Major Passenger-friendly initiatives have been introduced by Indian Railways. Are they really improving the services to passengers?

Travelling is luxury for some and necessity for most. For a long time Railways has been an undisputed leader as the best mode of transport, providing the maximum value for money. It is much more than a mere mode of transport and plays a vital role in the regional integration of the vastly diverse country by connecting places, people and hearts together. Hindi tagline, very beautifully reflects all, what railway stands for “Desh Ka Mel – Bhartiya Rail”.  

            Indian Railways has historically enjoyed a lot of advantages which has helped it in rising up to helm position and remain there for a long time. Government support, monopoly, bad roads, less and highly expensive air connectivity, vast pre-independence infrastructure etc. are the reasons that helped it to gain an unrivalled position. However it suffered much degradation for quite some time and lost its shine to the newly emerging competitors i.e. air and road transport sectors. It is a well established fact that the respect that once Indian Railways used to command over its passengers, providing them the world class facilities is no more.

            One major reason for this decline is that while the other modes of transport were continuously expanding their horizons and catering to the smallest of the passenger requirement, Railways showed its apathy towards the passengers. It remained lost in its own world and the area of passenger amenities remained neglected.

            However, in the recent times, focus of the railways has shifted back towards improving the passenger services and a number of reforms for improving quality of service have been initiated. Passenger friendly initiatives are being introduced in multiple areas. To simplify the understanding of the extent and impact of these reforms, the whole process of train journey can be broadly divided in three major stages, namely booking a ticket, boarding the train and the journey.

            Standing in long queue and waiting for one’s turn, not to board the train, but just to get a ticket. It is one of those unpleasant experiences that almost everyone has endured at some point in his life. And the experience becomes worse when either one misses the train or gets a waitlisted ticket, and has to wait again in the queue to get the ticket cancelled. Railway has accepted this challenge with open arms. To facilitate a passenger in getting a ticket with ease, a number of bottlenecks have been identified and problems have been addressed at full throttle. To make the process of ticketing easy and hassle free. “Operation five minutes” has been launched with aim to ensure that a passenger travelling unreserved can purchase a ticket within 5 minutes of entering the station. Under it a system has been introduced to get the paperless unreserved tickets on mobile phones. Modified ‘hot buttons’, coin vending machines and ‘single destination teller’ have been introduced in railway stations to reduce the transaction time while taking tickets. GO India smart card have been introduced to facilitate cashless transaction at PRS (Passenger Reservation System) and UTS (Unreserved ticketing system). Cash/Smart card operated ticket vending machines (CCoTVM) have been introduced, where in passengers can book their ticket using either smart card or cash. Yatri seva Kendra have been launched which enables private persons to sell the tickets, thus enhancing the ticket dispensing network further.

           

            Booking a ticket online, though appeared to be a better alternative, but it was also no less than a nightmare. The system was fraught with many challenges. The capacity of IRCTC web portal was limited and the load was high. To make the matter worse, it was reported in various news reports about the usage of illicit software by touts/booking agents to book the tickets immediately after the opening of web portal. These problems have been addressed by the railways. Capacity of IRCTC web portal has been augmented almost four folds from 2000 tickets per minute to 7200 tickets per minute. Booking of tatkal tickets for AC and non AC classes has been staggered, so that the passenger not getting a tatkal ticket in AC class may try to get a ticket in the non-AC class. Participation of all booking agents in booking of tatkal tickets is banned for first half hour, so that the genuine passengers may get the tickets. Service of Cash on Delivery has been started for e-tickets. Automatic refund of confirmed/RAC e-tickets on cancellation of trains has been started.

           

            Another problem related to booking of seats is their scarcity. Often passengers getting a waitlisted ticket, resort to booking of tickets in multiple trains on the same route. This causes a lot of inconvenience to passengers and results in wastage of money, as many of the tickets would have to be eventually cancelled.  In order to overcome this difficulty, railways has introduced a wonderful scheme of alternate train accommodation – ‘Vikalp’. Under Vikalp waitlisted passengers of a train would be given option of getting confirmed accommodation in the next train running on the route. SMS alerts have been started for status of reserved tickets. All these inventive steps have collectively relaxed the grueling process of booking a ticket and getting accommodation on train. Thus passengers can now move forward in peace towards the next step of journey.

            Before boarding the train, passengers spend a considerable time on railway stations. Here, unlike the airports where the airline staff renders required help, mostly the train passengers are left on their own. Seating arrangement at stations is inadequate, information systems are poor, and most stations are devoid of basic facilities like potable water. The whatsoever facilities are provided at stations are concentrated to platform no 1. Can it be automatically presumed that the passengers waiting for the train, at a platform other than platform no 1, will never feel the need to go to washroom? If not, then why no toilets are provided at other platforms or if at all they provided, why are they kept as locked?

           

            Railway stations are an important bridge to provide adequate comfort to passengers. Their vulnerability and importance in the system has been identified. To enhance the utility, comfort and cleanliness of stations, adarsh station scheme has been launched. Under it facilities to improve the passenger service in stations are provided. All the areas from the arrival, parking, waiting, food, etc. are taken care off. Railways have gone a step further by deciding to provide RO water at selected stations.

            Wi-fi has been introduced at selected stations on pilot basis. SMS alerts have been introduced for cancelled trains. It has been decided to introduce a centrally managed Railway Display Network in over 2000 stations over the next two years. The passengers will be intimated in advance about the updated arrival and departure status of the trains through SMS alerts. Thus efforts for making the process of boarding of trains as trouble-free and painless have been made. Now passengers can start their journey in a more contented manner.

            Safety and security are the primary concerns of any traveler. While travelling the vulnerability of any person is highest, since one is far from the security of the house. Railways has done a lot to ensure the safety of its passengers. A 24x7 security helpline-182, has been established which is dedicatedly looking in the passenger complaints related to security. The complaint are registered and immediate remedial actions are taken. Other than it railways has also decided to put a first aid kit in the long distance trains to immediately look into the medical requirements. The front line staff deployed on trains is trained in rendering First Aid. Trains can also make unscheduled halts, if necessary, at the stations en-route in emergencies. The Station Masters are advised to maintain details of doctors, clinics and hospitals, both Government and Private, in the vicinity of the station, so that their services could also be availed, in emergencies.

            Another all India Helpline Number ‘138’ for passengers has been provided, to act as an  interface for queries/complaints related to medical emergency, cleanliness, food & catering, coach maintenance, linen etc. The concerns of passengers are catered to on a real time basis. With the objective of facilitating the passengers to book the meal of their choice, E-catering has been introduced in a number of trains at many stations. Now passengers have the choice beyond the food offered by regular pantry car and can select their meals from other food chains also.

            Hygine and Cleanliness is an area having lot of scope for improvement. Swatch Rail-Swatch Bharat scheme has been kick started to fill in this scope. Bio-tiolets are being provided in many trains. On Board House Keeping Services are being strengthened. Mechanized laundry has been installed to ensure proper cleaning of bedrolls. Take home bedrolls have been introduced to enhance cleanliness further.

            A number of other facilities to increase the ease of passengers during journey have been introduced. Mobile phones have become ubiquitous these days, Indian Railways has also acknowledged this fact by providing mobile charging facilities in general class coaches. Lower birth quota for senior citizens and pregnant women has been increased from 2 to 4 in sleeper class coaches. Wi-fi is being provided in select moving trains. Handheld devices is being provided to TTE, so as to facilitate the actual position of occupancy, and re allotment of seats in a more transparent way.

           

            Some special initiatives worth mentioning have been taken for the differently-abled people also. In its effort to provide the opportunities for inclusive development for differently able people infrastructure has been added to facilitate the process of journey independently. Concessional e-tickets after one-time registration for the differently-abled travellers have been started. Under adarsh station scheme, ramps, separate parking and toilet for differently-abled are provided at stations. Blind friendly trains have been started on pilot basis in which the seat numbers are written in Braille. As a special consideration for old, sick and differently-abled people pre-booking of wheelchairs while booking their tickets online has been started.

            The most important component of any dynamic system is its feedback mechanism. Without the proper feedback mechanism any system is bound to fail. Railway has established its own passenger feedback system through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS). Through IVRS passenger feedback is collected in six areas, namely- Train Cleanliness, Platform Cleanliness at Railways Stations, Quality of food served to passengers in train, quality of bed roll supplied in AC coaches, Train punctuality and Cooling of AC in coaches. Passengers are requested to provide their feedback on the aforesaid amenities in three categories, i.e. (1) Good (2) Satisfactory (3) Bad. Responses from passengers categorized as ‘Bad’ are conveyed directly through the system, via e-mails and mobile phones, to the concerned Divisional authorities for effecting remedial measures promptly. Since 01.07.2015, out of a total of 3,89,342 calls that were made on an average daily basis to passengers, the solicited feedback was received in 99,312 calls on an average daily basis. Other than this dedicated IVRS system, Railways is also quickly providing relief to the request/complaints being received on social networking sites like twitter and facebook. Moreover a Compliant Management System has been established consisting of a web based portal, a mobile application and a sms based system, linked to CPGRAMS where in customers can register a variety of complaints and keep a tracking of the actions taken on them. These measures have increased the pleasure of the travelers, and now happy faces can be seen emerging from train after the completion of journey.

           

            The impact of major passenger friendly initiatives has been immense. News reports about the experiences of satisfied customers corroborate it. But still much needs to be done. As per press release dated March 16, 2015 the overall occupancy of all categories of reserved trains on Indian Railways during FY 2013-14 & 14-15 (upto Feb 2015) was more than 100 %. This is a shameful statistics, as even after paying for full value, passengers are forced to travel in deplorable conditions due to the shortage of available accommodation. But as it is said that Rome was not built in a day, it takes a long time to do an important job. Beginning is important, and Indian Railways has started its journey by taking the first step. 

Is Money the Biggest Motivator at workplace?

Traditional Wisdom goes like, If you offer people more money, hey will work harder.

Traditional wisdom is wrong.

Here is a mistake that most organisations make. They assume that money is the biggest motivator for the employees, but it is not money is not THE BIGGEST MOTIVATOR. It is even not a motivator. Money is just a stabilizer.

Besides food and shelter, human beings have two main needs: Connection and Purpose.

This transcends age, culture, profession, country, time etc etc etc.

People want to make close personal, one-to-one connections with each other and find JOY IN SIMPLE THINGS OF LIFE. This joy in simple things of life emanates from small small things like saying 'hi' to a fellow colleague, or getting a train ticket confirmed for your little sister.

Purpose means that we want to have a purpose, a higher purpose, to make contributions that outlast our stay on this planet Earth. It is ....it is...it is in a way a SEARCH FOR IMMORTALITY. Ex-CEO of DMRC Shri E Shreedharan has become immortal now. Delhi will never forget him.

Money offers a temporary satisfaction at best. Employees may work together, but they won't increase their loyalty and engagement.

I have here with me , some data from the survey(2011) of a very famous business Magzine 'Fortune'. I'm sure that most of you must have heard of 'Fortune 500' companies.

Now as per this data, the best companies to work for in terms of annual pay package. The top five companies are:
1. Salesforce.com
2. Bbingham McCutchen
3. Alston and Bird
4. Perkins Coie
5. Devon energy.

Now when I saw their rankings in terms of employee satisfaction, I found something, which really amazed me. It did shocked me. And then I decided to write this article.

In fact in terms of employee satisfaction rankings these companies perform poorly.

Salesforce.com ranks 52, yes my friends you heard it right, it does ranks 52. Bingham McCutchen ranks 28. Alston and Bbird ranks 13, Perkins And Coie ranks 55 and Devon Energy ranks 41.

Does this data suggest something to you?

Does it rings bells in your ears?

The top ranked companies in terms of employee satisfaction are:

1. SAS

2. BCG

3. Wegmens food Market.

4. Google

5. NET APP.

One of the Managers from top ranked SAS quotes ' People stay at SAS in large part because they are happy, but to dig a little deeper, I would argue that people don't leave SAS because they feel regarded- seen, attended to and cared for. I have stayed for that reason, and love what I do for that reason.'

Of course you need to pay people fairly for their contributions, but when you over-emphasize the money it become the only thing that is important. People actually wind up being less happy, less competent and less engaged. If you want people to get motivated, passionate and engaged, you need to give them something besides money, that something is a sense of purpose, which will give them joy in simple things of life and which will guide them in their journey towards the search for immortality.

Now have yo ever heard of or used the social networking site ORKUT.

Well Google uses this technique called 'Innovation Time-off' to motivate its employees. Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their work time on any personal projects of their choice. The time spent during this duration cannot be tracked. Gmail, Google NeWS, Orkut and Adsense are some of the result of such independent endeavor.

Now you know why Google ranks so high in terms of Employees satisfaction.

This s the opportunity to ignite true passions in employees, which you cannot afford to miss, you need to grab it with both hands. If you let them know, their work matters. You will be amazed to know at what they can accomplish.

I would conclude it by repeating on quote from Richard Friedman: 'Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make it wag its tail'

IAS

Indian Administrative Services, probably the most coveted services in India. Every year more than four lakh students appear for this examination in the hope of becoming an IAS officer. Only 80 to 100 are able to fulfill their dream, and the rest appear again in the hope of qualifying next year and thus year on year the attempts continues either till the number of attempts have been exhausted or they have exhausted all their patience and energy. Not only IAS , but for IPS, IFS, IES, IIT, IIM, the trend is similar for all these examinations and services. So what is it which makes all these so special.

For some people it is just the desire of adding the word 'Indian' on their name plate. For many others it is much more than that. The social prestige associated with any of these exams is tremendous and hence cannot be denied. On the lighter side this word 'Indian' does also have boosting impact on the prospective bride and groom in the matrimony market. But there is something, something really special about being an IAS, which puts it much ahead of all the others. An IAS is a civil servant who is supposed to work in anonymity. He is not the public face of the government but mostly is overburdened with the back ground stuff.  Although these service conditions does not sound lucrative but there are some extra opportunities and facilities which makes an IAS officer  special.

Leadership role at an early stage, Capacity to do some thing for the people who really need help, Authority, Power, Influence, lucrative perquisites and allowance, ambassador with a blue beacon, large houses with many domestic helpers, a strong network of powerful people, guest houses and other facilities available throughout the country and a 'powerful' phone call being some of those extra things.

But the thing which really keeps it ahead of every other thing is the limitless opportunities it offers. The 'one man fit everywhere' policy of the government makes sure that an IAS is never stuck to a particular kind of job. In the initial phases of his service when he is working as a District Magistrate or a City Development Officer, his work is to implement the policies formulated by the government, then as he climbs the ladder of his service then his duties change from implementing of policies to framing those policies, due to the delegated legislation given to him by the legislature. At every level his power enhances. His circle of influence grows bigger and bigger everyday. This change is not only vertical but also horizontal at the same time. He does switch from one department to another and from one ministry to another. Probably he never gets bored with only one kind of job, his career is dynamic and opportunities limitless.

Even after retirement his career does not end. Retired IAS officers often become the members of various government appointed committees, they do join a number of missions of United Nations, they are sometimes appointed as very high ranking persons in the government machinery like governors of state, they do also come in active politics. This service does attaches two qualities to an individual which are beneficial to him throughout his life. First and the foremost quality is 'credibility'. It establishes an individual's credibility in the market that he has the required intelligence, hard working nature, decision taking ability and commanding authority to take up any kind of job and excel in it. Secondly it gives him a great network not only in the government but also in various private companies as well. Thus making him a near perfect liaison for any company. Both these qualities makes him a potential candidate to lead a company, or to take up the position of higher level management in a company. 

So the bottom line is that...An IAS is never short of work or money in his life. He never gets bored with his work as he always has the option to switch. 

India of our dreams.

Is India ready for the primetime?

India will truly become a Global Power on the day

• when it is able to feed its every hungry stomach, 
• when it is able to provide basic infrastructural facilities to its people,  
• when it is able to address all health issues, 
• when it is able to make its every single person literate, 
• when it is able to provide happiness and long life to its citizens, 
• when it is able to lift its poor out of poverty and bring prosperity to them, 
• when it is able to provide security to its people and bring down the crime rate to almost negligible, 
• when it is able to bring in gender equality and give respect to its women which it deserves, 
• when it is able to provide equal opportunities to all its people, 
• when it is truly able to reward merit, 
• when the core issue of its politics is performance and effectiveness and not caste,
• when it is able to effectively respond to the natural calamities,
• when it is able to protect its environment and wildlife, 
• when it is able to preserve and propagate its rich culture and values, 
• when it is able to safeguard its legitimate national interest, 
• when it is able to excel in sports in international arena, 
• when it is able to make significant scientific contributions to world and lead in innovation and research, 
• when it is able to act responsibly on the issue of ever deteriorating environment and global climate change,
• when it is able to make space for itself in international forums like WTO,WB,UNSC, etc.., 
• when it is able to establish trade relations with most other countries, 
• when it can turn Balance of Payment in its favor,
• when it is able to help other countries in addressing their internal political, social and economical problems, 
• when it is able to support and safeguard weaker countries against other powerful aggressive counries,
• when it is able to safeguard human rights both at the domestic and at international level, 
• when its authority comes not from flexing its muscles but by making contributions which others value, 
• when it is able to lead the wolrd in peaceful co-existence, mutual respect, non-interference and nuclear disarmament. 
• when it is able to establish itself as a responsible, peace-loving democracy.

That Day will be the day when India will become a super power, a dream which the great men of our country have always cherished.

NAXALISM

Naxalism, terrorism, criminal activities are a direct attack on human rights. These delicate problems of the society have given rise to a society separate in itself. So if in tackling these issues if such means are adopted which violates human rights then the whole process of defending the human rights will become self-defeating.

Naxalist Fighters, most of who actually are not fighting for any cause but for money as mercenaries soldiers. Crushing this resistance by using Armed forces or police forces gives rise to such possibilities of violation of human rights by authorities. Police forces comprise of individuals who themselves are Mortals. And when Mortals see the threatening situation of life and death, they start panicking, and in such panic stricken state they tend to commit mistakes which will only fuel the anger of common man and establish his faith more firmly in Naxal/ Terrorist activities. Collateral damage done during the battle will hit the poor people hardest. They will lose their opportunities to work, the poverty will increase and those hungry stomachs will become good Naxal mercenaries. Death of each innocent person will give rise to at least 10 sympathizers of Naxal and 2 persons who are ready to become as Naxal .Hence its annihilation in the open confrontation is not the option we have but Naxalism should only be choked to slow death. Target can be only be achieved by conquering the land inch by inch.

Children should be sent to school. Unskilled youth should be trained to acquire some skill. Skilled person should be given employment. Older people should be provided with medical care. Woman should be organized in Self-Help Groups to further enhance family income. Money which is going to Naxal for buying arms should be directed to buy food for the needy. It is very obvious that Naxalist will resist any such developmental efforts. It is the point where the role of armed forces comes into action. They should separate the Naxalist form the mercenaries. Naxalist should be completely wiped out and mercenaries should be offered better terms thus forcing them to change sides.

Humans have an inherent characteristic of ‘GREED” in them. This trait of human personality can be positively exploited to confront Naxalism. People should be made so much involved in themselves that there are no free persons to recruit to fight.. Slowly and slowly people will not have any free time to listen to the motivational speech of Naxal and the movement will succumb to slow death.
 

Initiate

Four days ago terrorist have attacked once again in India, killing over 150 people of different religion, different communities and different countries. Turn on the television set, on every channel there is some sensational story going on. It really feels good to see the unity of this country. Everyone is so united here, everyone is putting the blame of all these tragic events so unitedly on the government, on the public servants and on the politicians. Some of the more intellectual ones are even pointing fingers at Pakistan and its supposedly government sponsored terror groups.

But wait...let us first analyze that who these people are who are sitting together in front of a video camera and discussing the topic called "Corruption in the government machinery".

• These are the same people who when see some accident or bomb explosion, make a big crowd of 'angry spectators', even though their gathering is causing a hindrance in the government relief operations.
• These are the same people who instead of suggesting any new reforms simply criticize every new government policy (reference to Farm loan waiver).
• These are the same people who knows everything about Fundamental Rights granted by our Constitution but knows little about Fundamental duties.
• These are the same people who believe in only big things. They can spend hours in talking of revolutions but they don't have any time to educate a poor kid for an hour daily.
• These are the same people who want resignation of Home Minister but they don't know anything about National Security Adviser.
• These are the same people who are unsatisfied with the performance of the incumbent government but does not know the election manifesto of the party they had voted for(if at the least they had voted).
• These are the same people who knows every thing about Sarah Palin but they don't know the name of Vice-President of India.
• These are the same people who pays only Rs 500 to their maids but want them to work as long as possible.
• These are the same people who on one hand talk of making the government jobs more lucrative to hire the best talent but when facilities are given to these officials, they raise fingers on the every rupee which is spent on these facilities.
• These are same people who break law at every possible point, when they go to the places of worship they push each other. when they get caught by the traffic policemen they try to bribe him. They smoke inside office premises, they booze before the age at which they are legally permitted to do it. their kids before attaining the age of 18 somehow manages to get a driving licence.
• These are the same people who all the time talk of corrupt government officials but they themselves hide their real incomes. They don't disclose all the sources of their income to the income tax department.
• These are the same people who talk of moral responsibilities but at the same time find some new excuses for coming late to the office, skipping their schools and colleges, breaking every traffic rule where ever possible.
• These are the same people who consider every green coloured flag as the flag of Pakistan.

We should understand this simple fact that there are certain things which we can do and certain other things which we cannot do. We cannot throw each of these politicians out of their offices. We cannot just go out and put every corrupt person behind bars. But what we can do is that we can understand what is necessary for us, we can prioritize our choices and start with the change we can bring about. If each one of us will begin today with a thing as trivial as saying no to bribe or saying no to nepotism or disclosing our real incomes to the income tax department or educating a poor child or giving food to hungry or providing shelter to a destitute. This world will be a better place after 5 years.

Can you take the Risk of not taking a risk.????

When a bird flies for the first time it take a risk of its life. What will happen if it fails in its attempt. Will it survive? Even if it survives, does it has any PROBABILITY OF BEING ABLE TO ONCE AGAIN SOAR HIGH IN THE BLUE SKY AND TOUCH THE WHITE CLOUDS. So should the bird abstain itself from taking such a risk and stay back on branch where the egg was hatched from which it was born. From where will it get its food. If it doesn't become strong who will protect it from predators who are continuously searching for weak targets like it.

SO SHOULD THE BIRD TAKE THE RISK OF NOT TAKING THE RISK.