- A unique circumstance is that millions of people who travel the full length and width of India rely on the trains as their lifeline. To provide its workers and resources with a smooth and quick method of transportation, the former British administration built railway lines. Since then, the mode has not only been wildly popular but has also been successful in drawing the majority of travelers. Despite other forms of transit gaining popularity, what the British initially saw as a novelty eventually became the most important lifeline serving the needs of millions. Even though modern manufacturing, services, and other essential industries are widely established in India, the country still has an agrarian-based economy.
PC: The Hindu
- The importance of the migrant workers’ contribution to economic activity during the epidemic was evident to the entire nation. And there is no need to elaborate on how the railways responded to the unprecedented health disaster. 2017’s GOI annual economic survey came as a shock to the uninitiated. For a while, the perplexing issue that it was relatively slow-moving dominated the discussion on migration within the nation. A snapshot taken at the end of each decade, the decennial census, didn’t exactly capture what was going on. Between 2011 and 2016, the economic survey used unreserved rail travel as a stand-in for economic migration and concluded that there were about nine million interstate migrant employees.
- Its dataset also had a hidden message: trains have a greater influence than what is often measured. The majority of India’s lower economic migrants depend on trains to survive. With remittances, their capacity to relocate and enhance their economic prospects benefits their home states. The GOI’s yearly jobs data for 2020–21 (PLFS) attempted to determine the reason for migration. A whopping 43% of migrant men claimed it was connected to a job. the rising migration flows are from the north and east to the south, despite the railway data showing that traditional magnets for migrants like NCR, Maharashtra, and Gujarat continue to exert a strong draw. Long-distance lines, like Coromandel Express, are crucial in this situation.
PC: Mint
- When seen in isolation, railway finances are an example of messy cross-subsidization between different revenue sources, common to other government-controlled areas such as electricity distribution. This view understates the larger economic impact that railways have by providing a cost-effective mode of transport across long distances. If anything, some of these long-distance migrant routes are underserved. Indian Railways has received considerable budgetary support in the last few years. Imperative to enhance service in migrant corridors backed by greater attention to safety to pay off in ways that cannot be captured by looking at railway finance in isolation. In conclusion, ensuring the safety of the rail network is essential for our economic performance.
