Poll Prasad

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[Poll-bound populist and profit-maker, all rolled into one. Lalu Prasad today lived the dream of many a white-clad politician and pinstriped manager, flagging off an Election Express that promised a little something for everyone and still managed to end the day with Rs 25,000 crore to spare. The railway minister cut passenger fares and freight rates, offered relief to students and elderly women and played prospective employer to porters. Unveiling his fifth railway budget &mdash; the final in this House if elections are held earlier than scheduled &mdash; Lalu Prasad also articulated a statement of intent that seeks to transform travel by train. Lalu Prasad peppered his speech with headline-guaranteed sound bites &mdash; he referred to Chak De! India, Goal and Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne &ndash; but the fine print revealed that passengers of popular trains stand to benefit less than the rest. The reductions are couched in a complicated seasonal system. AC First Class fares will be cut by 7 per cent and AC two-tier fares by 4 per cent but only for the lean season and for &ldquo;non-popular&rdquo; trains. For popular trains, such as Rajdhani and Geetanjali, the relief will be halved for all seasons . During the peak season, even non-popular trains will offer only half of the 7 per cent and 4 per cent discounts. Peak season is from April 16 to July 14 and September 16 to January 14. Lean season is from January 15 to April 15 and July 15 to September 15. AC three-tier offers a less complicated structure: the cut will be 5 per cent for all trains. But during the lean season, non-popular trains will offer a 10 per cent relief. Second class fares for all long-distance trains will be lowered by 5 per cent. If your head is spinning, there&rsquo;s more. Lalu Prasad flaunted a record cash surplus of Rs 25,065 crore for the financial year about to end. He will have to pay the Centre a dividend of around Rs 4,200 crore. But even after that, the railways will have more money at hand to spend than the pre-dividend surplus of around Rs 20,000 crore it had the year before. Showing off his acceptance among management evangelists, Lalu Prasad spiced up his speech with terms like &ldquo;out of the box&rdquo; and said the surplus &ldquo;makes us better than most of the Fortune 500 companies in the world&rdquo;. The Lalu &ldquo;jadoo&rdquo; is certain to be back on the dissecting table of management schools that had once invited him to their lecture rooms. Officials said a free hand to professionals, a crackdown on corruption and what some sceptics termed &ldquo;legalisation of overloading&rdquo; could be some of the factors behind the enviable performance. The budget had the trademark Lalu Prasad human touch &mdash; a series of measures intended at helping specific groups. The most striking was a scheme to employ as gangmen some porters, many of whom hail from his home state. Details are yet to be announced but, if implemented, the chosen porters can hope for a steady job and retirement benefits. Another is a Mother-Child Health Express, which will have medical facilities, including that for delivery. The mother in Sonia Gandhi could have played a part &ndash; the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, once headed by the Congress president, will collaborate with the railways for the pilot scheme. Lalu Prasad has set aside Rs 5,000 crore to implement an expected recommendation for salary hike. Bengal&rsquo;s gains were limited to four new trains but the wagon-makers in the state should benefit from increased orders. Unsure how to react, the Left spoke in two voices. Courtesy: The Telegraph &nbsp;