Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe will be laying the foundation stone of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project, popularly known as the bullet train, on September 14 in Ahmedabad. This visionary project will herald a new era of safety, speed and service and help the Indian Railways craft a pathway to becoming a global leader in scale, technology and skill. Here are five reasons to laud this transformational leap in India’s transportation history.

One, attractive low-cost long-term financing. As a part of the cooperation agreement between India and Japan, the government of Japan will provide a soft loan of about Rs 90,000 crore at a minuscule interest rate of 0.1 per cent over 50 years. The repayment of the loan is to begin after 15 years of receiving the loan. Generally, any such loan, even from other multilateral or bilateral development financing institutions, would cost between 3-7 per cent with a repayment period of 20-30 years. India is getting the loan for the MAHSR at close to almost zero cost. This saves any strain on existing financial resources, as more than 80 per cent of the project cost is being funded by the government of Japan in this way. It is for the first time that an infrastructure project of this size and magnitude is being funded on such favourable terms.

Two, stimulus for advanced components’ manufacture and construction. One of the stated objectives of the project is “Make in India”, which is being actioned even before the commissioning of the project. As per the agreement between the two governments, the MAHSR Project has “localised manufacture” and “transfer of technology” as twin, complementary objectives. Under the guidance of the task force comprising of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), action is being initiated as per the agreed guidelines. Four sub-groups with representatives from Indian industry, Japanese industry, DIPP, and JETRO have to identify potential items and sub-systems for manufacture in India. It is instructive to recall how an investment by Suzuki in the automobile industry spawned a new generation of Indian auto-component manufacturers from the early ’80s.

In 1983, Maruti started operations with CKD (completely knocked-down-kits) of imported components. Over the years, localised production of components increased significantly, as part of the agreed phased manufacturing programme. Today, there are close to 250 Japanese and Indo-Japanese component-makers operating in India. This enabled the Indian auto-components business to rise to global expectations and created vibrant clusters in towns like Gurugram, Pune, Indore and Chennai. It is expected that many joint ventures will be formed to take up the manufacturing of various components related to track and rolling stock. The construction sector in India is also expected to get a big boost not only in terms of works contracts but also with respect to new technology and work culture. This project is likely to generate employment for about 20,000 workers, who will then be equipped to take up construction of more such projects in India. The new areas where construction skills would be developed are ballast-less track, under sea tunneling et al.

Three, professional capacity-building. A dedicated High Speed Rail Training Institute is being developed at Vadodara. This institute will be fully equipped with equipment and facilities, such as a simulator, as exist in the training institute at Japan. This institute will be functional by the end of 2020, and have facilities to train about 4,000 staff in the next three years, who will then be utilised for operation and maintenance. They will also serve as a backbone for the development of other high speed corridors in India. In addition, 300 young officials of the Indian Railways are being trained in Japan to give them exposure in high speed track technology. As these young professionals absorb the latest technologies, they will then be able to manage other high speed corridors which are under consideration.

Four, speed. There are two types of services proposed. A “rapid train” service with only two stops — at Surat and Vadodara — and a slower service that halts at 10 stations en route. The “rapid train” would complete the journey in 2 hours and 7 minutes, while the slower service would take 2 hours and 58 minutes. Thirty-five daily services will be operated on the line, with three services per hour during peak times and two services per hour during off-peak times. The estimates are that the high speed rail corridor will have a daily ridership of around 36,000 in 2023. This is widely expected to enable the railway system to begin winning back the creamy layer of higher-fare paying passengers in inter-city routes from the hemorrhaging occurring today vis-à-vis the domestic aviation sector.

Five, cutting edge operational technology. India is getting cutting-edge operational technology in totality. The Shinkansen technology is renowned for its reliability and safety. The train delay record of Shinkansen is less than a minute with zero fatalities. Thus, the project is set to provide reliable and comfortable service with high standards of safety. The technology regarding disaster predictions and preventions will also be acquired as part of the project.

It is amusing to recall that when the first Rajdhani left Delhi for Howrah on March 1, 1969 at 5:30 pm, it collapsed a journey that took upwards of 24 hours to 17 hours. The ticket price was Rs 280 for AC First and Rs 90 for AC Chair Car. As the glistening red-and-white fully air-conditioned train, with quality meals thrown in, zipped past iconic cow-belt stations at 120 km/hour without stopping, many editorials branded it as “elitist” and a luxury that a poverty-stricken India could do without.

We should be careful not to confuse leapfrogging technology development with elitism — whether it is mobile phones, satellite launches, regional air-connectivity or high-speed rail.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/why-india-needs-a-bullet-train-china-abe-modi-ahmedabad-mumbai-4839143/

On September 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe will participate in the groundbreaking ceremony for India’s first High-Speed Train Project, otherwise known as the Bullet Train project, which will connect Ahmedabad and Mumbai and reduce the current railway journey time of 7-8 hours between the two cities to 2:07 hours by the train with limited stops and to 2:58 hours by the train with additional stops.

Planned as a collaboration between India and Japan, with the aim of bringing the most modern technology to the Indian Railways (IR) as well as boost industrial and infrastructural development and economic growth, the Bullet Train has been subject to the same vein of charges of “elitism” and “wastage”, and even the old narrative of “why spend on new when the old and exiting need fixing”. It may be recalled that, in their planning days and early implementation stages, this was almost exactly what was said about, say, the Rajdhani Express or the Delhi Metro, or even the Maruti car. We know only too well how those panned out and what far-ranging changes they brought to the economy and beyond.

An overview of what exactly the Bullet Train involves and entails should not only set to rest the scepticism but also demonstrate how it is likely to bring about a paradigm shift for Indian railways and industry. As far as IR itself is concerned, the country’s first Bullet Train could herald a new era in speed and safety. IR could then be catapulted into becoming a global leader in technology and skill.

What, then, are the salient features of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor project and what could be its benefits?

Low Project Cost
The first Bullet Train myth that needs to be busted is the notion that it is unaffordable for India and is a waste of money. The fact, however, is that Japan is providing India a loan of approximately Rs 88,000 crore at an interest rate as low as 0.1% , with a repayment period of 50 years and the repayment beginning after 15 years since receiving the loan. The interest works out to Rs 7-8 crore per month. The total project cost is Rs 1,08,000 crore.

Therefore, this practically zero-cost loan puts no constraints on India’s own exchequer, with nearly 80% of the project cost is being financed by Japan. In contrast, a similar loan from the World Bank, etc, would come at about 5-7% interest and a repayment period generally ranging between 25 to 35 years and no more. As a rule, large infra projects are debt-funded and the debt itself comprises the lion’s share of total costs. In the case of the MAHSR, what we are witnessing are unprecedented favourable terms for an Indian infra project.

Boost to Manufacturing & Construction
‘Make in India’ is a stated objective of the MAHSR project and it is preceding the commissioning of the project itself. The project has the twin objectives of both localised manufacturing and technology transfer.

With the discussions between Japanese and Indian industry already underway, a significant number of joint ventures will be formed to begin the manufacture of necessary components, including, very importantly, the rolling stock. The resultant job creation in India will be explored in some more detail later. In sum, the Make in India tag to the project will also ensure that most of the investment is to  be spent and used up within India. Looking ahead, India would be in a position to manufacture and export Bullet Train technology to other countries.

The advent of the new technology and the accompanying work culture is set to be a boon for the domestic construction sector as well. The construction phase itself is expected to create about 20,000 jobs for workers. Since these workers will have to be necessarily trained as well to specifically engage in similar construction projects in India, there will be a skill consolidation and pass-on effect on the economy too which will be a big long-term gain. Among the new construction skills to be picked up, we could be looking at undersea tunnels, ballast-free tracks and so on.

Skill & Engineering Capacity-Building
Vadodara will see a new and dedicated High Speed Rail Training Institute, which is being developed. To be operational by end-2020, the institute will boast equipment and facilities on a par with those in Japan. The institute will train 4,000 staff over the next three years to operate and maintain the high-speed train project. Skilling Indians will also ensure that India’s high-speed train projects do not become dependent on foreign human resources. Moreover, those trained in the next three years will  be vital to other high-speed corridors subsequently built in India.

There are other provisions too. As of now, 300 railway officers are being trained in Japan for understanding high-speed track technology. Besides, Japan is offering and fully funding 20 Masters seats annually to serving Indian Railways officials at Japanese universities.

Also, as the engineers get exposed to the technology and learn its fundamentals, they will be able to help the development of the same and similar technology in India. India’s overall HRD capacity as a result of the MAHSR and other HSR projects could then spread to other hi-tech and large infra projects as well and even take Indian workers abroad for the same.

Safety, Speed, Technology & Scale-Up
High-Speed Rail (HSR) refers to all railways systems that run trains at above 250 kmph. Available in 15 countries till date, India has been an exception among major passenger railway systems in the world.

With the Bullet Train, India is not playing catch-up in technology any more. Rather, it is deploying full-scale cutting-edge technology. It is a giant technological leap for the country and sets a precedent. It is not insignificant that Japan and its Shinkansen have been chosen for this. The Shinkansen HSR is renowned for speed, safety and reliability. Introduced in Japan in 1964, Shinkansen today has one of the very best safety records among HSRs. Incidentally, Shinkansen has a delay record of under a minute. More importantly, it has a zero-fatality record in over 50 years.

The MAHSR project, therefore, ought to have reliable service and a very high standard of safety. It will not come without the accompanying technology for disaster-prediction and prevention. The MAHSR safety system will ensure that operational safety is compromised by natural calamities like earthquakes. It should be noted that being a highly earthquake-prone country, Japan specially equipped its Shinkansen system with anti-earthquake and quake-resistant measures and technology. The MAHSR corridor is elevated for safety and land economy.

The introduction of the Bullet Train in India will see the rail travel time between the two cities in the first project – Mumbai and Ahmedabad – reduced to approximately 2 hours from the current 7-8.

Also, once the technology reaches Indian shores, the ‘Make in India’ dimension to the MAHSR project will ensure it takes roots here. There will, thus, be a scaling-up of the HSR in India thereafter. As a matter of fact, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (responsible for the MAHSR too) has been studying other HSR corridors. These future HSR-grade corridors are: Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata, Mumbai-Chennai, Delhi-Chandigarh, Mumbai-Nagpur, Delhi-Nagpur.

Before we conclude, let us take a brief look at the key technical features of the MAHSR project and its key economic benefits:

Key Technical Features:
* Length of MAHSR route: 508 km (approximately).
* Double-tracked, via two states: Maharashtra (156 km) and Gujarat (351 km); and via the Union territory of
Dadra & Nagar Haveli (2 km).
* Longest tunnel: 21 km, 7 km undersea (Thane Creek).
12 stations: Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad,
Sabarmati. (Mumbai station underground, rest elevated.)
* Maximum Design Speed: 350 kmph.
* Maximum Operating Speed: 320 kmph.
* Journey time: 2.07 hours (limited stops), 2.58 hours (additional stops).

Key Economic Benefits:
* 20,000 construction jobs.
* 4,000 direct operational jobs and 20,000 indirect jobs.
* Boon for urban and industrial development along the HSR corridor.
* Capacity-building and tech-grounding for other HSR projects.
* Commuting capacity-building, ease of travel.
* Farmers can move agricultural produce at high speed, faster business travel, spreading benefits across the economy.

As the details above demonstrate, a leap in technology on this scale comes with immense qualitative and quantitative benefits which spread out across the economy and even help revamp and reshape it. Charges of elitism or extravagance do not hold against a project on this scale, which can bring long-term and far-reaching benefits to both economy and society, to say nothing of domestic R&D. The measure of the MAHSR project, thus, cannot be taken by comparisons with legacy issues and longstanding problems of the railways. It has to be seen from the correct perspective, which will show that, if successfully designed, built and operated, we could be looking at an almost overnight leap in infrastructure and technology in India over a half-century lag.

Source: http://thetruepicture.in/what-the-bullet-train-brings-to-india-and-where-it-plans-to-take-india/

बुलेट ट्रेन भारतीय रेलवे में वह परिवर्तन लेकर आएगी जो मारुति कार ऑटोमोबाइल क्षेत्र में लेकर आई थी। इस कदम से रेलवे का कायाकल्प हो जाएगा। ये बात रेलमंत्री पीयूष गोयल ने कही। वे मुंबई-अहमदाबाद बुलेट ट्रेन परियोजना के बारे में बात कर रहे थे। दो दिन बाद इस परियोजना का निर्माण प्रारंभ हो जाएगा। प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी 14 सितंबर को अहमदाबाद के साबरमती में जापान के प्रधानमंत्री शिंजो आबे के साथ इस प्रोजेक्ट का भूमि पूजन करने जा रहे हैं।

पीयूष गोयल ने संवाददाता सम्मेलन में परियोजना की खूबियों पर प्रकाश डाला। उन्होंने कहा कि मारुति कार आने के बाद तीस साल में भारत का आटोमोबाइल क्षेत्र एकदम बदल गया। इसी तरह का परिवर्तन बुलेट ट्रेन आने के बाद रेलवे में दिखाई देगा। मारुति से शुरुआत होने के बाद अब भारत की सड़कों पर एक से बढ़कर एक आधुनिक कार दिखाई देती है। परंतु रेलवे में ऐसा नहीं हुआ। वह आज भी पुरानी तकनीक पर चल रही है। यही वजह है कि प्रधानमंत्री मोदी ने आते ही देश में बुलेट ट्रेन लाने का निश्चय किया। ताकि रेलवे में भी नई से नई तकनीक आ सके। बुलेट ट्रेन आने से रेलवे में बड़े परिवर्तन देखने को मिलेंगे। इससे आधुनिक तकनीक आने के साथ अर्थव्यवस्था को लाभ के साथ रोजगार के लाखों नए अवसर पैदा होंगे।

रेलमंत्री ने कहा कि एक बार बुलेट ट्रेन आने से रेलवे में एक नया नजरिया पैदा होगा। भारत बुलेट ट्रेन की लागत कम कर विदेशों में उसका निर्यात कर सकता है। इससे अन्य ट्रेनों की रफ्तार बढ़ाने तथा उन्हें सुरक्षित चलाने की प्रेरणा भी मिलेगी। क्योंकि आज तक एक भी दुर्घटना न होने के कारण जापानी शिंकांशेन बुलेट ट्रेन तकनीक विश्र्व में सर्वाधिक सुरक्षित मानी जाती है।

गोयल के मुताबिक प्रधानमंत्री मोदी के प्रभाव के कारण भारत को बुलेट ट्रेन के लिए 0.1 फीसद की नगण्य ब्याज दर पर कर्ज मिला है। यह अनुदान जैसा ही है। पचास सालों में शायद ही किसी परियोजना के लिए इतनी सस्ती दर पर ऋण मिला होगा। इस कारण बुलेट ट्रेन की लागत काफी कम होगी। आगे चल कर जब कई बुलेट ट्रेन परियोजनाएं बनेंगी तो लागत और घटेगी। उसी तरह जिस तरह एलईडी बल्बों की लागत घटी है।

गोयल ने कहा कि वैसे तो परियोजना को 2023 में पूरा होना है। लेकिन भारतीय इंजीनियरों की कार्यकुशलता को देखते हुए मुझे भरोसा है कि हम इसे 2022 में ही पूरा करने में कामयाब हों जाएंगे।

Source: http://www.jagran.com/news/national-indias-rail-network-will-be-revolutionised-with-bullet-train-initiative-says-piyush-goyal-16692666.html

On the eve of the foundation laying of India’s first High Speed Rail (HSR or Bullet train), jointly by Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe and Narendra Modi, let us not forget a Railway board chairman from 1968-69 who reportedly said, ‘India does not need a Rajdhani Express. In a poor country such air conditioned trains are luxuries, best avoided.’

Thankfully he was overruled, and today we have Rajdhanis, Shatabdis, Durontos, Gatimaans and many other AC express trains. Similarly, when Maruti-Suzuki started producing cars in India, professional critics carped about how ‘poor India’ does not need more cars beyond the Ambassador and Premier Padmini. Today, after nearly three decades, Maruti has created lakhs of jobs for Indians and a thriving ecosystem of component suppliers in Gurgaon.

More recently, Delhi Metro has been attacked for being very expensive and elitist. But several studies have shown the Metro’s contribution to Delhi NCR’s job creation and development. The HSR project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is a similar paradigm shift for creating jobs for Indians. This would go on to become the first of the ‘diamond quadrilateral’ of bullet trains connecting major metro cities in India.

We’d see an entire ecosystem come up around manufacturing of locomotives and rolling stock for future bullet trains, as well as the entire component value-chain, with thousands of suppliers. ‘Make in India’ would get a fillip, and going forward India would manufacture and export bullet train technology hardware and software to other countries in the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor, being promoted jointly by India and Japan. Perhaps most significantly, human capacities would be created in training and execution of large infrastructure projects in India and abroad.

Low-cost flying has enabled many Indians to switch from train to air. This has improved connectivity and business, but is quite regressive in ‘economic rate of return’. Short-haul flights use imported aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and are large carbon emitters, hurting the environment.

As an example, Mumbai-Delhi is perhaps one of the busiest air corridors in the world. If we can replace at least half these flights with HSR, there would be significant emission reductions. Strategically, imported ATF would be replaced by electricity produced within India. Such HSR trains would run from city centre to city centre, cutting down long airport commutes and lengthy security drills. This choice would be good for the Indian traveller.
The Shinkansen HSR was launched in Japan in 1964. With improvements, it is faster and better today. Initially developed by Japanese government entities, using state finances and borrowings, only in 1987 was the system handed over for operations and maintenance to JR (Japan Rail) companies. Shinkansen trains have perhaps the best safety record in HSR, and they are a treat to ride in.

Another country with a quick HSR rollout is China, which has developed about 22,000 km of HSR since 2007-08. I flew from Shanghai to Beijing in 2 hours 40 minutes, longer than Mumbai to Delhi. HSR trains take a mere 4 hours 29 minutes for the same distance. Imagine reaching Mumbai from Delhi in less than 5 hours by train, with attendant environmental benefits.

Add to that your cellphone and data in uninterrupted roaming, and getting to HSR station in the city centre quickly. Such HSR stations would be fully linked to multi-modal transit options, reducing private cars. On the Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR, cities chosen for brief stops would attain much quicker job creation.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR project will be a singular achievement for India. Japan has been our valued partner earlier, with Delhi Metro financing. Japan is now largely funding the HSR project, on extremely generous terms. It will be a technology and project execution demonstrator for Indian infrastructure professionals.

Many joint ventures between Japanese and Indian companies would emerge, as transfer of technology and training of trainers has already begun. Key learnings from HSR would translate into better execution for many other infrastructure sectors. The set of competencies created by this HSR project will contribute to a quicker and more robust process of building India.

In a few years, dear critics, we hope you will be riding the first of India’s many high speed trains, leaving your misgivings at the departure station.

Source: https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/why-the-bullet-train-project-whose-foundation-will-be-laid-by-pm-modi-and-abe-is-the-key-to-transforming-india/

लोग एक जगह से दूसरी जगह तेज गति से सुविधाजनक तरीके से जा सकें ऐसी टेक्नोलॉजीस को जोड़ते हुए बड़े-बड़े देशों ने अपनी आर्थिक प्रगति को रेल के माध्यम से और गति दी। उसके निष्पक्ष भारत मैं समझता हूं पिछले चार-पांच दशकों में पीछे रह गया। आज भी भारत में पुरानी टेक्नोलॉजी, टेक्नोलॉजी जो कई वर्ष पहले डेवेलप्ड कंट्रीज ने डिस्कार्ड कर दिए हैं, हम उसी पर अपनी पूरे रेल की आगे की Journey तैयार करते रह गए कई वर्षों तक।

माननीय प्रधानमंत्री जी ने जब 2014 में भारत के शासन की कमान संभाली तब उनके मन में तीव्र इच्छा थी कि भारत अब बाकी देशों से पीछे नहीं रहे, बाकी देशों की कड़ी में खड़ा हो, विकसित देशों की कड़ी में खड़ा हो और एक विकसित देश के रूप में उसकी पहचान पूरे विश्व में बने। रेल उसका एक जीता-जागता उदाहरण है। और कैसे रेल मोस्ट मॉडर्न टेक्नोलॉजी भारत में आए और उसके साथ-साथ उसकी टेक्नोलॉजी भारत को नई नौकरियों का अवसर बने, नए उद्योग का अवसर बने, नए लोगों को नई टेक्नोलॉजीस बनाने के लिए प्रोत्साहित करने का अवसर बने। कैसे किसानों को अपने उत्पादन को दूर-दराज के इलाकों में कम समय में बेच के  अपनी आमदनी बढ़ाने का मौका मिले।

इस प्रकार से एक होलिस्टिक अप्रोच रेलवे के विकास में माननीय प्रधानमंत्री जी ने दिशा दी और उनकी प्रेरणा से ये जो जापनीज टेक्नोलॉजी इस देश में लाई जा रही है। जैसा अभी-अभी आप को सूचित किया गया, मैं समझता हूं इतने सस्ते ब्याज में 50 साल का फाइनेंसिंग शायद ही विश्व में कभी हुआ होगा और भारत में भी अभी तक कभी इस प्रकार का फाइनेंसिंग कोई प्रोजेक्ट का हुआ नहीं है। ये तो माननीय प्रधानमंत्री जी ने जिस प्रकार से अपनी छवि बनाई, अंतर्राष्ट्रीय छवि बनाई, भारत की छवि को सुधारा जिस प्रकार से उन्होंने रिश्ते सुधारे भारत और जापान के बीच, ये उसका परिणाम है कि जापान तैयार हो गया इतने सस्ते ब्याज पर इतनी लंबी अवधि का ऋण, अब आप अनुमान लगाइए लगभग 1 लाख करोड़ रुपये .1 परसेंट तो 1 लाख करोड़ रुपये में कितना होता है? 100 करोड़ रुपये, सालाना। 100 करोड़ रुपये ब्याज।

अब कई लोगों को गलतफहमी है कि अरे इतना महंगा ये रेलवे लाइन क्यों लाई जा रही है। आपको याद होगा मैं क्योंकि ऊर्जा क्षेत्र से यहां पर आया हूं, एलईडी बल्ब भी जब पहले आए तो नए-नए बल्ब तो शायद हजार रुपये-डेढ़ हजार रुपये के बिका करते थे। तो जब नई टेक्नोलॉजी आती है तो उसका एक कीमत होती है। जैसे-जैसे उस टेक्नोलॉजी को भारत में हम बड़े स्केल पर इम्प्लीमेंट करते हैं और भारत में उसका प्रोडक्शन शुरू करते हैं, निर्माण शुरू करते हैं, मेक इन इंडिया में उसको लाते हैं तो उसके खर्चे भी कम होते हैं, उसकी इनवेस्टमेंट कम होती है। आप सब जानते हैं एलईडी का इनवेस्टमेंट 87 परसेंट हर बल्ब के पीछे गिर गया है। आगे चलकर ये भी जब बुलेट ट्रेन हमारे डे-टु-डे डेवेलपमेंट का एक हिस्सा बन जाएंगी तो इसका भी कॉस्ट massively गिरेगा। क्योंकि भारत में बनेंगी, नौकरियां प्रदान करेंगी लोगों को, हम इसमें इनोवेट करेंगे, इस टेक्नोलॉजी को और सुधारेंगे। यहां पर सस्ती बनेंगी तो पूरे विश्व में बेचेंगे, एक्सपोर्ट करेंगे भारत में बनाए हुए बुलेट ट्रेन्स को।

तो इसका एक इतना बड़ा आर्थिक लाभ भारत को आगे चलकर मिलने जाने वाला है। और वैसे अगर आप हमारे भारतीय जनता पार्टी का मेनिफेस्टो भी देखें तो ये कल्पना कोई हमारी नई नहीं है। जब मेनिफेस्टो… जब हमारा इलेक्शन मेनिफेस्टो रिलीज हुआ उसके पेज नंबर 33 में हमने कल्पना की थी कि डायमंड क्वाड्रीलेटरल बने देश में, हाईस्पीड ट्रेन्स का नेटवर्क बने| ये इसकी पहली कड़ी है। और पहली कड़ी क्योंकि ये टेक्नोलॉजी भारत में नहीं है हमको विदेश से लानी पड़ रही है। लेकिन इसकी नेगोसिएशन में ये एक अंश जोड़ा गया कि टेक्नोलॉजी भी हमें साथ-साथ में मिलेगी। समय-सीमा में इस प्रोजेक्ट को इम्प्लीमेंट करने के लिए जापनीज ने कमिटमेंट दी है। हम सब कोशिश कर रहे हैं कि उसको 1 साल और पहले कैसे बनाया जाए जिससे इसकी तेज गति से इम्प्लीमेंटेशन और वो टेक्नोलॉजी आने से उसको हम देश भर में बाकी जगहों पर भी इम्प्लीमेंट करना शुरू कर सकें।

तो एक प्रकार से जैसा स्वामी विवेकानंद जी ने 125 वर्ष पहले अपनी फेमस स्पीच में शिकागो में कहा था अलग परिपेक्ष्य में and I will say it in english, ‘In my opinion, if all our rich and educated men once go and see Japan, their eyes will be opened.’ स्वामी विवेकानंद के उस वाक्य को हम अब जमीन पर भारत में लागू करने जा रहे हैं कि कैसे जापान ने जो प्रगति की वो भारत के 125 करोड़ नागरिकों को उसका लाभ कैसे मिले उसकी ये पहली कड़ी माननीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेंद्र मोदी और जापान के माननीय प्रधानमंत्री शिंजो आबे सान 14 तारीख को परसों अहमदाबाद में जो साबरमती में स्थित हमारा स्टेडियम है, रेलवे स्टेडियम, उसमें सुबह 10 बजे इन दोनों महानुभाओं के कर कमलों से इस काम की शुरुआत की जाएगी। ये भारत के आगे के ट्रेन की व्यवस्था को पूरी तरीके से, रेल की व्यवस्था को पूरी तरीके से रेवोल्यूशनाइज, ट्रांसफॉर्म करने वाला इनीशिएटिव परसों शुरू होने जा रहा है।

वैसे आप याद करें तो एक पैरलल मैं आपको बताऊं मारुति सुजुकी, जब सुजुकी के साथ पार्टनरशिप करके मारुति यहां पर लाई गई तो काफी लोगों ने आलोचना की थी। काफी लोगों ने कहा था कि इसकी क्या जरूरत है, ये गाड़ी विदेश से क्यों आनी चाहिए। आज क्या हम कल्पना कर सकते हैं कि वो दो पुराने मॉडल जो आज दोनों बनते नहीं हैं भारत में। और ये कितने 30 वर्ष की कहानी है सिर्फ। 30, मात्र 30 वर्ष में पुरानी टेक्नोलॉजी रिडंडेंट हो गई और पूरा देश नई-नई टेक्नोलॉजी की अच्छी गाड़ियों में आज पूरा देश ट्रैवल कर रहा है।

तो जो काम 30 वर्षों में ऑटोमोबाइल क्षेत्र में हुआ पहले सुजुकी के आने के साथ-साथ, मुझे विश्वास है ये जो शिन्कंसेन ट्रेन अब भारत में आने जा रही है, ये भी उसी प्रकार से ट्रांसफॉर्म करेगा आगे के भारत के भविष्य के ट्रांसपोर्ट सेक्टर को। और जब भी कोई नई टेक्नोलॉजी आती है, फ्यूचरिस्टिक टेक्नोलॉजी कुछ लोगों को संदेह होता ही है। उनको अंग्रेजी में ‘नेसेयर्स’ कहते हैं। मैं कहता हूं ये नेसेयर्स का जमाना अब बदल रहा है और आगे चलकर एक पॉजिटिव, सकारात्मक सोच रखने वाले लोग इस भारत के आगे के भविष्य का निर्माण करेंगे। आज की युवा पीढ़ी, आज के नए युवा-युवती नवजवान चाहते हैं भारत भी विश्वस्तरीय क्षेत्र की टेक्नोलॉजी लाए, सब चाहते हैं अच्छे लैपटॉप और अच्छे कम्प्यूटर्स मिलें, सब चाहते हैं अच्छे फोन मिलें।

और इसी प्रकार से सब चाहते हैं सुविधाजनक तेज गति से चलने वाली ट्रेन्स भारत में आएं। पुराने व्यवस्था को भी कैसे और तेज करना, पुराने व्यवस्था की ट्रेन्स में पैसेंजर एमेनेटीज क्या सुधार करना, उस पर तो हम सब काम कर ही रहे हैं। और उसमें हमारी जिम्मेदारियां और बढ़ जाएंगी। देखा-देखी भी कई बार जिम्मेदारियां बढ़ जाती है कि अगर एक ट्रेन इतनी अच्छी सुविधाएं दे रही है, इतनी तेज गति से चल रही है तो बाकी व्यवस्था को भी सुधारने में और तेज गति आएगी।

तो मैं समझता हूं कि इतने कम खर्चे में इतनी बड़ी व्यवस्था बुलेट ट्रेन की भारत में आना, उसके इर्द-गिर्द लाखों लोगों को नौकरी मिलना, काम के अवसर मिलना उसके इर्द-गिर्द नई टेक्नोलॉजी आने से भारत के उद्योग जगत को और प्रोत्साहन मिलना, भारत सस्ती बुलेट ट्रेन बनाए और पूरे विश्व में एक्सपोर्ट करे उसका मौका शुरू करना। और आगे चलके भारत पूरे विश्वस्तरीय ट्रांसपोर्ट टेक्नोलॉजी से जुड़ने का हम सबके लिए ये सुनहरा अवसर मिला है। आगे चलकर किसान हॉर्टीकल्चर में जाएंगे, फ्रूट्स, वेजीटेब्ल इंटीरियर से ट्रांसपोर्ट करना होगा तो फास्ट स्पीड ट्रेन से हमारे पोर्ट्स तक पहुंचके उसका एक्सपोर्ट होने में हमें सुविधा होगी। कोल्ड स्टोरेज ट्रेन्स इस ट्रैक पर चल सकेंगी। तो किसानों के लिए भारत के कई लोग जो हवाई जहाज का ट्रैवल अफोर्ड नहीं कर सकते हैं उन सबको राहत मिलेगी।

मेरा तो मानना है ये एक बार आ जाएगा तो शायद मुंबई-अहमदाबाद के पूरी एयर ट्रैफिक के ऊपर तकलीफ आ जाएगी, और फिर जैसे-जैसे यह बढेगा तो पूरा रिराइट करा जायेगा भारत का ट्रांसपोर्ट इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर| मैं एक छोटा उदाहरण देता हूँ, मैं मुंबई से आता हूँ, आप याद करिए मुंबई-पुणे कितनी ट्रेन्स हुआ करती थी और कितनी फ्लाइट्स हुआ करती थी| माननीय श्री नितिन गडकरी जी ने भारत की पहली फ्रीवे एक्सप्रेस वे, मुंबई-पुणे एक्सप्रेस वे बनाई थी| उसके बाद ट्रेन ट्रैफिक भी घटा, नंबर ऑफ़ ट्रेन्स भी घटी पुणे के लिए, आज कोई डेक्कन क्वीन वगैरा में पता नहीं है भी कि नहीं वह ट्रेन, बहुत कम जाते हैं, टिकट के लिए कोई हमारे पास नहीं आता है कन्फर्म करा दो, क्योंकि वह रोड इतनी अच्छी हो गयी है कि बहुत आसानी से डेढ़ घंटे में सीधा, पौने दो घंटे में वाशी के बाद पुणे पहुँच जाते हैं, और आगे चलकर उसको सायन तक लाया जा रहा है फिर तो शहर से, क्योंकि वह आलरेडी हारबर लाइन से हमने एक हाईवे दे दिया है सायन तक, तो वीटी से 10 मिनट में चेम्बूर, आधे घंटे में वाशी, सवा घंटे में पुणे – 2 घंटे के अन्दर मुंबई-पुणे रोड से पहुँच सकते हैं लोग| लेकिन वह मात्र 170 किलोमीटर है, यहाँ 2 घंटे में 500 किलोमीटर का फासला पूरा किया जायेगा|

तो इस प्रकार से नयी टेक्नोलॉजी से भारत सुशोभित होगा और यह नयी टेक्नोलॉजी आगे का भारत का ट्रांसपोर्ट सेक्टर का भविष्य लिखने जा रही है, हम सबके लिए मैं समझता हूँ एक सेलिब्रेशन का मौका है और इसी सेलिब्रेशन में हम सब भी जुडें इसके लिए आपको आज यहाँ पर आमंत्रित किया है|

बहुत बहुत धन्यवाद|

Q&A

Q: Sir, is it a tied loan that you are getting from Japan?
A: No, in fact, it is tied to giving us the technology. So, in fact, India is benefiting with this loan that they will also have to give us the technology, so that, later on, it can be manufactured in India.

Q: And sir one more thing, the land acquisition sir, how much land has been acquired, because I believe for the JICA loan condition, 80% has to be acquired?
Secretary: Acquisition के लिए पहले हम लोगों को लैंड प्लान बनाना पड़ता है, and for that, technical study होता है, the technical study complete हो गया, प्लान बन रहा है| और 2 डिस्ट्रिक्ट के लिए वह 15 September तक ready हो जायेगा|

Q: Sir, you talked about the affordability part, so how much it’s going to be affordable in terms of……
A: We will get down to that, but we will certainly keep it affordable. Because देखिए दुनिया तो आजकल competitive है, अगर हवाई जहाज़ से सस्ता आदमी पहुँच जायेगा तो ट्रेन में क्यों आएगा| So, it will have to be competition will find its own level, and in this day and age of competition, सुविधा अच्छी दो और competitive price रखो तभी लोग आते हैं आपके पास|

Q: नवतन कुमार, संडे गार्जियन से, यह बताया गया कि यूरोपियन टेक्नोलॉजी और जापानीज टेक्नोलॉजी से तुलना की गयी थी और उसके बाद जापानीज को.. यूरोपियन टेक्नोलॉजी में जब बात की गयी तो किन-किन कन्ट्रीज को देखा गया और कहां से …..?
A: यह 2013 से प्रोसेस चल रहा है, I am sure, लोगों ने सब स्टडी किया होगा, तब हमारी सरकार नहीं थी, पहली वाली सरकार ने सब स्टडी करके फिर जपान को shortlist किया होगा, उसमें सबसे लोवेस्ट है, zero accident rate in the Japanese technology, plus यह terms, ऐसे terms कोई और country से offer ही नहीं हुए थे|

Q: But which are the countries which were….?
A: I honestly don’t know that, but we can found out and let you know.

Q: सर सिद्धार्थ हूँ आजतक से, मेरा एक बड़ा सीधा सा सवाल है|
A: देश के सभी सवाल सीधे होते हैं बॉस|

Q: सर बार-बार जिस तरीके से पटरी से ट्रेन उतर रही है, उस स्थिति में बुलेट ट्रेन को किस परिप्रेक्ष्य में देखा जाना चाहिए?
A: बुलेट ट्रेन टेक्नोलॉजी इसी लिए लायी जा रही है कि क्या भारत 140 साल पुरानी जो ट्रेन शुरू हुई थी, 160 साल पहले जो भारतीय रेल शुरू हुई थी क्या उसी परिप्रेक्ष्य में हम आगे प्रगति करेंगे कि अब नयी चीज़ें भी भारत में आएँगी| तो वही तो मैं कह रहा था कि यह एक हमारे देश के लिए कितना बढ़िया अवसर है to celebrate the advent of most modern technology, after 160 years भारत अपने आपको latest technology के साथ जोड़ रहा है रेलवे में| और zero accident rate रहा है जापान में, मुझे पूरा विश्वास है इसका भारत में भी इसी प्रकार का ट्रैक-रिकॉर्ड होगा|

Q: Mr Goyal, can you give us a timeline for the completion of this project?
A: अनुमानित 2023 है जापानीज के हिसाब से, प्रधानमंत्री माननीय श्री नरेन्द्र मोदी जी का विश्वास है कि भारत के engineers में इतनी क्षमता है और भारत के कामगारों में इतनी क्षमता है कि हम इसको एक साल पहले ही ख़त्म करने का पूरा जोर लगाने वाले हैं|

Q: That means you target for 2022?
A: 2022 तक| The official target will, of course, be in consultation with the Japanese will set it, but we would like to do it by 2022.

Q: Sir, this is Shaheen from Business Standard. What will be your roadmap as far as other high-speed corridors are considered, what will be your roadmap?
A: Well, I am sure, looking at the very attractive terms that we have got here, we will be exploring other options also. If we can get good financing at such competitive rates or thereabouts, and we can expand, roll it out faster, we would love to roll it out faster – point 1. Secondly, we are already examining different ways by which the existing network can also be made more robust by better locomotives, by better rolling stock, by better track renewal to see if we can increase the average speed of the existing rail also. We have already started extensive discussions, both internally and with external experts.

Q: …2022 को आप ट्रेन को चलाना चाहते हैं, 2023 को लोक सभा के चुनाव हैं, तो क्या ट्रेन के साथ कुछ पॉलिटिक्स भी है?
A: क्यों भईया 2023 के चुनाव क्या साल पहले क्यों कर रहे हो? आप यार मैथमेटिक्स तो ठीक कर लो यार? पर at least आपने 2019 का चुनाव लगता है दे दिया है|

Q: सर यह मेक इन इंडिया के तहत देश में यह बुलेट टेक्नोलॉजी को लेकर कुछ फैक्ट्रियां कोच बनाने के लिए कुछ इसका है कि कितना रोज़गार मिलेगा और ….?
A: ऐसा है कि भारत का जो रेल नेटवर्क इतना बड़ा है उसको मद्देनज़र रखते हुए जैसे-जैसे आधुनिक टेक्नोलॉजी हम विस्तार से यहाँ पर लाएंगे और खर्चे कम होंगे जब मेक इन इंडिया से होता है, तो मेरा तो अनुमान है कि इसमें कम से कम 12 से 15 लाख लोगों को इसमें रोज़गार मिलेगा आगे चलकर|

Q: सर क्या इस रूट के सक्सेसफुल होने के बाद दूसरे रूट की शुरुआत की जाएगी या फिर…?
A: नहीं ऐसा कोई लिमिटेशन नहीं है, हम साथ ही साथ अलग-अलग देशों से भी और जापान से भी बातचीत करके कैसे इसको और फास्टर रोल-आउट कर सकते हैं, इसके लिए निरंतर प्रयास करते रहेंगे, कोई वेट नहीं करेंगे 2022 या 2023 का|

Q: Sir, I am Vishwas from Governance Now Sub TV. What kind of factors make you so sure that the project will be completed within stipulated deadline?
A:Because with the speed with which the Modi government has implemented projects, अभी देखो LED का हमने 77 करोड़ सोचा था 2019 तक करेंगे, 67 crores तो already हो गया है, अभी तो 2019 दो साल आगे है| तो हमारे कोई प्रोजेक्ट ले लो, ऑप्टिक फाइबर ले लो, 358 किलोमीटर ऑप्टिक फाइबर ले हुआ था 2014 में, आज दो लाख से ऊपर किलोमीटर हो चुका है मात्र 3.5 साल बाद| हर प्रोजेक्ट जो इस सरकार ने लिया है, समय पर उसको ख़त्म करना, उसपर पूरी निगरानी रखना और उसपर जवाबदारी लोगों को देकर कैसे प्रोजेक्ट अच्छी तरह समय-सीमा और कॉस्ट में बने उसपर हमारा पूरा जोर रहता है| मुझे पूरा विश्वास है समय पर नहीं उसके पहले बनाएंगे|

Q: सर पिछले साल एक खबर आई थी कि महाराष्ट्र सरकार ने BKC में जो जगह मिलने वाली है, बांद्रा-कुर्ला में, वह revenue का कारण देकर देने से इनकार कर दिया था, फाइनेंसियल loss का कारण देकर| तो क्या डेवलपमेंट है इस स्टेज में?
A: सरकार पूरी तरीके से इसमें हमारे साथ है, जुडी हुई है, और महाराष्ट्र सरकार को कोई revenue loss नहीं है, उलटे revenue gain ही होगा क्योंकि जो टर्मिनल बनेगा चाहे एक जगह बने या दूसरी जगह बने उसके ऊपर के डेवलपमेंट राइट्स की जो वैल्यू है वह इतनी इनक्रीज़ हो जाएगी कि महाराष्ट्र के लिए तो यह विन-विन है| तो मैं देवेन्द्र जी से लगातार संपर्क में हूँ और देवेन्द्र जी पूरी तरीके से संतुष्ट हैं इस प्रोजेक्ट के पूरे प्लान के साथ और भारत सरकार और हमारे सभी राज्य इस देश के, हम सब सैलोज़ में अभी काम नहीं करते हैं, हम सब एक टीम की तरह काम करते हैं| लोगों को अपने विचार रखने की पूरी छूट है और सबके विचार मद्देनज़र रखते हुए भारत के और भारत के नागरिकों के जो हित में निर्णय होते हैं उसमें हम सब साथ में काम करते हैं|

Q: अभी first phase में मुंबई टु अहमदाबाद बुलेट ट्रेन चालू हो रही है, वैसे ही दिल्ली से बुलेट ट्रेन कब चालू होगी और दिल्ली से कहाँ तक चालू हो सकती है?
A: जैसे ही इसका प्लान तय हो जाता है मैं आपको एक्सक्लूसिव ब्रेकिंग न्यूज़ पहले दूंगा|

Q: मैं मनोहर केसरी हूँ इंडिया न्यूज़ चैनल से, सर आपने कहा कि मेनिफेस्टो में भी आपका था यह डायमंड क्वाड्रीलेटरल, राइट?
A: पेज नंबर 33 पर|

Q: तो अभी इलेक्शन होने वाला है गुजरात में, क्या इसका फायदा होगा या..?
A: नहीं, मैं तो 2014 के लोक सभा चुनाव के मेनिफेस्टो का बता रहा हूँ|

Q: नहीं, इसबार कह रहा हूँ, क्योंकि अभी इस साल ही गुजरात में चुनाव हैं तो क्या इसका फायदा मिलेगा? दूसरा, इसका किराया क्या राजधानी से डेढ़ गुना ज्यादा होगा बुलेट ट्रेन का?
A: किराया कुछ अभी तक तय नहीं किया है, किराया तो समय जब आएगा तब तय करेंगे, और गुजरात के चुनाव के लिए हमको, मतलब यह कोई बुलेट ट्रेन से चुनाव का फायदा नहीं होगा – गुजरात में प्रधानमंत्री मोदी जी ने जो 2001 से लगातार 15 वर्ष, 16 वर्ष अब, जो काम किया है, जिस कर्मठ निष्ठा के साथ गुजरात की जनता की सेवा की है मुझे पूरा विश्वास है जो हमारे पार्टी के अध्यक्ष अमित शाह जी का 150 सीट का लक्ष्य है वह शत-प्रतिशत हम लेने वाले हैं|

Q: सर मैं दिपाली हूँ सीएनबीसी आवाज़ से, सर यह जानना चाहेंगे कि 14 तारीख को जो भूमि पूजन प्रधानमंत्री कर रहे हैं, कंस्ट्रक्शन कब से शुरू हो जायेगा और इसके साथ दूसरा सवाल यह कि अगर हम अहमदाबाद रेलवे स्टेशन की बात करें तो मेन स्टेशन से क्या इसको लिंक रखा जायेगा?
Secretary: See the project का एक master implementation schedule जो each element continuing from the day 14^th September से लेकर 22 का completion था, each element वहां पर present किया जायेगा| उसमें पहला चीज़ है कि जो passenger terminal, it’s very symbolic. जहाँ पर function हो रहा है वहीँ पर साबरमती का passenger terminal बनेगा, उसका काम उसी दिन ही स्टार्ट हो जायेगा और बरोडा में training institute हो रहा है उसका काम उसी दिन स्टार्ट हो जायेगा| Then हमने जैसे बताया कि land acquisition का process हमारा शुरू हो जायेगा और हमारे जो contracting schedule है तो हमको लगता है कि within one year actual construction start हो जायेगा|
A: यह commencement है, भूमि पूजा सिर्फ नहीं है, commencement of work का 14 तारीख को 10 बजे commencement of work का प्रोग्राम है|
साबरमती पर टर्मिनेट होगी|

Q: ….(Inaudible)
A: यह पुराना चलते आ रहा है 2013 में उस समय की सरकार को पूछना पड़ेगा, उन्होंने क्यों चूज़ किया था| शायद उनको दूरदर्शिता थी कि प्रधानमंत्री अभी.. मतलब उस समय के चीफ मिनिस्टर प्रधानमंत्री बनने वाले हैं और महाराष्ट्र में भी सरकार परिवर्तन होनी वाली है|

Q: सर इतना बड़ा प्रोजेक्ट है और ऐसी क्या मजबूरी थी कि श्राद्ध पक्ष पर इसका भूमि पूजन करना पड़ रहा है और दूसरा प्रेजेंटेशन के समय चूक गया मैं, 2022 में कितनी, 35 ट्रेनें चालू होंगी?
A: जहाँ तक पहला सवाल है, मुझे लगता है भगवान ने हर दिन अच्छा दिन दिया है, हम सब रोज़ ट्रेन चलाते हैं, कोई ऐसा तो नहीं करते कि श्राद्ध या पितृपक्ष में ट्रेन बंद हो जाती है| और मुझे पूरा विश्वास है कि परमात्मा का पूरा आशीर्वाद इस प्रोजेक्ट के साथ रहेगा, अच्छा काम किया जा रहा है और अच्छे काम के लिए कोई अच्छा समय या दिन नहीं होता है| जब मान्य प्रधानमंत्री जी ने अपना नामांकन पत्र भी भरा था तब काफी लोगों ने आलोचना की थी कि यह समय ठीक नहीं है आप कोई और टाइम पर नामांकन पत्र भरिये, लेकिन उन्होंने फिर भी अपने हिसाब से भरा और बड़े भारी बहुमत से भाजपा की विजय हुई|

Q: सर गुजरात में अभिजीत मुहूर्त जो दोपहर में होता है उसी समय उन्होंने फॉर्म भरा था?
A: पता नहीं, मेरे खयाल से हर दिन अच्छा दिन होता है, भगवान की असीम कृपा इस प्रोजेक्ट पर रहेगी|

Ends.

 

Shanu Babar captures the heart of Indian railways through a melange of images of crisscrossing train tracks, travellers, food and snacks.

Shanu Babar was five when he first travelled by Indian trains  — one of the world’s largest railway networks. Two decades later, he still remembers his experience vividly like it was only yesterday. It was while he was on a trip to the religious pilgrimage site, Vaishno Devi, that he discovered the magic of the window seat. “I remember my uncle relegating me to the window seat so that I don’t run off the aisle,” he reminisces.

The lush green scenery and the neverending landscape kept Shanu entertained throughout the journey. “I was awestruck as I saw the world run past me at a breakneck speed. I remember I was so tiny that my head could fit through the window grills. I stuck it out a couple of times and my mother screamed saying that I am going to lose my hair if I kept doing that!” he laughs.

This fascination for Indian trains continued during his college years. He, however, decided to give this pet project wings when he was a student at Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune. Shanu and his friends filmed their travels across the country for his dissertation at college. On a train journey from Pune to Kanyakumari, he began documenting the experience. “Spending so many days on the train, and working really hard to capture the right shots, my fascination with the Indian Railways has just grown day by day.” Thus, he started the project, ‘The Window Seat’ in June 2015.

His job in a post-production company in Mumbai further encouraged him to take this up seriously. “I had plenty of free time and working in a small claustrophobic room suffocated me. I thought if I am not travelling, the least I can do is put pictures of it on a platform.” Soon, he decided to invite folks to share their entries. “The Instagram account started with my own pictures and stories, later people started showing interest in it, I was a little taken aback to see that there are more people like me who love train travel and thus decided to curate content on it.”

And if a picture tells a story that hasn’t been explored before, Shanu has no qualms about posting it. “Perspective needs to win over a story quality. Often, pictures can get repetitive. So I look for a purpose in these photos.” Shanu, who is currently working on an indie film Rhoya, is now planning a bigger project. Called ‘The Great Indian Rail Trip’, the cinematographer is returning to his unfinished campaign.

“I had already embarked upon this ride but unfortunately post 13 days, I developed a food-borne infection that needed to be treated clinically. So I had to return,” he sighs.  He hopes that in the future the project receives funding of sorts. “I am excited to know what lies beyond India. I want to know the stories of people. I understand that it is a little ambitious, monetarily. In fact, I am aware that it would require more than my savings to fund such a project. Let’s see, where this track leads me to,” he says.

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/sunday-chronicle/headliners/100917/tracking-the-journey.html

Students, ladies and gentlemen. I think the nation is in a hurry just like I was in a hurry to come to the podium and I am glad that lattice is focusing on India’s road ahead during this third engagement that you are having between academics, between students and industry. Of course, as I was driving into the IIM, one of your colleagues told me that last year Mr Suresh Prabhu, former Rail Minister, was here for this programme. While he was very excited about the fact that now I have become Rail Minister and I have come for the same programme, I got a little worried. Well, I am sure next year you may be planning to have it again.

But IIM has had such a rich history of turning out wonderful professionals fifty five year history I am getting to understand, the first institute of management in India, very proud legacy, a beautiful campus. Even Harvard does not have a campus half as good as yours, and I have asked my colleague to try and get me a Subway sandwich which I can eat on the way back.

Kolkata is a beautiful place. It has lovely memories for all of us. “City of joy” they used to call it? I don’t know whether the joy is still there given the current mood of the state. But I remember all through my childhood we used to look up to Kolkata as that place where all the youngsters can go and have fun and really live it up and I do hope all the students, who have come from outside West Bengal or Kolkata, use this opportunity to really look at a 360 degree experience of Kolkata, because it’s a beautiful place. It’s a city which has so many firsts, so many things. Of course, it was the national capital before Delhi became the capital for strategic reasons when the British moved there.

But so many firsts in your city, the first passenger train in eastern India from Hooghly to Howrah. In fact, State Bank where I was a Director has its headquarters and registered office here. We used to come here every year for our annual board meetings. The first metro started here more than 33 years ago, so it is not as if India has not been able to keep pace with time. But, sadly, India has not been a nation in a hurry for a long time and, therefore, this New India that we are all envisaging is a nation which is looking to transform itself over the next five years just like between 1942 and 1947. Seventy five years ago, India got independence, but the real foundation of that was on 9th of August, 1942 in my city of Mumbai, when the Quit India movement was launched.

And just like from 1942 to 1947, you saw India and the Indian independence movement transform us from a colony to an independent nation. I do hope and believe the next five years, from 2017 to 2022, will help transform our nation, our beloved nation to meet the needs of a billion plus people to make it a society, which is amongst the developed nations in the world. As honorable Prime minister said from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15^th August 2017, many of you may not have heard it, because I don’t know if IIM students get up so early in the morning at 07:30. But if I may be permitted to quote from Prime Minister Modi’s exposition of what he believes is the New India, what he believes is the emerging India, what is that transformation that each one of us look forward to. And I quote, New India where the poor would have houses and access to water and electricity, where farmers would be free from worry and would earn twice of what they earn today, youth and women would get ample opportunities to fulfil their dreams. An India free from terrorism, communalism, casteism, corruption and nepotism, and an India, which is clean and healthy.

And I think that is the dream that each one of us has, that is the dream that India has and that is the dream that each one of us will together, I am confident, succeed in fulfilling. And as President Ramnath Kovindji, when he assumed office said, ‘this vision cannot be translated into reality. This dream cannot be fulfilled, this commitment cannot be met, but for the support of a 125 crore Indians. Until we all participate in making this a national movement and we all collectively contribute to preparing India to achieve its true potential, this mission cannot succeed.’

And if it all I come in here today to Kolkata, it is only to appeal to all my young friends to each one of you that you have to be the torchbearers, you have to be the principal players, who will make this dream happen, who will help transform India into a country where every Citizen has shelter on his head, has 24 hours electricity, drinking water in his home, a good toilet, access through good roads, quality education in his vicinity, healthcare for his parents and children, so that never again do we have to watch on television a citizen of India having to carry a family member on his shoulder in a neighbouring state of Odisha, for kilometer upon kilometer to reach the nearest access of good healthcare. It’s a matter of shame for the nation collectively that 70 years after independence, we still have millions suffering from malnutrition. Our quality of education doesn’t take us beyond probably the last five ranks in the last … study.

Our World Bank rankings in a variety of areas, despite significant improvement in the last 3 years, is still abysmally low. We are still a nation where millions of educated unemployed can be found. We are a nation where corruption have seeped into the, literally into the DNA right at almost every aspect of life. And that my young friends is something we need to change, and I personally am convinced it can change.

I remember when I was given the Coal & Power Ministry in 2014, lot of editorials were written, lot of articles were written. Wherever I met people almost sympathized with me, people almost had words of caution for me, ‘my God you have got the worst Ministry of them all and you are in trouble.’ But at the end of three and a half years, I am not satisfied as if I have achieved everything I wanted to, but I certainly am happy that we have been able to change the mood of the nation, from one of constant despair, a mindset of shortages. And I don’t know if you remember, three and a half years ago, the headlines used to scream, ‘we have run out of coal, we don’t have enough power, everybody is suffering from lack of coal, power plants are not able to run to their full potential.’

More used to be discussed on when power will come back, rather than only when power will go. And I am delighted that we have been able to move from that mindset of shortages of perennial discomfort to a situation where over the last, save and except, the last one month, because of sudden reason we have suddenly got a huge demand for coal. Over the last 18 months before the last one month, we actually had to struggle because of surplus stocks and were not able to sell as much coal as we produce and had to regulate production of coal in this country. Over the last two years, I have been struggling to get new avenues to buy more electricity, the electric vehicle project having come out of that compulsion to sell more electricity, and I am sure we all want to be in a situation where we have surplus coal, surplus power.

We all want to have competition, we all as consumers want to have the ability to choose, the ability to negotiate, which I am sure you have been taught in your institute, and get better terms and a better deal for the consumers of India. And that ladies and gentlemen has been the focus of this government of the last three and a half years. How can we change the mood of the nation, how can we bring back the macho once again into the people of India, how can we once again reignite the investment climate and how can we take this country into an age which at one point of time we used to call ourselves Sone ki Chidiya, the golden age of India.

Can we rethink our priorities? Can we once again plan for an India ahead, where all of us can live a life without fear and a life of fulfilment? In fact, the greatest challenge before us as we embark on this transformation journey is not of resources, is not of our ability to do these transformational changes. It’s not as if the nation has any reason why we should still have one third of our people living an incomplete life, many of them in poverty.

I think we need to really harness the power of youth, the ambition of youth, the ideas of youth, your abilities, and change the mindset of the nation to think with positivity, to believe in yourself, to believe in our own ability, in our ideas, to aim big, to dare to dream as Dirubhai Ambani had said. In fact, many of you may recall Martin Luther King and that famous comment of his, “I have a dream” and unless he had that passion, that vigour, that dream, that desire to change, I don’t think America could have been unshackled from racism. It is that power within each one of us and it is not as if Mr Modi has any more desire and dream then each one of you in this room. It’s not as if I can do any different or more than every one of you in this audience today.

It’s only the collective wisdom and the collective effort that can then have transformational results, and I have come to really appeal to each one of you, and I am actually delighted that many of you are from this PGPX programme, where you spent a few years and then come in to do a one year programme. I myself, actually started my executive education at Harvard in 2013, did my first module, but, unfortunately, could not go back for the second module in 2014. But I am technically still a registered student over there and they promised me that they will allow me to come and complete my programme. And I promise you, I learnt a lot in that first module and I am putting that to good use in this opportunity that Prime Minister Modi has given me, particularly, the power to negotiate, the ability to negotiate better. Otherwise, possibly, we wouldn’t have been able to bring LED pricing down by 87%, otherwise, possibly we couldn’t have devised mechanisms to increase production so quickly, to increase generation of electricity so quickly. Possibly we couldn’t have aimed so big, but for the power to negotiate, because life is all about negotiations. You are negotiating with your wife, your children are negotiating with you, you are negotiating with your professors, citizens are negotiating – well, one can negotiate even with the constable who catches you breaking a signal.

But, otherwise, we are all in negotiation in our life, and I think that must be certainly one of the subjects you are learning and what we now need to do is negotiate a better deal for the future of India, for the people of India, for our future, for our families’ future. And I am particularly delighted to be amongst you as you do your relearning or retooling yourself, because as they say, “Never be afraid to try something new.”

Remember amateurs built the Ark, experienced professionals built the Titanic, the Ark survived, the Titanic didn’t survive. It’s only when you embark on new things, it’s only when you are willing to explore uncharted territories, it’s only when you are willing to look at yourself as a student, possibly in perpetuity, that you will be able to think new ways of doing the same thing. And once this nation starts innovating, after all, what is the strength of the United States of America? Why does Europe have to have, have seen so much progress in such a short period of time, and during that same element of time, we did not progress as much?

Japan and India look back at 1947 and 1948, and we can’t blame it only on our population, particularly, in reference to Japan, and the density of population and the lack of natural resources in Japan. So, it is not as if they are made any differently than us. It’s not as if others had better opportunity than us. India has all the ingredients to make us a super power, to make us a developed nation.

What is holding back India is us, is our ability to look differently, to think differently, to be bold, to innovate, to try out new things. And that ladies and gentlemen is what this government over the last three-three and a half years has been focusing on, creating a solid foundation, a framework on which the Indian future can rest, a framework, which is honest, a framework which will have zero tolerance for corruption, a framework which will have an enabling and regulatory programme to ensure that we can attract the best of talent back to the country, we can attract best of technologies, we can attract investments. A framework, which provides equal opportunity to all and not where there is favour for a few, and each one of you is going to be the champion of change.

We recently had an interaction with about 400 young entrepreneurs, young CEOs, start ups, the Prime Minister and some 12-14 colleagues of his interacting with them in two batches of 200 each, free and flowing discussions. We wanted to hear what are their ideas for the India of tomorrow, and I promise you some of the ideas that come out were brilliant. If you were to compare the ideas between the younger lot, the young CEOs the young entrepreneurs, the young start ups, viz a viz the more experienced persons, I promise you the younger ones came out with better ideas. Not to say that the others were not good, but on a comparison, the younger persons came out with more innovative ideas.

Once all of us get down to becoming those champions of change, after all, just government or government initiatives cannot change the future and destiny of India and the people of India. Change will happen when each and every citizen becomes a part of that change. Today, on the flight to Kolkata, Justice AP Shah, a very-very eminent jurist, was on the flight with me. Many of you may have heard it, many of you may have experienced it, he mentioned it to me that, ‘Mr Goyal, corruption you have been able to eliminate at the top. Now, we don’t hear of corruption in government, you have process-driven governance, all natural resources are given out through a transparent process of auction or nobody selected based on his caste or community or religion or relationship or family or political ideology. You have been able to curb corruption at the top, but, you know, we still have corruption at the lower levels.

Aren’t all of us to be blamed for that? After all, if I have 1.3 million employees working in the Indian Railways, clearly, with all the best of intention and the processes, I will not be able to supervise every ticket collector or every RPF (Railway Protection Force) constable personally. But ताली तो दो हाथ से बजती है ना? रिश्वत कोई देता है तभी किसी को रिश्वत मिलती है| अगर हम सब तय कर लें कि हम कभी रिश्वत नहीं देंगे तभी जाके परिवर्तन आ सकेगा इस देश में|

If we have to become the champions of change, we will have to first make up our mind what we want to do. You may be reading of late about thousands of shell companies, I believe the maximum number are housed in this city of joy, have been detected through the efforts post demonetization, and the crack down on black money and corruption.

Now, Prime Minister Modi, when he was mentioning and talking to the chartered accountants on 1^st July, which was Chartered Accountants’ Day. On my request he had agreed to address them. It was also the day GST was being launched, which was a milestone. It’s probably the biggest reform ever embarked anywhere in the world at the scale at which it’s being done in India. And when he accepted to come there, one or two days before the programme, he called me up. And he said, ‘Piyush I want to speak my mind to the chartered accountants. I said, please do.

I don’t know if any of you heard his speech on 1^st July at the Indira Gandhi Stadium. It was a chartered accountants’ programme where students who were CA students were also invited. Indira Gandhi Stadium is a big stadium. It accommodates more than 20,000 people. When the SPG (Special Protection Group), which looks after PM’s security went there, 2 days before the programme, they hit their head and told the CA Institute officials, they said, guys, please organize some buses and get some people to fill up these large stadiums, because you guys are not going to be able to get 20,000 people to come into this stadium. In a stadium with a capacity of 20,000 odd people, and audience was only CAs and CA students, mind you. And there are many CA students, across the country; we have about 1.2 million students pursuing CA. In Delhi alone, probably a 100,000 or so.

There were 60,000 people who came there that day. The stadium was full, packed to capacity. We had to open a wrestling stadium in the vicinity of the IG Stadium, about 25,000 people we filled up over there who watched it on a screen. They put up a screen just for an overflow, potential overflow, and there were about 15,000 to 20,000 people outside the gates, which had to be barricaded by the police, because there was no way they could allow them to come in with full packed stadiums.

And will you believe it if I tell you that every time the Prime Minister would appeal to the CAs not to indulge in corruption, not to allow such shell companies to come in, to help us crack down on black money, the whole stadium which was largely CA students, young boys and girls, would reverberate with enthusiasm and claps. The youth of India today does not want to do business the way our fathers and grandfathers and forefathers did. They want an honest India. Young India, today, doesn’t want to have two sets of account books – ये कच्चा खाता है, यह पक्का खाता है|

The young children of tomorrow, of the emerging India don’t want to have shell companies having transactions at high premiums and converting black money to white money. And while some of the CAs were quite hassled while the Prime Minister was speaking, the young audience was extremely enthused by his comments. I remember on more than one occasion I have appealed to the CAs that if every chartered accountant made a pledge and decided I will not bribe anybody, I will not help anybody fudge accounts, we 253,000 chartered accountants alone can transform India into an honest country, just 250,000 CAs across the country.

And, similarly, if all of us young professionals in this country, and I don’t think there will be a single company of size, scale and repute in the country, other than the government companies possibly where you won’t have alumni of IIM Kolkata, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, etc. not a single company I would believe in the country. And you have all excelled all over the world wherever you all went, can we not have that same excellence in our Indian companies, in our Indian atmosphere. It’s possible.

And I would urge you to look at the track record of the last 3 years in every area, what transformational initiatives have been taken, to bring transparency to governance, to remove and eliminate potential avenues of corruption, how projects have been scaled up. I don’t know what is used in the IIM campus, but we have promoted LED bulbs. Now LED bulbs are good for the country, because not only do they save energy, thereby helping consumers reduce their electricity bills, but they also reduce carbon dioxide emission, because energy consumption and, therefore, generation falls.  And, by the way, every unit of electricity you save is equivalent to 1.3 units of energy produced, considering the large amount of wastage and AT&C losses, power theft.

Until 2013-14, we had a company called Energy Efficiency Services Limited. It’s a government promoted company. It had a turnover of 35 crores in 2013-14. It was buying 7 W LED bulbs at Rs 310 each, plus taxes; distribution, marketing, all those costs. Therefore, the LED bulb became so expensive that government had to give a Rs 100 subsidy and even with that they were only able to sell 6 lakh bulbs in a year, 6 lakh bulbs in a year. 7 W bulb – Rs 310.

You must have heard about Prime Minister Modi’s comments more before the election when the Gujarat model of governance used to be discussed about Speed, Scale and Skill. We brought that into this programme. We made a target that in the next 4 years, from 6 lakh bulbs per year, we will ensure that India changes 77 crore bulbs to LEDs over the next 4 years. We made that in 2015. We are now two and a half years into that programme. You will be happy to know that EESL alone, in the last two and a half years from 6 lakh a year in the last two and a half years has sold 26 crore LED bulbs. The private sector sold another 41 crore. 67 crore LED bulbs have been sold only in the last two and a half years.

And you know the price? What used to be purchased at Rs 310 for a 7 W bulb, we now procure 9 W bulbs, 30% more light (lumination) for only Rs 40. 87% reduction in price! By the time we sell it to the consumers, it’s probably Rs 65 or thereabouts. The payback, the savings in your bills gives you a payback at least for people in this room, probably, of two months, because your electricity bills, consumption would be on the higher side. 2 months it pays back and then it has a life of 5/7/10 years.

Somebody wants to guess what would be the saving annually of electricity, just with this one LED programme? 112 billion units of electricity, annually! What will be the saving in your, all the consumers’ energy bills? Rs 40,000 crore, annually! When all the bulbs in India are changed to LED, we would not have spent more than 10-12,000 crores, may be 15,000 crores for replacing all the bulbs and tube lights in the country, maybe not even that much, at these prices I think not even 10,000 crores. Under 10,000 crore investment, annual saving of Rs 40,000 crore, carbon dioxide emission falls by 80 million tonnes because of this saved energy, and we will avoid a peak demand of nearly 22 GW, which means we save a 1,40,000 crores of investment to set up that much more energy capacity or generating capacity.

Just one single programme, reflecting the speed and scale – what was sold 6 lakh in a year at 87% lower prices is now sold 6 lakh in a day, every single day! And EESL, which did 35 crore turnover in the year 2014 by 2019, in 5 years, of which the first year we didn’t do anything, I was still getting the ropes of the work, we will do Rs 10,000 crore turnover. I hope some IIM Kolkata graduates think of joining that company. It will be the fastest roll-up, you tell me a private company with this kind of a roll-up, scale-up, with prices falling 87%, turnover going up from Rs 35 crores to Rs 10,000 crores. They are doing other things also now – energy efficient agricultural pumps, audit of buildings to convert them to efficient buildings, etc.

But I gave this example only to reflect the scale and the skill with which these programmes are executed speedily, just to reflect the mindset of change that is possible in the New India of tomorrow, which each one of you has to implement. Policymakers can be enablers, we can run a few programmes like this, but each one of us has to think differently.

I have just been given charge of Railways. Accidents has been in the news. I had a review meeting day before yesterday where some decisions were made; almost 21 major decisions were made related to safety, 3 or 4 of them I gave out in the press also. Unmanned railway crossings – we have had this story for years and years. Even now railways has a plan that over next 3 years, they will eliminate unmanned crossings. Now I am arguing with them, actually I am negotiating with my team in railways – why it can’t be done in one year? There are about 5000 of them left, why can we not do it in one year, such a large infrastructure; 5000 places. And we all know what a level crossing is like, it needs a barricading, needs a …… structure where a man can sit, it needs telecommunication. And we have RailTel optic fiber all across the railway network. Period.

Probably, the investment and all of this in 5000 locations when done together will also bring down the cost on every location, because of economies of scale and speed of execution, just like happened in the LED programme. I think if we spend maybe 300-400 crores, we would have rid India of probably 30-35% of cause of accidents, so all the accidents that take place, 30-35% of them are because of unmanned crossings, can be eliminated in a year at a very low investment. Why should we wait for time to implement this?

One of the causes they told me is there is a shortage of rail track to execute speedily all the safety requirements. I said we should float global tenders and get more material in, how can we compromise on safety? Expedite the process, have transparency, allow people internationally to compete, so we get the best of prices and bring in more equipment and bring in more goods or rolling stock. And let’s focus on safety.

And during the meeting it struck me that I can possibly delay some new projects by 2 or 3 months till the new tendering process and new purchases, use whatever stock we have, divert it from new lines also to the repairs for the next 3 months or 4 months, make up for it later through procurement of additional material. But try and reduce the risk to my passengers.

You will be amazed, how do we check the railway lines. There is a linesman who walks along the track. He uses something with which he checks the track and by the sound of it he knows whether there is a fracture or its okay, and his mandate is to do 6 kilometers every day. They even told me I need to hire 260,000 more people if I want to make Indian railways safe, day before yesterday.

I asked them why can’t we employ new technology. Forget something very fancy, even if you had a small rail car with sensors or a small X-ray equipment or microscope or whatever which reading can through communication, again RailTel is available, be available both for the person running it and also in the control room for the experts to see. I think we can do the same job with 1/10^th the number of people and may not have to burden the railways with more inefficiency.

Some press asked me that passengers are being subsidized 33,000 crores. I said yes, there may be some element of subsidy, but I don’t think it’s 33,000 crores. I can’t pass on my inefficiency to the passengers of India. I mean, just imagine, if I produce a motorcycle and professor Sarkaar produces a motorcycle. He does it efficiently. I am inefficient in my work. I consume 30% more electricity in my factory than him. I have 20% more labour in my factory than him. I drive in a Rolls Royce and a private plane. He uses the Indian Railways. His motorcycle with his profit margin cost Rs 70,000. Can I come and tell you, look guys, I am an inefficient producer of motorcycles, kindly pay me 85,000 for my motorcycle, don’t buy it from him. And, can I expect any consumer to pay me 20% more for that motorcycle just because I am an inefficient producer of that product or service, or will I have to set my house in order and compete with them and offer something to you at 68,000, so that I can take away market share from you. A simple management principal which you are all being taught here.

And that is what we need to bring in to the working of government – simple management techniques. After all, if at all there has been a turnaround in the last 3 years, Prime Minister Modi has only and only employed simple management tools that each one of you learn in the working of government. I don’t know if you are aware when he took charge as Gujarat Chief Minister, are you aware what was his first stop? IIM Ahmedabad! The entire government, all his Ministers, and the then Chief Minister, 16 years ago, went to IIM Ahmedabad and literally took classes.

When I became Power Minister, my second day in office I had flown down to Ahmedabad, not to IIM, but to meet with the officials of Gujarat power companies, because in two and a half years they turned around Gujarat to a 24×7 surplus power state. And all that is required is to bring simple management techniques into government. What are those management techniques? Do a root cause analysis, so that you do your work smart. I could not have solved the power problem unless the coal problem was solved, and there was adequate coal going to the power plants.

If we go even further into root cause analysis, possibly, I couldn’t have done half as much as I think I did, you all are the best judge for that if Prime Minister Modi had not done a root cause analysis and kept coal and power under one Ministry, which was the need of the hour at that point of time. And, frankly, yesterday we were assessing why he kept coal and railway under one Ministry today, because the power-coal integration has already given results, now we need railway and coal to work together. And today I did a review with coal and rail officials before I came here and the first slide they showed was Coal India plus Rail India is equal to New India.

So, you do a proper root cause analysis, you prioritize your mission, your programme, bring in accountability, monitor the progress of your work, hold people responsible, accountable for their work, bring in transparency, use innovative financing models, engage with stakeholders, partnerships with stakeholders, make consumer the central focus of all your work – consumer is king in this real world – retool people and processes, as they say zero based budgeting in a way, prepare the country for innovation for the new way of doing things. After all, nature of jobs in India are not going to be what they were 30 years ago, you are not going to see 4000 MW and 2000 MW power plants in the future in this age of distributed energy distribution, you are not going to see large factories giving, kind of, organized labour jobs. You are going to start ups, you are going to see young entrepreneurs, you are going to see innovation, artificial intelligence is going to be the order of the day, 3D manufacturing will come in instead of large plants manufacturing products, electric vehicles will probably take over from diesel and petrol vehicles, not only saving us precious foreign exchange, not only saving the cities and India from pollution, but also bringing down the cost of transportation.

I don’t know if you know, a combustion engine in a diesel car or a petrol car has 2000 moving parts, an electric engine has less than 20, so much less maintenance, so much less repair, so much more life of that vehicle. So, the new age of India, which is emerging, is going to be something completely new, a new way of doing things. It’s like there is that story, and while we are doing all this, the country’s engine has to keep moving. It’s not as if I can say, okay, stop everything, now we will retool, we will re scale, start afresh and then we will restart in a new way. Everything has to be done while the engine is moving. And there is a small story around it – it’s like a mechanic says to a surgeon that while both are doing the same job, a mechanic and a surgeon. They are fixing problems in a very complex structure.  A surgeon is probably doing a heart surgery, it’s a very complex structure, a mechanic is working on a large machine, it’s a very complex machine. But the surgeon gets paid 10 times more than the mechanic. And the mechanic asks the surgeon, ‘I check how it’s running, open it up, fix the valves and put it all back together, so it works as good as new again. We basically do the same job, why are you paid more than me?’ And the surgeon gently smiles and replies, ‘try it with the engine running’.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the job at hand for us. We have to create, together, I am not saying us as in me or the esteemed professors and management of IIM alone. It’s the job of all of us how we are going to create, how we are going to make this New India, this mission for New India, this vision of New India become a part of our mindset, become a part of our journey in the next 5 years and beyond, how each one of us is going to be a partner in this journey, a stakeholder, how each one of us is going to dream that New India, how each one of us is going to live to fulfill that dream. And that’s, ladies and gentlemen, the only way when 125 crore Indians move one step forward, India will take 125 crore steps forward.

Thank you very much.