Kerala - Kochi   

Lalu’s school gains more fans

Photo: VipinChandran

Management guru: Lalu Prasad at the School of Management Studies of the Cochin University of Science and Technology on Friday. -

KOCHI: The ‘Lalu Rath’ rolled into the hearts of hundreds of management students of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) and mesmerised them by narrating how he scripted the successful turnaround of the loss-making Indian Railways.

Before starting his interaction with the students here on Friday, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad reminded them that representatives of prestigious educational institutions like Harvard and Wharton had visited India to learn more about the management models being adopted by Indian Railways. Clad in ‘dhoti-kurta’ and speaking in Hindi, his short but interesting observations left the teachers and students spellbound. The management guru in him impressed the audience with his one-liners. The Minister fielded questions with aplomb and earned applause for his witticisms.

Said Mr. Prasad: “Log mujhse poochthe hain – Laluji aapne kya jadoo kiya” (People ask me Laluji what magic did you do?). And I told them, “jadoo tho abhi baki hai” (there is more to come). Kunal Soni, a management student, fired the first salvo when he pointed out that Mr. Prasad would not always be the Railway Minister. “Sir, what policy measures would you propose to ensure the sustainability of the progress and the growth achieved by Indian Railways?”

Quick came the reply: “The same question was asked by students from Harvard, MIT, and IIM-Ahmedabad. Yeh gaadi aage chalega, peechein nahin” (this train will move ahead, and not backwards) even though Ministers might change in future.

Krishnachandran, an MBA student, asked how Mr. Prasad had tackled the problem of bureaucratic culture of Indian Railways. The Minister said that the right officers were posted at the right posts to ensure transparency.

‘I did not threaten them but provided encouragement to perform,” he said. Calling himself as a ‘big land lord’ (based on the surplus land available with Railways), Mr. Prasad said that efforts would be made to utilise the land commercially.

Joshi Antony of the School of Management Studies wanted to know whether the privatisation of Railways could improve the efficiency further. Mr. Prasad said that privatisation would be helpful in categories like improving container services and setting up world class railway stations. The Minister said that a lot of foreign direct investment was coming to the country. But infrastructure had to be improved to attract more investment, he said.

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