Subject to cost and accounting principles not being transparent, there will be a figure of a little over Rs 26,000 crore. This is the "social cost" burden borne by Indian Railways (IR). This happens because some decisions are not taken on commercial considerations. IR divides the social cost obligation into four categories - essential commodities at lower than proper freight cost, low fares and other passenger concessions, uneconomic branch lines and new lines not yet profitable. Within that passenger component, you not only have across-the-board low fares for suburban and certain non-suburban classes, some types of passengers also have specific concessional fares. An IR list of who gets such concessions is: (i) senior citizens; (ii) recipients of gallantry awards; (iii) national sports awardees; (iv) participants in national and state sports tournaments; (v) teachers honoured with national awards; (vi) Shram awardees; (vii) war widows; (viii) patients suffering from cancer, tuberculosis and other serious diseases; (ix) handicapped people; (x) press correspondents; (xi) film technicians. This isn't a complete list. Specifically, there are 53 such concessions. Out of that Rs 26,000 crores, something around Rs 1,600 crore is lost through these concessions. Note that these concessions aren't only for second class travel, which would have amounted to some kind of a means test. Ninety five per cent of passengers on IR travel unreserved. To some extent (not entirely) travelling unreserved is correlated with income. Indeed, people who travel on general second class (unreserved) don't use these concessions.
In 2012-13, as railway minister, Dinesh Trivedi gave us an interesting titbit of information in the Railway Budget speech. "Madam Speaker, in the last eight months of my working as railway minister, I have received as many as 5,741 requests. These include 476 requests for projects of new lines, doubling and gauge conversion or expediting their completion; 273 requests for construction of ROB/RUBs; 41 for electrification; 48 for setting up of manufacturing facilities, 646 for new trains; 303 for extension of trains; 214 for increasing the frequency of trains; another 811 for train stoppages; and about 3,000 requests for miscellaneous areas such as transfers and postings of railway employees and passenger amenities etc." No other railway minister has ever given us this information in such stark terms. Included in those 3,000 requests are also requests for concessions. Going by media reports, there may be no Railway Budget from 2017-18. That's the way the media states it and it is a bad way of stating what is going to happen, if it does. Every organisation has a budget and so will IR. What's different is that a railway minister will no longer present this Budget in Parliament, using a speech. That's not required, legally and constitutionally.
Since there will still be a railway minister, he/she will continue to get requests for new lines, doubling, gauge conversion, ROB/RUBs, electrification, manufacturing facilities, new trains, extensions, stoppages and concessions. However, since there is no parliamentary scrutiny and applause, presumably temptation to succumb to such requests will be less. Today, there are arguments from IR that other ministries (including social justice) should bear such costs, not just concessional passenger fares. Those arguments aren't new. This is Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1955-56: "We have been following in recent years a liberal policy of giving concessions, particularly in connection with travel for educational purposes and other nation-building activities. The financial effect of these concessions is partially reflected in the fact that the average amount earned per passenger during 1953-54 has decreased from 5.22 pies to 5.17 pies per mile." This is C M Poonacha in 1967-68: "It is difficult to estimate the amount of the concessions on passenger fares, but it will not be an insignificant amount. In some countries it is recognised that such social burdens are to be borne by general exchequer and not by the Railways." Madhavrao Scindia is generally accepted as having been a "good" railway minister. Check his speeches of 1987-88, 1988-89 and 1989-90 - replete with concessions.
Many concessions have an apparent rationale. Therein lies the problem. Among the more outlandish ones, Ram Vilas Paswan in 1987-88: "I am happy to announce that the press correspondents accredited to the headquarters of government of India and to the state governments/Union Territories for travel on business connected with bona fide press work, will now be able to travel in upper classes also within their monetary entitlements already given under the existing concessions." Nitish Kumar enhanced that concession in 1999-2000. In 2010-11, Mamata Banerjee said: "The enormous contribution of the Indian film industry to the promotion of art and culture is known to all of us. There are people behind the screen whose contribution is not so well known to many of us. I propose that technicians of regional film industry when travelling for film production-related work will be eligible for 75 per cent concession in second sleeper, 50 per cent concession in first class, AC chair car, AC three tier, AC two tier in all trains including Rajdhani/Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdis." With no parliamentary scrutiny and media attention, will such proclivities decline? They should. But as a counterargument, should such concessions continue to be granted, they will no longer be that transparent.
The writer is a member of the National Institution for Transforming India Aayog.
The views are personal
The views are personal
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