MUMBAI AHMEDABAD BULLET TRAIN : A MAJOR STEP FORWARD TO THE INDIAN GROWTH STORY

Ever Since Indian government has taken a decision to introduce a bullet train ( High Speed Rail ) between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, all hell has been let loose by the opposition parties of India in decrying this decision om PM Modi which has the capacity to transform the Indian economy and the lives of common citizenry of India in a decade or so. The government is being touted as anti common man but India has a history of terming most of the progressive measures as repressive. Computerisation was supposed to be anti workers, so was industrialisation. This was generally the view of left parties but today even the centrist party like Congress which was the initiator of the computerisation and industrialisation has joined in the unholy alliance of decrying bullet train through its leaders and  large number of crumb getters who earned the title of intelligentsia through its patronage.

I will give three examples from railways which were outstanding efforts of the crumb givers of this intelligentsia and they rightly sang praises of the effort of the then Indian Government.But today their wisdom seems to have eluded them and they see everything wrong with this path breaking step by Mr. Modi.

a)  Rajdhani Express was introduced in 1969, for providing fast connections (up to 140 km/h or 87 mph, speed variation depending upon the particular track section) from New Delhi to the capital cities of various states in India.
b) Under the aegis of Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation and Indian Railways, Palace on Wheels was introduced on January 26, 1982. ... Thus, with a view to promote tourism in Rajasthan and to provide the world travelers a royal experience of traveling, Palace on Wheels was launched in the year 1982.

c) Rajdhani Express was introduced in 1969, for providing fast connections (up to 140 km/h or 87 mph, speed variation depending upon the particular track section) from New Delhi to the capital cities of various states in India.

But there are some sane voices also. The truth about bullet train has been reflected by Suresh Goel in The track to success: on the bullet train project . There are three advantages from the HSR project: economic benefits, including infrastructure development and job creation; technological development, in which Indian companies imbibe the new technologies and potentially also become suppliers to HSR contracts worldwide; and cultural transformation through a demonstrated ability to implement large projects and improve safety.

Investment in infrastructure development has always acted as a catalyst in the economic growth of India. This project could provide an important boost to public investment. The soft funding of the project by the Japanese government is an additional advantage, which brings the two countries together and provides significant economic benefits. In addition to creating demand for local industry, the project would also generate significant employment for a large number of skilled and unskilled workers. The HSR system is more energy- and fuel-efficient. Studies show that HSR systems are around three times more fuel-efficient than aeroplanes and five times more fuel-efficient than cars. Given the traffic density in this corridor, this project could lead to a significant reduction in India’s carbon footprint.
Equally sane and eye opener is the article How Japan's bullet train can transform Indian Railways into a global leader in size, scale & skill. which lays stress on the spinoff benefits. it is a different level of technology and India can ill afford to ignore it at this stage of its national development. A network of HSR in the longer run would facilitate travelling with enhanced passenger comfort, safety and environmental benefits. An HSR system would also release capacity of existing rail lines, enabling faster movement of freight and passenger traffic on the existing lines. The HSR system also releases capacity of airports as short-haul flights get curtailed. This capacity in turn could be utilised for longer duration flights that improve economics of air transport. In addition, development of new cities, promotion of manufacturing to supply equipment and components for the HSR system would provide employment to a growing and better skilled workforce. Investment in HSR is a highly beneficial system because of its various spinoffs, including infusion of new technology in the country which in the long run would lead to improvement in the operations of the existing railway network also. The project is being structured in a manner that it leads to large-scale manufacturing of rolling stock, signalling systems and other electrical equipment and components under Make in India. Additionally The highs peed train will act as a huge social and psychological change act — it should change the mindset of Indians, particularly the Railways, and teach them the art of excellence, safety, punctuality and perfection. 

Infrastructure and Human Resource Development: Next Gen Growth Engines of Indian Economy

'Money makes the mare go' the old adage is relevant to everything in human life and applies equally to India's growth story. Ample finances can be made available in the government's kitty through meaningful concerted efforts in the areas of corruption mitigation and good governance to progress and sustain Infrastructure development and human resource development, the next gen growth engines of Indian Economy. India is destined to achieve much bigger things in world's economy rather than the 7-8 % growth rates which have been given to us on a platter by the compulsions of developed world. If India fails to accord topmost priority to these two extremely important growth engines to bring them at par with the developed world in a short span of about a decade or so it will miss the ominous dream of being a prosperous nation as also the world leaders on the economic and technology front. Such opportunity slots normally last for about a decade or so for in the meanwhile the advanced countries  recover and newer third world countries present more lucrative options.
Infrastructure development comprising of Roads, Construction, Rail, Airports, Ports, Power generation and transmission, Irrigation, Telecom etc. is one of the keys to development of a country because it

•  is manpower intensive and a big job creator directly and indirectly through other allied industries.
•  generates a huge demand of steel, cement, capital goods, machinery, trucks, wagons etc..
•  improves upon logistics of men, materials, agricultural produce so very essential to any country's growth story.

Human Resource  is equally important growth engine of the Indian economy and until and unless nurtured with an immediate hugely intense national effort will convert into a national drain on the Indian growth potential. The favourable demography picture of human resource in India is going to last for a decade and a half at the most as the ratio of available working  hands to non working stomachs with claims on retirement pensionery benefits will keep on dwindling from now onwards. This will result out of a likely decrease in birth rates as the education and prosperity levels rise and accompanied increase in average life span. India has to make best use of this favourable human resource demography opportunity window.The developed countries became rich before they aged where as India and Indian polity has to strive very very hard and meticulously to get out of this catch 22 situation of getting old before getting rich. 

Human resource development of all segments of manpower  has to be accorded topmost priority because it will

•  result in massive industrial productivity increase through efforts to convert all unskilled workers to semi skilled ones and improving the capabilities of skilled, technical, administrative and managerial workforce of the country.
• result in enormous up gradation of the country's  education system through value additions to the capabilities of educationalists and teachers which will enable individuals to think for the betterment of their own families and country and will be a great help in having a responsible and responsive democracy in the country.