An Indecisive Indian

  In November 2023, Indian Railways (IR) boldly proclaimed itself the “most safe and affordable mode of transport” and pledged to eliminate passenger waitlists by 2027. Just a month later, it announced an even more ambitious plan: a ₹1 lakh crore investment to procure 7,000–8,000 new train sets over the next 15 years, part of a broader ₹4.2 lakh crore infrastructure overhaul. This included multi-tracking seven high-density corridors, completing the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs), and adding 5,500–6,000 km of new tracks in FY25.   IR also projected a surge in annual passenger numbers from 800 crore to 1,000 crore and proposed 3,000 new trains—alongside the massive infrastructure upgrade—to be delivered within just 4 to 5 years. This longer timeline, endorsed as the Prime Minister’s guarantee, effectively contradicted the original 2027 deadline, suggesting that the earlier figure may have been floated without serious deliberation.   Yet, apar...

  Dr. Sudhanshu Mani, written July 25, updated Oct. 26 Even at the risk of repetition, let me start with this: It took the unflinching resolve of a dedicated team at ICF, Chennai, to design and build Train 18 in just 18 months, which became India’s first modern semi-high-speed train. Flagged off in early 2019 as the Vande Bharat Express, it became a symbol of national pride and the PM’s pet project. But after deploying nearly 100 rakes, all in seater versions, the novelty has worn thin. I had long held that after approximately 50 or 60 daytime services, only a Sleeper version could carry the mission forward.  However, the project for that version, which should have been a reality by the end of 2019, was abandoned along with the Vande Bharat project itself. It was instead consigned to ICF, RDSO, and the Board merely boiling the ocean, tweaking a specification that did not need tweaking, and making visibly officious efforts to delay the project. Although the Vande Bharat project...

  Jugaad —or more expressively, Jugaa.D in Roman Hindi—is a powerful and evocative word. According to the Oxford Dictionary, it is a Hindi term referring to an innovative, resourceful, and often unconventional approach to problem-solving, especially in the face of limited resources. It typically implies quick, inexpensive, and improvised solutions using whatever is at hand. More broadly, it encompasses meanings like contrivance, stratagem, intrigue, or any innovative or irregular way of repairing, mending, or solving a problem—a makeshift mechanism or stopgap solution. But jugaad is more than all this. It can also suggest spontaneity, extemporization, ad-libbing, ad hoc responses, or even the spirit of quest, pursuit, chase, hunt, inquiry, or exploration. In looser associations, it connects with ideas like impromptu, expedient, improviso, autoschediasm, speaking off the cuff, acting on impulse or in the moment, winging it, inquest, intrigue, enterprise, and quarry. In short, juga...