suit boot kee sarkar

There are three modes of transportation in India - Road, Rail and Airway. In transportation, the fare of the journey is inversely proportional to the travel time. Means, in a mode where travel time is more, the fare will be lesser. i.e Ahmedabad - Mumbai - Bus fare is Rs.400 while for the flight it's Rs.2000.  So, Rich mainly travel by flights and Poor by road.

Each mode of transportation is subsidized. From Air India to Indian railways to state transport corporations, each of one is subsidised. That is another debate. What I am trying to demonstrate here is how the government is moving towards the regressive policies which hurt the poor the most.

You must hear about the Toll tax based road, Flexi fare of Railways, UDAN scheme of the civil aviation, Private Humsafar trains etc. In the following section, I try to decode the government mindset about public policy. If you read till the end, you will find that this is really a Suit -boot kee sarakar!

Here I want to first give a brief of each policy and then compare the various modes of transportation with their data of subsidy.

Road - Since the days of the Ashoka, It's sovereign duty to construct the road. But now the Government doesn't construct the road. The burden of the road construction shifts to the citizens. There are 540 toll plazas in India. Furthermore, the Government introduced the Toll operate transfer mode (TOT) where the Government auctioned the public-funded (Build by Government allocated fund) road to a private entity and they collected the toll.

Rail - In Flexi fare trains, the fare of the journey increases with the increase of the seat reservation. For example, the tariff of the Ahmedabad-Delhi train will be Rs.1200 if you reserve it on the first day and it will be Rs.1800 if you are one to reserve last.

Aviation- Now let come to civil aviation where the government introduced the scheme UDAN. Under UDAN, the Government provides the subsidy to the operator to operate to remote places, tourist sports etc.

IMAGE CREDIT - Deccan Herald

Now compare the cost-subsidy to travel between the Allahabad-Patana ( MoRTH website still mention prayagraj as Allahabad)

• Road - There is three toll plaza and you have to pay toll tax of the Rs.175 for the car. That means Rs.45 for each passenger.

• Rail - There are many trains but if you travel in the train 12310, You have to pay Rs.229 for the Flexi fare charges.
  
  
• Airways - Under the scheme of the UDAN, Government giving Subsidy of the Rs.2949 per passenger and that is 108 seats per week.

Delhi - Pithoragarh:-

• Road - There is four toll plaza and you have to pay total Rs.280. That mean, per passenger toll tax, is Rs.70.
  
  
• Rail - There is no rail connectivity to pithoragarh. But let me consider the cost by the Nainital. Train 12040 operate between the Delhi-Kathgodam ( Nainital). You have to pay Rs.150 for the dynamic pricing fare.
  
  
• Airways - Under the scheme of the UDAN, Government giving Subsidy of the Rs.4940 per passenger and that is 126 seats per week.

Delhi - Ludhiyana

• Road - Four toll plaza. Total toll tax for the car is Rs.300. Means Rs.75 for each passenger.
  
  
• Rail - If you travel in train number 22439, You have to pay Rs.142 as the Flexi fare. If you travel in train number 12013, You have to pay Rs. 164 as Flexi fare.
  
  
• Airways - Government providing the subsidy of the Rs. 3530 for the one passenger.

Here I like to give some information about the amount that we are paying as the toll tax and the flexi fare.

To travel between Delhi-Ahmedabad in the car, we have to pay a toll tax of Rs.970 that means Rs.1+/km. Likewise, we have to pay Rs.1+/km for Ahmedabad-Mumbai as well where toll tax is Rs.570. Mundra Ahmedabad is 344 km apart and to travel 344km, we have to pay Rs.230 as the toll tax.

Now let see some examples of the loot in the name of dynamic pricing. Delhi- Ahmedabad, Dynamic fare is Rs. 460 for the 3rd AC. For the Mumbai-Delhi, Dynamic fare is Rs. 585.

For the heavy subsidy of the UDAN schemes, there is one argument that the government wants to promote the remote places for tourism and business. That good motive. And for that, the Government provides the subsidy to the flight operators. But the same must be applied to the road and rail sector. Road and Rail connecting to the Cities which are covered under the UDAN scheme must be free of the toll tax and dynamic tariff-free. When Government giving Rs.5000 subsidy to travel between Delhi to Pithoragarh and collects a toll of Rs. 70, it does not make sense. You can construe it as that the Government subsidizes the rich person's flights by collecting the toll tax from the poor.

Another Argument is propagated by the government for the introduction of the dynamic fare in railways is that railways are making huge losses. This is a myth rather than reality. Railways making a loss in passenger transport, it's true but railways recover its loss by cross-subsidization of the freight operations'. While Air India makes a loss in thousands crore each year and the amount to fill that loss goes from the pocket of the citizen.

Cross subsidization in railways is not a good policy at all as it hurts commercial transport. It increases the price of goods transport and discourages investment. But even when we calculate the absolute loss of the railways then also the per passenger subsidy to the railways is much lower than the per-passenger subsidy to air India.

This Government is by the rich and for the rich. It's really a Shoot-boot kee sarkar!