Laghe Raho Lalu Bhai....

Lalu Prasad Yadav. The first thing that comes to mind when you hear this name is the Fodder scam. This is a scam on the funds meant for cattle fodder. He was one of the most corrupt politicians and one of the main reasons for setback in the development of Bihar. He was sent to jail about 5 times on this case and the biggest mockery of all, he installed his wife who never even had proper education as the Chief Minister of Bihar. Thats Lalu in the past.
Today he stands tall in his achievement for the financial turaround of the Indian Railways. When he took over as the Minister from Nitish Kumar every news paper in the country had written him off and said that Indian Railways will bite the dust soon. Even I was puzzled when the Government gave in to his demands and handed over the deperatment to Lalu. According to reports Indian Railways was set to hit Rs. 61,000 by 2015. But after Lalu took over as the Railway Minister recent reports suggest that it has made a revenue of 110 Billion Rs for the financial year. He did not raise any of the fares but rather reduced the AC fares and concentrated on Freight which contributed in bulk to the revenue. He brought in loads of new trains and stations to Bihar but also introduced new trains in other parts of India. Revoked some tenders(food and book stalls) that never changed hands after the British left India. Now has come up with the suggestion of bringing in Vegetable outlets at the station which would directly benefit the farmers. Promoted E-Ticketing which is very convenient. I guess there was a plan to introduce booking through SMS.
One can argue all these things did not take place over night and Lalu is not solely responsible for all these turnarounds. But he made some important administrative decisions that caused the Railways to make profit when it was making huge loss all along. From being in the bussiness of corruption for all these years and bringing in some nice initiative is heart warming. I am not saying that he did not do any corruption after he took over the ministry. For a political system such as in India it is not entirely possible to be devoid of corruption when you are at such a level. That day is still far far ahead. But it is alright to take the commission but do some thing good for the people. That is much better than flundering all the money without doing any good.
The biggest surprise of all is that Lalu gave a lecture at IIM-A, the most prestigious and sought after Institute in India. This itself speaks for the achievement of this man. So we cant say that politicians are always destined to be corrupt and do no good for the country. They can take lead from Lalu by staying a little less corrupt and doing a little more good for the Country!!!!!!