Railway Budget

Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee presented the Railway Budget for 2009-10 in Parliament on Friday.

Here are some highlights of her Railway Budget speech:

* Banerjee says an expert committee will be set up to advise her on implementation of the so-called economically unviable but socially desired projects.
* "My priorities will include better passenger amenities, safety and security and provision of good quality food and drinking water," says Banerjee.
* Railway ministry has plans to develop important stations through private-public partnership. These include CST Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Howrah, Sealdah, Varanasi, New Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Kanpur, Chennai Central, Thiruvananthapuram Central, Secunderabad, Bangalore City, Byappanahalli, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Habibganj, Agra Central, Chandigarh, Kolkata, New Jalpaiguri, Puri and Kochi.
* Railways to develop multi-functional complexes with shopping malls, food stalls, medicines and variety stores in different parts of the country.
* Infotainment services to be provided in major long-distance trains, Banerjee says.
* Banerjee says an expert committee will be set up to advise her on implementation of the so-called economically unviable but socially desired projects.
* Develop 50 stations as world class stations
* Improvement of trains amenities
* Railways is trying to keep up with change
* Committed to the cause of the underpreviliged.
* India wants better rail connectivity.
* Book stores, PCOs to be set up across stations
* Infotainment services on Rajhandi and Shatabdi trains
* To take the private-public partnership route to develop stations
* Priority for food and water on trains
* Developing multi-functional complexes at stations
* Priority to passenger amenities
* Rail projects shouldn't be gauged by economic viability but governed by social viability: Mamata
* To set up panel for financing unvaiilable rail projects

Where has the Plane gone?

Five days after an Air France plane -- travelling from Brazil to France -- sunk into the Atlantic Ocean (or somewhere else), there is no trace. The wreckage -- initially said to be the Air France debris -- was nothing but sea trash, emerging reports indicate. New reports say there is no evidence of the crashed plane.

That leads to a puzzling and mysterious question: Where has the plane gone?

Indian Student Attacked

A 23-year-old Indian student was beaten up for the second time in a fortnight by a group of youths in Melbourne -- the 11th person from India to be assaulted within one month in Australia .

Kamal Jit was found unconscious and bleeding by another Indian student in western suburb of the city yesterday.

It was the second attack in two weeks on Jit, who was previously pelted with eggs by several masked men after getting off a late night train at St Albans station in western suburb.

"It is very bad because we pay a lot of money and we are living far away from our country and from our families and we are without protection," Jit was quoted as saying in 'The Age' newspaper today.

As he walked home at about 1:40 am yesterday, Jit said, he noticed three men acting suspiciously in a car and he tried to avoid them.

He then saw two men come out of it near a pizza shop, while another waited in a car.

"The two guys pushed me to the ground and I was hit on the head, I think with a steel rod," Jit said.

Who is John Galt

WHO IS JOHN GALT?

THIS WAS THE NEW SLOGAN WITH WHICH AYN RAND REVOLUTIONISED THE MATERIALIST WORLD WITH HER PHILOSOPHY IN THE RECORD BREAKING NOVEL 'THE ATLAS SHRUGGED'. HERE JOHN GALT IS THE PROTAGONIST WHO BELIEVES THAT 'I WORK FOR NOTHING BUT MY OWN PROFIT, WHICH I MAKE BY SELLING SOMETHING TO MEN WHO NEED IT & WHO ARE WILLING & ABLE TO BUY IT. . . . . WE DEAL AS EQUALS BY MUTUAL CONSENT & TO MUTUAL ADVANTAGE & I AM PROUD OF EVERY PENNY I HAVE EARNED IN THIS MANNER'.

AYN RAND'S MASTERPIECE INTEGRATES THE BASIC PRINCIPLE OF AN ENTIRE PHILOSOPHY INTO AHIGHLY COMPLEX YET DRAMATICALLY COMPELLING PLOT, SET IN A NEAR FUTURE USA WHOSE ECONOMY IS COLLAPSING AS A RESULT OF THE MYSTERIOUS DISSAPEARANCE OF LEADING INNOVATORS & INDUSTRIALISTS. THE THEME IS THE ROLE OF MIND IN MANS EXISTENCE & ITS SUPREME IMPORTANCE.

IS 'ATLAS SHRUGGED' RELEVANT?

IN SEVERAL COUNTRIES IN SOUTH AMERICA (BOLIVIA , VENEZUALA , ARGENTINA & A FEW OTHER), GOVERNMENTS ARE INSTTUTING POLICIS OF GOODS PRODUCTION CONTROL (ESTABLISHING QUOTAS , DEFINING WHICH PRODUCTS SHOULD BE PRODUCED & BY WHOM) & STATISATION OF COMPANIES, WHILE ESTABLISHING PROGRAMMES OF REDIDTRIBUTION OF WEALTH WHICH INCLUDES FREE SALARIES TO NON WORKERS & TAXES ON EXPORT OF GOODS UPTO 85% ( ON THE PREMISE THAT THEY ARE EXCEPTIONAL EARNINGS). THE MAIN THEME OF THOSE GOVERNMENT DISCOURSES IS 'THOSE THAT CAN PRODUCE SHOULD HELP THOSE THAT NEED MOST'. ALSO THAT 'HUNGER OF THE PEOPLE COMES FROM THE SELFISHNESS OF THE PRODUCERS' WELL ALIGNED WITH THE LOOTERS DISCOURSE IN THE BOOK.IN FACT , THE BOOK IS A GREAT PREDICTOR OF THE MEASURES TAKEN AFTER A GIVEN SITUATION THAT MATCHES A SITUATION IN ATLAS SHRUGGED. AN EXODUS OF INDUSTRIES, INVESTORS & EVEN WORKERS HAS BEEN OBSERVED AS A RESULT, WITH MANY MORE JUST STOOPING WORK AS THE PAYOFF OF GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES TO NON WORKERS IS MUCH BETTER THAT THAT OF PRODUCTION.

A BOOK WRITTEN IN THE 1950'S IS VERY RELEVANT TILL TODAY.

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