The Tale of the Indian Rail… Cow

Gopal Gwalabanshi

Lord Krishna was born this day, so we now call it Krishna Janmashtami. Scriptures say Krishna spent his childhood tending to cows and was very protective of them.

A few millennia later, in 2006, then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav famously declared that the Indian Railways is a milch cow. If not milked fully, it will fall sick.

How well the Indian Railways was milked in previous decades is fodder for another day.

Like a good politician, LPY forgot to tell Harvard that Indian Railways had lovingly embraced his strategy well before he revealed it to the world. After all, humans put gravity to use for thousands of years before Newton revealed its existence.

For many Indians, IR is a cow that you milk secure, well-paying jobs out of. Politicians love the cow for the dung – dubious projects they can slap onto their constituency walls. 1.2 million employees and 15 lakh pensioners depend on the mammoth cow for lifelong shelter and nourishment.

One likes to believe that these are symbiotic relationships. The uncharitable suggest they look like more of the host-parasite type.

Sustenance of these beneficiaries has become the cow’s primary raison d’être. The less important purpose is to move freight and passengers. And so, the cow unwillingly provides almost-free rides to billions. The primary beneficiaries insist it is cow’s duty to not demand much in return for becoming a beast of burden.

Over the decades, all beneficiaries have convinced themselves that milking this cow hard enough, as LPY suggested, is the way to keep it healthy. And so, they go about their work with renewed vigour.

Naturally, the cow has become weaker.

The job-seekers see it move and so, like innocent calves, they demand ever-flowing milk. The politicians hear it moo, and so they demand more dung for their constituencies. The third lot feel the warmth and the beating heart, and so they keep drilling through the skin.

The unsteady gait and the buckling legs go unnoticed.

In 2012 – six years after his Harvard Revelation – LPY, no longer the master, declared the cow had gone dry. By 2016, in deep trouble thanks to his fodder procurement and catering skills, LPY declared the cow had derailed.

What went wrong? Perhaps he forgot to tell Harvard that the cow needs nourishment too. His milking strategy works as long as the cow remains well-fed and looked after.

Ideally, the cow should be Atmanirbhar as our Prime Minister insists everyone ought to be. The cow should roam free, nourish itself first and work well for its master. It ought to demand adequate compensation for the rides it gives away.

But there is a problem. The beneficiaries, long accustomed to easy milk, gratis patties, rides, shelter and nourishment worry. A change could upset the cow-cart. From their perspective, the status quo is the only one that works. Opening doors to private players could derail the gravy-train.

So, they shout louder, whip harder and bite deeper.

But the loving cow gets weaker and weaker.

Note: For the purists: we do not know if the animal in the featured image is a cow or a bull. But it is the only one we have of one peering into a train window. So it will have to do.

If you wish to express anger over incorrect gender identification, please write to us at editor@railpost.in

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This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Biased view…. It seems ” Railpost ” too, has leaned towards some noted source like all Indian Press in general for survival and sustenance. Who has dried the Railway Cow? How an healthy cow became dry so soon? Till recently, Railways have managed their sources well with a separate Railway Budget, only the present CG has stopped that protocol and Finance Ministry( very efficient Ministry) has taken over everything, including allotment of funds toward infrastructure developments. Now Railways have to depend on Finance Ministry and those who milked the cow high and dry are showing empty hands. Being a Service Organization, the hands (rather legs) of the Railway cow are tied because of votebank politics and now the Cow, which has served the Nation for all these years, is going to die.

  2. It is unfair to make such comments without knowing the facts. Transportation of men and material only Railway can do. All along Railways are doing. The Railway Board is made a part of the Government department with common budget. Earlier the Railway budget used to be presented separately before the main budget. Zonal Railways had lot of responsibilities. Now it looks some decisions are taken on big projects and the Railways are made to execute.
    CAG report says many anomalies during the last few years. This needs to be gone into. If it is allowed, the system which has to work round the clock may land in a bad situation, for the present directions.
    I understand now the pension is contributory. I understand even the politicians who complete the elected term gets pension where as the employees get after about 30 years.
    The conduct rules come in the way for employees in service and hence may not be able to express though may be aware.
    The changes required should be brought out, particularly taking the present and future traffic into consideration as the technological changes in other fields will directly effect Railway functioning.

  3. The technological changes such as use of Hydrogen for steel melting will directly reduce the coal demand apart from closing of thermal plants, which is import traffic for railways.
    Similarly webinars, work from home, zoom meetings etc., will reduce the transportation and travel needs which is already happening. These will effect traffic needs. These are good from environmental considerations, but it’s effects on other sectors will be substantial. All these need careful planning to prevent adverse impacts on the future needs.

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