Rail rudiment

Rail rudiment

Rail development in the Southern-most State of Kerala is abysmally insufficient and  incompatible with the all-round growth elsewhere in the country.

True, Kerala is land-scarce and people are reticent to part with land for development. Still, it is possible to take over land for doubling and other works. But the Union and State Governments should be honestly committed to complete the work.

Usually politicians do not want to pursue a project, if there is a modicum of opposition from the local people. Sabarimala rail line project had cost Parliament membership for those who impishly continued with plans to locate the rails along certain areas. All people in that area turned against them in the hustings. But that is not the case with development projects which offer a bonanza for the people at large.

The assertion of Minister of State for Railways R Velu that there cannot be running of more trains in the State without doubling work is practically all right.

But what are the steps taken by the Union and State Governments for materializing the doubling work? Rail doubling along Kottayam has been namesake. With the developments taking place at a fast pace at Kochi, it is imperative that doubling along Kottayam should be taken up on a war-footing. Doubling a few kilometres of the total stretch is far from sufficient.

The challenge before the authorities is to budget the total amount for completing the entire doubling work at one go. This should be executed within a year. By completing the doubling work, the rail traffic can be quadrupled. Doubling alone is the panacea for all the ills plaguing the State in the matter of rail traffic.

Electrification work also should be taken up simultaneously. It would have been far better if the authorities planned the electrification work also along with doubling work.

My point is that doubling work should be taken up in its entirety and not in piecemeal. This requires bold decision on the part of the authorities.

Think of the qualitative change in passenger and goods traffic along the whole stretch from all other directions towards Thiruvananthapuram and back. It is true that because of the passenger density, people along majority of the stations demand a stop for the long-distance train. If double lines are available, no harm would come about even if there are many stops.

Kerala is not like other States in the matter of dispersal of population. In other Southern States, one can see a conglomeration of dwelling places in another village after travelling ,say ,100 kms. With regard to dispersal of dwelling places being closely packed, the entire Kerala looks like one town.

It is, therefore, the bounden duty of the Union and State Governments to make plans taking this point into consideration. But in the Rail Bhavan in Delhi and headquarters of Southern Railway in Chennai, the response is lukewarm to the peculiarity of the geographic and demographic paradigms.

If there is a will, doubling of the entire stretch at one go can be executed without delay. The State government should provide all help to acquire the land, if there is need for it. But not much acquisition may be needed as railways have already more land at its disposal all along the lines.

The geometric proportion of the benefits accruing from doubling at one go would augur well for the all-round development of the State.

What is wrong with

What is wrong with
tetrapack Onam?

All Malayalis, whether they are living in Kerala, in other States or are abroad, enjoy Onam times. It is a universal festival for Malayalis. It  reminds us of the harvest festival of yore, even though there is not much of harvest in Kerala now-a-days.

Communists would cut down any plantation  other than paddy in converted paddy fields. They want the farmers to cultivate paddy where there cannot be sustainable paddy cultivation. They want the farmers who hold title to these fields to allow it to remain fallow.

Plantains, coconut trees or other cultivations which offer potential yield should not be grown. At the same time, they turn a Nelson’s eye on filling of paddy fields everywhere. They are concerned only when there is some personal interest. Personal interests are taken up as party interests. Things are bad for the real farmers.

We may be bringing rice, bananas, vegetables, milk from outside the State. But we do not fail or faulter in the matter of celebrating Onam. A rightful King has been sent to the Hades by a usurper God. The good deeds of the King did not augur well for an Asura. Therefore, the Asura King had been damned. We don’t mind putting good people into the nether world.

What was peculiar about this Onam? Is everything okay after we have sent P J Joseph to the abyss of damnation? Those who have not sinned, let them throw the first stone against Joseph. It is good he has stepped down. He may not have been able to defend himself quite well, being a Minister. But outside the Minister’s world, everything has to be done to do justice. It has to be examined whether the woman was over-reacting.

I have seen it with my own eyes a woman over-reacting in a running bus. She abused a man standing behind her. The man was not a Minister. Therefore,  he could give a little bit of his mind to the woman. Those standing around were also convinced that the woman was hysterical for no reason.

Joseph is one person who cannot react like the man I pointed out. No man will do like what Joseph is alleged to have done, unless there is some provocation. If it is true that she was working earlier in a channel, she would definitely have identified Joseph as a Minister. No person who has worked in the media for a few days can fail to identify a Minister. All dimensions have to be scrutinised in detail. Passengers have not seen Joseph doing anything untoward. It was the hysterical outburst of the woman which had caught the attention of others. The opinion was made on the basis of the histrionics value of the woman.

Anyway, we have damned Joseph without causing a full-fledged inquiry.
Joseph is no more a Minister. Now he has to be afforded an opportunity to prove his point.  

I believe there is more to it than meets the eye about the Joseph episode.

We all celebrate Onam even if we don’t have the environs of yore. We get everything as neatly packed commodity for celebration. There is no harm in it, even if everything is artificial. There would be memories.

No haste but take su

No haste, but take sure steps
to  reach liberalism

There is no need to jump over the fence to bring in a quickie liberalism. That will only flop. But take cock-sure steps to herald  full liberalism as soon as the economy can hold it.

India is no banana republic where there can be all sorts of experiments, some of which may boomerang on the people.

I am referring to the Tarapore Committee report on fuller capital account convertibility.

Some enthusiasts are worried that the committee was reticent on bringing in fuller rupee convertibility at one go.

But economy watchers should agree with the committee’s recommendations under which full convertibility can be achieved by 2011. Mind you, that is way ahead of the deadline put by World Trade Organisation for zero duty on imports to be achieved in 2014.

Putting two and two together, it can be surmised that many of the Tarapore committee’s suggestions are cogent.

There can be to and fro transfer of money way ahead of the 2011 deadline for fuller capital account convertibility.

Outward remittances by individuals would have a ceiling of $ 50,000 a year by March 2007, $ one lakh by 2008-2009 and $ two lakh by 2010-2011.

NRIs can buy foreign shares. In addition, mutual funds can invest abroad up to $ 3 billion this year. This would be capped at $ 5 billion by 2011.

However, there is a dampener. The NRIs cannot directly invest in companies listed on foreign stock exchanges.

This might be altered when the review committee evaluates the situation at every milestone proposed by the Tarapore Committee.

There is a roadmap for the economic liberalisation being carried out, culminating in  free market economy by 2011. Everything is being done in a graded manner.

The first phase reforms are meant for 2006-2007. The second phase will start in 2007-2008 and end in 2008-2009. The final phase will take off in 2009-2010. The measures would square off in 2011.

Foreign Institutional Investors have to funnel funds in a more transparent manner. The concept of participatory notes, which does not require revelation of the indentity of the foreign investor, is being wiped out. The FIIs may not like it, but funding would be in an open manner.

They can invest in Indian stock markets. But it should be through SEBI-registered entities. The investments should be through bank accounts in India. This would take care of the stock market foul plays by unidentifiable foreign investors.

By the time we go in for total convertibility, the economy should be so potent to take care of the poor and the marginalised. There should be workable social security schemes for the unemployed as well as the unemployable.

No section of the people should feel that they are ignored. At the same time, it has to be taken for granted that there would be no going back. Open economies offer unbelievable scope for growth, if we look at it perceptively.

The spurt in prices of natural rubber, cash crops, export-oriented items has resulted in only because of the globalised market. The growers get comfortable prices only because of the open economies. When there is short-fall in wheat stock, it has been allowed to be imported duty-free. This is the way it should be done.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Partition policy boomerangs on U K

The United Kingdom may be ruing the day when it decided to go in for partition of British India into two countries. Mahatma Gandhi was totally against the division of the country. He tried every means to avert the tragedy of the people of one country being kept apart.

What was the price paid by the people during partition? Millions were killed on both sides of the border. The border itself was unclear. The Princely States, which showed one-upmanship, also had to pay a heavy price.

Kashmir problem was the child of partition. The Britishers thought that keeping India as one entity would act like having a continental power one day. Splitting the would-be powerful was the ad hoc solution they found.

India has been living with the tragedy ever since. Decades before America and Britain witnessed anything like terrorism, India had been the victim of foul play.

Britain did like that and left it to India to struggle with it. During the cold war era, Afghanistan’s Taliban was armed to the hilt. The former Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan. The Taliban had to use the weapons somewhere. All the Islamist terrorists group together one way or another when they face a common enemy. Civilised world is anathema to them. Pakistan has been used to aid and abet the Western world’s ploys. They are reaping the whirlwind.

Now the greatest threat, it appears, is not from Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan, but from British citizens who are from Pakistan or whose parents were from Pakistan.

The brainwashing occurs in Pakistan when they make a visit to their ancestral place in Pakistan. A phrase has come up in Britain, “Kashmir on Thames”.

Radicalised British Pakistanis develop a nexus with al Qaeda and Kashmir and they prove to be the greatest threat to the U S.

Now a section of the Americans are blaming the British for rearing a Kashmir on Thames. Violent extremism is fomented by these Islamic fundamentalists.

They got nurtured in Britain which considers itself the cradle of civilisation and democratic polity. That is all good. But extremists utilised the situation to the maximum extent.

The result is that America’s closest ally is becoming the greatest threat for the Americans by way of the fundamentalists getting a haven in the U K.

Al Qaeda  got reorganised in Pakistan after U S troops deposed Taliban regime in Afghanistan. They were quick to bank on the ethnic Pakistanis settled in the U K. They speak good English and can travel on British passports.

Mind you, British passport holders are allowed visa-free entry into the US.
There is an argument that the visa-waiver scheme should be scrapped. British citizens like these are as strong a threat as any other countrymen.

The terrorism has its roots straight from the Talibans fighting the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda was fighting along with Taliban and Lashkar-e-toyiba, according to the findings of the group in America.

It is a case of the Empire striking back. The world is an uncomfortable place with all these Islamist terrorists let loose everywhere.