Populist tinkering now, vision later

The flamboyance of former railway minister Lalu Prasad gave way to a rather conservative Rail Budget 2009-10 presented by UPA’s new railway minister Mamata Mamata, who decided to continue with most of Prasad’s policies but clipped the freight loading to a more realistic target of less than 6% over that achieved in 2008-09. For 2009-10, Mamata has estimated her cash balance will be 26.5% lower at Rs 14,201.27 crore. Accordingly, in her first Rail Budget presented under the UPA on Friday, she has decided to be prudent on...