<h3 style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.2;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The Indian Railways has a history of nearly 170 years. It is historically acknowledged as a great carrier of India’s engagement with modernity and progress. But is train journey in Indian Railways becoming a torture? Here, writer and academic Seshadri Kumar recounts one of his recent, harrowing experiences in the “New Age Technology driven“ Indian Railways. We call up on readers to respond to this, with your own experiences – Good, Bad, Indifferent – with Indian Railways … Read on – Editor, The Aidem.</h3><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">&nbsp;<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">My wife just returned from a rail trip to Chennai. And what she told me as I picked her up from the train station stunned me: “That’s the last time I’m taking a train in India.”<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">To know why I was stunned, you need to understand some background. My wife had always been a rail romantic before this. Her father was an Indian Railways officer who retired as the Chief Signals and Telecommunications Engineer in the Southwestern Railway in Bangalore. The family had lived all over the country, as is normal for an Indian Railways employee with a transferable government job. And most everywhere they had travelled anywhere in India in her life, they had travelled by train. She had always loved it. She had, therefore, always been a hardcore train devotee.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">My own childhood was full of wonderful train trips. Most of them were the annual trips from Mumbai to my mom’s “native place” in Chengalpattu, near Chennai, where my mom’s mother lived. But I also remember a 48-hour trip from Mumbai to Dehradun on the “Dehradun Express” in 1988, when I went on the IIT Bombay-sponsored “Himankan” trip, in which we trekked in the Tehri Garhwal Himalayas for 10 days, starting from Sankree, near Dehradun. The “express train” was only 8 hours late, but that didn’t take away the fun of travelling in that train with a bunch of IIT classmates. I remember one leg of the journey starting in Haridwar, in which we had a steam engine pulling the train, and a few of us were sitting on the steps of the coach, inhaling the smoke from the steam engine as well as from the bidis (country cigarettes) we were smoking. On my return from Dehradun on that trek, I visited Delhi, and then returned from Delhi to Mumbai, again by train, this time by Paschim Express. It was highly enjoyable.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">More recently, I remember going to Ahmedabad in 2003 to visit an old friend, and took the overnight train from Mumbai to Ahmedabad and back. All good experiences.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Since my return to India in 2006 after 16 years in the US and UK, I had a very busy corporate life for a long time until I recently retired from active employment. This meant that my vacations were limited and I didn’t have the luxury of being able to indulge in train travel very much for all these years. Most of our trips were therefore compulsorily by plane.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">My wife had always been resentful about this. In 2014, we got an opportunity to travel by train when we decided to go to Goa from Mumbai by train. We were very excited about our big train trip, especially as the train was advertised as a “special holiday train.”<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The experience was anything but special. The coach was dirty, the A/C wasn’t working well, and the wash basin was backed up and overflowing, so you couldn’t use it. Also, for some reason, we had to wait two hours at CST in Mumbai for the train to start. Now, some parts of the Mumbai-Goa line are one-way, so they schedule trains carefully so that trains can go seamlessly through those sections without waiting. But since our train was two hours late starting, it missed all the right windows. Our train had to wait at every chokepoint for trains in the other direction to pass. We finally reached Goa a full four hours behind schedule. The return journey wasn’t much better.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">My wife assured me that this was an exception, and I should not colour my views on train travel in India based on this experience. I deferred to her experience and didn’t pronounce judgement. We both decided that that particular train was an aberration, and we had made big plans that, maybe next year (we would have like to do it earlier but for the pandemic), we would plan to travel a lot around India, crisscrossing India by rail. I could not join her on this trip of hers to Chennai, her first since the 2014 Goa trip.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Last night, after I picked her and our daughter up from Bangalore’s KSR railway station, she said she has now completely given up on the dream of train travel in India after this experience. She said that trains in India have gone completely to pot. This was the Chennai-Bangalore Shatabdi Express, and she said neither the toilet nor the wash basin was properly working in second class A/C chair car. One of the two toilets in the coach wasn’t working, and in addition, the toilets had become too small. And they stank. In short, it was an utterly miserable experience. She asked, how do they expect someone with a small child to travel in this? She told me firmly that she would only travel by car or plane from now on. This was shocking to hear from a lifelong lover of Indian trains, one who had often castigated me for not taking trains more often, even accusing me of being “elitist” for flying.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">I should add a note about my woes at KSR station. My wife and daughter were waiting for me on the platform, but I had a miserable time trying to get a platform ticket. There’s no proper signage at the station on how to get a platform ticket, and when I finally went to a counter, the guy there shooed me off and pointed me to go in one direction. I went in the indicated direction and found a bunch of automated machines, but they would only accept UPI-based apps. I didn’t have a UPI based app such as Google Pay or BHIM or Phone Pe. I don’t like exposing my complete bank account to apps (what if someone hacks your phone?), and prefer options like PayTM wallet to options like Google Pay and PayTM UPI. The machines at KSR station do not accept cash. I kept hunting for some counter where I could buy a ticket for cash, but there wasn’t an option. The whole station was incredibly customer-unfriendly. Finally, I asked someone who was paying for a train ticket by Google Pay to buy a platform ticket for me and gave him the Rs. 10. This delay cost me 20 minutes.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">I am curious to know if others have similar experiences. Should we really abandon our dream of experiencing India by train? We have a small child, so we cannot rough it out like we did when we were young. A train needs basic amenities. When I travelled by train as a young person, I never remember a situation when the toilets or the washbasin were broken. We have now seen this twice in the space of eight years.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">So I ask: Are the Indian Railways really going down the drain?

WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-20-at-6.00.33-PM.jpeg

The Indian Railways has a history of nearly 170 years. It is historically acknowledged as a great carrier of India’s engagement with modernity and progress. 

Are Indian Railways Going Down the Drain?

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/26th_Feb_24_a_770x470_895dd4a601.jpg" alt="26th-Feb-24-a-770x470.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_26th_Feb_24_a_770x470_895dd4a601.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_26th_Feb_24_a_770x470_895dd4a601.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_26th_Feb_24_a_770x470_895dd4a601.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">In the interim <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/doc/Budget_Speech.pdf'">Budget</a>, the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman emphasised the multiplier effect of capital expenditure on economic growth and job creation. The budget for 2024-25 allocates spending at 14.5 percent of GDP, with a significant focus on capital expenditure, which constitutes 23.32 per cent of the total budget, equivalent to 3.39 percent of GDP. This marks a substantial 16.9 per cent increase compared to the revised estimate of the previous fiscal year, reflecting a continued emphasis on capital investments to drive economic growth.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);display:block;font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;height:auto;letter-spacing:normal;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;vertical-align:middle;white-space:normal;widows:2;width:640px;word-spacing:0px;" id="attachment_26764" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26764"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Whats_App_Image_2024_02_26_at_14_34_17_1024x402_6df22e6108.jpeg" alt="WhatsApp-Image-2024-02-26-at-14.34.17-1024x402.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Whats_App_Image_2024_02_26_at_14_34_17_1024x402_6df22e6108.jpeg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Whats_App_Image_2024_02_26_at_14_34_17_1024x402_6df22e6108.jpeg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Whats_App_Image_2024_02_26_at_14_34_17_1024x402_6df22e6108.jpeg 750w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_Whats_App_Image_2024_02_26_at_14_34_17_1024x402_6df22e6108.jpeg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-26764">Nirmala Sitaraman in Parliament</figcaption></figure><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">However, a closer analysis reveals that the bulk of this spending is concentrated in three key Ministries – Railways, Road Transport and Highways, and Defence – which collectively represent 63 per cent of the total capital expenditure for 2024-25 (BE). Notably, this share has declined by 7 percentage points compared to the revised estimates of the previous fiscal year (Refer Table 1). In absolute terms, the allocation for these three Ministries has increased though.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_16_1024x447_11273ecb45.png" alt="image-16-1024x447.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_image_16_1024x447_11273ecb45.png 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_image_16_1024x447_11273ecb45.png 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_image_16_1024x447_11273ecb45.png 750w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_image_16_1024x447_11273ecb45.png 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The total government expenditure for FY 2024-25 (BE) is projected at Rs 47.65 lakh crore, reflecting a 6.1 per cent increase from the previous year’s Revised Estimates (RE). Within this, revenue expenditure dominates, showing a 3.2 per cent rise over the RE of the previous year. Interest payments constitute a significant portion of the Revenue Budget, estimated at 32.57 per cent up from 29.81 per cent in the FY 2023-24 RE. In line with fiscal consolidation efforts, the Union Government targets a fiscal deficit of 5.1 per cent for FY 2024-25 interim budget Although there has been a notable shift, with the share of the budget allocated to these committed liabilities decreasing from 50.5 percent in FY 2019-20 (BE) to an anticipated 41.9 per cent in the current budget, it still represents a significant portion. This tighter fiscal stance has led to a reduction in the fiscal space for social sector spending.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Moreover, a declining trend emerges in the combined budgetary priority for the 16 Union Ministries, broadly considered as the key social sector ministries. The combined allocation for the 16 social sector ministries has declined in the four subsequent Union Budgets, reaching 20.9 per cent in 2024-25 (I)(BE). This is a decline of 0.8 percentage points from that of the revised estimates for FY 2023-24. This trend closely mirrors the reduction in the overall Union Budget’s share of GDP, underscoring a disproportionate impact on social sector ministries.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_17_c789789a67.png" alt="image-17.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_image_17_c789789a67.png 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_image_17_c789789a67.png 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_image_17_c789789a67.png 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Delving deeper into the allocations within the social sector, we observe a significant reallocation of resources over time. From 2019-20 to 2022-23, the budgetary share dedicated to education, sports, art, and culture diminished from 15 per cent to 11 per cent, although it is projected to recover slightly to 13 per cent in FY 2024-25 BE. However, this remains below pre-pandemic levels. Similarly, the portion of the budget allocated to rural development decreased from 20 per cent in FY 2019-20 to 18 per cent in FY 2022-23, indicating a downward shift even after adjustments for pandemic-related spending increases.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Additionally, despite the critical importance of healthcare during the pandemic, investment in medical and public health declined from 10 percent of the social sector budget in 2019-20 to 8 per cent in FY 2022-23, with a slight improvement to 9 per cent anticipated for 2024-25. This trend is particularly alarming given the increased importance of healthcare infrastructure and services highlighted by the COVID-19 crisis.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The allocation for food subsidies, a vital component of social welfare, notably increased during the pandemic to support the distribution of free food grains. This pushed the share of expenses for food storage, warehousing, and civil supplies from 19 per cent in FY 20192-20 to 30 per cent in 2022-23. Despite this surge, the government’s food subsidy bill is projected to decrease by 3.3 per cent to Rs 2.05 lakh crore for FY 2024-25, from the revised estimate of Rs 2.12 lakh crore for 2023-24. Even as it constitutes the largest portion of social sector spending, this has been declining and is estimated to be 21 per cent in FY 2024-25. As food subsidies directly impact the poor, it is important to reassess budgetary priority to food subsidies, as it would not only raise the purchasing power of the poor but also have broader socioeconomic implications.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_20_9184eba8ab.png" alt="image-20.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_image_20_9184eba8ab.png 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_image_20_9184eba8ab.png 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_image_20_9184eba8ab.png 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The analysis underscores a pivotal issue to the necessity to balance the boost in capital expenditure, vital for economic growth and job creation, with sufficient funding for the social sector. The decrease in allocations for social sector ministries challenges sustainable economic development and the government’s capacity to enhance social welfare.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);display:block;font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;height:auto;letter-spacing:normal;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;vertical-align:middle;white-space:normal;widows:2;width:587px;word-spacing:0px;" id="attachment_26751" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26751"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Whats_App_Image_2024_02_26_at_11_41_05_87be4c9120.jpeg" alt="WhatsApp-Image-2024-02-26-at-11.41.05.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Whats_App_Image_2024_02_26_at_11_41_05_87be4c9120.jpeg 234w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Whats_App_Image_2024_02_26_at_11_41_05_87be4c9120.jpeg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Whats_App_Image_2024_02_26_at_11_41_05_87be4c9120.jpeg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-26751">Representative Image of Manufacturing Sector in India</figcaption></figure><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">It’s imperative for policymakers to consider these budgetary priorities’ long-term effects, ensuring that investments in physical infrastructure are matched with investments in social infrastructure. This approach promotes a holistic development strategy, crucial for a resilient and inclusive society, especially as we navigate the recovery from the pandemic’s impacts. The reduction in spending on education, health, and rural development underscores the urgent need for a balanced fiscal plan that adequately supports the social sector’s critical needs alongside capital expenditure.<hr><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">About the Authors &nbsp;<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Jannet Farida Jacob works as a Senior Policy Analyst with Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA). Her area of expertise is Public Finance Management in sectors including education, health, children and gender. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Centre for Development Studies, JNU, for her study on Higher Education.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Sharad Pandey is a Senior Policy Analyst at CBGA, where his research focuses on taxation and climate finance. His research interests are public finance, education, sustainable development, and the labour market. He has a Masters in Public Policy from Jindal Global University.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Ujala Kumari is a Policy Analyst with CBGA. Her work focuses on Open Budgets India, an initiative which facilitates greater transparency and accountability in budgets at the state, and the Union level, through open access to data including social sector schemes. She has a Masters in Economics from Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

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  What does the Interim Budget Say about Government Expenditure Priority?

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From Joy to Tragedy: A Case of Tortious Liability And Civic Responsibility in Kerala’s Capital

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Mounting Railway Accidents: Citizens Collective Demands Full-Time Railway Minister

Malayalam (ml)

Tamil (ta)

English (en)

Hindi (hi)

Telugu (te)

Kannada (kn)

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Dancing To Her Tune

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An Unwritten National Autobiography

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_1_6258d15665.jpeg" alt="images-1.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_1_6258d15665.jpeg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_images_1_6258d15665.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">People who read literature in India knew him, MT Vasudevan Nair. Language was no hurdle for his works to reach out beyond the state borders of Kerala. While Malayali diaspora took a handful of nostalgia along to the places they went, a little bit of MT was also in that.Today, the big business of literature finds translators to translate anything that moves. All tetrapods of literature are given awards that stink of corporate imperialistic nexus. But MT belonged to a different era when blood recognised blood, genius recognised genius. He got translated not once but several times.Basheer, Takazhi and MT were the triumvirate that could transcend the borders and stand tall among the Indian modernist literature. Yes, MT’s literature also had a fair amount of auto-fiction but he hoodwinked it with the magic of text. He was a persuasive minimalist both in writing and in person.An unsmiling MT could generate generations of readers who could smile through tears. MT wrote about a collapsing social structure that divested the old feudal class with their ill-gotten properties. But their social capital remained intact and could exert a lot of influence among the readers by becoming the surrogate emotional ethos of a transition time of Kerala’s socio-political history.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:1196px;" id="attachment_31084" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31084"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg" alt="mt-1024x575.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 750w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31084">MT during his Interview with Sabha TV (Watch <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NttnjeaVqn0">Here</a>)</figcaption></figure>When society evolved into a different being altogether, MT turned to the treasure trove of myths and itihasas to eke out allegories that explained the pain of loss, of class, roots and love. His literature spat on the face of bigotry, whether it was religious or familial. He was so stoically poised in his literature that none could have challenged him and expelled him from the world of literature.MT’s literature spoke of love and separation as vehemently as he wrote about the changing social complexions. But he was not sentimental. There was something in his writing that touched some chord in every reader. Before initiating themselves into Ambedkarite politics, the Dalit ideologues also, in their torturous nights of youth, pined for MT’s characters.Those who call the modernists, Dad Vibes, have really lost the sight of the forest while focusing on shrubs and thicket. MT was a forest that moved, as in the great tragedies. He remained a serious writer while the post modernists fell in the trap of publishers and wrote lightning stories and became laughing stokes.MT remains, so is the MT critique. That’s the beauty of a great writer’s life and of course, death.</div></div>

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MT: A Forest that Moved

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An ‘Overture’ Stringing The Pope, Yesudas and the ‘Songster Chaplain’

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/1_cc9df0fe47.png" alt="വലതുപക്ഷവുമായുള്ള-സംവാദത്തിൻ്റെ-വ്യർത്ഥത-1.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_1_cc9df0fe47.png 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_1_cc9df0fe47.png 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">When old age shall this generation waste,Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woeThan ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is allYe know on earth, and all ye need to know.” (John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn)<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/6_904b2e9f2a.jpg" alt="6.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_6_904b2e9f2a.jpg 147w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_6_904b2e9f2a.jpg 470w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">Siddharth Tagore, Founder Director of Delhi’s <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.facebook.com/artkonsultindia/photos">Art Konsult</a> Gallery is no more. He cannot be contained in such a cold statement, so matter of fact like death itself. Besides the gallery, he founded magazines such as Art and Deal, Travel and Deal and many other publications. Even when he knew that he wouldn’t make any profit out of the publications, he invested money in them because he knew art wouldn’t survive without the literature surrounding it.&nbsp;Yet another venture of Tagore’s was an auction house, namely Art Bull. The name was perfect for a bullish art market of the 2000s. But the glitch was this: Siddharth Tagore was not bullish. Nor was he bearish. He was cherubic, complete with a benign smile on his face and a burning cigarette between his fingers. Whenever I came out after having a meeting with him, I would ask myself, was he cut for this business?&nbsp;Tagore could have been a poet and dreamer like his internationally renowned namesake of yesteryears.. After the pandemic period I met Tagore after a gap of four years at the Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre where Art Konsult had organized a group exhibition. After the inaugural function, I shook hands with him and I realized that his hands had lost the firm grip though the warmth remained. “I have not been keeping well,” he told me.&nbsp;<div class="gallery galleryid-31051 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-full" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px -8.96875px 0px;padding:0px;" id="gallery-1"><figure class="gallery-item" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;height:auto;margin:0px 0px 1rem;max-width:33.33%;padding:0px 8.96875px 17.9531px;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:262.609px;"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg" alt="c-768x993.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg 121w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg 387w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg 580w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure><figure class="gallery-item" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;height:auto;margin:0px 0px 1rem;max-width:33.33%;padding:0px 8.96875px 17.9531px;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:262.609px;"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg" alt="b-768x985.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg 122w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg 390w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg 585w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure><figure class="gallery-item" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;height:auto;margin:0px 0px 1rem;max-width:33.33%;padding:0px 8.96875px 17.9531px;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:262.609px;"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/a_7888f94e4b.jpg" alt="a.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_a_7888f94e4b.jpg 121w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_a_7888f94e4b.jpg 385w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_a_7888f94e4b.jpg 577w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure></div>Then on another occasion, at the same gallery, I met him again, this time without the crowd. He preferred to wear a pair of fading blue jeans and white shirt, a reminder of those romantic 1970s when every youth in West Bengal dreamt of poetry, love and revolution. Jeans and Shirt were the uniform of love and revolution. I think, when Tagore came to Delhi as a young man, he carried those qualities along, plus his sense of dressing. Lovers in those days smoked rather constantly and drank Old Monk Rum.&nbsp;On that day when I met him, Tagore told me that he had quit smoking, which was news to me. I couldn’t have imagined the man without a cigarette between his fingers or at least a packet of cigarettes to fuss with. I understood the gravity of the situation.&nbsp;Then again, we met when Praveen Upadhyay of the Progressive Gallery at Laddo Sarai organized a talk session with art professionals that included Tagore, Prayag Shukla, Vinod Bharadwaj and myself. Tagore was supposed to talk about the art market. When the mike was handed over to him, he fussed with it for a while and said that he always wanted to make it big by promoting young artists, but somehow, he never made huge business.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:689px;" id="attachment_31054" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31054"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg" alt="7-768x511.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg 235w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31054">Siddharth speaking to the media at Art Konsult</figcaption></figure>Then I remembered Tagore telling the same during the market boom years that lasted in India for around ten years starting from 2005 to 2015. In 2008, the world market had collapsed, but the Indian art market using its cunning and reserve withstood the pressures and dragged the impending failure for a few more years only to revive itself by the beginning of the third decade of the new millennium.&nbsp;Had Tagore acquired a penchant for failure despite his resilience in running a gallery, publications and an auction house for over three and a half decades ? Did he enjoy calling himself a failure in the art market? Was he romantically involved with the idea of failure even when he kept others who were with him in the business, floating? I don’t know for sure. But Tagore remained grounded and rooted; he tried his best to keep himself away from the nefarious market practices.&nbsp;There were a few people who stood with Tagore in his highs and lows (lows that lasted for not some months but for years together), never deserting him, following his orders. Prashant Seal and Rajula Bisht are two people I remember. These two people have been so close to his heart and even after his twin daughters joining him in the business, both Seal and Bisht never lost their position as the confidantes of Tagore. He loved them like family.&nbsp;I met Siddharth Tagore in 1995. He had started Art Konsult in Hauz Khas Village. Meena Tagore (now Meena Varma) was with him then. Late Vijayan Kannanpally was the editor of Art and Deal. With the growth of art scene, Tagore’s gallery also grew in stature. Art Konsult was one of the few A listed galleries in the city. Tagore took it to South Delhi’s art district, Laddo Sarai during the boom years and later relocated it to Hauz Khas again.&nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:562px;" id="attachment_31055" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31055"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg" alt="0-768x512.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg 234w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31055">Siddharth Tagore with art critic and curator Jyoti A Kathpalia at the Art Konsult, New Delhi</figcaption></figure>It was in his Laddo Sarai phase that I joined him as the Editor of Art and Deal. It was the same when he decided to start Art Bull and Travel and Deal. I brought out around ten issues of Art and Deal between 2010 and 2013, with a gap in 2012 when I joined the United Art Logistics to establish the United Art Fair. Tagore literally lent me to the other organization with a promise that I could walk into the editor’s office at any time that I wanted. And I did go back.&nbsp;As a part of Tagore’s team, he gave me full freedom to edit the magazine and curate exhibitions. I curated a few shows and introduced a few new artists of which some are very reckonable names in today’s art scene. The exhibition ‘Merging/Submerging’ was a showcasing of contemporary photography art and ‘R.A.P.E’ (Rare Acts of Political Engagement), an all-woman show responding to the brutal murder of Nirbhaya in Delhi. This exhibition was a super hit and was discussed in all the print and television media. Art Bull did do a couple of exhibitions and auctions. I did not take much interest in it though Tagore hoped that his auction house could change the scenario and also break certain monopolies. Tagore also initiated an Art History Lecture series which I conducted on his behalf.&nbsp;Siddharth Tagore remained true to his calling. With a kind of detachment, he sponsored exhibitions that he knew well, would not bring any business. He was an avid collector of folk and tribal art and together with Meena Varma, he initiated an organization called ‘Art of the Earth’ for promoting the folk and tribal art of India, much before the ‘folkploitation’ of today’s art market became rampant. Tagore helped whoever came to him with a request for an exhibition or an immediate financial relief. &nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:640px;" id="attachment_31053" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31053"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg" alt="3-e1734762508660-669x1024.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 102w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 327w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 490w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 653w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31053">Siddharth Tagore signing the <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://amzn.in/d/4TijcgO">book</a> “Ganika- In the visual culture of the 19th-20th Century India” at the Art Konsult</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg" alt="4-560x1024.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 85w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 273w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 410w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 547w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">When artists in Calcutta packed their wares and set out for Delhi, they knew Siddharth Tagore was there if nothing else worked (perhaps he was their primary destination), along with cigarettes and Old Monk Rum. He never discouraged the people who came to him with a clear intention to exploit. He was not cautious about relationships that brought him a fair amount of heartburn. As I said elsewhere, Tagore was a poet in his heart, with a heart ready to bleed for love and art.</div></div>

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