Making ‘Make in India’ happen

To become a manufacturing nation, India has to quickly move beyond rhetoric to create a clear strategy and favourable policy environment for manufacturing to take off. A close dialogue and partnership between government and the private sector is critical

At this moment, the Prime Minister’s “Make in India” campaign appears to be exactly this — an imaginative marketing campaign. But there is much thought and even more work that is required to convert this to reality.

The theory behind “Make in India” is as simple as it is compelling. India must become a manufacturing powerhouse in order to gainfully employ its demographic dividend; there is no choice here. Fortunately, we have many natural advantages including a big labour pool and a large domestic market. In addition, with China’s competitive advantage in manufacturing eroding, India has the opportunity to take some share of global manufacturing away from China. All we have to do to improve the ease of doing business in India are these —stop tax terrorism, improve infrastructure, reform labour laws, invest in skills development, make it easier to acquire land, implement Goods and Services Tax (GST) and fast track approvals. Voila, we will take our rightful place as the world’s factory alongside China.

Energy factor

This is an attractive thesis that has a lot of merit. A simple step of making it easier to do business will make a huge difference to India’s manufacturing competitiveness. It is one plank of a manufacturing strategy. India ranks 142 on the World Bank Index; China is ranked 90. If we were to improve by just 50 places, it would be a huge perceptual breakthrough. However, this is not a manufacturing strategy in itself. As Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan correctly and controversially pointed out, much has changed in the world since China elbowed itself into becoming the world’s factory two decades ago. The nature of manufacturing is changing. Low-cost automation and robotics are making pure labour cost arbitrage less important. Lead times and a flexibility of supply chains are far more important, leading many companies to move manufacturing back closer to the big markets, the United States and Europe. Energy is the new labour in the sense that the cost of energy will significantly drive where things are made. Here, the U.S. with its huge new shale gas reserves has a big advantage. Developed countries are also realising how crucial local manufacturing is to jobs and to having stable, prosperous societies and so there is an attempt to reverse outsourcing and revive local manufacturing by embracing new technologies and innovations such as 3-D printing and the “Internet of things”.

For an industrial policy

To become a manufacturing powerhouse, India needs a manufacturing strategy, otherwise known as industrial policy. The idea of an industrial policy is out of vogue these days. It is seen as ineffective at best and even retrograde, running contrary to the idea of free trade. This is patent nonsense. Japan, Korea, China, Germany have all prospered by having a clear industrial policy and vigorously implementing it. The U.S., the United Kingdom, France and Italy have seen themselves deindustrialise by not having a clear industrial policy and are trying hard to course-correct this mistake.

There is a successful precedent even in India; our success in IT services was not an accident. It was the result of clear-eyed policies driven by the Department of Electronics, which included reducing import tariffs on hardware and software to zero, setting up software technology parks with tax incentives, and improving connectivity. Policy has always mattered and when it comes to manufacturing competitiveness, India must have a clear industrial policy that spells out priority sectors and how we will build competitive advantage in a way that is consistent with our obligations to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Building on advantages

India’s industrial policy must recognise where we have important competitive advantages. India is quite uncompetitive at low skill manufacturing. On the other hand, it is good at making complex things which require skilled labour and frugal engineering. Despite all its shortcomings, India remains a very competitive manufacturing location for sophisticated things such as construction machinery, cars and automotive components and diesel engines. It is no accident that companies such as JCB, Cummins, Deere, Volvo, Hyundai and Ford are using India as a major export hub.

We must focus on building competitive advantage and global scale in sectors where we have a large domestic market and certain inherent capabilities. Strategy is all about making choices. Here, five priority industries come to mind. Defence, because we are the world’s leading arms importer. Localising what we buy as a condition for all defence deals along with a willingness to allow majority foreign ownership can turbocharge our local defence industry. The second critical industry is electronics hardware. India imports $45 billion of mobile phones, computers and communications hardware; by 2020, this is projected to grow to $300 billion and exceed our oil import bill. This is unsustainable. We have to create policy incentives to create a local electronic hardware manufacturing ecosystem. Since most component suppliers, Original Equipment Manufacturers and Original Design Manufacturers are Chinese, this will necessarily imply incentivising Chinese companies to establish factories in India. The size of our domestic market should make this possible. Concerns about security are misplaced; all our personal computers, cellphones and a lot of switches and routers are already made in China, so we are conceding nothing. The third industry is construction. India will invest a trillion dollars over the coming years in improving infrastructure. We need to create incentives that not only spur investment in manufacturing materials such as cement and steel but also construction equipment, locomotives, power generation equipment and so on. Everything we install should be made in India. The fourth is health care. India’s generic pharmaceutical industry is world class. We must not concede on intellectual property rights that neutralise our advantage. India is also exceedingly good at frugal innovation in medical devices such as low cost X-ray and ECG machines. We have a real shot at being a world leader in innovation and manufacturing in this space. Finally, agro-industries. We are one of the largest agricultural nations. A third of what we grow just rots and spoils. Investing in agro-industries such as food processing and establishing a reliable cold chain would make a huge difference in terms of rural employment and food security. If we had to pick just five industries where we want to bootstrap a strong competitive advantage it would be these. In other industries, whether it be textiles, toys, or automotive, we need to ensure that we do not disadvantage local manufacturing.

Creating ecosystems

Another critical strategic question is this: where do we want to make things? It is difficult to make a country the size of India into a uniformly attractive manufacturing location. Even China started its manufacturing odyssey by creating a few oases in the form of four special economic zones which were remarkably easy places to manufacture in. Where is India going to start its global odyssey? Manufacturing is all about hubs that are ecosystems for innovation, specialised skills and supply chains. Where will India’s hubs be for pharma, for defence, for electronics, for machinery and construction equipment? How do we catalyse these hubs by creating world-class academic institutions and skills training institutes? What incentives will attract the world’s leading companies to establish global innovation and manufacturing centres in these hubs? Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru and Delhi are already emergent hubs but what will enable them to scale up to compete with Shenzen and Tianjin?

To become a manufacturing nation, India has to quickly move beyond rhetoric to create a clear strategy and favourable policy environment for manufacturing to take off. The government has chosen to quietly dismantle the sclerotic National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) but it needs to foster a more vibrant think tank in its place. A close dialogue and partnership between government and the private sector, both domestic and foreign, is critical. Indian companies along with Chinese, Japanese, German, American and Swedish companies are all vital partners and we must create an environment that is open and welcoming. For this, the right leadership of this vital mission is critical. There is a clear and short-lived window of opportunity to become a manufacturing nation. We must not squander it.

achievements and Initiatives of Ministry of Railways

Year-End-Review-2014 The year 2014 has been significant for the Railways in achieving goals and targets with regard to the following: • The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi along with Railway Minister inaugurated the commencement of Expansion Project of Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW), a production unit of Indian Railways at Varanasi on 25th December 2014. Some of the features of the expansion plan are; a new block shop, loco frame shop and loco assembly shop, new plant shop having advanced paint booths, induction of high productivity machines and generation of 250 kw Green Power by roof mounted grid connected solar power plant. The project will herald the ‘Make in India’ campaign in the holy city, Varanasi. • The Railway Minister inaugurated the Musical Fountain, Toy Train and Renovated Exhibits at National Railway Museum in New Delhi on 24th December 2014. National Rail Museum has added this new attractions for the visitors by introducing 1:8 scale toy train, chugging on miniature track of about half a km length. This is first of its kind in India. Other attractions for the visitors will be the musical fountain. To enhance the experience of the visitors, a new pathway has been laid in throughout the museum. Signages and landscaping has been done in sync with the restored exhibits. Railway Ministry is also in process of formulating a ‘Solar Policy’ in this regard. Railway Minister directed for a separate section at the Museum which will exhibit the futuristic vision of Indian Railways. Railway Minister released this book titled “Indian Railways – More Miles...More Smiles” edited by retired Indian railway official Shri J L Singh and published by the Indian Railways. Railway Minister also inaugurated a documentary film “Imprint of Indian Railways over Indian Cinema. The film depicts the 100 years old association of Indian Railways & the Indian cinema. • The Railway Minisrte3r inaugurated the Mobile Ticketing System for Mumbai Suburban tickets at Dadar station in Mumbai on 27.12.2014. Initially this system is launched at Dadar station only. It will be implemented at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Kurla, Thane and Kalyan soon and thereafter at other stations in a phased manner. One can download the free application for Android/Windows to avail this facility. Application for iPhone and Blackberry will be available soon. User has to open the application and sign up by giving name, mobile number and Mumbai city upon which one time password will be sent through SMS. On entering the OTP, the user is registered and R-wallet with zero balance is created. At the journey originating station, one will have to go to a Automatic Ticket Vending Machine (ATVM) and select Print Mobile Ticket option, enter your mobile number and booking ID to get printed ticket. • The Minister of Railways commissioned 30 kW Solar Plant at roof top of Rail Bhawan at New Delhi, on 23rd December 2014. Indian Railways is planning to harness solar energy in a big way which will be a step forward in mitigating the challenges currently being experienced by our environment. Railways to expedite provision of solar plants at other Railway buildings also preferably in public private partner model. • Gwalior-Gonda Sushasan Express (weekly) was flagged off on 25th December 2014. This train will travel through various important destinations which are connected with the life of former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. • An education train ‘Gyanodaya Express’ – a tour package for the students of Delhi University to visit North east states, was flagged off from Delhi on 18th November 2014. During his recent visit to North Eastern region, the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has announced Rs. 28000 crore for new rail projects, Rs. 5000 crore to provide 2G mobile coverage for comprehensive telecom development, setting up of six agricultural colleges in the region, among other initiatives. This tour is in line with the philosophy of the Prime Minister to emphasis on developing of North Eastern states. • The Railway Minister flagged off a new Shatabdi Express between New Delhi and Bhatida from New Delhi Railway station on 18th December 2014. It is envisaged that the Railways’ role in bringing enhanced inter-city connectivity and thereby greater mobility through this new Shatabdi services between New Delhi-Bhatinda would mark another turning point to the hinterland of Punjab and to the developing cities in the vicinity. • In a significant move to make Unmanned Level Crossings (UMLCs) safer for road users thereby avoiding accidents thereat, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has directed the Railway Board to explore the use of Geo-spatial technologies for this purpose. Under such technologies which combine Global Positioning System(GPS), Geographic Information System(GIS) and Remote Sensing, an alert message will be flashed automatically in the mobile phones of all the road users carrying GPS enabled mobile phones and who are in the vicinity of an Unmanned Level Crossing, about the approaching train. • In order to improve the railway recruitment system, the Railway Minister has directed Railway Board to undertake entire recruitment exercise including recruitment ‘On Line’ and to examine for implementation of this project in a time-bound manner with adequate checks and balances. • The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during 1st April 2014 to 30th November 2014 were Rs. 100622 crore compared to Rs. 89341.26 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 12.63 per cent. • Indian Railways carried 713.11 million tonnes of revenue earning freight traffic during 1st April to 30th November 2014. The freight carried shows an increase of 35.53 million tonnes over the freight traffic of 677.58 million tonnes actually carried during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 5.24 per cent. • The Railway Minister inaugurated the Wi-Fi Broadband Services at New Delhi Railway Station 8th December 2014. The Wi-Fi project on Indian Railways is being executed by RailTel, a Public Sector Undertaking of the Ministry of Railways. The ‘RailWire’ powered Wi-Fi gives maximum speed of 1 mbps. Wi-Fi facility is available to the users free of cost initially for a period of 30 minutes by registering on the Wi-Fi network through their mobile. • The Railway Ministry organized an ‘Investors’ Meet’ to discuss various issues pertaining to Private Investment in rail sector especially PPP and FDI issues on 5th December 2014. Participants at the ‘Investors Meet’ included representatives from Chambers of Commerce, Railway PSUs, PSUs of Ministry of Heavy Industry, Investment Consultants, Investment Bankers, Infrastructure sector, Construction Sector, Port Sector, Rolling stock manufacturers, Raw material Manufacturers etc. • The Ministry of Railways has decided to constitute a High Level Committee headed by Shri D.K. Mittal, IAS, (Retd) former Secretary to Govt. of India, on 5th December 2014 to identify factors, issues and avenues for improving financial health of Indian Railways. The Committee will study the existing revenue structure and avenues for realizing revenue in Indian Railways and to examine the efficacy and sufficiency of the existing revenue structure and avenue for raising revenues in Indian Railways. • On the direction of the Railway Minister, the Railway Board has issued a set of guidelines to all Zonal Railways for inviting tenders for engaging professional/reputed agencies for the purpose of outsourcing of cleanliness at 50 major railways station of ‘A1’ & ‘A’ categories on Indian Railways. The Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has been emphasizing on sustained cleanliness activities on Indian Railways. • The Railway Minister issued directions for formulation of Integrated Policy on Cleanliness at the station, platforms and coaches. This policy will ensure better and effective coordination among number of departments involved for providing cleanliness. This Integrated policy on Cleanliness would clearly lay down the parameters and benchmarks for cleanliness. The Policy would clearly lay down structures/procedures for garbage collection, garbage sorting and garbage disposal. • With a view to generate additional revenue, the Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu directed RITES, a public sector undertaking of Ministry of Railway, on 1st December 2014 to quickly study and prepare a Concept Note, indicating ways and means for leveraging of space in coaches, wagons, trains, railway stations etc. for advertisements, publicity and other purposes. It is felt that Indian Railways have a lot of idle space in coaches, wagons, trains, railway stations etc which could be used for this purpose. TITES has since submitted a report. Now, a six-member task force headed by Member Traffic Railway Board has been set upto examine and implement this project. • The Railway Minister directed the Railway Board on 1st December 2014 to put in place Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) regarding quick evacuation of the injured persons from the railway track so that human lives are saved. The Railway Minister also desired for putting place a system-drive frame work to ensure compliance of SOPs by all concerned. • A task force headed by Member Engineering, Railway Board was constituted under the direction of Railway Minister to suggest the framework wherein appropriate power in taking financial and tendering related decision to various fields/functionaries. The task force will also suggest an appropriate technology based systemic framework to provide for internal checks and balance. • Yet another important event in the history of Railways, a new route from Mendipathar in Meghalaya to Guwahati in Assam got connected by rail, with. The Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi flagged off first ever train on this new railway line on 29th November 2014. With this, one more north eastern state, namely Meghalayay gets connected through rail network. • To further boost the development of rail link in North Eastern region, the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation for a new rail route from Bhairabi to Sairang in Mizoram on 29th November 2014. It will take rail connectivity to Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram • Soon after taking over charge of Minister of Railways, the new Railway Minister has expressed his keen concern about expediting the implementation of various railway projects with full efficiency and transparency in the working. The very first decision the Railway Minister took is that, no tendering process will be dealt with at the level of Railway Minister and instead the powers will be delegated to the operating levels so that proper efficiency in decision making is ensured. For this purpose, the Minister appointed a one man Committee under the chairmanship of Mr. E. Sreedharan Ex MD/DMRC and Ex Member Engineering Railway Board to suggest a proper system and procedures to ensure accountability and transparency at the General Managers and other functionaries’ level for taking all commercial decisions including that of tendering. The Committee would also suggest the system and procedure and a manual of instructions to be followed to implement Railway Minister’s decision speedily. • The interim report by the one-man committee headed by Shri Shreedharan for delegating tendering and commercial powers to General Managers was received by the Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu on 27th November 2014. It may be recalled that this committee was set up by Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu almost immediately upon his joining as the Minister of Railways to set up procedures of accountability in all tendering processes. The final report is expected within three months. • At the Indo-French Seminar on Rail Sector, which was held on 24th November 2014, the Indian Railways sought cooperation of France in high speed train operations and also in areas of safety, customer service and station development and multimodal stations. • Indian Railways and Republic of Korea signed a MoU on Technical Cooperation In the Rail Sector on 17th November 2014. The MoU would enable technical assistance and cooperation between the Railways of the two countries on areas such as High Speed Rail, Modernisation of Rolling Stock, Railway Operations, Modernisation of Signalling, Construction & Maintenance technologies and in development of Logistics Parks/Terminals. • In keeping with its objective to resort to more eco-friendly sources of energy and a measure to strengthen mechanisms to cater to energy demands, Northern Railway on 28th October 2014 commenced the project for providing a Solar Power Plant at Shri Mata Vaishno Katra Railway Station. Earlier, while inaugurating the opening of Udhampur-Katra new Railway Line of Udhampur- Srinagar- Baramulla Rail Link Project (USBRL) Project on 4th July 2014, Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his desire for providing a Solar Power Plant at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Railway Station as a green energy initiative to be a part of National Solar Mission. • The Indian Railways successfully implemented Wi-Fi facility in Bangalore City Railway station for providing high speed internet to the passengers on 28th October 2014. “RailWire” - the retail Broadband distribution model of RailTel Corporation of India Ltd, a PSU of the Ministry of Railways, is the powering engine for distributing internet bandwidth through WiFi. The facility at Bangalore has been taken up as a pilot project. • In a move to further enhance safety of road users, Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Road Transport & Highways signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on policy related to constructions of Road Over Bridges and Road Under Bridges on National Highway corridors on 10th November 2014. • As part of the “Swachh Bharat Mission”, announced by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Indian Railways launched a massive special cleanliness campaign since 2nd October, Gandhi Jayanti Diwas involving ‘Shramdaan’ and awareness activities throughout the country. Entire fraternity of more than 13 lakh Railwaymen/women including officers are being urged regularly to be a part of this campaign, either in the ‘Shramdaan’ relating to cleanliness activity or in spreading awareness on cleanliness. • Railways made special arrangements for clearing of anticipated passenger rush during the ensuing Puja rush period and specifically during the festive of Chhat between 24th to 27th October, 2014. To cater to the rush of passengers during Puja, Diwali and Chhat festivals, Northern Railway planned 2485 train trips as compared to 1938 train trips during the same period of last year. Similarly regular trains were augmented resulting in 6070 additional coach trips as compared to 5263 additional coaches trips in 2013 i.e. 15% increase. • The detailed sectoral policy guidelines for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Railways have been finalised. Earlier, a Committee was constituted by the Ministry of Railways to draft sectoral guidelines and to identify potential areas/projects, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The Committee interacted with industry/Chamber of Commerce/Potential Investors and submitted its report within three weeks. • The Ministry of Railways started trial of e-catering service in trains. Its PSU, Indian Railways Catering &Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), was entrusted with the job of implementation of this service. IRCTC on a trial basis has started e-catering services on a few trains on Delhi – Amritsar section since 25th September 2014. 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. Formal launching of e-catering service will be decided on the success of the above trial. • With a view to promote rail tourism in the country and to provide reasonably priced tourism package to tourists, especially the pilgrims in the country, India Railways finalised six pilgrim special tourist train packages in the first phase, which kick started from 25th October 2014. Railways proposes to run tourist trains in various Pilgrim Circuits like Devi Circuit, Jyotirling Circuit, Jain Circuit, Christian Circuit, Muslim/Sufi Circuit, Sikh Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Famous Temple Circuit etc. The six packages starting from 25th October 2014, aim at implementing the budget announcement. • Ministry of Railways have constituted a committee on 22.09.2014 with a tenure of one year for “Mobilization of resources for major Railway projects and Re-structuring of Railways, Ministry & Railway Board” under the chairmanship of Dr. Bibek Debroy. • A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and an Action Plan were signed between the Government of India and People’s Republic of China in enhancing Technical Cooperation in Railway Sector, at delegation level talks between the two countries on 18th September 2014. The potential cooperation areas mentioned in the MoU are; i) Training in heavy haul freight transportation, ii) Raising of speed of trains on existing routes, iii) Station redevelopment, iv) High speed rail and v) Setting up of Railway University. • At present, Indian Railways is running premium special trains on 21 popular routes. Further the following additional premium special trains have been planned to run on seven new routes. These are: Mumbai-Chennai, Pune-Karmali, Hyderabad-Mumbai. Hyderabad-Bangalore, Hyderabad-Chennai, Jaipur-Bandra Terminus and Jaipur-Ernakulam. These trains which have been operated under dynamic fare system earned approximately 40 per cent additional revenue as compared to trains operated on normal fares. • In another landmark engineering marvel, Indian Railways completed Udhampur-Katra Broad gauge line in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Prime Minister dedicated this line to the nation at a programme on 4th July. This line has brought Jammu & Kashmir Valley nearer to the rest of the nation . Four train services up to Katra commenced from July 2014. These are: New Delhi- Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Express, Pathankot-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra DMU and two DMUs between Jammu Tawi-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra. • Indian Railways geared up its machinery to provide all possible help to the travelling public in the wake of unprecedented flood in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Railways arranged transport of relief material free of charge by coaching trains to Jammu Tawi and Udhampur from any station of India. The relief material included items like food, Medicines, Clothes, Building materials, Untensils etc. meant for free distribution among the flood effected population of Jammu and Kashmir. Railways made about 4 lakh Rail Neer drinking water bottles available for flood affected people of J&K. • With focus on improving safety, Railway Board held a series of meetings to review recommendations on various technical and technology related aspects of the High Level Safety Review Committee constituted by Ministry of Railways under the chairmanship of Dr. Anil Kakodkar. The exercise aimed at examining the recommendations in regard to their feasibility and implementation. Automatic Block Signalling; Automatic Signalling on 150 Route Km is targeted for commissioning during 2014-15. • Continuing with its emphasis on increasing the speed of passenger trains, successful trial of semi high speed trains with 160 kmph has been conducted between New Delhi-Agra. Now the clearance from Commissioner Railway Safety is awaiting before the commercial operation of this ‘Gatiman’ train is started. The other identified sector for 160 kmph are; Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Kanpur, Nagpur-Bilaspur, Mysore-Bengaluru-Chennai; Mumbai-Goa, Mumbai-Ahmedabad; Chennai- Hyderabad and Nagpur-Secunderabad. These routes are also under various stages of study and examination. • Ministry of Railways took steps for introduction of High Speed Bullet Trains in the country on Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor. It is the part of the Ministry’s ambitious plan to have Diamond Quadrilateral network of High Speed Rail connecting major metros and growth centres of the country. A detailed presentation was also shown to Railway Minister. Interim reports- no. 1 and No. 2 of JICA about Mumbai-Ahemdabad have been received by the railway Board. A provision of Rs. 100 crore has been made in this Budget for high Speed project to RVNL/HSRC (High Speed Rail corridor) for taking further steps. The issue also came up during the recent visit of the Prime Minister to Japan. Japan expressed its readiness to provide financial, technical, operational support to introduce bullet train in India. One new route between New Delhi and Chennai has been identified for introducing bullet train and China has been entrusted with the task of undertaking feasibility study of this line. • In a move to provide more hassle-free services to railway users, Indian Railways launched new IT initiatives/applications developed by its autonomous organisation, Central Railway Information Centre (CRIS). Some of the salient features are; Next Generation e-ticketing (NGeT); NGet system which can book 7200 online tickets instead of 2000 tickets per minute and now to attend 2,00,000 enquiries instead of 50000 per minute, launched. • Freight E-Demand system; In Freight train movement, the need for an on-line system for Registration and Demand for rakes and wagons has been finally met with the launch of the e-Demand module of the Freight Operations Information System (FOIS). With the release of this module, customers can sit in the convenience of their homes or offices and register their freight demands. Freight E-Diversion system; • Indian Railways added another milestone by launching yet another innovative scheme called the ‘SMS Gateway’, which will enable passengers to get SMS alerts on the status of reserved tickets. The ‘SMS Gateway’ project will be used to send SMS alerts to passengers in case of status change in the PRS tickets, as compared to the initial booking status (For example W/L to RAC, RAC to CNF, W/L to CNF). SMS alerts prior to chart preparation will be sent once a day, in case of status change only, beginning from 5 days before the journey date. • . A new scheme called the Yatri Ticket Sewa Kendra (YTSK) Scheme has been launched in August 2014. Under this scheme, agents of Indian Railways can operate ticketing terminals at various locations in the cities and towns for issuing reserved tickets and unreserved tickets. The scheme is aimed at expanding the reach of the ticketing systems of Indian Railways and evokes the principles of PPP and provides for revenue sharing between the private operators and Indian Railways. • A new Rail Neer plant at Ambernath (Mumbai) of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a Public Sector Undertaking of Ministry of Railways, was inaugurated for commercial production. The production capacity of this plant will be 2 lakh liters per day, raising the total production (of the four plants) to 6.1 lakh litres of Packaged Drinking Water (PDW) daily. Till now, existing three Rail Neer plants used to cater to the Northern, Eastern and Southern parts of our country. • Transportation of coal is an important activity of Indian Railways and is very crucial for the country’s power supply system. Railways along with Power and Coal ministries held special joint meeting to put three critical coal connectivity projects on fast track and formed Multi Disciplinary Project Monitoring Unit for better coordination. The three rail connectivity projects for coal movement are: i) Tori-Shivpur(44kms), Shivpur-Kathautia(53kms) railway line in North Karanpura in Jharkand. ii) Jhasuguda-Barpalli-Sardega railway line (53 kms) in Ib valley, Odisha. iii) Bhupdevpur-Korichapan-Dharamjaigarh(180 kms) in Mand-Raigarh coalfield, Chhattisgarh. • Electrification of 591 route kilometres of railway track has been undertaken which include 150 Rkm between Vellore -Villupuram, 100 Rkm between Pathankot –Jammu Tawai, 81 Kms between Manmad-Puntamba-Shirdi, 88 Kms between Barabanki-Gonda, 88 Kms between Chhapra-Siwan-Thawe and 84 Kms between Kurja-Meerut. • In a move to further improve energy efficiency on Indian Railways, a web based Electrical Energy Management System, RAILSAVER, developed by Centre of Railway Informatics System (CRIS), an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Railways, inaugurated. The portal RAILSAVER will provide a perfect IT based platform for energy consumption data which will pave the way for systematic collection, assimilation, interpretation and analysis of data in evolving future strategies for conceiving, implementing and further intensifying energy conservation efforts on Indian Railways. This portal will further facilitate in saving energy upto 15% by the year 2020 through improved energy efficiency measures as laid down in Railway’s vision document. • Solar Power Panels of total 2.1 MW capacity installed and commissioned at Rail Coach Factory, Rae Bareli. At present, this factory is functioning completely on solar power. Action has been initiated for installing Solar Power project at Katra station to be completed by December 2014. A Solar Plant was also commissioned at the roof of the Rail Bhawan Building on 23rd December 2014. • Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Railways of the Republic of India and Czech Railways (Ceske Drahy) of the Czech Republic and Association of Czech Railway Industry (ACRI) of the Czech Republic on Technical Cooperation in the field of railway sector on 19.8. 2014. • Indian Railways also strengthened its monitoring mechanism for improving catering in trains and stations. In a recent move, 13 catering agencies were penalized with Rs. 1 lakh each for their negligence in serving quality food to passengers in the trains. In order to provide value to passengers in the different regions, popular items from the north, south, east, and western parts of the country will be introduced in the Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and Duronto trains. • In order to clear extra rush of passenger during this peak summer season, 8778 trips of special trains were made run. Also 25452 extra coaches were attached on temporary basis. 40 extra coaches are attached on permanent basis. • Railway Ministry is taking steps for further streamlining the transportation of milk through rail. New design milk wagons have been finalized. A total of 60 Rail Milk Tankers are already proposed for procurement over the next 3 years. Out of these an order for 30 new railway milk tankers has already been placed by M/s RITES on behalf of National Dairy Development Board and Amul. • To keep pace with the modern means of internet media, Indian Railways launched its three social media platforms namely Facebook, Twitter and You Tube with the URL @railminindia. Railway Budget was for the first time live streamed on social media platforms. • Railway sportspersons as a part of Indian contingent at recently concluded Commonwealth Games-2014, (CWG) at Glasgow, Scotland, again brought glory to the nation by bagging 9 medals out of total 64 medals won by India. Indian Railways felicitated these sportspersons by announcing cash awards to each of them. • On the occasion of Independence Day, 2014, the Hon’ble President of India has awarded President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service and Police Medal for Meritorious service to 14 RPF/RPSF officers and staff. • Indian Railways has developed special designed Salt wagons. These new wagons have been designed with FRP lining and sliding roof for transportation of salt. The lower tare weight will permit higher loads therefore greater revenues.

A mixed bag for Parliament in '14

Every year, parliament witness one or two events which leave a bad impression. It was this year, too. However, this doesn't eclipse the highs of 2014.

The first session in February but the last for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, remained unfruitful as expected. Seven Bills were passed and another 10 introduced in both Houses.

"The Session saw extensive disruptions over the issue of separate statehood for Telangana and the plight of Tamil fishermen. It ended on a low note, with an MP using pepper spray in the Lok Sabha to protest the introduction of The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2014. Seventeen MPs were suspended by the Speaker for grave disorder," said PRS Legislative Research, a non-profit organisation.

The 15th Lok Sabha completed its five-year term in June. It left 128 Bills pending, the highest at the end of any Lok Sabha. Of these, 68 lapsed and another 60 Bills, also pending in the Rajya Sabha (where Bills never lapse, as it is a permanent House), have been forwarded to the 16th Lok Sabha.

The new or 16th Lok Sabha following an emphatic victory of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) saw some serious transaction of business. The productivity in both Houses during the Budget session (July-August) was quite high. Five Bills were passed and another 14 introduced in both Houses.

"It lost a significant time to disruptions during the winter session over the issue of reported religious conversions and was able to work for 59 per cent of its scheduled time in the Rajya Sabha," said PRS. In the Lok Sabha, though, it was high productivity.

Around 40 Bills were introduced this year. These included the Constitution 122nd Amendment (Goods and Services Tax) Bill, The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, The Factories (Amendment) Bill and The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill.

"Eight ordinances were promulgated. Two of these were by the UPA government and six by the current NDAgovernment. These included the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance, promulgated twice, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Ordinance, and the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance," stated PRS.

The new Lok Sabha saw the highest percentage till date of women (11) and the largest number of members (47 per cent) over the age of 55, and a small decrease in members with at least a graduate degree (75 per cent).

"The single largest profession of MPs elected was agriculture (27 per cent).

Also, 314 Lok Sabha members (58 per cent) were elected for the first time, the highest in three decades.

Issues that dominated and disturbed the house included the monsoon, price rise, atrocities against women and children, communal violence, unaccounted money, natural calamities, agrarian crisis, religious conversions and the national rural jobs guarantee scheme.

Boost farm income, not production

Small and marginal farmers - the bulk of the Indian farm community - have not gained much from agricultural development, as has been highlighted by various surveys and reports from committees and commissions. The latest confirmation comes from the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) through the 70th round of data gathered in 2012-13. The data indicate that these farmers remain poor, handicapped in terms of access to technology and institutional credit, and deprived of remunerative prices.

The data presented in the latest NSSO report on "the situation of agricultural households in India" put the average monthly income of Indian farmers at just around Rs 6,500. This is little different from what was estimated nearly a decade ago by the National Commission on Farmers, headed by the noted farm expert M S Swaminathan. At this level, farmers are worse off than even the lowest-paid employees in the government or organised sector.

Indeed, farming itself is not sufficient to ensure that small and marginal farmers earn a living. For over half marginal land-owning families it is wages earned through other employment that is the principal source of income. And for about a quarter of others, income from rearing livestock is a significant component of total income.

Clearly, the recent and prolonged spell of high prices for farm commodities may have kept food inflation in double digits, but it has not sufficiently benefitted farmers. This is partly explained by the wide disparity in prices paid by consumers and those received by producers.

What is even clearer is that the government's procurement and minimum support price (MSP) mechanism has failed to ensure remunerative prices to the growers. A far too low awareness aboutMSP - and lower realisation of these prices - among farmers could be one reason. Barring a small section of rice and wheat producers, most farmers are unable to sell their produce to government procurement agencies at MSP. Even for rice, according to NSSO numbers, only 13.5 per cent of paddy sellers got the MSP in the past two seasons. Little wonder, therefore, that farmers find it hard to survive with returns from crops alone.

Worryingly, the survey found that of over half of all the farmers are heavily indebted. As much as 40 per cent of their finance still comes from informal sources, despite an increase in the flow of institutional credit to agriculture in recent years. Usurious moneylenders, too, account for a 26 per cent share of the total agricultural credit.

A significant feature of farm indebtedness is that it is much higher in agriculturally progressive areas than in relatively backward ones. The NSSO reckons it at 93 per cent in Andhra Pradesh and 82.5 per cent in Tamil Nadu, as against 37 per cent in Chhattisgarh and 17.5 per cent in Assam.

Most farmers are unaware of the existing agricultural insurance schemes that can help them hedge their production and income risks. Over 95 per cent paddy farmers and 99 per cent wheat growers did not buy any insurance cover for their crops in the last two seasons.

The survey indicates that about 59 per cent of farmers do not get much technical assistance and know-how from government-funded farm research institutes or extension services. So, they have to rely on progressive farmers, media and private commercial agents such as dealers of farm inputs like seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, for technical information.

The NSSO conclusions broadly bear out the findings of an earlier countrywide survey of the "state of Indian farmers" conducted by the Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) and sponsored by the Bharat Krishak Samaj. That survey had found that farm incomes generally fell short of the livelihood needs of farm households, forcing a sizeable section of them to supplement their earnings by doing non-farm work. Nearly 67 per cent women had maintained that agricultural income was woefully insufficient to cover their household expenditure.

It is, therefore, imperative that government policies should aim at boosting farm income, not farm production alone. This can be done by facilitating cost reduction through higher productivity, and better returns through fair and transparent marketing.

Survey places Delhi's CP as sixth most expensive office location

Delhi’s Central Business District (CBD) of Connaught Place has been ranked as the sixth most expensive prime office market in the world with occupancy costs at $158 per sq ft.
 

According to CBRE’s semi-annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey, London’s West End remained the world’s highest-priced office market with occupancy cost at $274 per sqft followed by Hong Kong Central with $251 per sq ft and Beijing’s Finance Street at 198 per sqft.
 

But Asia continued to dominate the world’s most expensive office locations, accounting for three of the top five markets, the survey said.
 

Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & MD, CBRE South Asia said, “Although New Delhi’s Connaught Place moved up two places to the sixth spot on the global top 10 rankings over Q1 2014, annual occupancy costs here remained stable because of Rupee appreciation since the first quarter. The Capital has seen a strong leasing environment amid limited availability and shortage of new corporate real estate spaces. Office occupiers from the financial services and media sectors dominated commercial space transactions during the year.” 

Survey places Delhi's CP as sixth most expensive office location

Delhi’s Central Business District (CBD) of Connaught Place has been ranked as the sixth most expensive prime office market in the world with occupancy costs at $158 per sq ft.
 

According to CBRE’s semi-annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey, London’s West End remained the world’s highest-priced office market with occupancy cost at $274 per sqft followed by Hong Kong Central with $251 per sq ft and Beijing’s Finance Street at 198 per sqft.
 

But Asia continued to dominate the world’s most expensive office locations, accounting for three of the top five markets, the survey said.
 

Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & MD, CBRE South Asia said, “Although New Delhi’s Connaught Place moved up two places to the sixth spot on the global top 10 rankings over Q1 2014, annual occupancy costs here remained stable because of Rupee appreciation since the first quarter. The Capital has seen a strong leasing environment amid limited availability and shortage of new corporate real estate spaces. Office occupiers from the financial services and media sectors dominated commercial space transactions during the year.” 

Opportunity to tax ,Fiscal targets should be met not just by spending cut

It is increasingly clear that the government is making heroic attempts at what is now called "expenditure compression". A much-discussed recent Reuters report quoted Union health ministry officials as saying that the finance ministry had asked them to slash expenditure by as much as 20 per cent - in spite of the fact that India's public health expenditure is already low. Indeed this cut will come even as the government promises universal health coverage; how the two can be managed simultaneously will be a challenge for the government.

In the past few years, the question of "expenditure compression" has been looked at purely from the perspective of the overall fiscal deficit target sought to be achieved, instead of paying attention to the quality of the expenditure reduction needed to achieve the budgeted goal. In many cases, it is not real expenditure that is being compressed. Plan budgets for many ministries, especially social-sector ministries, often come under scrutiny whenever the need for expenditure compression arises; and then, to achieve fiscal targets, this expenditure is not incurred. Meanwhile, many other payments are artificially postponed to the next financial year. In other words, only "essential" non-Plan expenditure like salaries survives. But this is not, naturally, a sustainable path for fiscal deficit reduction. The government has decided that it must stick to its fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of gross domestic product this year. However, it must not lose sight of the logic behind this: that it must demonstrate to the world its willingness to live within its means. "Expenditure compression" that ignores reality, or that cuts only investment and not salaries, will not do that.

Part of the problem is that it is expenditure compression alone that is being tried. The government is particularly in a hole because it is Rs 70,000 crore short of revenue - according to its recent estimates presented before Parliament - thanks to over-optimistic forecasts and a slow economic recovery. The answer to this should be to look at the revenue side, not just expenditure. For example, there is no reason why the continually falling price of petroleum products should not result in higher taxes on fuel. If the Centre does not take advantage of falling prices to raise taxes, then the states will, as indeed some of them have already done. The government has underlined the fact that inflation has gone down, and so the Reserve Bank of India has "headroom" to cut rates. But, equally, lower inflation gives the government "headroom" to further raise taxes on fuel. Excise duty on some products has been raised by small margins and there is no reason why the government should not look at this option once again. Indeed the government's action on raising sufficient resources appears to have been inadequate. The target for selling of government-owned companies and shares was over Rs 60,000 crore this financial year. But an infinitesimal amount of that has been raised, although the stock markets have been at all-time highs.