Kashmir calling

While the visitors are thrilled to be back in the paradise they temporarily lost, for the Kashmiris, life has not been so rewarding for a very long time. They had a glimpse of hope when tourists started returning in the summer of 1999, but the Kargil showdown brought back panic. This time around, there is no such threat in sight. With the tourists, happiness is back in the Valley as the locals get a chance to earn their livelihood once again. Let’s not allow petty politics to spoil this momentous turnaround.

Rustic wisdom

I know many who doubt Laloo Prasad Yadav’s capabilities because of his rustic ways. Granted that the Railways involves sophisticated technology, but technocrats and engineers are better qualified than any minister to handle that. A minister’s role is to plug the holes in the system through policy decisions. And only a man rooted to ground realities like Laloo could come up with such apt measures to cure the Railways of certain chronic ailments. In the din that generally follows every Railway Budget, we must not lose sight of two landmark decisions.

First is the ban on auctions of steel and iron scrap. Hailing from Bihar, Laloo knows how organised mafias buy huge quantities of steel and iron scrap from the Railways at throwaway prices, get them rolled and then sell at huge profit margins. It took Laloo and his grassroots sensibility to locate the loophole, and his decision to abolish such auctions remains one of the most crucial moves, not only towards weeding out corruption but also curing the Railways’ financial health.

Second, Laloo proposes to push internet technology a giant step ahead of the reservation module by introducing an online tender system. Besides the sheer convenience, this will eliminate most of the corruption from the procurement process. Thus, his humble upbringing apart, Laloo seems to have adapted himself to the changing face of communications better than many of his contemporaries. The Railways’ scale of operation generates thousands of contracts worth several thousand crores. In the present system, tenders are manually opened at different zonal and divisional headquarters. A huge mafia network has almost monopolised the tender system by blocking — by muscle and/or money power — genuine bidders. The decision to switch to an online tender system ensures that all such bidders will be heard. So if you thought Laloo’s innovations were limited to kulhars and khadi linen, think again before writing him off.

The ‘Padma’ pill

If you are a doctor of repute — with an impressive clientele and a fat bank balance — longing for some kind of sublime recognition, the answer is to catch hold of one or two VVIP patients and treat them will utmost care. Very soon, you can expect to figure in the list of Padma awardees.

How else do you explain the many doctors in the lists of Padma awardees in recent years. Now, I am not against doctors being awarded with the highest civilian awards, nor am I suggesting that all the doctors so honoured earned their recommendations the easy way. But there are some doctors who deserve it for their sheer expertise and knowledge, yet have been overlooked in favour of their not so gifted colleagues. And when both belong to the same institution, it creates hostility in the medical fraternity. VVIP or not, patients often feel grateful to their doctors. But such personal emotion should not compromise the sanctity of the Padma awards.

The writer is a Congress Member of Parliament