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Railways Ministry implements Railway Budget announcemnts within 36 days

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This is why Sadanad Gouda/Gowda was replaced by Suresh Prabhu as railway minister as the earlier railway minister was found to be distant cousin of Saint Anthony (Erstwhile Defence minister) with the same habit of sitting on files due to fear of persecution/fallout...

I would even go as far as saying that Modi missed the trick initially and lost precious 6-7 months by giving such a key portfolio to Gowda! Anyway, it seems to be in good hands now and hope Suresh Prabhu will deliver.
 
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DId you have lower Birth ? :angel: :ashamed:
Cartoon!!!! 8-)
Me and my senior were sharing a side (upper) berth, and back then we were students so we didnt interfere while they had a heated argument. AFAIR their hubbies resolved the issue.
 
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BTW can somebody tell, when NDA will get majority in RS? In which year??
@jaatram @magudi @Star Wars

Also this :
New land bill will win, not lose votes for Modi
Rahul Gandhi wants to escalate the suicide of a farmer at a Delhi AAP rally into a national election issue, painting Modi as pro-industrialist and anti-farmer. Mamata Banerjee leveraged resentment against land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram to unseat the Marxist government in West Bengal. Can Rahul do something similar?

Some BJP stalwarts want to dilute the new land acquisition bill to win over enough opposition parties to ensure success in the Rajya Sabha. But hardliners call this submitting to blackmail on an issue that can, with proper communication, place the BJP on the moral high ground. They would rather risk defeat in the Rajya Sabha, and then clear the bill in a joint session of Parliament, where the NDA has a majority.



The hardliners are right. The analogy with Singur is false. The new bill will gain votes, not lose them in the 2019 election. The 2013 land acquisition act of the Congress had so many onerous clauses that acquisition (and related projects) came to a virtual halt across India. Economic growth and job creation crashed, so voters turned against Congress with a vengeance. Its supposedly pro-farmer measure boomeranged.

Modi has raised high job hopes. He cannot get re-elected without fast economic growth that creates jobs and business opportunities galore. For this, he must change the 2013 law to ensure smooth, speedy acquisition for government infrastructure and industrial corridors. Without that, the economy will not accelerate, and voter resentment at slow growth will far exceed any anger over cases of faulty acquisition.

Besides, faulty acquisition typically hits the electoral fortunes of chief ministers, not New Delhi. Maybe 90% of rural Indians have never met a central government official. Those they know — the police, revenue and administrative staff, canal and electricity staff — are all state officials. Even New Delhi’s programmes are implemented by state officials. So, if implementation is good, voters applaud the chief minister, not New Delhi. Similarly, bad implementation sinks the CM, not the PM.

The Congress claimed that its farm loan waiver and MGNREGA (its rural job scheme) won it the 2009 election. Really? Congress won only nine of 72 seats in three very poor states where these schemes should have helped most — Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Seminal research by Poonam Gupta and Arvind Panagariya shows that voter behaviour in 2009 was explained overwhelmingly by the acceleration or deceleration of economic performance in a state, not doles or write-offs.

State GDP growth shot up between 2000-04 and 2004-09 from 4.5% per year to 12.4 % in Bihar, from 4.8% to 10.2% in Odisha, and from 6.1% to 9.7% in Chhattisgarh. Despite big overall Congress gains, voters in each of these non-Congress states voted overwhelmingly for their CM’s party. By contrast, the Congress gained 42 seats in opposition-ruled states where economic growth had not accelerated — UP, MP, Rajasthan and Punjab.

Examining state GDP growth between 2004-05 and 2008-09, Gupta and Panagariya divided the major states into three growth categories — high, medium and low (relative to national growth). In high-growth states, a whopping 85% of candidates of the incumbent state party won in 2009.

The winning rate dropped to 50% in medium-growth states and 30% in low-growth states. Clearly, fast growth mattered most of all, though other factors (alliances, caste, regional pride, inflation) remained relevant. Rahul Gandhi can pretend that fast growth benefits only a few rich industrialists, but India’s high-growth era lifted a record 138 million out of poverty between 2004-05 and 2011-12. Fast growth reflected good governance — less thuggery, corruption and leakages — and hence more satisfied voters.

In 2014, Rahul hoped to win mass votes through the food security act, promising wheat and rice at Rs 2-3/kilo for two-thirds of the population. This failed, mainly because implementation depended on state governments. Besides, many state governments already provided food at Rs 1-2/kilo, so Rahul’s reduction of the central price merely subsidized the state governments, not consumers.

Some elections are won by a popular wave, as in 1984 and 2014. Gupta and Panagariya’s fast-growth thesis does not apply to such elections. But nobody expects a fresh Modi wave, or Rahul wave, in 2019. So, the performance of chief ministers will once again be critical.

What does this imply for the land acquisition bill? All land acquisition is done by state governments. Farmers whose land is acquired will be happy or angry depending on the honesty and sensitivity of acquiring state government officials. Congress-ruled states can add the extra onerous conditions Rahul swears by — this will stall projects and ensure Congress’ defeat in these states at the next election. Modi has nothing to fear, and much to gain.
 
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In an unprecedented pace of implementing announcements made in the Railway Budget 2015 -16, Ministry of Railway has already implemented 39 announcements ranging from passenger amenities system improvements to infrastructure development.

Though only 36 days have passed in the current financial year 2015-16 (1st April, 2015 to 30th March, 2016), 39 announcements have so far been implemented which are listed below:-

1.New department for housekeeping created. It will address the issue of cleanliness in a more integrated and coordinated manner.

2.Disposable bags for garbage disposal have been started as a pilot project in Mumbai-Amritsar Punjab mail.

3.New non-AC coaches being manufactured in ICF have dustbins from 1st of May, 2015.

4.NIFT, Delhi has been engaged for designing of bedroll etc.

5.03 new mechanized laundries have been started at Kochiveli, Malda town and Santragachhi to supply clean linen taking total of such laundries to 33. Twenty nine more locations have been identified.

6.Passenger Helpline 138 already functional. It will work as an interface for queries/complaints related to medical emergency, cleanliness, food & catering, coach maintenance, linen etc.

7.Security Helpline 182 already functionalto report any unsavoury incidents. This service is very important public service and may play an important role in emergencies like crime against women, onboard unlawful activity, train accidents, medical attention required and fire etc.

8.An application and a portal to redress railway related complaints has been developed where online tracking of complaints is also possible.

9.Operation 5 minutes launched i.e. to purchase unreserved tickets within 5 minutes. It has been launched as pilot project on Chennai suburban railway where passengers can buy paperless unreserved tickets on their mobile.

10.Instructions have been issued for differently-abled travelers to purchase concessional E-tickets after one time registration.

11.E-ticketing portal in Hindi is ready for launch.

12.E-catering has been introduced. This is a service where a passenger is able to place an order for a meal, to be served at his seat in the train enroute, through a phone call or an SMS. Presently this service is available in 134 pairs of trains.

13.Online booking of retiring rooms functional.

14. 73 pairs of trains have been identified for introducing hand-held terminals to TTEs. Supply is expected to be received by the end of May, 2015.

15.SMS alert for advance arrival of train at destination functional.

16.Centrally managed railway display network is ready for technology demonstration.

17.Pilot project for providing surveillance cameras has been launched in ICF.

18.On board entertainment has been started on Kalka Shatabdi. It is now being extended to other trains.

19.Instructions have been issued to provide mobile charging facilities in all new general class coaches. Mobile charging facilities will be provided in 3000 existing coaches in 2015-16.

20.Quota for lower berths for senior citizens increased from 2 to 4 per coach.

21. E-concierge services started in 22 railway stations.

22.05 trains have been identified for augmentation of capacity from 24 to 26 coaches.

23.Instructions issued for TTEs to help senior citizens/pregnant women to get lower berths.

24.Instructions have been issued for reserving middle bay for women & Senior citizens.

25.Perishable Cargo center as Azadpur Mandi inaugurated. This perishable cargo centre will help farmers and consumers in a big way and the ripening of fruits and cold storage facilities at this cargo centre will help the farmers get a good price and good market for their product.

26. New instructions have been issued on 10th April, 2015 to liberalize the private freight terminal policy.

27. All pending recommendations made by Kakodkar committee on safety have been examined by the Railway Board.

28. Kayakalp Council formed. Noted Industrialist Shri Ratan Tata to head this Council. The purpose of the Council is to recommend innovative methods and processes for the improvement, betterment and transformation of the Indian Railways.

29.Taskforce has been constituted for drafting the IT vision for Indian Railways.

30. A committee under Shri Ajay Shankar has been constituted for revamping of the PPP cell.

31.MoU for creating a SPV signed in between Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Coal and Government of Odisha. It will help expedite Railway connectivity projects for coal transportation in Odisha.

32.MoU with LIC signed. It is a landmark achievement with Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) providing highest ever funding of Rs. 1.5 lakh crore for Railways. This move will ultimately help railways growth through augmentation of its financial resources.

33.Rail connectivity to Dighi Port approved through PPP.

34.Instructions issued for organizing training of frontline staffs on soft skills.

35.Negotiations for financing railway projects through World Bank commenced.

36.The process for putting in place a regulator has been initiated.

37.MoU signed for Railway Research Centre at Mumbai University.

38.MOU with National Institute of Designing signed. Under this, Railway Design Centre will be set up in the campus of National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmadabad. This will help improve customer’s happiness by way of better designed coaches and providing cost effective solutions to problems faced by passengers during train travel.

39.MoU for creating a SPV signed in between Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Coal and Government of Jharkhand. It will help expedite Railway connectivity projects for coal transportation in Jharkhand.

Railway Ministry Implements 39 Railway Budget Announcements in Just 36 Days of the Current Financial Year Displaying Unprecedented Pace of Implementation

@magudi @wolfschanzze @Guynextdoor2 @Prometheus @JanjaWeed @Mike_Brando @thesolar65 @Screambowl @kaku1 @levina @anonymus @trainer
This RM is in overdrive and trying to undo bad decisions of last 10 years. May more power to him and some sense so that he do not prick railway unions.
 
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