Modi Wants Indian Railways to be Better Than Airports, Calls for Private Sector Role

[janon]

hard cash, sadly that doesn't work in India
others are Obama care and education

Uk it is NHS (free health care), Cash, subsidized houses by counsel

Hard cash would work much better. It's cheaper to hand out cash, than to have an elaborate, inefficient mechanism of subsidizing everything. A lot of overhead can be eliminated, and the cost to the country would be lower.

Also, USA and UK have a lot of money, and very few poor people. That's not the case with India. We have a tiny percentage of people who earn enough to pay taxes, and you expect them to pay for the large percentage of the non productive population. It is mathematically infeasible.

If ten percent of the population is poor, then the earning of the other 90 percent can be used to give them things they need. But if 90 percent are poor, and the other ten percent are only barely rich, then you cannot expect to redistribute the earning of that ten percent among the 90%. It will simply make everybody poor.

 

[Mr.S.Singh]

Can be done, why would it backfire? Rich people in cars asking for subsidy? Courts won't be able to do much, running on subsidised fuel is a reality..

you cannot just decided to impose extra taxes on a car that was bought ages ago, govt would have a tough time legalizing it

Overstated, not as if private companies are offering cheaper rates.

http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol9-issue2/N092103114.pdf

Not accurate as a general statement. I have seen tolled roads outside of Bangalore & they are bloody brilliant. Average travel time between Bangalore & Hassan has dropped to 2 hours (180km) from about 3 hours earlier. An elevated flyover to the airport has dropped the time for traveling that distance (of the flyover) to under 15minutes from 30minutes earlier. Use of the NICE road reduces distances from about 2 hours to 30-40 minutes to get to places within Bangalore.

come to this side of the country
Again around the world roads and highways are toll-less, why not eleminate road taxes if you are going to toll commuters anyways?

Which is in doldrums in India.frankly subsidy in these sectors is as good as throwing our taxes down the gutter.

mismanagement, some serious whacking needed here

Hard cash would work much better. It's cheaper to hand out cash, than to have an elaborate, inefficient mechanism of subsidizing everything. A lot of overhead can be eliminated, and the cost to the country would be lower.

with the corruption levels and faith in our babus, this doesn't sound right *period*

be very sure that the problem with this country is not the wrong policies ...its poor implementation...i start my day at wadala mumbai...a 40 storey building..... right here

View attachment 37491

travel to my office through wadala bridge...which seems like this

View attachment 37493

and reach my office in lower parel...

which is like this

View attachment 37494


bottomline: india is a land of contrasts...behave likewise

these have nothing to do with govt, apart from monorail and allowing slums in the cities

 

[Abotani]

mismanagement, some serious whacking needed here

Easier said than done.The inherent inefficiency,corruption and mismanagement aren't going away anytime soon or even in the medium term.Practically it is better to cut the subsidies in these sectors and let the free market reign.

 

[Bang Galore]

you cannot just decided to impose extra taxes on a car that was bought ages ago, govt would have a tough time legalizing it

as long as subsidised fuel is being used, you can.

Again around the world roads and highways are toll-less, why not eleminate road taxes if you are going to toll commuters anyways?

No point discussing about around the world, we need the money.
Elimination of road tax can be done. Taxes can always be collected under other heads.

 

[Mr.S.Singh]

as long as subsidised fuel is being used, you can.

increase of 50p a month in diesel price is there already, and diesel cars were taxed from the start .. would be a difficult and lenghty task for govt, till the time they can implement it, prices would have been deregularised

No point discussing about around the world, we need the money.
Elimination of road tax can be done. Taxes can always be collected under other heads.

either road tax or toll, we can't be double taxed.

Easier said than done.The inherent inefficiency,corruption and mismanagement aren't going away anytime soon or even in the medium term.Practically it is better to cut the subsidies in these sectors and let the free market reign.

it has too be done, we can't be cribbing about corruption till eternity
cut subsidy in medical ? that is one step no govt in India will take, modi infact has launched a grand healthcare scheme which is the largest of its kind in the world

 

[Bang Galore]

increase of 50p a month in diesel price is there already, and diesel cars were taxed from the start .. would be a difficult and lenghty task for govt, till the time they can implement it, prices would have been deregularised

Reduction of subsidy cannot be an excuse. As long as there is no parity with Petrol, Diesel car owners can be taxed.

either road tax or toll, we can't be double taxed.

Nothing in life is free. Can be taxed as infrastructure tax. Any number of headings will be available.No point in taking that line. Treat only city roads as common roads & all others as pay as you use roads. Road tax would be applicable within the city, outside you would have to pay.

 

[Mr.S.Singh]

Reduction of subsidy cannot be an excuse. As long as there is no parity with Petrol, Diesel car owners can be taxed..

50p increase is for parity, 28 months till they reach parity now

Nothing in life is free. Can be taxed as infrastructure tax. Any number of headings will be available.No point in taking that line. Treat only city roads as common roads & all others as pay as you use roads. Road tax would be applicable within the city, outside you would have to pay.

road taxes should cover state at least, as it is collected by state govt, city collects octrai already

 

[janon]

with the corruption levels and faith in our babus, this doesn't sound right *period*

It is precisely to eliminate corruption and the inefficieency of the bureaucracy that direct cash transfer is a better option. That is much easier to keep track of and account for (decreasing the scope for corruption, and the unholy nexus between subsidized food hoarders and corrupt govt officials etc), and it will also be much more efficient, as handing out a check involves a lot less bureaucratic work than monitoring and managing the entire public distribution system. In the PDS, there is scope for corruption at every nook and cranny. From godowns to ration shops to transportation hubs. Remember the fodder scam, and how many lakhs of people benefitted illegally from that? Would that be possible with direct cash transfer to people with valid id? A direct cash transfer is merely a computerized record of a direct payment of cash - straight from the govt to the individual.

 

[Mr.S.Singh]

It is precisely to eliminate corruption and the inefficieency of the bureaucracy that direct cash transfer is a better option. That is much easier to keep track off and account for (decreasing the scope for corruption, or the unholy nexus between subsidized food hoarders and corrupt govt officials etc), and it will also be much more efficient, as handing out a check involves a lot less bureaucratic work than monitoring and managing the entire public distribution system. In the PDS, there is scope for corruption at every nook and cranny. From godowns to ration shops to transportation hubs. A direct cash transfer is merely a computerized record of a direct payment of cash.

could do, but adjustment every year to inflation will be a pain, untill hoarding and astronomical price rises are controlled. Both have their draw backs.

 

[janon]

could do, but adjustment every year to inflation will be a pain, untill hoarding and astronomical price rises are controlled. Both have their draw backs.

Adjusting for inflation is pretty easy - feed the data into a computer. But controlling hoarding of food stuff and all other subsidized goods is much more difficult. Not to mention, that's not the only type of corruption involved in the PDS. I have edited my previous post to mention the fodder scam as another example.

What drawbacks do you see for welfare payment? Does it have more or fewer drawbacks than the existing system of subsidies?

 

[Bang Galore]

50p increase is for parity, 28 months till they reach parity now

My point is when susbsidised diesel is still necessary for transport vehicles. Only car owners would be targeted for that charge.

road taxes should cover state at least, as it is collected by state govt, city collects octrai already

Most cities don't charge octroi, in any case I would limit tolled roads to highways. All cities can be for common use.

 

[Mr.S.Singh]

Adjusting for inflation is pretty easy - feed the data into a computer. But controlling hoarding of food stuff and all other subsidized goods is much more difficult. Not to mention, that's not the only type of corruption involved in the PDS. I have edited my previous post to mention the fodder scam as another example.

What drawbacks do you see for welfare payment? Does it have more or fewer drawbacks than the existing system of subsidies?

firstly monthly food inflation swings rapidly and cannot be predicted, some vegetables have had price rise of 200%
inflation for finished products are still not considered by govt, we still focus on grain inflation
banking needs to be improved and deep penetration(the least difficult part)
corruption ... we Indian are notorious ... be ready for bogus accounts and bogus transactions

 

[Bang Galore]

could do, but adjustment every year to inflation will be a pain, untill hoarding and astronomical price rises are controlled. Both have their draw backs.

Can fix quantum of payout regardless of market price.

 

[janon]

firstly monthly food inflation swings rapidly and cannot be predicted, some vegetables have had price rise of 200%
inflation for finished products are still not considered by govt, we still focus on grain inflation
banking needs to be improved and deep penetration(the least difficult part)
corruption ... we Indian are notorious ... be ready for bogus accounts and bogus transactions

All this only reinforces my point that giving cash is better than subsidizing. Think about it.

 

[Dubious]

Good for India!