Financial problems have forced Indian Railways to look at restricting subsidy and concessions to the deserving. It is now looking at a solution from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for ensuring accurate identification of the beneficiaries of its low-cost services.
The railways have already held a meeting with UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani. The plan is to link the UIDAI’s database to the ticketing system of railways. “We have already had one meeting with Nilekani. Once this (linking) is done, we will be able to ensure that people who are not beneficiaries of discount services for poor, like the Izzat scheme, are not benefited by low fares,” said a senior official from the railway ministry who did not want to be named. He, however, declined to share details, as the proposal is still at preliminary stages.
The issue of identification in the railway ticketing system assumes importance due to the huge differential in rates. Lower class fares are typically between 12 and 14 times less than the fares in upper class services like AC first class.
The last Railway Fare and Freight Committee, which gave its recommendations as far back as 1993, had advocated a highest-to-lowest passenger fare ratio of 9.6.
Under the Izzat scheme, introduced in 2009-10, uniformly priced Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) worth Rs 25 are issued for a distance up to 100 km to a person whose monthly income does not exceed Rs 1,500. An Izzat MST is issued on production of an income certificate from a district magistrate or an area MP, or after a Union minister or Rajya Sabha MP recommends it to the Divisional Railway Manager.
Though the aim is to provide inexpensive travel option to people working in the unorganised sector, the response has been somewhat subdued, owing to the huge paperwork involved.
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“Differential tariff structure will become very simple and easy once we have these UIDs. This will give the railways some sort of a database linked to the national database. So, when a person from a below poverty line (BPL) identity avails of railway travel, and swipes his card, the tariff structure will be determined through his identity. Today, we are not able to do that because identification of people is an issue,” said another official.
Experts believe that implementing the proposal for linking UIDs to the ticketing system might not be easy. “Conceptually, this is a major intervention. But any pro-poor government must ensure that people who are slightly better economically than the BPL category and are employed in the unorganised sectors must also be benefitted. This will not be easy. Also, avoiding misuse of ID cards for availing of season tickets will be difficult and will require additional spending,” said R Sivadasan, former railway financial commissioner.
The railways provide season tickets to commuters from economically weaker sections, allowing them to commute any number of times in a month while paying for only 15 days travel.