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India 360: Bharat's reformer Lalu
Published on Thu, Dec 28, 2006 at 02:13, Updated on Fri, Dec 29, 2006 at 17:16 in Business section
Tags: India 360, Lalu Prasad Yadav , New Delhi
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New Delhi: Laloo Prasad, India's Union Minister for Railways, is now a management guru. No less than students from Harvard and Wharton - two of the world's best business schools have come to seek his advice on management and to ask how he managed to turn around that shambling leviathan known as the Indian Railways and actually manage a revenue surplus of Rs 13,000 crore. Is this social justice private limited?
The emergence of Lalu as free market oriented reformer is enormously significant. After all, if the Indian Railways can be managed well, then why can’t Indian agriculture and even Indian airports? Lalu recently visited IIM Ahmedabad and explained to the students, what it takes to be a good CEO.
So does Lalu Prasad have a unique business model? This was the topic of discussion in India 360.
On the panel of experts was Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad; former member, Railway Board, V K Agnihotri; FICCI advisor, Anjan Roy; and Pranay Gupta, he is a student of IIM, Ahmedabad.
Sagarika Ghose: Laluji, what did you tell the students from Harvard and Wharton?
Lalu Prasad: I told themm to work hard, sincerely and honestly. If they do that, then there will be no need of privatisation. We have broken the thought that if any industry is sick, hand it over to private sector. Indian Railways has proved it.
Sagarika Ghose: So, do you feel you have a unique business model, a sort of public-private partnership?
Lalu Prasad: The Government has some social obligations and cannot depend entirely on the private sector. So, the Government should manage resources, monitor them and every department should work hard to uplift Indian institutions.
Sagarika Ghose: The Government has important social obligations, but one must admit that private enterprises also do as well. The panelists will now tell us what they feel about Lalu as India's newest economic reformer. Mr Agnihotri, is Lalu Prasad truly an economic reformer? He is running a Government department as a commercial enterprise.
V K Agnihotri: Actually the Indian Railways is a Government department and if all Government rules are followed, you can’t make it like a business situation, where everything is done to get the best for the customer and also to make maximum money for the organisation. So, both things are necessary - customers must be happy and one must also make money at the same time.
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