Aditi Phadnis: So whose Railway Budget was it?

In his meeting with Railway Board officials during the time the railway minister was spending quality time electioneering in Bihar, the prime minister had expressed concern at the lack of investment and revenue generation by the railways.

He had also mooted the idea of using railway land more optimally. The idea of leveraging railway land for shopping malls and entertainment plazas is not Lalu Prasad's idea.

It comes from the Prime Minister's Office. (When the railway minister read out his plans, veteran trade union Congressman from Andhra Pradesh, G Venkatswamy shook his head and gave a little nudge to his colleague from Orissa, Giridhar Gamang, who rolled his eyes heavenwards).

In fact it has been said that it was really pressure from the PMO that made the railway board come out with the Rs 24,000 crore railway modernisation plan.

The plan itself was the compilation of all previously mooted plans for modernisation into one big project. The prime minister appeared keen on the superfast express trains, two of which have been announced in this Budget.

However, the Budget has other suggestions that are pure Lalu Prasad. Although there is no particular nurturing of any one constituency "" Chhapra to the limited extent of a budgetary allocation for a wheel plant "" the absence of a passenger fare hike got it the tag of a populist, please-all Budget.

It promised concessions to unemployed youth appearing for interviews in government jobs, especially rural students, girl students, farmers and milk producers, which drew excited comment from the lobbies about the new heights to which the Yadav community had been elevated.

Lalu reduced the freight rate on kerosene and LPG but changed the classification of commodities that Left parties opposed because they said the move would have the effect of raising prices across the board.

The Left also said they were grateful the prices of freight had been left untouched, because this was one area that is facing competition from roads.

However, the Left parties said more innovative measures were needed to handle freight: Railways are unable to meet the demand of industry and more then 10,000 indents are pending with South Eastern Railways because the railways are unable to provide rakes to carry raw material.

The steel industry which has expanded in the last three or four years is facing an acute crisis. This railway Budget therefore, saw, surprisingly, the Left speaking up on behalf of industry.

But, CPI M leader Basudeb Acharia said, "We told Lalu Prasad not to burden the common man by increasing passenger fares. We are glad he has heeded our advice".

Surprisingly Bihar did not come for the kind of railway largesse that railway ministers are associated with doling out to their own states. But for two trains between Bihar and West Bengal (Muzaffarpur-Howrah and Bhagalpur-Malda), no new trains have been announced for Bihar.

Half-a-dozen surveys out of 20 new surveys since his last Budget have been in Bihar. Only one survey for new lines out of 10 is for Bihar (Gaya-Daltonganj). The state will have three out of a dozen concrete sleeper manufacturing plants.

So for his state, Lalu's priority has not been to provide better railway linkage but to leverage the possibility of employment in the largest government employer in the Indian economy.

It is as part of this policy that the Budget announces reservations in its catering policy (25 per cent in the small catering unit in "A", "B" and "C" category stations) and 49.5 per cent in all other categories) for SC, ST, OBC, minorities, war widows and other weaker sections of society.

Bookstalls that Lalu had mentioned in his last Budget as being big business, are also the recipients of 25 per cent reservations for the weaker sections.

Every railway station in India that has a bookstall, will now have potential Lalu voters. Another big employment net is the Group "D" jobs in railways.

In this Budget, Lalu announced that Group-D recruitment will be done directly by the field units and not by Railway Recruitment Boards. The state government can influence recruitment if it is done at the field level.

The Budget makes much of the fact that the scrap mafia that had developed because of opacity in the sale of railway scrap was dismantled in the last Budget.

It also recognised that in many cases, materials continued to be supplied at high prices, or want of a limited number of approved suppliers. This was particularly true of concrete sleepers.

The Budget promised to wind up the old system of patronage, but promised to introduce a new cartel by instituting "new vendors in the public or private sector".

The value of the tender will be determined on the basis of total cost of the supply that will be inclusive of local taxes, and so on, and will be kept as low as possible, the budget said.

"As low as possible" is the operative phrase.

What is interesting is the politics of the Minister of State for Railways, R Velu, who is from the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK). Many of the new trains and surveys announced for Tamil Nadu relate to north Tamil Nadu.

And guess where the PMK, known for its following among the Vanniar caste, is most popular? In north Tamil Nadu.

In fact, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) cottoned on to this fact immediately and Telecommunications Minister Dayanidhi Maran was heard complaining to Congress President Sonia Gandhi as she left the House, that only the Vanniars, and not the state, were the beneficiaries from the Budget.

Sonia Gandhi reportedly told Maran what she had told the others: that it would be taken up with Laluji. Several CPI M MPs from Kerala and West Bengal also complained that their state hadn't got enough.

However, Lalu's limited project of social justice got a small push through the Budget.