The Ministries of Railways and Coal have recently opened up their passenger train and commercial coal mining segments to private participation. With this, there is a growing clamour for setting up independent sectoral regulators for these sectors. This article argues that railways and coal would be better off “regulating by contract” or that the independent sectoral regulators in related sectors may be given the regulatory responsibility of railways and coal, respectively.
Indian Railways is the world’s fourth largest railway network in terms of size and one of the largest electricity consumers in the country consuming approximately 18,410 million units (MU) for traction loads (trains) and 2,338 MU for non-traction loads (office, railway stations, etc) in 2020.
The Indian Railway Health Service is one of the largest and most widely spread medical service models in the country. It has, over time, established a health infrastructure network, with 125 hospitals, 586 polyclinics, 92 lock-up dispensaries in its sector, and 686 hospitals recognised in the private sector for medical treatment. It provides comprehensive healthcare not only to railway employees and their families but also retired employees. If the railway health model is redeveloped and recreated to achieve the goal of universal health coverage, it can not only continue to provide robust healthcare facilities but also deliver quality people-centred integrated care.
Women loco-pilots in the Indian Railways, although few in number, face unique challenges as they negotiate with masculine forms of labour and technology in a male-dominated work environment. While, theoretically, they are treated at par with their male counterparts, new hierarchies are created on the job when they are expected to aspire to “masculine” standards of performance and discouraged from taking up the full range of tasks designated for loco-pilots. Thus, the entry of women in loco-piloting seems to reinforce its appearance as a masculine profession, and neither is the gendered nature of the system questioned, nor is it actively challenged.
Tracks of Change: Railways and Everyday Life in Colonial India by Ritika Prasad; New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2015; pp ix+315, Rs 795, hardback.
In a bid to introduce point to point high speed rail systems the Indian Railways seems to have forgotten its core constituency. If the Indian Railways fails to provide inexpensive travel to all, it would be deemed as a violation of the constitutional guarantee of travelling freely across the country.
