Railways in India is a subject not spoken of by many, at least from the corporate perspective, needless to say even within the academic circles for infinite reasons. But I would like to draw attention to a few prominent reasons that I find are suitable to be discussed on this platform.
One of the reasons behind the neglect and lack of exposure is the prominent academic line of thought that has hesitated to dwell into the very subject of the railways and also from the policy perspective, the ministry has never attempted to explore beyond the government think tank – NITI Aayog, nor have many think tanks come forward to introduce the very subject of railways in their domain of expertise, except for a few individuals.
There is a strong reason why I stand against the outlook shared amongst the academic elite on the railways. Especially at a time when the railways not just in India, but the world over is gaining due prominence. There is a growing technology exchange and increasing thrust on railways in the domestic context, which is very evident from the government’s first step to introducing railways to academia through the establishment of a dedicated railway university, which has, of course, raised eyebrows of people who fail to think anything beyond recruitment through ‘competent’ means such as the UPSC.
In my opinion, the only parameter to inducting the best minds to manage a mammoth organisation like the Indian Railways, can be achieved through alternative means and is not confined to competitions conducted through mygov.in. It simply is not the right means to determine the competitiveness of the people who participate in the competitions, which might be subjected to the perspectives and approaches of the individual at a grassroots level.
A Unique Subject But With Few Takers
It is something worth noting and being embarrassed about, that a railway which attracted the attention of Harvard University and Minnesota University, fails to grab the eyeballs of those running prestigious institutes within our very own country, except for the central universities and central institutes such as IIT Kharagpur and IIM Ahmedabad to be very specific, while the deemed universities are extensively hesitant to take up the very subject with speculation over feasibility of the subject and there is a reason for it.
The last few years, we have seen numerous conferences held by the ministry which have been confined to practitioners in the railway industry and making it an inter-networking session rather than conferences aimed at collective participation from all walks of life and all levels of knowledge and expertise, which is not something to be proud of. The Indian population is content over its perception of the railways as an instrument of transportation from Point A to B, which is very short-sighted and pessimistic.
While attracting attention from global academia, we are resistant within our own academic sphere. This, however, cannot be completely attributed to the government, but the rigidity of the Indian academia towards the subject is to be held equally responsible, which prevents students from taking up this potential subject as a research topic.
Bridging The Gap Between Academicians And Policy Makers
When the very institutions of foundation fail to recognize the importance and significance of the railway system, how can we expect it to emerge as an academic discourse? On the contrary, we have UK, China, South Korea, Russia promoting extensive research in railway systems. India continues to undermine its railway system.
In fact, the recently introduced scheme by the HRD Ministry under STRIDE (Scheme for Trans-Disciplinary Research in Developing Economies) presents a humungous opportunity for the development of railways as an academic discipline, while also synchronising with startups. Providing funding and technical support for the establishment of research journals and research clubs across government and private universities would help in inculcating the interest in railways as a research topic. Numerous journals at the international level encourage research papers related to railways, some of them being International Railway Journal, Journal of Transport Planning and Management, Railway Gazette International, and the Transportation Journal.
One Subject, Many Stakeholders
We need to look at the broader perspective of railways as a subject from an academic point of view. This doesn’t mean non-participation of the Ministry of Railways. This is exactly where the Ministry has to go beyond its conventional approach and encourage participation by young minds in presenting their research and ideas for consideration through its conferences. Providing special concessions to the student community for participating in conferences, facilitating networking with policymakers and practitioners for fine-tuning their research are all initiatives that will help.
The faculty in the contemporary context should refrain from discouraging research in unexplored domains and topics. If we continue to move on our conventional experiences in the academic field, we fail as an academic community to diversify our areas of focus which is detrimental to our very notion of a developing economy.
The only need lies in better synchronisation between the decision-makers, academia and the stakeholders for the execution of railways as an academic discourse, complimented with greater participation by think tanks through exclusive railway research programmes. This will help place our country amongst the top railway policy analysis hubs after China, UK, South Korea and other countries.