Yadav's fraudulent branding exercise | N.R.Mohanty

Published on 23-08-2008 In General

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Yadav's fraudulent branding exercise

Lalu Yadav has been using public money to do personal branding. What was his contribution to the success of Sushil Kumar in Beijing Olympics? Did he, as railway minister, provide special facilities to equip Kumar to take a stab at an Olympic medal?

When Sushil Kumar was languishing in a room shared by 20 people, two to a bed, in Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi to do his training, did the minister offer him more humane living conditions so that he could physically and mentally prepare to compete honourably in the biggest sports event in the world? The Minister was not even aware of Kumar's existence.

But when Sushil managed to get the coveted medal, defying all odds, Lalu Yadav lost no time in taking credit that a railway employee has made India proud. Even then it would have been understandable had he sent a letter congratulating Sushil and \or offering some rewards. But, as is his wont, he wanted to derive personal mileage at public expense. His ministry brought out advertisements in newspapers with a smiling Lalu Yadav's photograph in bold relief and the man to be honoured, Sushil Kumar, relegated to the bottom.

Here is a Minister who has the temerity to bask in borrowed glory and we, the taxpayers, are condemned to pay for it!

But then this man has been doling out public resources as personal largesse with impunity. He ladled out railway jobs to people who gave witness in courts to bail him out in the fodder case in Bihar.

But then these beneficiaries who have jumped to his defence in lieu of a job here or some money there are people of modest means. One can very well understand why they become willing accomplices in Lalu Yadav's grand design for self-promotion.

But when a premier institution like the IIM-Ahmedabad too becomes a party to the fraudulent branding exercise of an unscrupulous politician, it is a matter of deep shame and sorrow for the people of this country.

All those who thought IIM-Ahmedabad symbolizes the acme of professional excellence in this country were in for a rude shock to learn that it had taken money from the railway ministry to do a hatchet job – to tell the world that Lalu Yadav's visionary and messianic leadership resulted in the exemplary turnaround in the performance of the railway ministry.

Even if there was a genuine turnaround, it was not expected of the IIM-A to take on the role of the public relations agency for Lalu Yadav. For, that is precisely what it became when it accepted money from the railway ministry to create hype about the great success story.

Had the IIM-A done a review of the performance of the railways on its own it would still have been credible. But the fact that its services were paid for was starkly evident in Prof G Raghuram's review report that talked of 'railways as a sunrise industry' and Lalu Yadav as an "inspiring leader". It was, pure and simple, a public relations exercise.

One would still have not taken strong exception to the IIM-A doing a genuine public relations job for earning some extra buck. But what was most appalling was that it was in collusion with the railway ministry to do a fraudulent exercise.

Its report corroborated the railways' claim that it made a profit to the tune of Rs 22,000 crore. But, contrary to what was tom-tomed in the report, the net investible surplus of the railways was just Rs 11,000 crore, almost half of what was touted as profits. What was shown as profit was what was actually part of a suspense account: money promised to the railways but not yet given to it. No credible accounting system would cite it as profit.

Then the money accrued to the Railway Pension Fund which accounted for Rs 9,000 crore of the Rs 21,578 crore profit was shown as cash surplus but this was the money the railway could not invest and could not be shown as profit.

It was with IIM-A's expert advice, that the railways under Lalu Yadav altered the way the balance sheet is presented that resulted in revenues getting inflated artificially.

And Sudhir Kumar, Lalu's OSD and spin-doctor, admitted as much when he said: "These were part of accounting reforms done under expert advice."

And that expertise in deceptive (or creative?) accounting came from Raghuram-Dholakia (the then director of IIM-A) and Company. As a quid pro quo, Lalu Yadav granted the IIM-A huge resources for setting up a Railway Chair.

Not surprising that it was never highlighted that a major chunk of the profit was earned at the expense of passengers and at risk to their safety. Railways, acting under 'expert advice', decided to cause a brouhaha about not raising the ticket fare but silently grossed huge income by levying surcharges under several pretexts: surcharges by naming many passenger trains as express trains and express trains as super fast trains, by charging extra money for booking tickets from a station different from the station of boarding etc. In fact, the railways earned Rs 850 crore that fiscal as safety surcharge on passenger fares. This was an illegal levy as it was done by an administrative order, without the concurrence of Parliament. But the Raghuram report did not highlight this.

It also did not tell the truth that so-called turnaround contributed nothing to passengers in terms of improvements in amenities. In his lecture at the IIM-A, the Minister talked about the world class railway stations, finest catering, excellent hygiene and maintenance and above all, first rate security for the travelers.

Have any of them materialized, even after almost two years of this announcement?

During a long train journey last week, I found to my dismay how hollow the minister's words were. I was traveling to Bangalore by Rajdhani express which, going by the Railway's own website, "gives you the unique opportunity of experiencing the Indian railways at its best".

And what do you experience? The first thing that afflicted our sensibility was the unclean, used face towel and the linen left on the seat. The coach attendant unabashedly asked us to choose any of the other sets left on the seats. But there was nothing much to choose about as each of them was equally dirty. He had a lame excuse: he could provide only what was supplied to him. Fair enough. When we asked for the complaint book, pat came the reply: he had no idea who had it. If you asked for the whereabouts of the train superintendent, he had the ready excuse that a small employee like him would not know where the big boss was.

What about the finest catering promise? In all the six meals in our to and fro journey, we only got paneer! The same preparation, again and again and again, as if it never occurred to the railways that the passengers deserve to get some vegetables in a vegetarian meal. And then they provided some gooey-gooey substance they call curd. And the ice cream? Passengers are treated to the vanilla ice cream, of a company called RGB, which is simply inedible. It tastes like some sweetened chemical. And, pray, what water were we served? With a brand name called Icelings!

It is obvious that the caterer greases somebody's palms to push down the passengers' throats sub-standard food and drink. Add to it the horrendous hygiene. If you happen to go near the pantry, you will get a taste of it. And security? Where are the CCTVs and the dog squads that the minister spoke about in the IIM-A?

If this is the state of the Rajdhanis, the pride of the railways, one can imagine the kind of amenities that the passengers in the lesser trains enjoy in Lalu Yadav's 'transformed' railways.

It is evident that the railway is being disgracefully managed, but it is a pity that Lalu Yadav's fraudulent exercise in self-promotion has many takers – including a section of the media and the premier management institute of the country.

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