Expressions of the Budget Express

And the final budget from Lallu Prasad yadav was delivered yesterday. It had a mere 2% fare cut but was projected by ET as a total election stunt, is it or is it not. If someone browses the surface like a careless fille de chamber (new word learnt, had to use it) it does seems like an election stunt. But dive deeper and you will see there have been fare cuts all five and the railway has been in profit. Am I appreciating Lallu? being from Bihar and having seen what he did to the rich state I hate the guy but he has done a job no one thought about in years or may be in the long history he became the 1st one to let the officials work with all liberty.

Anyways, let’s just look at the current fare cut what it has for the common man. It would have taken me Rs 792 from Nagpur to Rourkela and Rs 386 from there to Ranchi. A 2% fare cut would mean Rs 15.84 in the first journey and Rs 7.72 in the next and final one. It totals up to Rs 23.56 and hence I am suppose to pay Rs 1130.88 at the counter, for obvious reasons I will give a amount of Rs 1150 and would get back Rs 19 leaving 12 paise with railway to start a new train next year (:P). It takes Rs 23-25 for me to reach city from college plus an additional Rs 25 to reach the railway station. And so I have already rolled out around Rs 1180 from my thin pocket. Having paid the amount and getting in hand the generous gift of Rs 19 from railways counter, I definitely calls for a cold drink party. Do consider the heat of Nagpur and a big line at the railway counter and now I have the power of Rs 9, the highest single digit ever invented. But since we visit the city so rarely at least Rs 5 would end up in the pocket of “Raju chat wala” (well that’s hypothetical I never stick to a particular thela or as one of my friend defined it, Thela: that cheap vendor thing). Anyways, pocket is still buzzing with the coins of Rs 4, I am sure of this amount being in coins, 2 rupee note are extinctosorus these days. Hmmmmm …… What not can you do with Rs 4, may be ET can tell me they were projecting it like a huge election stunt. But since I am a rational consumer and who knows the economy is in deep need of these 4 rupees, it would go as part of the tip in which ever restaurant I dine which I would definitely do.

Now, let’s see what did a rational consumer gained from the 2% fare and what ET is thinking was known to Mukesh the playback singer long long back “Ek din bik jayega matti ke mol jag mein reh jayenge payare tere bol……”.

However, differently you spend the gift of the railway counter it’s a surety that a rational consumer will spend it and spend it in something of little worth to any of the ministries, except the fact that in the current scenario they would love to see the money rolling in the market. Hmmm…. now may be you will say what a genius move by the railway ministry. Hence, a 2% fare cut obviously doesn’t sound anywhere close to a election stunt, the UPA government has done some better ones, remember the loan waiver for the farmers. All confirms the hypothesis that the ET reporters missed the big picture of rational consumers this time.

What finally has emerged is credit must be given to the railway ministry for creating a surplus of Rs 90000 crores and still able to cut whatever percentage of fares for the consecutive 5th year. But yes the paper did mention that a lower percentage of fare cut could have been a possibility due to the rise in operating revenue due to the impact of sixth pay commission for the 14 lakh employees working for railways and 11 lakh pensioners. A job well done !!!