Comment: Visitors thrilled to be back in paradise

Finally, great news from the Valley. After one and half decades, Kashmir is again choc-a-bloc with tourists. There's no room available in any Srinagar hotel. All flights are booked in advance for weeks. Forget houseboats on the Dal lake, you should try your luck in a lottery to manage some accommodation in faraway Pahelgam.

The Mufti government must be praised for successfully creating an atmosphere of safety that has erased images of fear not only in the minds of Kashmiris but also of the visitors thronging the amazing Valley in thousands. It is almost impossible to guarantee total calm in the Valley as stray incidents of violence will continue to erupt. Infiltration from Pakistan is low but still on. We cannot think of total normalcy until foreign mercenary influx is stopped.

While the visitors are thrilled to be back in the paradise they temporarily lost, for the Kashmiris, life has never been so rewarding in a very long time. The same hotels that resembled haunted houses all these years are bristling with guests again. The same houseboats, the same guides, the same drivers who would offer room or service for any paltry amount of money to rare tourists all these years, are again in high demand. With the tourists, livelihood and happiness are back in the Valley.

Wordly wise

I know many who doubt Lalu Prasad Yadav's capabilities for his rustic ways. Granted, railways involve sophisticated technology but I think technocrats and engineers are always better qualified than any minister to handle that. A minister's role is to plug holes in the system through policy decisions. And only a man rooted in worldly realities like Lalu could come up with such apt moves to cure the railways of certain chronic ailments. In the din that generally follows every railway Budget, we must not lose sight of two landmark decisions.

First, abolishing steel and iron scrap auction. Coming from Bihar, Lalu knew how organised, big mafias buy huge quantities of steel and iron scrap from the railways at throwaway prices and get it rolled before selling off with a startling margin of profit. It took Lalu and his grassroot sensibility to locate the loophole and his decision abolishing such auctions remains one of the most crucial moves not only towards weeding out corruption but also curing the railways' financial health.

If you still insist that Lalu is technologically challenged and thus unfit for managing most of his hi-tech ministry, let me tell you about his second achievement. This was evident from the second landmark announcement in his budget speech when he proposed to take internet technology a giant step ahead of the reservation module and decided to introduce online tender system. More than convenience, this move promises to eliminate much corruption from the procurement process.

The railways' scale of operation generates thousands of contracts worth several thousand millions. In the present system, tenders are manually opened at different zonal and divisional headquarters. Organised mafias spotted the opportunity early and worked out a mechanism that doesn't allow 'unwanted' tenders to reach the railways offices concerned. The decision to switch over to online tender system will leave these operators high and dry and every genuine bidder will now gain the confidence to participate in the bidding.

If you thought Lalu Yadav's innovations were limited to kulhars (earthen cups) and khadi linen, think again before writing him off. There is definitely more to that man than is evident.

Padma prescription

If you are a doctor of repute who has got everything material – excellent clientele and a fat bank balance – and longs for some sublime recognition that sets you apart in your league, don't fret about not being the best in your trade. Just manage to get one or two VIPs for patients and treat them with all the care they need, and you can expect to see yourself in the list of Padma awardees next year.

I am not against doctors being awarded the highest civilian awards as they belong to one of the noblest professions and their sacrifice is often beyond rewards. Neither am I suggesting that all the doctors honoured with Padma awards earned their recommendations the easy way. But there are doctors who deserve it as much as anybody else for their sheer excellence in the science of medicine, but have been overlooked in favour of their not-equally-gifted colleagues who happened to develop emotional bonds with VIP patients and thus got recommended for the award. And when such beneficiaries and victims belong to the same institutions, it does create hostility in the medic fraternity. Personal emotion must not compromise the sanctity of the Padma awards.

– Rajeev Shukla is a member of the Rajya Sabha