Spocky, its best to stay quiet when you don’t know squat then to open your mouth and expose your stupidity…
The Hindu : National : Harvard, Wharton students quiz Lalu
Harvard, Wharton students quiz Lalu
PHOTO: RAJEEV BHATT
http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/28/images/2006122805571201.jpg
LESSONS FROM LALU: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad with students from the Harvard and Wharton Business Schools at the National Rail Museum in New Delhi on Wednesday.
New Delhi : The going was not exactly smooth for Railway Minister Lalu Prasad at an interaction with a group of students from the Harvard and Wharton Business Schools of the United States here on Wednesday. One hundred students were present at the session at the Rail Auditorium.
Mr. Prasad had been in recent times receiving fulsome praise from various quarters for turning the railways around.
The Minister, calling himself “Guruji,” explained to the students in Hindi how he broke the myth of the western model that an enterprise that proves to be a liability'' should be privatised and its employees given the golden handshake. His translated speech, however, drew sceptism from the students from various countries. Some of them questioned the sustainability of his model. Kunal Singh from Harvard told reporters: We asked him if his model was sustainable. What happens when he exits as Railway Minister?‘’
He also asked Mr. Prasad why he could not turn around Bihar in 15 years of the Rashtriya Janata Dal rule, when it took him just 30 months to change the railways. Lalu said Bihar needed an outside push. It had too many problems, while the railways had a lot of potential. It is like an empire.'' Mr. Prasad referred to the students as "achcha bachcha log" (good kids) and exhorted them to be honest and hard working. I told the `cream of the society’ [the students] that I did not follow what the think-tanks and experts say in the West about loss-making ventures,‘’ he told reporters later.
The Minister said he had put a framework'' in place for transforming the railways, and it should not be difficult for anyone to emulate the model. The Press was not allowed in, as the students insisted on maintaining the sanctity of a classroom.‘’
I wish he hadn't taken all the credit for the success. I wish he'd given some credit to the Railway Board,'' a student from Harvard told PTI. Neerja Shukla, a former student of IIM-Ahmedabad who had heard Mr. Prasad earlier, said: Lalu did not speak in his characteristic way. He was more serious this time. In fact, it was his Officer on Special Duty who explained the railways’ model to us.‘’
Another student felt the middle-level management in the Railway Ministry contributed to Mr. Prasad’s success.
The Minister said he took up the challenge'' of making the railways a profitable venture when it was mired in huge debts. I did not increase the fares. I did not retrench employees. Instead, I gave them a bonus. I took the traders into confidence. I also took the employees into confidence." — PTI