Competition and choice must drive privatisation of Indian Railways
initial independent and regional developments in 19th century. Therefore, unbundling and privatising this is an expensive and pointless proposition. Once you have taken away the infrastructure, in the form of something like an IR Infrastructure Corporation, and hived off production units and non-core functions, what is left in the IR bit that runs trains, especially after private entry? There is nothing left to privatise there.
In sum, expressions like liberalise, privatise and corporatise need to be thought through.
There is a terminal goal and there is a process that leads to the goal. Talking about the goal in isolation serves no purpose. We need a Railway Ministry that articulates a policy neutral between public and private players. It is a ministry for the railway sector, not for IR.
We need an independent regulator to implement those principles of fair competition, with tariffs freed and subsidies better targeted. We need to carve out the Indian Railways Infrastructure Corporation. We need commercial accounting. Railway Board becomes a corporate board only for the IR that runs trains. The production units are sold. Non-core functions are shed. I’d call this terminal goal one of competition and choice. Privatisation is a means to that end. It is not an end in itself. And we need to spend our energies on fashioning and debating the process, not the terminal goal.
PRIVATISATION IS A MEANS TO THAT END. IT IS NOT AN END IN ITSELF. AND WE NEED TO SPEND OUR ENERGIES ON FASHIONING AND DEBATING THE PROCESS, NOT THE TERMINAL GOAL.
Gurmeet’s conviction for rape are a blow in Haryana to the BJP regime led by ML Khattar who isn’t a Jat. On his watch, the non-Jat population also bore the brunt of violence last year when Jats went on the rampage demanding reservation.
Punjab and Haryana were one state till late after the country gained independence. The post-1947 rise of religious sects, or deras was a reaction, in fact, to exclusive religious hierarchies. The people among whom they found traction had been pushed to the fringes by social elites even as the Sikh clergy failed to strike a balance between the spiritual and the political.
In fact, the story of the deras is what historians term as ‘history told from below.’ What distinguishes the narrative from traditional working class history is the reliance on people’s experiences and perspectives arising out of exclusion from Sikhism’s established institutions.
Another manifestation of rebellion against the existing order is the Dalit-centric Dera Sachkhand Balan, near Jalandhar. Its followers, known as Ravidassias have their own places of worship in the name of Ravi Das, a 15th century mystic and social reformer who is revered in Sikh scriptures.
The Ravidassias are Punjab’s Jatavs. The scheduled castes, including the mazhbi (scavenger) Sikhs, constitute nearly one-third of the state’s population. They originally had renounced Hinduism to convert to Sikhism for its all-embracing appeal that’s now on the wane.
Their tactical distancing from the SGPC despite their belief in the Granth Sahib should worry the clergy. The antidote to such trends is reform in the administration of Sikhism — with the singular purpose of reverting it to its spiritual moorings in Guru Nanak’s message of social accord— and equality.