Essayer OR - Gratuit
Good Governance Should Not Be So Slippery
The New Indian Express Vellore
|March 10, 2025
We are much more invested in deflecting blame than fixing the underlying problem. Inquiry committee findings are usually suppressed, a hangover of the colonial government
Three weeks after the stampede on February 15, which killed at least 18 at the New Delhi station, a tiny news item mentions the transfer of three senior railway officers. The inquiry committee investigating the stampede is yet to submit its report. The authorities have denied any connection between these transfers and the stampede. However, the same news item states that the "ministry appears to have taken the incident very seriously, albeit quietly".
Herein lies the rub. Why are we so averse to taking responsibility and fixing accountability? Let us consider the history of our railways, one of the great marvels of engineering, management, human transportation—and employment. I agree that it would be uncharitable to call the Indian railways disaster-prone. But, as many experts readily admit, our safety record leaves much to be desired. The political fallout of this vulnerability has been significant.
We might recall that several railway ministers in India have resigned or offered to resign following railway accidents. The most notable was Lal Bahadur Shastri, who put in his papers in 1956 after two railway mishaps. The then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru accepted his resignation after the second of these accidents in which over 150 passengers died in a bridge collapse near Ariyalur, plunging the train carrying them to a watery grave. Shastri's reputation was saved; he went on to become India's second prime minister.
Much more recently, Nitish Kumar resigned in 1999 after the Gaisal train collision in West Bengal. The Avadh Assam Express and the Brahmaputra Mail collided, killing 290 people due to a signalling error. In 2017, after the Kaifiyat Express and Puri-Utkal Express derailment, railway minister Suresh Prabhu offered to resign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi let him go after asking him to wait a month.
Cette histoire est tirée de l'édition March 10, 2025 de The New Indian Express Vellore.
Abonnez-vous à Magzter GOLD pour accéder à des milliers d'histoires premium sélectionnées et à plus de 9 000 magazines et journaux.
Déjà abonné ? Se connecter
PLUS D'HISTOIRES DE The New Indian Express Vellore
The New Indian Express Vellore
EPS quells dissent, 40 AIADMK functionaries stripped of party posts
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday removed 40 functionaries from their party posts in the Erode Rural West district.
1 min
October 01, 2025

The New Indian Express Vellore
Will rather quit than ally with BJP for statehood, says Omar
CHIEF Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday asserted that he would resign rather than aligning with BJP for the restoration of state status to Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory.
1 mins
October 01, 2025
The New Indian Express Vellore
4.5L cases of crime against women in '23: NCRB
INDIA has recorded nearly 4.5 lakh incidents of crime against women in 2023, which is marginally up from the figures in the past two years.
1 mins
October 01, 2025

The New Indian Express Vellore
1st assured transit time container train between Delhi & Kolkata from today
THE Railway Board is set to launch its first assured transit time (ATT) container train service on Wednesday between Delhi's Tughlakabad and Kolkata's Shalimar via Agra and Kanpur.
1 mins
October 01, 2025

The New Indian Express Vellore
Maintenance application against minor husband maintainable, rules HC
WHILE dealing with a case involving child marriage and a maintenance claim against a minor husband, the Allahabad High Court has held that application under Sections 125 and 128 Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) seeking maintenance against minor was maintainable.
1 min
October 01, 2025
The New Indian Express Vellore
SHARE MAHANADI WATER WITH TIME-BOUND PLAN
THE dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over the Mahanadi river water finally seems headed towards an amicable resolution, if the recent warmth between the two states is anything to go by.
1 mins
October 01, 2025
The New Indian Express Vellore
Once mighty, West Indies are now fighting for survival
LAST week, members of the visiting West Indies team put themselves on the long flight from the Caribbean Islands to India.
4 mins
October 01, 2025
The New Indian Express Vellore
Top Naxal leaders key targets as ops intensify
'No safe places for extremists in Bastar'
1 mins
October 01, 2025

The New Indian Express Vellore
NDA team seeks investigation by sitting SC judge
BJP MP Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said a sitting Supreme Court judge should hold an inquiry into the circumstances that led to the stampede in Karur on Saturday in which 41 people died.
1 min
October 01, 2025
The New Indian Express Vellore
Vijay’s close aides move HC seeking pre-arrest bail
APPREHENDING arrests in the case registered by the Karur Town police in connection with the stampede, TVK general secretary Bussy Anand and joint general secretary CTR Nirmal Kumar filed anticipatory bail petitions before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday.
1 min
October 01, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size