Mr. Deputy-Speaker, Sir, let
me first of all thank you as well as all the distinguished Members who
participated in this debate for being so supportive of the Railways. That is
for obvious reason because the Railways is our strategic asset. It is our
national treasure. It is an important life line for the country. It is a link
between our heritage, when the Railways came for the first time, and our future
that we all want India
to be. We cannot think about a future for our country which has to be modern,
which has to be efficient, which has to be cost effective, which has to be
environment friendly unless the Railways develop to its full potential. We have
had a very good long discussion though normally a Resolution of this kind is
not subjected to such a140 long discussion. I am thankful to
all the Members, including the former Minister of State of Railways, who
initiated the160 discussion and was also in chair for some
time. I am thankful to my good friend who is the Chairman of the
Standing Committee on Railways, Shri Dinesh Trivedi. I am also thankful to the
Chairman of the Railway Convention Committee, Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab, which
recommended this dividend. I am really thankful to all of them. I am thankful
to all the hon. Members cutting across the party lines, coming from different
shades, who have really expressed their opinions. I really thank each one of
them.
Of course, the subject matter
is such that obviously the issues are related to the constituencies and related
to the States and that is how we should tackle railway lines. All these issues have280
been raised but I will confine only to the Resolution. What I really need to do
is respond to the issues relating to this Resolution which I had moved,
and which I am sure would be passed unanimously after the320
end of my reply. I will also talk about some of the larger issues which have
been raised by the hon. Members, including Shri Dinesh Trivedi. They are about
the overall importance of Railways, and in view of that importance how you
actually make sure those Railways is on the right track and developed properly.
As he himself pointed out, and I really appreciate it, that the Railways has
been passing through trouble not now but it has been passing through trouble
for many years. The Railways has been in deep trouble for a long time. All
of us have to420 make an effort to pull it out because
that is where our interest lies. Therefore, how we do it is a challenge.
There are issues which are coming out of the Resolution itself. The issue
related to how much financial support, considering the importance of the
Railways, Central Government, by way of the General Budget, would give
it to Railways.480 Therefore, the Resolution came in.
I am glad that Shri
Dinesh Trivedi has pointed out very correctly the history behind it. The first
time, situation arose and when there was a need to give dividend, the Railways
were making profit. The British realized that it was a good way of getting some
extra revenue. Since then, a lot of water has flowed below the bridge over a
period of time. Now, the Railways are in a completely different situation.560
At that time, the Railways were not taking `public service’ obligation. Now, we
are taking it. Therefore, we really need to relook at the issue completely.
Going back, let us see the situation globally, which will be interesting to
note. Today, the Railways are bearing the `public service’ obligation and it is
to the tune of Rs.34,000 crore. All Governments globally have been supporting
the Railways. They realise that the `public service’ obligation cannot be met
by an organisation which is640 supposed to be commercial in
terms of its operations but also to carry the burden of `social service’
obligations. I will now give an interesting statistics. Each country, including
the most developed countries in the world, where there are market forces in
operation, support the Railways through their budgets. For example, Germany
gives subsidy of 19 billion dollars. Here, we are talking about subsidy of only
Rs.32,000 crore, which700 is not even 5 billion dollars,
almost less than 4.5 billion dollars. France
gives subsidy of 15 billion dollars; Italy
gives subsidy of 8.6 billion dollars, and so on. Even a small country like Austria ,
which is even smaller than some of the cities of India ,
gives subsidy of 2.6 billion dollars. Therefore, when it comes to
passenger-kilometres - that is very interesting, which all Governments do it -
in India , how
much are we asking for a subsidy in view of this burden? We have 11:38 passenger-kilometres of the800
traffic. Therefore, the subsidy we are asking is 0.30 paise per kilometre.
I was giving international
statistics. To compare internationally, it comes to 0.004 paise. This money not
even a beggar would take! This is the subsidy that we are asking.840
In EU countries, they have larger subsidy. We have got fewer subsidies or
virtually no subsidy for the Railways. Therefore, we really need some sort of
support. I am thankful to the Members for applying their mind to this. We give
dividend based on the Gross Budgetary Support. The issue comes in because
subsidy is there; the Gross Budgetary Support is given. From the Gross
Budgetary Support, subsidy is coming. Normally, the Gross Budgetary Support
goes into various issues. Part of the issue is national projects, which are so
important for the country. What do we do in the North-East, in Jammu
and Kashmir , and in many other places? When we run
these nationally important projects, we obviously need960
Gross Budgetary Support. Also, when we run these lines, they are not profitable
but they are run for some strategic980 purposes. Therefore,
there is also a need to have operational subsidy. If you really look at it,
many of these things are the inherent reasons for giving subsidy, and
giving subsidy lies in the fact that these are the lines which have been
created only for strategic purposes. These lines are not for commercial
considerations. Therefore, obviously, there is a merit for having subsidy. So,
when we get GBS, to provide dividend on it is something, which is overburdening
the organization.
This is the rationale, which
many of the Members including Shri Dinesh Trivedi pointed out, which I really
appreciate also. Therefore, I am saying that the Gross Budgetary Support on
which the dividend is given, needs some proper re-look. That is what we have been
saying. Considering all this, we obviously, have got some broader issues, which
have been1120 brought to the fore by many honourable Members.
One is transportation. In this context, as I said, Railway is needed. It
is the most environment-friendly transportation. We need transportation but
also the transportation, which will not emit the Green House Gases,
which will not cause the new environment problems, which again, is choking several
cities of the world. Some cities in China ,
where there had been huge industrialization, had to be shut down because of
this. One of the major contributions to the Green House Gases comes from
transportation. Transportation is a significant contributor to this problem.
So, unless we favour the green transport, which is railway, we would not be
able to do much. So, in view of this, the growth of GDP ,
which you said 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent, which I fully agree, can actually
happen.1260 But how do we do it? For that, we need to invest
in railways. Now, there lies the problem1280 related to what we
have been discussing in this Resolution. It is because investment would mean
that we need to get money from somewhere. So, from the main Budget, if we get
the money on which we have to pay the dividend, it would cause an additional
burden. So, we need to find out money, which would come from alternative
sources. So, what we have done is that we have increased the investment into
the Railways. Last year it was Rs. 1 lakh crore; and this year, it is Rs. 1.21
lakh core, which is almost two to 2.5 times to what it was. It is the simple
reason, which you also mentioned, for its contribution to the GDP.1400
Therefore, in addition to this investment, we are also trying to make
investments from Dedicated Freight Corridors, which is Rs. 35,000 crore.
We are trying to put up
two new workshops with manufacturing facilities. One is in the Constituency of
our1440 great leader Pappu Yadav, in Madhepura. So, new
workshops are being put up – one is diesel and the other is electric. The idea
is that they should try to put in more money, which can generate more
investment; and more investment will lead to more GDP
that you are all talking about. If we have 2.3 trillion dollars GDP
today and if we want 2.5 per cent, it can come with the type of investments
that we are making. It can have a positive contribution. At the same
time, when we make investment, the point which also comes in1540
is servicing. This point is not being raised only today but was raised earlier
also by my very distinguished leader and also the former Railway Minister. For this, we need revenues. How do we get
revenues for the Railways? It is one of the very challenging times for the
Railways today. It is because, in the past, the investment that we1600
had made in the roads was disproportionate to making it in the Railways. So,
the rail balance had been completely off balance. More investments have gone to
the road sector and less investment has gone to the rail sector. So, obviously,
more traffic has moved to the road sector. Therefore, we need to get more
revenues in the Railways. One traditional revenue is the freight traffic. As
you know about freight traffic, we have been losing it to the road1680
sector all the time. Why? It was very easy for a Minister like me to show more
profits; I could have increased the freight rates. That is what has been
happening constantly. But it is a tipping point. Today, we cannot afford to
take more. So, what I did for the first time, with the permission and support
of all of you, was that I reduced the freight rate.1750
