People's Democracy(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
Vol. XXXVI
No.
12 March 13, 2012 |
RAILWAY
BUDGET
Dangerous Intent Behind
Rhetoric
THROUGH a
statement issued
from
While the
minister claimed
that 80,000 vacancies have been filled in the railways, the fact
remains that
the backlog of vacancies against the quota for the disabled still
remains. Only
two days back, the Delhi High Court had passed an order asking the
Railways to
fill the backlog of over 4100 vacancies (as of 2005) reserved for the
disabled.
As far as
passenger
amenities are concerned, extension of the E booking facility for the
disabled
has been one of the key demands of the sector. There is no logic
whatsoever to
deny this facility to the disabled persons who more than anyone else
require
this facility.
It is also
disappointing
that the minister has not conceded the demand to extend concessions for
the
disabled on local trains while they are provided the same on long
distance
trains. Also, though people with mental illness are included in the
PwD Act, they are not provided concessions in the railways. These
issues
too, apart many others concerning accessibility etc, have not been
addressed to
in the rail budget.
In its
statement on the
same day, the central executive committee (CEC) of the Democratic Youth
Federation India (DYFI) said the lakhs of vacancies existing in
railways at
various levels is an issue directly linked with other important issues
and
concerns like safety, better facilities etc. Though the railway
minister
80,000 fresh recruitments were made in 2011, the claim cannot be
verified
as the current employment figures are not given. In absence of a concrete
plan for
creating opportunities for employment generation in the Indian
Railways, the
announcement for recruiting one lakh persons in 2012-13 is devoid of
any
credibility.
Having taken
note of
various other aspects of the rail budget, the DYFI CEC asked all its
units to
organise protests against this anti-youth anti-people rail budget,
demanding a
rollback of the fare hikes and creation of employment opportunities.
Taking strong
exception to
the announcement of introducing a fuel adjustment component, the CITU
secretariat on the same day said it revealed the hidden agenda of a
programme
of perpetual and
deregulated fare hike outside the budget. If this move is read with the
budgetary intent of setting up an independent tariff regulatory
authority, the ultimate
objective of making passenger fares and freights subject to market
volatility
can in no way be concealed through empty rhetoric..
Pointing out
that the rail
budget documents showed a gradual reduction in the staff strength of
the
Railways from 13.66 lakh in March 2010 to 13.28 lakh in March 2011, the
CITU
said the minister’s assertion regarding fresh recruitment of 80,000
persons in
2011-12 appeared to be another false claim, in tune with the empty
assurances made
by his predecessor. The CITU has urged the working class to stage
protests
against this anti-people rail budget which is dangerous in its intent
and
content, notwithstanding its empty rhetoric.