... has raided liquor shops, constable-like, and canceling their licenses on the spot ... No chief minister has stood in queue with the public at the Patna Medical College Hospital to get his fever-ridden son treated."
Yadav's critics continue to denounce him as an ambitious, political crook who had used caste-baste politics to destroy Bihar. The Yadav website, offering his five office telephone numbers, his e-mail and residence telephone number, is as contradictory and remarkable as the man himself, hailing his achievements, but also referring to him as a "convicted murderer". The online contact form offering "direct" correspondence to Yadav specifies two types of comments that can be sent to him: 1) Questions. 2) Jokes.
The joke collection ridicules both Yadav and his impoverished, violence-ridden Bihar state. One joke claims that he went to Pakistan and solved the long-standing India-Pakistan problem over Kashmir. He simply insisted that if Pakistan wanted Kashmir, then India's unruly Bihar state comes free with it. Pakistan leaders hastily gave up their claims on Kashmir.
The latest contributed joke says Yadav called the Tourist Department to find out the time difference between Patna in Bihar and Las Vegas in the US, and asked, "Could you tell me the time difference between Patna and 'Las Begas'." The man at the other end replies "One second sir ... ". Yadav immediately replies "Thank you" and puts down the phone.
Yadav has openly declared his ambition to become India's prime minister. The prospect of him holding forth his rustic wisdom on how to solve the world's problems to a grinning US President Barack Obama, or a United Nations General Assembly cracking up in mirth, may not be as unthinkable in 2010 as the prospect of Indian Railways, effectively bankrupt in 2004, accumulating an $18 billion profit by 2009.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Bihar. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Bihar. Sort by date Show all posts
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Delhi, Bengal Debacle: Is Modi's Novelty Factor Fading Out
Delhi is gone, West Bengal is going. Bihar looks uncertain, Punjab could be next. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s juggernaut has come to a halt, Amit Shah’s invincible army is staring at a year of tough battles and, perhaps, a few humiliating losses. The ground beneath BJP has started moving.What Delhi thought a few months ago, Bengal thought earlier this week when its voters discarded the BJP in the civic polls, leaving its score-sheet blank.
Sunday, October 02, 2011
Nitish or Modi - Who will make a better PM of India?
By M H Ahssan
When Narendra Modi threw his hat into the ring to become India's next prime minister, he never bargained for the fact that he would stumble on a skull cap. The now famous "cap incident" was a rare instance of spontaneity in a carefully choreographed Sadbhavna fast in Ahmedabad, when the Gujarat Chief Minister, in a gesture of spare-me-the-honour, rejected the cap offered by Maulana Hazrat Sufi Imam Sahi Sayeed Mehendi Husain. For a leader desperate to reach out to the Muslims of Gujarat and to Indians at large, that moment preserved by cameras was heavy with meaning, especially so when Modi displays a penchant for wearing a variety of colourful headgear that display the country's ethnic diversity.
The three-day amity fast was designed by India's most popular state administrator as a Gandhian short-cut to gain political acceptability needed for a national leader-and to announce his own ticket for the top job in 2014. The queue of BJP stalwarts, all as ambitious as Modi but with less credentials, was a sign of his rising clout as frontrunner. But when the curtain dropped on the drama, did Modi look merely desperate-an impatient player overdoing the part?
The question became inevitable as the noise accompanying the self-canonisation in Ahmedabad was in stark contrast to the silence in Patna. Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, shares only one passion with Modi: development. When Modi hard-sells his own mythology as a 21st century Sardar Patel who deserves a space larger than Gujarat, Nitish quietly waits in the wings, biding his time, patiently sure of himself. When Modi performs his way into front pages and onto prime time television, intimidating his colleagues in BJP and allies in NDA, Nitish takes backstage in Patna and refuses to supply the mandatory soundbites. If the flamboyance in Ahmedabad was divisive, the silence in Patna was reassuring. When the show was over and Modi had his lemonade, one man stood between him and his unhidden prime ministerial ambition: Nitish Kumar.
What is it that makes Modi, unarguably the most popular leader on the Right, a polarising figure in spite of his commendable achievement in bridging the communal divide in post-2002 Gujarat? Why is it that he is still a haunted man, forever struggling for acceptability beyond Gujarat? In opinion polls conducted by india today and even other publications, Modi consistently maintains his lead as India's best chief minister and the best possible prime minister in a non-upa government, but he still cannot take a break from the project of makeover: he is always a work in progress. Modi is trapped in his own image as an uncompromising Hindutva leader. That may be fine with the faithful but in India the gold standard of a right-wing prime minister was set by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the abiding embodiment of inclusive leadership.
Modi is still the proverbial hardliner, and hardline can get you success, not final success. Then, there is the legal labyrinth of riot-related cases which he continues to navigate, and it is unlikely that he or anyone knows till when. Modi has his rebuttal ready for the harrumphers. "When I took over, many felt I was too inexperienced to lead the government but today the same people say I have proved myself. So opinion can change over a period of time. But there is a vested interest group in India with intellectual ability that opposed Sardar Patel, Morarji Desai, Atalji, Advaniji and now me. So the belief that I am a polarising figure is not justified," he tells Newsindia.
This indomitable faith in himself is not totally misplaced, for he is still the BJP's best bet for 2014. A Modi showcased as India's best administrator with a mass base, and communication skills to match, will be a formidable force. His strength is Gujarat, as much as it is his curse. He now wants a bigger gallery to mount his bestselling portrait as a clean ruler and a development fanatic. Gujarat is the development model that industry moguls continue to toast and The Economist writes about. Under Modi's stewardship, the state has become an economic powerhouse whose growth rate is higher than the country's. Gujarat generates 16 per cent of India's industrial output and 22 per cent of its exports. From infrastructure to agriculture, from education to green technology, Gujarat has taken huge strides, showing the rest of India what focused leadership can achieve.
Says industrialist and president of the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mahendra Patel: "Modi's greatest asset is his missionary spirit, which has forced the bureaucracy and industry to act. His development model has a trickle-down effect to the lowest levels." A tough administrator, he refused to slow down the drive against farmers indulging in theft to draw ground water for irrigation on the eve of the 2007 polls despite pressure from BJP MLAs. He has become an apostle of participative development. "If you look at India's past 40 years, you will find that ruling parties tailored their budget with a view to strengthen vote banks. They created models that made people dependent on Government. But in Gujarat, we rejected the vote-bank based model and created a new model," he says.
As an organiser and a campaigner who can play with the mass mind, he now wants to sell the slogan "Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas" to a wider audience. And within the BJP, in spite of the charioteer-in-chief Advani's refusal to retire from the roadshow, no one is more qualified to do so. As a senior BJP leader tells Newsindia, "Ultimately, who else is there?" Publicly, though, party leaders maintain that it is too early for the party to choose a prime ministerial candidate.
Arun Jaitley, in the run-up to the 2009 elections, had queered the pitch by endorsing Modi's name for prime ministership in 2014. Today the opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha, who is himself emerging as a national leader worthy of the top job, says the focus is on putting the BJP house in order. "The elections are still three years away," he adds. Party president Nitin Gadkari too says no decision has been taken yet to project anybody as the prime minister candidate for 2014. "We have not decided on Narendrabhai's name. His fast was not to become the prime minister. It is to clear the misunderstanding about Gujarat," he says.
He admits that there are problems in endorsing Modi's name because of the 2002 riots taint. "He cannot do much about it" but the party is making efforts to focus more on his development agenda, administrative skills and dynamic leadership, he says. "If Modi can prove that he can defeat Congress by a decisive margin in the Assembly elections, it will become a little easier for him," Gadkari says. But he is categorical about the possibility of Nitish as usurper: "He may be a key ally but remains an outsider. No worker in the party will campaign for him." Will allies accept Modi? "Ultimately votes count. If we get more votes, allies will automatically come. BJP reaching 165-170 seats is important. And when you go to war, you go with your best General. Modi is the best General that the party has," says a senior party leader.
The General must first win the war within. Modi has hardly been on talking terms with Gadkari ever since rss pracharak Sanjay Joshi was reinducted into the party to strengthen BJP in Uttar Pradesh against the Gujarat strongman's wishes. His weight-reducing bariatric surgery was a well-timed excuse for the party boss to avoid the photo-op with Modi during the Sadbhavna mission. Sushma Swaraj, who made it to Ahmedabad, was visibly uncomfortable in the company of the man who she thinks is responsible for her stint in the wilderness after her defeat from Bellary in 1999. Party insiders feel that Modi agreed to give a Rajya Sabha berth to Smriti Irani only to counter Swaraj.
Apart from Advani, Jaitley is the only central leader with whom Modi enjoys a good rapport, though Jaitley himself has prime ministerial ambitions. The rss is already working on a succession plan for Gujarat as Modi is convinced that he deserves an office higher than the one he occupies now. The new generation, swayed by the political zeitgeist, is sceptical about the Modi brand. "While the youth of the country may be on a warpath against corruption, demanding an honest administration, they are also looking for a more inclusive social structure. In this day and age, Modi may never be able to wish away the 2002 blot. It is there to stay. The party will have to do better than a Modi," says a young BJP leader.
That is why Modi's desperation is Nitish's hope. Parties like TDP, Biju Janata Dal and agp-traditionally anti-Congress but wary of alienating minority support in BJP's company-would be happy embracing NDA if Nitish Kumar is at the helm. Apart from his proven record in winning Muslim votes, he is winning, like Modi, in the politics of development as well. As an administrator, he has addressed critical areas ranging from restoration of law and order to health, educational services and building roads.
As a leader, he has pushed targeted social welfare schemes. According to his acolytes, if Nitish can make Bihar a functional state, he has the potential to change India too on behalf of NDA. Nitish's biggest disadvantage, though, is his electoral base. He may have the credibility and character to become a national leader, but JD-U, with only 20 members in 543-memberLok Sabha, is not a political force beyond Bihar. Though he has a good political chemistry with leaders like Naveen Patnaik, no regional satrap has come forward to propose his leadership.
The biggest roadblock for him will be Modi himself. With less than six months' age difference-the elder of the two, Modi, turned 61 only last week-the two can neutralise each other. There is no love lost between the two. The relationship worsened on May 10, 2009 when Modi, during an NDA rally at Ludhiana, clasped Nitish Kumar's hand and forcibly raised it as a show of solidarity.
Many considered it as Modi's revenge because Nitish had earlier scuttled Modi's plans for campaigning in Bihar for the Lok Sabha elections. Senior jd-u leaders seeking anonymity maintain that Nitish is mentally prepared to pull the plug on the alliance if Modi is named the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. With 117 jd-u MLAs in the 243-member Bihar assembly-besides a handful of Independent supporters-he thinks he can afford to take the risk. (BJP is his ally in Bihar.) Nitish has succeeded in keeping Bihar offlimits for Modi.
Since taking over as Bihar Chief Minister in November 2005, Nitish has put his foot down on Modi campaigning in the state. Nitish does not even mention Modi's name on public platforms, and considers the Gujarat chief minister as a communal leader unacceptable to his inclusive brand of politics. In June 2010, Nitish raged against advertisements carrying a picture of them together at Ludhiana which were placed in Bihar newspapers by Modi supporters. The advertisements had boasted about Gujarat's flood-relief aid to Bihar. Nitish took no time to withdraw his dinner invitation to BJP top brass then present in Patna for BJP's national executive meet.
He not only refused to attend the BJP rally held at the conclusion of the meet but also returned the Rs 5 crore given by the Gujarat government. Besides derailing the BJP's national executive meet, Nitish almost rocked the alliance. He knows that BJP cannot afford to lose someone like him who continues to be wooed by the Congress. He now hopes to keep Delhi inaccessible to his rival, though, while talking to Newsindia, he is characteristically diplomatic: "The BJP is yet to officially declare anyone as its prime ministerial candidate. We can express our opinion only after an announcement is made."
The opinion is unlikely to please Modi. Come 2014 and it will be a clash between the socialist and the saffronite in the opposition for the highest political position. It will be a battle to behold.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Focus: Is Bihar Moving Back To Era Of Bloody Caste Wars?
After nearly a decade of shift of emphasis to development, growth, good governance and social harmony, Bihar is returning fast to the vicious cycle of violent caste conflicts. In the south-central region of the state, a hotbed of Maoist-Ranvir Sena conflicts decades ago, the trend of revenge and retribution killings looks set for a comeback.
Last week, seven upper caste Bhumihar villagers were killed by suspected Maoists – the first such attack in over decade. The victims were returning to their village in south Bihar’s Aurangabad district in a vehicle when the rebels triggered a powerful landmine blast using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). All the victims were killed on the spot.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Can Lalu’s Women Save From Political Oblivion In Bihar?
In Nayagaon Dumri, Dilip Singh is busy organising a "grand dinner" for around 5,000 people. On the menu are traditional Bihari delicacies like litti, chokha, meat and for those who want it, there's enough and more liquor. If any official from the Election Commission should land up and ask him about the event, he is celebrating his nephew's birthday.
This village Dumri on Hajipur-Chapra road lies in the Saran parliamentary constituency which is witnessing the electoral battle between former chief minister and RJD chief Lalu Yadav's wife Rabri Devi and former union minister and BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Singh Rudy.
Monday, July 17, 2017
Animal Trafficking Is Helping Terrorism Grow Despite Demonetisation
“United Humans Against Atrocities on Animals” was the theme of the rally, which started at Kasturba Gandhi Marg and made its first stop at the office of the resident commissioner for West Bengal at Baba Kharak Singh Marg - moving on to Bihar Bhawan in Chanakyapuri.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
INTERVIEW: ‘Didn’t discriminate among classes’
By M H Ahssan & Kajol Singh
Railway minister Lalu Prasad presented the last budget of his tenure, in an attempt at a bold image makeover from his earlier track record in Bihar, which declined drastically on all parameters under his rule. He has been credited with scripting a turnaround story for the railways, and bringing the giant enterprise back from the brink. Not everyone agrees, though. Many feel he merely built upon what began under his predecessor, the current Bihar chief minister and arch rival Nitish Kumar, and was helped on by a buoyant economy. Others have even accused him of puffing up figures. But all agree that his stint was eventful, which saw many important initiatives.
Lalu discusses his performance in an exclusive conversation with HNN.
What do you count as your most important achievement?
I focused on bringing fares down and improving passenger amenities. But I did not discriminate among passengers. Everyone benefited, not just the poor. Before I took over, the practice was to flog upper-class passengers. I stopped that. After all, they are also citizens like you and me. So, while they were not punished for not being rich, poor got huge relief. I launched air-conditioned Garib Raths for them, affording them the luxury that they could only dream of.
I have the satisfaction of proving my detractors wrong. ‘Log mujhe gali dete the... ab kahan hain sab? Sabko chup kara diya maine apne kaam se’. You mentioned that passenger amenities were also your priority. But there is a huge clamour against the sharp decline in the quality of food served to passengers.
I don’t deny that, though the problem is broadly in the northern part. What has happened is that P Chidambaram as finance minister imposed service tax on railway caterers. And since we would not allow them to increase prices, contractors could make profit only at the cost of quality and quantity. Some of them even withdrew from the business. But now I have suggested a cut on frills like ‘soup/woup’ and to ensure there is no compromise on the essentials. ‘Sada do lekin solid ho’, that is the instruction.
What about hygiene, the lack of which is a major deterrent to many who would like to travel by rail?
Yes, that is a problem. I will not deny that. But passengers are also to be blamed. We took steps to improve the situation, but a lot remains be done. We have also done a lot to ensure the security of passengers —from CCTVs and luggage scanners to more cops on trains and sniffer dogs.
You are partial towards Bihar.
People who say such things don’t understand that Bihar was neglected all these years in terms of central projects. Railway projects that have come up there can be catalysts for development. Or else, the entire state will be in the grip of Naxals. Who will want this? And my support for Bihar is not at the cost of any other state.
There have been other railway ministers before you from Bihar.
I would not like to comment on what they did to help the state. There are records. But the role of Nitish Kumar as chief minister has been very negative. He has been a huge obstructionist and has created problems that have delayed projects. I have to get the Centre to bring in a special law to help railways get around the problems he created in acquisition of land.
Are you going to miss the railways? Will you like to continue in the same ministry after the polls?
Who knows what is going to happen? I am hopeful of UPA’s return to power, but there is no guarantee I will be in the same department. In any case, I am not hung up on the railways. I will miss the people with whom I worked. I will miss the huge workforce who supported me. But I have the satisfaction that I have proved all my rivals wrong, who dismissed me as a non-performer.
Railway minister Lalu Prasad presented the last budget of his tenure, in an attempt at a bold image makeover from his earlier track record in Bihar, which declined drastically on all parameters under his rule. He has been credited with scripting a turnaround story for the railways, and bringing the giant enterprise back from the brink. Not everyone agrees, though. Many feel he merely built upon what began under his predecessor, the current Bihar chief minister and arch rival Nitish Kumar, and was helped on by a buoyant economy. Others have even accused him of puffing up figures. But all agree that his stint was eventful, which saw many important initiatives.
Lalu discusses his performance in an exclusive conversation with HNN.
What do you count as your most important achievement?
I focused on bringing fares down and improving passenger amenities. But I did not discriminate among passengers. Everyone benefited, not just the poor. Before I took over, the practice was to flog upper-class passengers. I stopped that. After all, they are also citizens like you and me. So, while they were not punished for not being rich, poor got huge relief. I launched air-conditioned Garib Raths for them, affording them the luxury that they could only dream of.
I have the satisfaction of proving my detractors wrong. ‘Log mujhe gali dete the... ab kahan hain sab? Sabko chup kara diya maine apne kaam se’. You mentioned that passenger amenities were also your priority. But there is a huge clamour against the sharp decline in the quality of food served to passengers.
I don’t deny that, though the problem is broadly in the northern part. What has happened is that P Chidambaram as finance minister imposed service tax on railway caterers. And since we would not allow them to increase prices, contractors could make profit only at the cost of quality and quantity. Some of them even withdrew from the business. But now I have suggested a cut on frills like ‘soup/woup’ and to ensure there is no compromise on the essentials. ‘Sada do lekin solid ho’, that is the instruction.
What about hygiene, the lack of which is a major deterrent to many who would like to travel by rail?
Yes, that is a problem. I will not deny that. But passengers are also to be blamed. We took steps to improve the situation, but a lot remains be done. We have also done a lot to ensure the security of passengers —from CCTVs and luggage scanners to more cops on trains and sniffer dogs.
You are partial towards Bihar.
People who say such things don’t understand that Bihar was neglected all these years in terms of central projects. Railway projects that have come up there can be catalysts for development. Or else, the entire state will be in the grip of Naxals. Who will want this? And my support for Bihar is not at the cost of any other state.
There have been other railway ministers before you from Bihar.
I would not like to comment on what they did to help the state. There are records. But the role of Nitish Kumar as chief minister has been very negative. He has been a huge obstructionist and has created problems that have delayed projects. I have to get the Centre to bring in a special law to help railways get around the problems he created in acquisition of land.
Are you going to miss the railways? Will you like to continue in the same ministry after the polls?
Who knows what is going to happen? I am hopeful of UPA’s return to power, but there is no guarantee I will be in the same department. In any case, I am not hung up on the railways. I will miss the people with whom I worked. I will miss the huge workforce who supported me. But I have the satisfaction that I have proved all my rivals wrong, who dismissed me as a non-performer.
INTERVIEW: ‘Didn’t discriminate among classes’
By M H Ahssan & Kajol Singh
Railway minister Lalu Prasad presented the last budget of his tenure, in an attempt at a bold image makeover from his earlier track record in Bihar, which declined drastically on all parameters under his rule. He has been credited with scripting a turnaround story for the railways, and bringing the giant enterprise back from the brink. Not everyone agrees, though. Many feel he merely built upon what began under his predecessor, the current Bihar chief minister and arch rival Nitish Kumar, and was helped on by a buoyant economy. Others have even accused him of puffing up figures. But all agree that his stint was eventful, which saw many important initiatives.
Lalu discusses his performance in an exclusive conversation with HNN.
What do you count as your most important achievement?
I focused on bringing fares down and improving passenger amenities. But I did not discriminate among passengers. Everyone benefited, not just the poor. Before I took over, the practice was to flog upper-class passengers. I stopped that. After all, they are also citizens like you and me. So, while they were not punished for not being rich, poor got huge relief. I launched air-conditioned Garib Raths for them, affording them the luxury that they could only dream of.
I have the satisfaction of proving my detractors wrong. ‘Log mujhe gali dete the... ab kahan hain sab? Sabko chup kara diya maine apne kaam se’. You mentioned that passenger amenities were also your priority. But there is a huge clamour against the sharp decline in the quality of food served to passengers.
I don’t deny that, though the problem is broadly in the northern part. What has happened is that P Chidambaram as finance minister imposed service tax on railway caterers. And since we would not allow them to increase prices, contractors could make profit only at the cost of quality and quantity. Some of them even withdrew from the business. But now I have suggested a cut on frills like ‘soup/woup’ and to ensure there is no compromise on the essentials. ‘Sada do lekin solid ho’, that is the instruction.
What about hygiene, the lack of which is a major deterrent to many who would like to travel by rail?
Yes, that is a problem. I will not deny that. But passengers are also to be blamed. We took steps to improve the situation, but a lot remains be done. We have also done a lot to ensure the security of passengers —from CCTVs and luggage scanners to more cops on trains and sniffer dogs.
You are partial towards Bihar.
People who say such things don’t understand that Bihar was neglected all these years in terms of central projects. Railway projects that have come up there can be catalysts for development. Or else, the entire state will be in the grip of Naxals. Who will want this? And my support for Bihar is not at the cost of any other state.
There have been other railway ministers before you from Bihar.
I would not like to comment on what they did to help the state. There are records. But the role of Nitish Kumar as chief minister has been very negative. He has been a huge obstructionist and has created problems that have delayed projects. I have to get the Centre to bring in a special law to help railways get around the problems he created in acquisition of land.
Are you going to miss the railways? Will you like to continue in the same ministry after the polls?
Who knows what is going to happen? I am hopeful of UPA’s return to power, but there is no guarantee I will be in the same department. In any case, I am not hung up on the railways. I will miss the people with whom I worked. I will miss the huge workforce who supported me. But I have the satisfaction that I have proved all my rivals wrong, who dismissed me as a non-performer.
Railway minister Lalu Prasad presented the last budget of his tenure, in an attempt at a bold image makeover from his earlier track record in Bihar, which declined drastically on all parameters under his rule. He has been credited with scripting a turnaround story for the railways, and bringing the giant enterprise back from the brink. Not everyone agrees, though. Many feel he merely built upon what began under his predecessor, the current Bihar chief minister and arch rival Nitish Kumar, and was helped on by a buoyant economy. Others have even accused him of puffing up figures. But all agree that his stint was eventful, which saw many important initiatives.
Lalu discusses his performance in an exclusive conversation with HNN.
What do you count as your most important achievement?
I focused on bringing fares down and improving passenger amenities. But I did not discriminate among passengers. Everyone benefited, not just the poor. Before I took over, the practice was to flog upper-class passengers. I stopped that. After all, they are also citizens like you and me. So, while they were not punished for not being rich, poor got huge relief. I launched air-conditioned Garib Raths for them, affording them the luxury that they could only dream of.
I have the satisfaction of proving my detractors wrong. ‘Log mujhe gali dete the... ab kahan hain sab? Sabko chup kara diya maine apne kaam se’. You mentioned that passenger amenities were also your priority. But there is a huge clamour against the sharp decline in the quality of food served to passengers.
I don’t deny that, though the problem is broadly in the northern part. What has happened is that P Chidambaram as finance minister imposed service tax on railway caterers. And since we would not allow them to increase prices, contractors could make profit only at the cost of quality and quantity. Some of them even withdrew from the business. But now I have suggested a cut on frills like ‘soup/woup’ and to ensure there is no compromise on the essentials. ‘Sada do lekin solid ho’, that is the instruction.
What about hygiene, the lack of which is a major deterrent to many who would like to travel by rail?
Yes, that is a problem. I will not deny that. But passengers are also to be blamed. We took steps to improve the situation, but a lot remains be done. We have also done a lot to ensure the security of passengers —from CCTVs and luggage scanners to more cops on trains and sniffer dogs.
You are partial towards Bihar.
People who say such things don’t understand that Bihar was neglected all these years in terms of central projects. Railway projects that have come up there can be catalysts for development. Or else, the entire state will be in the grip of Naxals. Who will want this? And my support for Bihar is not at the cost of any other state.
There have been other railway ministers before you from Bihar.
I would not like to comment on what they did to help the state. There are records. But the role of Nitish Kumar as chief minister has been very negative. He has been a huge obstructionist and has created problems that have delayed projects. I have to get the Centre to bring in a special law to help railways get around the problems he created in acquisition of land.
Are you going to miss the railways? Will you like to continue in the same ministry after the polls?
Who knows what is going to happen? I am hopeful of UPA’s return to power, but there is no guarantee I will be in the same department. In any case, I am not hung up on the railways. I will miss the people with whom I worked. I will miss the huge workforce who supported me. But I have the satisfaction that I have proved all my rivals wrong, who dismissed me as a non-performer.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Modi Overkill: Polarisation Will Work Against BJP In Bihar
ANALYSIS Will the Modi overkill prove counterproductive for the BJP in Bihar? The mood on the ground offers a hint of that. It appears that the Muslim votes are getting sharply polarised against him while Hindu votes have not consolidated enough in his favour to give his party a resounding victory in the battleground state.
Let's begin at beginning. The BJP's campaign in the state has been all about Modi. The party's prime ministerial candidate has visited the state six times ever since the general elections were announced. While canvassing for party candidates he has made himself the sole talking point, reducing the candidates to irrelevance in the process.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
'Many Animals Demand Fodder Security Bill In Bihar'
With the ruling BJP-JD (U) alliance headed for a break-up, animals in Bihar fear RJD’s return to power and a return of the Fodder Scam – which saw billions of rupees meant for animal welfare being siphoned off by corrupt babus and netas, forcing Lalu Yadav to resign as the Chief Minister of Bihar.
Fearing repeat of such scenario, the animals, led by buffaloes, have demanded “Fodder Security Bill” to be passed in Bihar before the current government goes and Lalu Yadav returns to run away with their food.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
INTERVIEW: ‘Didn’t discriminate among classes’
By M H Ahssan & Kajol Singh
Railway minister Lalu Prasad presented the last budget of his tenure, in an attempt at a bold image makeover from his earlier track record in Bihar, which declined drastically on all parameters under his rule. He has been credited with scripting a turnaround story for the railways, and bringing the giant enterprise back from the brink. Not everyone agrees, though. Many feel he merely built upon what began under his predecessor, the current Bihar chief minister and arch rival Nitish Kumar, and was helped on by a buoyant economy. Others have even accused him of puffing up figures. But all agree that his stint was eventful, which saw many important initiatives.
Lalu discusses his performance in an exclusive conversation with HNN.
What do you count as your most important achievement?
I focused on bringing fares down and improving passenger amenities. But I did not discriminate among passengers. Everyone benefited, not just the poor. Before I took over, the practice was to flog upper-class passengers. I stopped that. After all, they are also citizens like you and me. So, while they were not punished for not being rich, poor got huge relief. I launched air-conditioned Garib Raths for them, affording them the luxury that they could only dream of.
I have the satisfaction of proving my detractors wrong. ‘Log mujhe gali dete the... ab kahan hain sab? Sabko chup kara diya maine apne kaam se’. You mentioned that passenger amenities were also your priority. But there is a huge clamour against the sharp decline in the quality of food served to passengers.
I don’t deny that, though the problem is broadly in the northern part. What has happened is that P Chidambaram as finance minister imposed service tax on railway caterers. And since we would not allow them to increase prices, contractors could make profit only at the cost of quality and quantity. Some of them even withdrew from the business. But now I have suggested a cut on frills like ‘soup/woup’ and to ensure there is no compromise on the essentials. ‘Sada do lekin solid ho’, that is the instruction.
What about hygiene, the lack of which is a major deterrent to many who would like to travel by rail?
Yes, that is a problem. I will not deny that. But passengers are also to be blamed. We took steps to improve the situation, but a lot remains be done. We have also done a lot to ensure the security of passengers —from CCTVs and luggage scanners to more cops on trains and sniffer dogs.
You are partial towards Bihar.
People who say such things don’t understand that Bihar was neglected all these years in terms of central projects. Railway projects that have come up there can be catalysts for development. Or else, the entire state will be in the grip of Naxals. Who will want this? And my support for Bihar is not at the cost of any other state.
There have been other railway ministers before you from Bihar.
I would not like to comment on what they did to help the state. There are records. But the role of Nitish Kumar as chief minister has been very negative. He has been a huge obstructionist and has created problems that have delayed projects. I have to get the Centre to bring in a special law to help railways get around the problems he created in acquisition of land.
Are you going to miss the railways? Will you like to continue in the same ministry after the polls?
Who knows what is going to happen? I am hopeful of UPA’s return to power, but there is no guarantee I will be in the same department. In any case, I am not hung up on the railways. I will miss the people with whom I worked. I will miss the huge workforce who supported me. But I have the satisfaction that I have proved all my rivals wrong, who dismissed me as a non-performer.
Railway minister Lalu Prasad presented the last budget of his tenure, in an attempt at a bold image makeover from his earlier track record in Bihar, which declined drastically on all parameters under his rule. He has been credited with scripting a turnaround story for the railways, and bringing the giant enterprise back from the brink. Not everyone agrees, though. Many feel he merely built upon what began under his predecessor, the current Bihar chief minister and arch rival Nitish Kumar, and was helped on by a buoyant economy. Others have even accused him of puffing up figures. But all agree that his stint was eventful, which saw many important initiatives.
Lalu discusses his performance in an exclusive conversation with HNN.
What do you count as your most important achievement?
I focused on bringing fares down and improving passenger amenities. But I did not discriminate among passengers. Everyone benefited, not just the poor. Before I took over, the practice was to flog upper-class passengers. I stopped that. After all, they are also citizens like you and me. So, while they were not punished for not being rich, poor got huge relief. I launched air-conditioned Garib Raths for them, affording them the luxury that they could only dream of.
I have the satisfaction of proving my detractors wrong. ‘Log mujhe gali dete the... ab kahan hain sab? Sabko chup kara diya maine apne kaam se’. You mentioned that passenger amenities were also your priority. But there is a huge clamour against the sharp decline in the quality of food served to passengers.
I don’t deny that, though the problem is broadly in the northern part. What has happened is that P Chidambaram as finance minister imposed service tax on railway caterers. And since we would not allow them to increase prices, contractors could make profit only at the cost of quality and quantity. Some of them even withdrew from the business. But now I have suggested a cut on frills like ‘soup/woup’ and to ensure there is no compromise on the essentials. ‘Sada do lekin solid ho’, that is the instruction.
What about hygiene, the lack of which is a major deterrent to many who would like to travel by rail?
Yes, that is a problem. I will not deny that. But passengers are also to be blamed. We took steps to improve the situation, but a lot remains be done. We have also done a lot to ensure the security of passengers —from CCTVs and luggage scanners to more cops on trains and sniffer dogs.
You are partial towards Bihar.
People who say such things don’t understand that Bihar was neglected all these years in terms of central projects. Railway projects that have come up there can be catalysts for development. Or else, the entire state will be in the grip of Naxals. Who will want this? And my support for Bihar is not at the cost of any other state.
There have been other railway ministers before you from Bihar.
I would not like to comment on what they did to help the state. There are records. But the role of Nitish Kumar as chief minister has been very negative. He has been a huge obstructionist and has created problems that have delayed projects. I have to get the Centre to bring in a special law to help railways get around the problems he created in acquisition of land.
Are you going to miss the railways? Will you like to continue in the same ministry after the polls?
Who knows what is going to happen? I am hopeful of UPA’s return to power, but there is no guarantee I will be in the same department. In any case, I am not hung up on the railways. I will miss the people with whom I worked. I will miss the huge workforce who supported me. But I have the satisfaction that I have proved all my rivals wrong, who dismissed me as a non-performer.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Animals Strongly Demands 'Fodder Security Bill' In Parliament Upon Lalu Yadav Returns To Power In Bihar
SATIRE RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav came out on bail and With the ruling BJP-JD (U) alliance headed for a break-up, animals in Bihar fear RJD’s return to power and a return of the Fodder Scam – which saw billions of rupees meant for animal welfare being siphoned off by corrupt babus and netas, forcing Lalu Yadav to resign as the Chief Minister of Bihar.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
When Will Secularism Prevail Over Communal Instinct?
Occurrence of riots at regular interval reminds us that the thread of secularism has weakened and the call for a pledge to strengthen the foundation and the essence of secularism was expected and desired on the Independence Day from our Prime Minister while addressing the nation from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort. We have celebrated Independence Day amidst communal tension at various places in the country. Decades down the line, we became Independent but surely have not grown mature enough to feel and keep up the spirit of Unity in Diversity, which is the basic component of democracy and secularism.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Forensic Report: Bihar Food Had 'Heavy Poison' Of Pesticide
By M H Ahssan / INN Bureau
Were the young victims in Chapra, Bihar, really poisoned as the state government claims? The state education minister PK Shahi was slammed for his comments in a media conference, when he insisted that the children had been deliberately poisoned and hinted at a political conspiracy. However the forensic examination of the food that was given to the children suggests that his theory may not be that far fetched after all.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Janata Parivar Unites For Modi, Will They Sustain Enough?
Since the other parties are represented in several states, the SP, which has fared poorly in states other than UP, gets a chance to claim in its campaign in UP from now afterwards that its model of ‘samajwad’ is all set to conquer new states.
The five parties merging into Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party are Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular). Mulayam will be the president of the new political front.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Severe Health Alert: Bird Flu Scare For Chicken Capital
Delhi and NCR on watch after major outbreak in Chhattisgarh and Bihar known as bird flu, in Chhattisgarh and Bihar. The central government has informed all states, including Delhi, to conduct regular surveillance of poultry farms after outbreaks of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, in Chhattisgarh and Bihar.
Considering the outbreak of the avian influenza H5N1 virus in the two states, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries has recently informed the National Disaster Management Authority ( NDMA), Union health ministry, Union home ministry and all the states to carry out regular checks to enable early detection of any possible spread of the virus.
Friday, May 17, 2013
AN IMPACT OF 'LALU SYNDROME' IN INDIAN POLITICS
During his heydays in the 1990s and the early 2000s, Lalu Prasad Yadav never organised political rallies.
He organised Railas. These were very big political rallies held at the Gandhi maidan in Patna. And they were deemed to be so big by Lalu that the feminine sounding word ‘rally’ proved inadequate to describe them.
Hence a new word Raila was coined. But time passed and the world went around, and in the end the old adage ‘you can’t fool all the people all the time’, came true in case of Lalu as well.
Monday, September 21, 2015
The Great Indian Politics: 'Politics Of Puja, Puja Of Politics'
Durga pandals appear all set to play a big role in Bihar elections. When Indira Gandhi helped to liberate Bangladesh, she was hailed in India as the warrior goddess Durga, and images of the deity in puja pandals in what was then Calcutta bore a striking resemblance to the Congress leader, emblematic silver streak in the hair and all.
Once again what might be called the politics of puja or should that be the puja of politics? is all set to stage a comeback in pollbound Bihar where the assembly elections are widely expected to have national repercussions. The high drama of Battleground Bihar will be heightened as the five-phase elections will coincide roughly with Durga puja season.
Friday, February 08, 2013
3 Cops To Protect A VIP, Just A Cop For 761 Citizens
In today’s day and age, when terrorism of various hues is a real threat, VIP security needs cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. Yet, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that there is far too much of it in India, much of it driven by the aspiration for the ‘status’ that having armed bodyguards confers on people.
Governments at the state and centre need to take a hard look at just how much of the resources now devoted to VIP security are actually needed. It should not have needed a prod from the apex court for them to do so. After all, it is their duty to ensure the optimum use of the resources provided by taxpayer money. Need, not desire, must dictate who gets a security cover and how much of it.
India’s police personnel to population ratio is 1: 761, but there are as many as 47,557 cops protecting 14,842 VIPs across the country or three police personnel to one protectee even as rising crime poses a serious threat to the security of the common citizen.
Excessive deployment of police persons to secure VIPs is not just a Delhi’s phenomena where the country’s who’s who lives as the VIP security is highest in Punjab followed by Delhi and Assam. In fact, hardly any state is immune from the red and blue beacon syndrome.
Government’s figures show the 14,842 VIPs enjoying state protection are also drawing more than what they are entitled to by way of police escorts — 15,081 personnel in excess of what has been actually sanctioned for their security.
The figures, released by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) of the ministry of home affairs, show a staggering deployment of police personnel for security duties rather than basic tasks like making the nation’s streets safer. It is hardly surprising that police forces remain overworked and understaffed.
The data, as on January 1, 2012, presents a grim scenario with some states like West Bengal having one cop for 1,658 citizens. Delhi is slightly better with one cop for 253 people but it is no surprise that the efficiency of the city police is impacted with a dozen police personnel guarding each of 427 VIPs – adding up to around 5,000 cops.
In fact, states like Bihar have a far more lop-sided ratio (1,456), followed by UP (1,173), Dadra & Nagar Haveli (1,046) and MP (962).
Although the number of protected persons dipped last year as compared to 2010, deployment for VIP security is still quite high as compared to the sanctioned strength for this purpose as are the number of VIP protectees.
Although the number of protected persons dipped last year as compared to 2010, deployment for VIP security is still quite high as compared to the sanctioned strength for this purpose as are the number of VIP protectees.
VERY PROTECTED PERSONSIn 2011, 47,557 cops protected 14,842 VIPs — 15,081 more cops than the sanctioned number
In capital, there are 8,049 cops for VIP security, just 3,448 for crime prevention/ investigation, Delhi Police tells SC
States with max cops on VIP security:
Punjab 5,811, Assam 4,278, Andhra Pradesh 3,995, Bihar 3,664, UP 3,087
States with max people given protection:
Bihar 3,033, Punjab 1,798, Bengal 1,698, UP 1,345, Assam 1,048
States with worst ratio of cops to citizens:
Bengal 1 for 1,658, Bihar 1,456, UP 1,173, MP 962 & Andhra Pradesh 953
3 cops for 1 VIP in India 1 cop for 761 citizens 3,664 AP policemen engaged in VIP security: In 2011, as many as 3,030 people were given police security in Bihar, followed by Punjab (1,798) and West Bengal (1,698).
The data, comprising figures for 2011 and 2010, reveal how different states and Union Territories tend to deploy more and more cops for VIP security than the sanctioned strength of police personnel for this purpose, faced with an increasing clamour for a security detail that is seen as a status symbol. Though the Union home ministry had in the last two years pruned the central list of VIP protectees, including ministers and bureaucrats, by constantly reviewing the ‘real’ threat perception, states do not seem to respond accordingly despite facing a huge shortage of police personnel.
In 2010, all the states and UTs together deployed 50,059 police personnel for protecting 16,788 VIPs, including ministers, MPs, MLAs, bureaucrats and judges. Interestingly, deployment of police personnel for these VIPs during the year was 21,761 more than what was actually sanctioned for their security. The data, presented to the home ministry by the BPR&D, also shows that Punjab, which reports a vacancy of around 12,000 police personnel, topped the list sparing 5,811 cops to secure VIPs followed by Delhi (5,183), Assam (4,278) and Andhra Pradesh (3,664) despite facing shortage.
Though these figures slightly vary for Delhi as it has to deploy more whenever VIPs of other states or foreign dignitaries have to visit the national Capital, the BPR&D has taken into account the deployment figure of six months while arriving at the final data.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
INCREDIBLE LEADER - Babu JagJivan Ram
By M H Ahssan
Jagjivan Ram was one of the trusted leaders of the scheduled caster of the pre-independence era. Jagjivan Ram (5 April 1908 - 6 July 1986), known popularly as Babuji was a freedom fighter and a social reformer hailing from the backward classes of Bihar in India. He served as a minister in the Indian parliament with various portfolios for more than forty years, and also served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India.He is also well known for "forgeting" to pay his taxes for 14 years.
Early life
Jagjivan Ram was born at Chandwa near Arrah in Bihar. Jagjivan Ram passed his matriculation in the first division and joined the Banaras Hindu University where he was awarded the Birla scholarship. He received a B.Sc. degree from the University of Calcutta in 1931. When popular rule was introduced in 1935, both the nationalists and the British loyalists sought him because of his first-hand knowledge of the social and economic situation in Bihar. He chose to go with the nationalists, and was elected to the Bihar assembly in 1937. However, he resigned his membership on the issue of irrigation cess. In 1935, he contributed to the establishment of the All-India Depressed Classes League, an organization dedicated to attaining equality for untouchables. He was also drawn into the Indian National Congress, and in the early 1940s was imprisoned twice for his active participation in the Satyagraha and the Quit India Movements.
Parliamentary career
In 1946 he became the youngest minister in Jawaharlal Nehru's provisional government and, as a Labour minister, he was a part of the prestigious high profile Indian delegation that attended the International conference on labour on 16 August 1947 in Geneva along with the great Gandhian Bihar Bibhuti Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha;[1] his chief political mentor and also the then head of the delegation. He served as Labour minister until 1952. Later he also held the posts of minister for Communications (1952–56), for Transport and railways (1956–62), and for Transport and communications (1962–63).
In Indira Gandhi's government he worked as minister for Labour, employment, and rehabilitation (1966–67), minister for Food and agriculture (1967–70). When the Congress Party split in 1969, Jagjivan Ram joined the camp led by Indira Gandhi, and became the president of that faction of Congress. He worked as the minister of Defence (1970-74) making him the virtual No. 2 in the cabinet, minister for Agriculture and irrigation (1974-77). It was during his tenure as the minister of Defence that the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was fought, and Bangladesh achieved independence. While loyal to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for most of the Indian Emergency, in 1977 he along with five other politicians resigned from the Cabinet and formed the Congress for Democracy party, within the Janata coalition.
A few days before the elections, on a Sunday, Jagjivan Ram addressed an Opposition rally at the famous Ram Lila Grounds in Delhi. The national broadcaster Doordarshan allegedly attempted to stop crowds from participating in the demonstration by telecasting the blockbuster movie Bobby. The rally still drew large crowds, and a newspaper headline the next day ran "Babu beats Bobby" . He was the Deputy Prime Minister of India when Morarji Desai was the Prime Minister, from 1977 to 1979. However, he was once again given the defence portfolio. Disillusioned with the Janata party he formed his own party, the Congress (J). He remained a member of Parliament till his death in 1986, after over forty years as a parliamentarian. His uninterrupted representation in the Parliament from 1936 to 1986 was a world record, until Tony Benn overtook him by serving 51 years (1950-2001) in the British parliament.
Scouting
He served as President of the Bharat Scouts and Guides from September 1976 to April 1983.
Legacy
The place he was cremated has been turned into the memorial Samata Sthal, and his birth anniversary is observed as Samata Diwas. His daughter, Meira Kumar, is a prominent INC leader and is the Minister for Social Justice in the Manmohan Singh government.
Recently, prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has said that Babu Jagjivan Ram's legacy of struggle and service to the nation will continue to inspire us for generations to come. Speaking at the Babu Jagjivan Ram Centenary Seminar on Agriculture Revolutions, Inclusive Growth and State Policies, here today, the Prime Minister said that his life of intense struggle, great service and sacrifice will continue to guide all those who suffer deprivation and discrimination. He also said Babuji's lasting message of social equality is of critical significance for our times marked by impressive progress in the economic field. By combining his social vision with our approach to nation building, we can make our growth processes more inclusive as they must be if they are to meet the aspirations of our people, he added.
“It is indeed an honour for me to be here in your midst today and participate in a seminar associated with the birth centenary celebrations of a great national leader the Late Babu Jagjivan Ram. It is all the more relevant that the theme of the seminar being organized today is on agriculture – a sector which is heavily indebted to Babuji for his immense contributions and which is a matter of renewed concern and renewed attention today. It is appropriate that as we commemorate Babuji's centenary, we also remember his contributions across the entire breadth of our economy and polity and Indian society.
Babuji would have been a hundred years old now. Even though he is not with us in physical form, his legacy of struggle and service to the nation continue to inspire us and will continue to inspire for generations to come. A product of our freedom struggle, he was deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi. He continued to cherish the values of our independence movement even as he achieved remarkable success in our politics and in our public life. Coming from an extremely deprived background from a region known for its caste consciousness, he showed tremendous determination, tenacity and the will to succeed. His spectacular achievements testify to his merit, hard struggle and exceptional courage. Inspite of the social exclusion he suffered, he demonstrated an iron will in fighting against injustice of all kinds.
Rendering service to those who were on the margins of society remained central to his life and his work. He became one of the key personalities of our freedom movement around whom people gathered to serve the cause of social reform and social justice. While striving for social reform and abolition of untouchability, he stressed on both empowerment of Dalits and a change in the heart among others in the social order. It was demonstrative of an approach which Mahatma Gandhi stressed. Babuji described casteism as a dangerous evil and fervently pleaded for a revolutionary change to put an end to this age old malady. His life was a living example of a long struggle for establishing a casteless society in our country.
Apart from being a great agent of social change, Babuji was an administrator par excellence. The many portfolios he handled for three decades as a Minister in the Union Cabinet demonstrate his administrative calibre, efficiency and sound sense of judgement and leadership. Many of our progressive legislations safeguarding the interests of labour are a result of his initiatives as our Labour Minister. He made history as the Defence Minister of our country, providing remarkable leadership to our armed forces in the Bangladesh war in 1971.
It was during his tenure as the Agriculture Minister that the country achieved self-sufficiency in food grain production. It is indeed apt that, today, as we discuss the challenges confronting our agricultural sector, we once again reflect on the leadership provided by Babuji at a time of grave crisis in an earlier era. We need to understand the role played by visionary leadership in making a difference to our agricultural sector. I am very happy that our great scientist, Dr. Swaminathan is here with us to provide us guidance and support as we chart out a new course for agricultural renovation and revival. We once again need such vision and such leadership of the type provided by Babu Jagjivan Ram if our agriculture is to meet the requirements of the coming decades.
Babuji's political and administrative skills, combined with his vision for a democratic social order, make him stand tall as a crusader for social equality. It is important for us to follow in his footsteps to address the challenges faced by our society in this 21st century. While celebrating his birth centenary, let us rededicate ourselves to his ideals.
Mahatma Gandhi once referred to Babuji and wrote “My heart goes out in respectful admiration to Jagjivan Ram for his having emerged as the purest gold out of fire”. Such was the regard that Mahatma Gandhi had for Babuji. Babuji, who commanded the respect of Gandhiji, later commanded the respect of the whole nation for his role as a freedom fighter, a great statesman and a fighter for a just social order. His life of intense struggle, great service and sacrifice will continue to guide all those who suffer deprivation and discrimination. His lasting message of social equality is of critical significance for our times marked by impressive progress in the economic field. By combining his social vision with our approach to nation building, we can make our growth processes more inclusive as they must be if they are to meet the aspirations of our people. That will be our real tribute to Babu Jagjivan Ram. I join all of you in paying my homage to this great son of our country and a builder of modern India.”
Also Read: Tribute to Babu Jagjivan Ram
Jagjivan Ram was one of the trusted leaders of the scheduled caster of the pre-independence era. Jagjivan Ram (5 April 1908 - 6 July 1986), known popularly as Babuji was a freedom fighter and a social reformer hailing from the backward classes of Bihar in India. He served as a minister in the Indian parliament with various portfolios for more than forty years, and also served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India.He is also well known for "forgeting" to pay his taxes for 14 years.
Early life
Jagjivan Ram was born at Chandwa near Arrah in Bihar. Jagjivan Ram passed his matriculation in the first division and joined the Banaras Hindu University where he was awarded the Birla scholarship. He received a B.Sc. degree from the University of Calcutta in 1931. When popular rule was introduced in 1935, both the nationalists and the British loyalists sought him because of his first-hand knowledge of the social and economic situation in Bihar. He chose to go with the nationalists, and was elected to the Bihar assembly in 1937. However, he resigned his membership on the issue of irrigation cess. In 1935, he contributed to the establishment of the All-India Depressed Classes League, an organization dedicated to attaining equality for untouchables. He was also drawn into the Indian National Congress, and in the early 1940s was imprisoned twice for his active participation in the Satyagraha and the Quit India Movements.
Parliamentary career
In 1946 he became the youngest minister in Jawaharlal Nehru's provisional government and, as a Labour minister, he was a part of the prestigious high profile Indian delegation that attended the International conference on labour on 16 August 1947 in Geneva along with the great Gandhian Bihar Bibhuti Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha;[1] his chief political mentor and also the then head of the delegation. He served as Labour minister until 1952. Later he also held the posts of minister for Communications (1952–56), for Transport and railways (1956–62), and for Transport and communications (1962–63).
In Indira Gandhi's government he worked as minister for Labour, employment, and rehabilitation (1966–67), minister for Food and agriculture (1967–70). When the Congress Party split in 1969, Jagjivan Ram joined the camp led by Indira Gandhi, and became the president of that faction of Congress. He worked as the minister of Defence (1970-74) making him the virtual No. 2 in the cabinet, minister for Agriculture and irrigation (1974-77). It was during his tenure as the minister of Defence that the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was fought, and Bangladesh achieved independence. While loyal to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for most of the Indian Emergency, in 1977 he along with five other politicians resigned from the Cabinet and formed the Congress for Democracy party, within the Janata coalition.
A few days before the elections, on a Sunday, Jagjivan Ram addressed an Opposition rally at the famous Ram Lila Grounds in Delhi. The national broadcaster Doordarshan allegedly attempted to stop crowds from participating in the demonstration by telecasting the blockbuster movie Bobby. The rally still drew large crowds, and a newspaper headline the next day ran "Babu beats Bobby" . He was the Deputy Prime Minister of India when Morarji Desai was the Prime Minister, from 1977 to 1979. However, he was once again given the defence portfolio. Disillusioned with the Janata party he formed his own party, the Congress (J). He remained a member of Parliament till his death in 1986, after over forty years as a parliamentarian. His uninterrupted representation in the Parliament from 1936 to 1986 was a world record, until Tony Benn overtook him by serving 51 years (1950-2001) in the British parliament.
Scouting
He served as President of the Bharat Scouts and Guides from September 1976 to April 1983.
Legacy
The place he was cremated has been turned into the memorial Samata Sthal, and his birth anniversary is observed as Samata Diwas. His daughter, Meira Kumar, is a prominent INC leader and is the Minister for Social Justice in the Manmohan Singh government.
Recently, prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has said that Babu Jagjivan Ram's legacy of struggle and service to the nation will continue to inspire us for generations to come. Speaking at the Babu Jagjivan Ram Centenary Seminar on Agriculture Revolutions, Inclusive Growth and State Policies, here today, the Prime Minister said that his life of intense struggle, great service and sacrifice will continue to guide all those who suffer deprivation and discrimination. He also said Babuji's lasting message of social equality is of critical significance for our times marked by impressive progress in the economic field. By combining his social vision with our approach to nation building, we can make our growth processes more inclusive as they must be if they are to meet the aspirations of our people, he added.
“It is indeed an honour for me to be here in your midst today and participate in a seminar associated with the birth centenary celebrations of a great national leader the Late Babu Jagjivan Ram. It is all the more relevant that the theme of the seminar being organized today is on agriculture – a sector which is heavily indebted to Babuji for his immense contributions and which is a matter of renewed concern and renewed attention today. It is appropriate that as we commemorate Babuji's centenary, we also remember his contributions across the entire breadth of our economy and polity and Indian society.
Babuji would have been a hundred years old now. Even though he is not with us in physical form, his legacy of struggle and service to the nation continue to inspire us and will continue to inspire for generations to come. A product of our freedom struggle, he was deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi. He continued to cherish the values of our independence movement even as he achieved remarkable success in our politics and in our public life. Coming from an extremely deprived background from a region known for its caste consciousness, he showed tremendous determination, tenacity and the will to succeed. His spectacular achievements testify to his merit, hard struggle and exceptional courage. Inspite of the social exclusion he suffered, he demonstrated an iron will in fighting against injustice of all kinds.
Rendering service to those who were on the margins of society remained central to his life and his work. He became one of the key personalities of our freedom movement around whom people gathered to serve the cause of social reform and social justice. While striving for social reform and abolition of untouchability, he stressed on both empowerment of Dalits and a change in the heart among others in the social order. It was demonstrative of an approach which Mahatma Gandhi stressed. Babuji described casteism as a dangerous evil and fervently pleaded for a revolutionary change to put an end to this age old malady. His life was a living example of a long struggle for establishing a casteless society in our country.
Apart from being a great agent of social change, Babuji was an administrator par excellence. The many portfolios he handled for three decades as a Minister in the Union Cabinet demonstrate his administrative calibre, efficiency and sound sense of judgement and leadership. Many of our progressive legislations safeguarding the interests of labour are a result of his initiatives as our Labour Minister. He made history as the Defence Minister of our country, providing remarkable leadership to our armed forces in the Bangladesh war in 1971.
It was during his tenure as the Agriculture Minister that the country achieved self-sufficiency in food grain production. It is indeed apt that, today, as we discuss the challenges confronting our agricultural sector, we once again reflect on the leadership provided by Babuji at a time of grave crisis in an earlier era. We need to understand the role played by visionary leadership in making a difference to our agricultural sector. I am very happy that our great scientist, Dr. Swaminathan is here with us to provide us guidance and support as we chart out a new course for agricultural renovation and revival. We once again need such vision and such leadership of the type provided by Babu Jagjivan Ram if our agriculture is to meet the requirements of the coming decades.
Babuji's political and administrative skills, combined with his vision for a democratic social order, make him stand tall as a crusader for social equality. It is important for us to follow in his footsteps to address the challenges faced by our society in this 21st century. While celebrating his birth centenary, let us rededicate ourselves to his ideals.
Mahatma Gandhi once referred to Babuji and wrote “My heart goes out in respectful admiration to Jagjivan Ram for his having emerged as the purest gold out of fire”. Such was the regard that Mahatma Gandhi had for Babuji. Babuji, who commanded the respect of Gandhiji, later commanded the respect of the whole nation for his role as a freedom fighter, a great statesman and a fighter for a just social order. His life of intense struggle, great service and sacrifice will continue to guide all those who suffer deprivation and discrimination. His lasting message of social equality is of critical significance for our times marked by impressive progress in the economic field. By combining his social vision with our approach to nation building, we can make our growth processes more inclusive as they must be if they are to meet the aspirations of our people. That will be our real tribute to Babu Jagjivan Ram. I join all of you in paying my homage to this great son of our country and a builder of modern India.”
Also Read: Tribute to Babu Jagjivan Ram
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