Comment: 'Plane' truths and BJP's histrionics

It is good that the fleet expansion programme of the Indian Airlines has been approved.

After Rajiv Gandhi, no other prime minister dared to buy new aircraft, although the bad market atmosphere prevailing throughout the nineties is also to blame. It resulted in total deterioration of service in the country's premier airline and an erosion of its financial viability.

Ineptitude

One wonders at the total ineptitude of the previous government, which in its six years of rule was not able to sanction purchase of new aircraft. In the last meeting of the consultative committee for Ministry of Civil Aviation, members asked current minister Praful Patel about the reasons for such a delayed decision. The sanction come within months of his assuming office.

Though IA has put up a spirited fight against private competition and is improving by leaps and bounds, the woes of the other carrier, Air India, seem to be endless.

In domestic skies, we can now safely assert that our domestic airlines can today compete favourably with most American airlines. The service levels are fast improving and you can notice the change in all departments be it in-flight service or maintenance. The gains are coming with an increase in passenger load to the tune of 4,000 passengers per day on Indian airlines. The IA story demonstrates once again that a fine balance of government freedom coupled with excellent management can work wonders, never mind how spirited the competition is.

Janpath fast

What Jayalalitha is doing to Shankaracharya is certainly not right. His stature demands better treatment and the least she could do was to put him up in a guest house, rather than make him suffer in a jail.

Even L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were put under house arrest in a guesthouse at the time of their arrest by the Narasimha Rao government.

But Jayalalitha is in no mood to relent, despite the fact that even the prime minister has spoken.

It is interesting to notice the antics of Jaya's election ally, the BJP's henchmen. The senior BJP leaders are observing a fast and holding an agitation at Janpath in New Delhi, when what they really needed to do was to try these stunts outside the imposing gates of Poes Garden in Chennai, the residence of Jayalalitha, if they were really concerned about a solution to the impasse.

But no, why would they want to miss an opportunity to play their Hindutva card centrestage and garner useful political mileage? That Manmohan Singh is not a clever politician is a hot topic of debate ever since he became prime minister. But what nobody doubts is the abilities of Singh the administrator.

The last six months have thrown up ample evidence that the highest administrative post in India is not going to prevent Singh from pushing his reformist agenda, whose target of late has been the bureaucracy.

When he is not busy issuing advisories to ministries and departments, he is either proposing ideas like direct intake of those passing out of high school into the Indian Administrative Service, or even setting the stage for a bureaucratic code of conduct.

He even went on to revive a Nehru tradition of the prime minister writing to state chief ministers.

Rajeev Shukla is a member of the Rajya Sabha.