Left, right 038; centre: Laloo serves well

For instance, who could have imagined that in the times of ever-increasing prices of petroleum, day in and day out the passenger fares would be intact or rather slashed substantially in some of the categories including the classy air conditioned classes. But contrary to all the perceptions Laloo did it.

For those who called this provision of Laloo as a mere gimmick and rubbished it as a populist measure, he explained that how by keeping a check on the price of tickets he not only will keep the bulk of railway passengers within the fold of Railways but would also increase the number of passengers through this measure.

However, funny Laloo may sound, his elaborate homework to improve the efficiency of Railways without taxing the Garib or Aam Aadmi common man, will only pose more questions than answers to the critics, who try to define the genre of Laloo as a politician.

Some of the significant measures suggested by him for the current Railway Budget come as a pleasant surprise for all those who try to categorise Laloo as cast in a particular mould. Well the facts say it all. Reduction in first and second AC fares by 18 per cent and 10 per cent respectively is just one of the surprises.

Whoever said Laloo8217;s politics cater to a certain section of class 8211; best summarized as utterly poor, backward and uneducated 8211; might be squirming with uneasiness. But this does not at any point mean that Laloo has changed his supportive base overnight. For that matter another provision of his in the budget should be mentioned, which states that farmers henceforth would be granted 50 per cent reservation in the second class. He also announced similar comfortable measures for the other backward sections such as the milkmen, for whom Railways come very handy in the profession.

Well before anybody could blame him for his backward politics by disclosing the facts, which reveal his antecedents, then for them are his special concessions to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes who have been benefited by extending their relaxations regarding maximum age for applying for a government job as well as on other parameters.

If that sounds quite a cast on castes then, well Laloo Prasad also showed his concerns towards the hassles faced by the common candidates who apply for the vacancies against the Railway Recruitment Boards. Laloo has done away with the requirement of attestation all sorts of documents at the very first stage of filling up the application form. He, to the welcome of all and sundry has limited the attachment of documents to the respective caste certificates only.

As the above measures clearly bring him forth as the saviour of the poor and downtrodden, his measures, which reflect the pace with the upcoming modern challenges, defy that he could be branded as a caretaker of just one section as a minister of Railways.

In his current budget speech he also mentioned about the installation of ATM8217;s at the important stations throughout the country. If that sounds a little too less for the upwardly mobile then he has also planned food plazas at the select stations for the worthy users of the Railways.

Now the business minded ones would claim all this catering of Laloo either to rich or poor as the populist soap opera, then one should pay take note of the reactions of the corporate sector of the country who have hailed Laloo8217;s budget as 8216;realistic and user friendly8217;.

As FICCI President S K Poddar said, 8220;The Budget is based on sound and forward-looking economic principles. With operating ratio expected to be 84.3 per cent in 2006-07 from 90.8 per cent in 2005-06, financial health of Indian railways is expected to improve8221;.

CII echoed somewhat similar response, 8220;Substantial increase in freight traffic to 668 metric tonnes MT from 600 MT is indicative of growing industry confidence8221;. 8220;With new initiatives such as Freight Discount Scheme, Loyalty Discount Scheme and Non-Peak Season Incremental Freight discount will make Railways further competitive,8221; it added.

ASSOCHAM President Anil K Agarwal appreciated the announcement of privatisation of container services from April 1, 2006 and private participation in upkeep of railway services and a long term freight discount.8221; Growth from Rs 250 crore in 2001 to Rs 11,000 crore in 2005 in railway finances is a major turnaround, ASSOCHAM held.

Well, whatever be the real impact of the budget there is no doubt that shortcomings would always be there. But this budget is significant in a fact that it has at least strived to bring cheer to all the sections of the society alike. Never before could it be witnessed that the passengers, workers, traders, rich as well as poor have said thumbs up in unanimity to the Railway Budget.

The railway minister8217;s latest innovation 8216;Garib Rath8217; is again in line with his objective of providing affordable air-conditioned service to those who cannot afford the costly air-conditioned service, the fares on these trains will be about 25 lower than the present AC-3 tier fares. Well Laloo no doubt has his own shares of hits and misses but he certainly makes his presence felt with his unique policies, which are no doubt welcome by the bulk of the population and this time by the classes as well.