Railways in Budget 2022: A Road Map to Handover Railways to the Corporate Capital

Can the people feel assured of safe and comfortable rail travel because of budget allocation of Rs 1,40,367.13 Crores for 2022-23? It’s really a question mark. In fact, this allocation is a part of the Prime Minister’s Gati Shakti Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity announced on the day of the country’s 75th year of Independence. PM Gati Shakti Master Plan to upgrade infrastructure (Railways, Roads, Airports, Ports, Public Transportation, Waterways and Logistics) is described as "seven engines" for economic growth and development leading to huge job opportunities. But, the ground reality tells a different story. The aforesaid seven engines are likely to handover 15 lakh hectares of land, evicting 44 lakhs of people and rendering them as ‘development refugees’ with no livelihood support. Now, let us take a look at some of the key announcements of the Finance Minister for Indian Railways for the fiscal year 2022-23.

Logistics for Corporate Loot and Plunder

The national transporter will develop new products along with efficient logistics services for small farmers and medium enterprises, apart from taking lead in integrating postal and railway networks in order to find solutions for the seamless movement of parcels. The concept of 'One Station, One Product ' will be popularised in a bid to help local businesses and supply chains.

The proposed logistics services without guaranteeing Minimum Support Price for farmers and integration of postal and railway networks will only pave the way for a rapid privatization of railways and corporatisation of agriculture. When small farmers with less than five acres of land are so distressed due to rise in input costs, commercialisation and corporatization can only spell a doom to agriculture and the people dependent. The potentially sick and suffering MSMEs may not gain anything out of the so-called logistics infrastructure. The whole scheme and master plan can only help big corporate companies to transport their purchases and products of contract farming. Rather,  the plan appears to be nothing but facilitation of super profit and loot by corporate companies.

The Farce of Rail Safety and Kavach

2,000 kilometres of railway network is proposed to be brought under the 'Kavach' Technology for safety and capacity augmentation in the financial year, 2022-23, as a part of Modi government's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiative. Kavach is nothing but a technology being adopted to prevent collisions of trains.

Out of the total 67,956 KMs route length of rail network, only 2000 kms length is being proposed to be brought under 'Kavach' technology and such a pathetic coverage of anti-collision technology cannot be expected to provide any real safety and self-reliance as announced by the finance minister. In fact, such safety provisions are meant only for elite and new generation trains like Vande Bharat Express. Moreover, RDSO (Research Designs and Standards organisation), the premier research organisation of Indian Railways has been innovating on anti-collision and other signaling devices for the last 10 years. With RDSO technology, rail line capacity and coverage can also be phenomenally increased. What is required is allocation of sufficient funds to this research institution, which precisely the government is refusing to do. Phasing out of old ICF (Integral Coach Factory) coaches and replacing them with LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) coaches of German technology, as recommended by Kakodkar Committee, is of significant importance in averting train accidents, which is also being ignored by the government.

New generation Elite Trains and Loss of Livelihood

Introduction of 400 new generation Vande Bharat express trains in next 3years is proposed to be be developed and manufactured indigenously. Initially, it was decided to import this set of trains from Spain and France. Such imports, through FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) route, were stalled mainly because of agitations by rail-workers, particularly by workers of ICF-Chennai and continuous protest rallies and movements organised by the IREF (Indian Railway Employees Federation) at Kapurthala Coach Factory on the one hand and also because of strong resentment among a section of Railway Board officers on the other hand. In the Budget 2022-23, there is hardly any mention of much trumpeted bullet train - the dream project of Modi - between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

It appears that the high speed bullet trains are being replaced by the introduction of Vande Bharat Express trains that are expected to be run at 160 KMPH, only to avoid rising people’s anger. It is crystal clear from the government’s policy of privatisation coupled with complete sell-out of national assets, such modern train sets are expected to be handed over to private corporate companies. Such companies are expected to be provided all liberty to fix fares at an exorbitant rate beyond the reach of the poor, including the low income groups like migrant labourers and lower middle classes. Essentially, rail being the most popular mode of transport for the poor and middle classes in India, it is being converted into a mode of transport for the rich and the elites. The poor and middle classes are left in the lurch.

Besides this, the Budget targets 100 percent electrification of all broad gauge routes by 2030. Indian Railways also plan to modernise and transform more railway stations like airports under PPP (Public – Private Participation) mode and thereby making it out of the reach of the vast public. One hundred Cargo terminals for multi-modal logistics facilities are also developed in subsequent years. All these projects are aimed at handing over all infrastructure to corporates and to facilitate corpore loot and plunder while denying the vast public of their most affordable mode of transport. This project is also expected to render lakhs of poor and the downtrodden as refugees in their own land without any rehabilitation plans for their life and livelihood.

Shrinking Opportunities and Vanishing Jobs

When the Modi led BJP government came to power in 2014, the total workforce in Railways was more than 13.5 lakhs and now, in 2020-21, after 7 years, it is reduced to 12.52 lakhs by adopting various measures including indiscriminate contractorisation, outsourcing and ban on recruitment. This drastic reduction of manpower in almost all government and public sectors aggravated the situation. The crisis of unemployment amply reflected in the violent agitations of unemployed youth and students at Gaya in Bihar and also in Prayag in Uttar Pradesh where 125 lakhs candidates were competing for 35,281 jobs in railways that are mostly non-technical popular categories of posts such as train Guards, Station Master, Clerks, etc. Even vacancies in technical categories like assistant Loco Pilot, Technicians in Electrical, Mechanical and Civil engineering are being curtailed and as a result of which as many as 1462 empaneled candidates selected by Railway Recruitment Board - Ranchi, Hajipur and Malda - have been waiting for absorption since 2018. In such  a backdrop, the raging anger among unemployed youth is very much justified .

In this situation of worst ever crisis of employment, the budget could project a pathetic employment generation of only 60 lakhs of jobs and the crisis is turning into a nightmare for the youth of the country. Even if it is materialized, 76 percent of employment is to be generated in informal sectors where it is of poor quality and low wages coupled with the risk of potential occupational hazards.  Social security benefits are nothing but a mirage for workers in informal sector.

In fact, the Budget 2022 failed to address the issues of COVID induced job crisis as well. It is not a 'turnaround' budget for Indian Railways of the Indian people, rather, it is only a road map to hand over railways to the corporate capital.