Brains behind Lalu's budget

While Lalu Prasad often walks away with the accolades for turning around the Indian Railways, it is his core team of three "" Railway Board Chairman JP Batra, Railway Board Financial Commissioner R Sivadasan and Officer on Special Duty Sudhir Kumar "" that burns the midnight oil and helps in giving shape to his vision.

Sivadasan, who was the General Manager of South Central zone before he took over the current assignment, plays the significant role of the chief accountant of the Railway Board.

He is the chief architect behind formulating the annual plan of the Indian Railways. He keeps a tab on the market borrowings, internal and extra budgetary resources and also the capital support to the annual plan.

All these transactions help the financial commissioner in revising the size of the annual plan every year.

Sivadasan also advises the railway minister on populist measures (pertaining to new trains or passenger amenities) to be announced in the budget. He cautions about the financial repercussions of any new announcement.

Thus, all announcements are made after thorough discussions between the financial commissioner and the minister.

Batra, who heads the Railway Board, plays a supporting role in the entire exercise. An ex-army captain, Batra was the General Manager of the East Central Zone before he was brought to Rail Bhavan.

The preparation of the railway budget being largely a financial exercise, the financial commissioner and the budget cell of the railway board play the main role.

However, as the administrative head of the board, Batra plays a crucial role of communicating with all the members of the board handling areas like traffic, mechanical, electrical, and engineering. He conducts periodical meetings with all the members and collects important inputs about requirements of various departments.

All these inputs are forwarded to the financial commissioner, who keeps them in mind while preparing the railway budget.

Sudhir Kumar, the officer on special duty (OSD) to the railway minister, has an unconventional role to play in the budget exercise. This is because under Prasad's regime, it is for the first time that a minister's OSD has been involved in the entire process.

Kumar being a product of Delhi School of Economics, was specially brought in by Prasad to help the financial commissioner in improving the fiscal health of Indian Railways.

All the inputs and opinions collected through the Railway Board chairman are compiled by the OSD, who then presents it to the financial commissioner for consideration.

Along with him, the OSD then tries to inculcate these into the budget document as per the guidelines of the ministry. As the official voice of the railway minister, he tries to include the minister's personal views also in the railway budget.

At the same time, he prunes these demands to suit the finance of the ministry. But by and large, his role remains secondary to the financial commissioner.