<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Deaths from train accidents are pretty frequent in India. As recently as January 2017, 36 people were killed from a train derailed in southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. More than 28,000 people died from to rail accidentsIn 2014 alone. A close analysis of rail accidents in India over the past 20 years indicates that there are two critical causes behind accidents: collision between trains and other road vehicles, between train and people, and track derailment.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>In recent years, the signaling system has been highly automated. For instance, the Konkan railway is innovatively using the GPS tracking system to detect the location of a train. It has led to a drastic reduction in train collisions. However, the physical status of railway tracks remains the biggest fault-line which the railways tend to overlook.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Every year, new trains are started but new tracks are not laid out, leading to a heavy increase in railway traffic. The existing tracks are already at their worst levels of stress. Increasing the freight load on the goods train to full capacity has further resulted in stress levels, increase in fracture and consequently to train derailment.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>In the UK, the Railway Safety and Standards Board is detached from Network Rail, the company which manages rail traffic. This ensures a higher degree of accountability on the part of railway safety.&nbsp; In India, the railway administration is solely responsible for the safety standard. So, whenever such accidents occur, the railways work very hard to ensure that their staff is saved from possible prosecution. In many cases, mechanical or electronic failure is found to be the key reason, but there is always a human element behind such things which is not held responsible.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>It is interesting to note that in the past 20 years, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives, not even a single rail employee has even been prosecuted. To make things worse, in many cases, the Rail Safety Officer is an IRTS officer who barely understands the technical aspects, such as Young&rsquo;s modulus of elasticity and Euler-Bernoulli Equation which govern the dynamics of the railway track.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Stress management in railway tracks involves stopping the railway traffic once in a couple of years, opening up the nuts and bolts and then reassembling the system. However, at times the, stress levels can develop unexpectedly due to heavy traffic. The unfortunate fact is that the track men, the staff, who examine the status of tracks, have barely any technical education. They use a hammer and hit the track, if the sound is good, they move to other areas.&nbsp; They examine the nuts and bolts with the naked eye. It is not a scientific way of analysing the tracks.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>In Western countries, optical laser-based techniques mounted on moving vehicles are used to analyse the alignment and status of tracks. An additional problem is that despite the fact that the rail tracks range in thousands of kilometres, the railways rely on just one layer of safety; if the trackmen provide wrong information about the tracks or they do not physically examine the tracks, there is no way by which the authorities can independently verify the things.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>To add to the problem, the Indian Railway does not have a mechanism to address the post-accident safety measures. The railway boggy design has not changed much in the last 100 years since the British introduced the rail. In a boggy having a capacity of 72 people, one finds more than 500 people packed with all sorts of luggage which are spread out loosely. During accidents, the luggage flies around hitting the heads of people resulting in blood loss. A mechanism to fasten the luggage tightly on the pattern of aircraft can go a long way in reducing fatalities.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>In addition to this, there should be at least 6 to 10 emergency exit routes from the walls as well as the roof. After accidents, people remain trapped for long and at times it takes more than 20 hours to bring a metal cutter and cut the different sections for rescue operations. To add to the problems, the accident site is not segregated resulting in chaos due to visits from onlookers. These things compromise the safety of passengers resulting in an increase in casualties. Fire extinguishers, first aid etc. are absent in railway compartments as well as on railway stations. In short, health and safety are alien words in the context of our railway system. Ideally, every train must have a medical, health and safety boggy in order to provide emergency health access.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>An additional problem is the fact that barriers with regard to adaptation of new ideas and technology are high. Organisations, such as Network Rail of UK and the SNCF of France do not have any dedicated R&amp;D division and they have fully outsourced the R&amp;D activities to universities and private companies like Alstom and ABB. Venture capitalists and Angel investors do not see any immediate benefit in investing in rail-related technologies as investment return is not that quick in comparison to software and consumer goods.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Fortunately, the R&amp;D divisions of Indian Railways (RDSO) exists, but it lacks technical expertise and skilled manpower. For example, Indian Railways does not have any test track facility. A visit to RDSO would convince you that it is quite a defunct organisation which is some kind of resting nest for rail engineers having barely any technical understanding.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Health and safety are alien words in the context of our railway system

Deaths from train accidents are pretty frequent in India. As recently as January 2017, 36 people were killed from a train derailed in southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. More than 28,000 people died from to rail accidentsIn 2014 alone. A close analysis of rail accidents in India over the past 20 years indicates that there are two critical causes behind accidents: collision between trains and other road vehicles, between train and people, and track derailment. In recent years, the signaling system has been highly automated. For instance, the Konkan railway is innovatively using the GPS tracking system to detect the location of a train. It has led to a drastic reduction in train collisions. However, the physical status of railway tracks remains the biggest fault-line which the railways tend to overlook. The physical status of railway tracks remains the biggest fault-line which the railways tend to overlook × Every year, new trains are started but new tracks are not laid out, leading to a heavy increase in railway traffic. The existing tracks are already at their worst levels of stress. Increasing the freight load on the goods train to full capacity has further resulted in stress levels, increase in fracture and consequently to train derailment. In the UK, the Railway Safety and Standards Board is detached from Network Rail, the company which manages rail traffic. This ensures a higher degree of accountability on the part of railway safety. In India, the railway administration is solely responsible for the safety standard. So, whenever such accidents occur, the railways work very hard to ensure that their staff is saved from possible prosecution. In many cases, mechanical or electronic failure is found to be the key reason, but there is always a human element behind such things which is not held responsible. It is interesting to note that in the past 20 years, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives, not even a single rail employee has even been prosecuted. To make things worse, in many cases, the Rail Safety Officer is an IRTS officer who barely understands the technical aspects, such as Young’s modulus of elasticity and Euler-Bernoulli Equation which govern the dynamics of the railway track. The track men, the staff, who examine the status of tracks, have barely any technical education × Stress management in railway tracks involves stopping the railway traffic once in a couple of years, opening up the nuts and bolts and then reassembling the system. However, at times the, stress levels can develop unexpectedly due to heavy traffic. The unfortunate fact is that the track men, the staff, who examine the status of tracks, have barely any technical education. They use a hammer and hit the track, if the sound is good, they move to other areas. They examine the nuts and bolts with the naked eye. It is not a scientific way of analysing the tracks. In Western countries, optical laser-based techniques mounted on moving vehicles are used to analyse the alignment and status of tracks. An additional problem is that despite the fact that the rail tracks range in thousands of kilometres, the railways rely on just one layer of safety; if the trackmen provide wrong information about the tracks or they do not physically examine the tracks, there is no way by which the authorities can independently verify the things. To add to the problem, the Indian Railway does not have a mechanism to address the post-accident safety measures. The railway boggy design has not changed much in the last 100 years since the British introduced the rail. In a boggy having a capacity of 72 people, one finds more than 500 people packed with all sorts of luggage which are spread out loosely. During accidents, the luggage flies around hitting the heads of people resulting in blood loss. A mechanism to fasten the luggage tightly on the pattern of aircraft can go a long way in reducing fatalities. Ideally, every train must have a medical, health and safety boggy in order to provide emergency health access × In addition to this, there should be at least 6 to 10 emergency exit routes from the walls as well as the roof. After accidents, people remain trapped for long and at times it takes more than 20 hours to bring a metal cutter and cut the different sections for rescue operations. To add to the problems, the accident site is not segregated resulting in chaos due to visits from onlookers. These things compromise the safety of passengers resulting in an increase in casualties. Fire extinguishers, first aid etc. are absent in railway compartments as well as on railway stations. In short, health and safety are alien words in the context of our railway system. Ideally, every train must have a medical, health and safety boggy in order to provide emergency health access. An additional problem is the fact that barriers with regard to adaptation of new ideas and technology are high. Organisations, such as Network Rail of UK and the SNCF of France do not have any dedicated R&D division and they have fully outsourced the R&D activities to universities and private companies like Alstom and ABB. Venture capitalists and Angel investors do not see any immediate benefit in investing in rail-related technologies as investment return is not that quick in comparison to software and consumer goods. Fortunately, the R&D divisions of Indian Railways (RDSO) exists, but it lacks technical expertise and skilled manpower. For example, Indian Railways does not have any test track facility. A visit to RDSO would convince you that it is quite a defunct organisation which is some kind of resting nest for rail engineers having barely any technical understanding.

Critical fault-lines: Exploring train accidents in India

<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>In the morning of 9th August 2016, &nbsp;the news of Kalikho Pul&#39;s death cast a gloom over the serene mountains of Walla Basti. Kalikho Pul was the eighth chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, having won five times from the Hayuliang Vidhan Sabha constituency as an Indian National Congress Party candidate. Pul&#39;s life embodied a unique lesson: he demonstrated what an individual can achieve in a dynamic democratic setup with the help of education and grit. His accomplishments, however, came at a very steep price.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Kalikho Pul started his formal school education in Hawai Middle School in the mid-1980s. It was my friend Manoj Jha, who had first introduced Pul to me. Very respectfully Manoj said, &ldquo;He is Kalikho Pul, our general secretary&rdquo;. In our school, most students turned up with their traditional sword (<i>Daav</i>) placed upon their shoulders. &nbsp;They used it to chop and collect firewood during their return journey home.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Kalikho, however, did not &nbsp;carry a sword. Unlike many, he did not display a masochistic attitude. In fact, he had a rather unassuming personality, yet, he stood apart from others. It is amazing how the soft-spoken boy, who would cut grass in the compounds of our teachers&rsquo; modest government quarters, rose to become one of the longest- serving finance ministers of the state and one of the youngest chief ministers of India.</p>

<p>Kalikho looked more matured than his peers. &nbsp;Unlike other students, he was not seen at a football ground after school, but was confined to his hostel-room for long hours at his desk. He was one of the few students from the local tribe who was well versed in Hindi as well as in English. Kalikho came to our school from a night school, which was attended by people of all ages from very underprivileged backgrounds. Defying all odds, Pul topped the school examination. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Kalikho did not have a protected childhood. &nbsp;According to the records of Hawai Middle School, he was born on the 20th July 1969. However, the date cannot be relied upon; the custom of holding birth records or issuing of birth certificates was not common during those days. The admission session in Arunachal started in July and, very likely, it was on 20th July the headmaster Mr. Ram Naresh Prasad Sinha formally admitted him to school, and that day was recorded as his birthday.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The principal sources of livelihood for Mishmi tribe around Hawai were hunting, firewood collection, and rearing cattle. Hawai is located around 160 Km away from Tezu, a distance which can be covered in two hours in most cities. However, during those days, it almost took a week to cover that distance. From Hayuliang, the only option was to trek through the mountains for two to four days along the banks of the river Lohit, which roared in its most cruel form, as if a ferocious tiger have been cursed to eternity.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The region had very high child mortality rate and adult life expectancy was one of the lowest in India. Cloudbursts happened to wipe out entire villages, which were at nature&rsquo;s mercy. &nbsp;The food for local people was supplied through airplane droppings. Kerosene oil, edible oil, and other articles of daily use were dropped from parachutes. When the weather was bad, the only option people had was to eat chickens roasted in firewood. Even doctors and engineers living in Hawai spent a significant amount of time taking care of their chickens. The only silver lining was some connectivity, courtesy the army&rsquo;s wireless sets that were used to call helicopters during an emergency.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Shortly after the birth of Kalikho, his parents passed away and his aunt took care of him. Soon, he was assigned the task of collecting firewood, as were the other boys of the area of his age. It was during the process of firewood collection that he got the first lessons of carpentry. As Hawai was one of the administrative units of Lohit district, it had a district craft center, which taught the locals basic skills of carpentry. &nbsp;The idea was to generate skilled labourers for the military and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camps. It was during one of those days that he was called by the local school headmaster Mr. Sinha for some repair work in the school. Kalikho&#39;s &nbsp;meticulous completion of the work deeply impressed Mr. Sinha who advised him to get admission in the local night school where the adults were given basic literacy skills.&nbsp;</p>

<p>During those days, most teachers from regular school offered voluntary service to night schools. I still remember several teachers going to night school with torches and lanterns. They also carried sticks to ward off attacks from wild bear. People were advised to &nbsp;give the stick to the bear and run in the opposite direction.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As Kalikho excelled in academics, Mr. Sinha advised him leave the night school and enroll into the regular school. But the problem was Pul was already more than fifteen years old, and offering admission in the first standard was not the norm. A direct offer of admission to the sixth or seventh standard would have been considered illegal as one could get a job of a policeman with an eighth standard completion certificate. Any exception made to Pul could have encouraged similar requests from others too.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Fortunately for Pul, news reached that Deputy Commissioner Mr. Negi and the Education Minister Khapriso Krung would be visiting Hawai Middle School soon. Mr. Sinha prepared Kalikho to deliver a speech for the visitors. Upon Pul&#39;s eloquent delivery, the headmaster took the opportunity to urge Minister Krung that several talented students from the night schools needed to be taken directly into the regular school, without requiring a school leaving certificate, as was the rule.&nbsp;</p>

<p>A couple of months later, Kalikho Pul was admitted directly into the sixth standard. Mr. Sinha called up the circle officer, requesting him to arrange a job of a night watchman for Pul, as his family was financially dependent on him. Kalikho was around sixteen at that time and it was not considered a case of child labour. Fortunately, Pul did not have to do the job but was paid a regular salary which was enough to support his family.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Unknowing to us, the rebel in Kalikho Pul was quietly taking shape. At one time, the weather had been bad for months, and we all waited for airplanes to come. Finally, when it came and the ration was dropped, Kalikho fought with teachers over a larger share of ration for students. I remember, he threw the umbrella away while standing in silence. The headmaster picked it up, gave it to him and said, &ldquo;keep your anger in control Kalikho. Use it for the good of society.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Events started moving dramatically fast for Pul. In 1995, &nbsp;he defeated Khapriso Krung, the education minister who received a welcome speech from him more than a decade back. Pul emerged winner in all subsequent elections and worked at the helm of the ministries of finance, tax and excise, and health and family welfare of Arunachal. Over the years, he transformed Hawai from a sleepy village with barely two to three shops into a distinct administrative and business hub at the edge of Sino-Indian border. He played a key role in creating the district of Anjaw with Hawai as its headquarter. Healthcare was his special focus. As the chief minister, he could be seen entering toilets and climbing pipes during inspection.</p>

<p>Kalikho became the deputy finance minister in 1995 when he was elected to the state&rsquo;s legislative assembly for the first time. However, his track did not remain smooth and he saw several ups and downs. He strongly advocated the needs of border districts before the state and the central governments. His popularity among the masses also created enemies for him. But he did not lose touch with the grassroot level. &ldquo;On one occasion, during a visit to our house, he gleefully sat on a broken chair,&rdquo; recalls Asha Sinha and Diwakar Choudhary, my former school teachers from Arunachal.</p>

<p>In 2004, I initiated my research on explosive detection technology with the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University. Discussions with officials from Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Ministry of Defence did not yield any result, I called up Kalikho who immediately agreed to provide support in a week. Unfortunately, the government collapsed the very next day!&nbsp;</p>

<p>One of the proudest moments of my life came when Kalikho became the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh. I was making up my mind to call him up to set up an entrepreneurial centre in Hawai to help commercialise local craft in the international market. Unfortunately, he lost his chair after the Supreme Court verdict. On 9th of July, my wife Shephalika informed me of some former chief minister committing suicide, my heart sank. I was sure, it would be him. He was known to hate failures. One time in school, he was on the verge of crying as he faced an imminent defeat in a badminton match. Nevertheless, it did not cross our mind that he would take such an extreme step.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Kalikho always reached school quite early. His headmaster would softly rebuke him, &ldquo;Kalikho, you have come early!&rdquo;. The headmaster passed away on 25th July, 2009 and 7 years and 15 days later, perhaps, in some remote corner of the cosmos, Kalikho received the last soft rebuke from his teacher, &ldquo;Kalikho, you have come early again!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Kaliko Pul's life demonstrate what an individual can achieve in a democracy with the help of education and grit, recollects his schoolmate.

In the morning of 9th August 2016, the news of Kalikho Pul's death cast a gloom over the serene mountains of Walla Basti. Kalikho Pul was the eighth chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, having won five times from the Hayuliang Vidhan Sabha constituency as an Indian National Congress Party candidate. Pul's life embodied a unique lesson: he demonstrated what an individual can achieve in a dynamic democratic setup with the help of education and grit. His accomplishments, however, came at a very steep price. Kalikho Pul started his formal school education in Hawai Middle School in the mid-1980s. It was my friend Manoj Jha, who had first introduced Pul to me. Very respectfully Manoj said, “He is Kalikho Pul, our general secretary”. In our school, most students turned up with their traditional sword (Daav) placed upon their shoulders. They used it to chop and collect firewood during their return journey home. Kalikho, however, did not carry a sword. Unlike many, he did not display a masochistic attitude. In fact, he had a rather unassuming personality, yet, he stood apart from others. It is amazing how the soft-spoken boy, who would cut grass in the compounds of our teachers’ modest government quarters, rose to become one of the longest- serving finance ministers of the state and one of the youngest chief ministers of India. Kalikho looked more matured than his peers. Unlike other students, he was not seen at a football ground after school, but was confined to his hostel-room for long hours at his desk. He was one of the few students from the local tribe who was well versed in Hindi as well as in English. Kalikho came to our school from a night school, which was attended by people of all ages from very underprivileged backgrounds. Defying all odds, Pul topped the school examination. Kalikho did not have a protected childhood. According to the records of Hawai Middle School, he was born on the 20th July 1969. However, the date cannot be relied upon; the custom of holding birth records or issuing of birth certificates was not common during those days. The admission session in Arunachal started in July and, very likely, it was on 20th July the headmaster Mr. Ram Naresh Prasad Sinha formally admitted him to school, and that day was recorded as his birthday. The principal sources of livelihood for Mishmi tribe around Hawai were hunting, firewood collection, and rearing cattle. Hawai is located around 160 Km away from Tezu, a distance which can be covered in two hours in most cities. However, during those days, it almost took a week to cover that distance. From Hayuliang, the only option was to trek through the mountains for two to four days along the banks of the river Lohit, which roared in its most cruel form, as if a ferocious tiger have been cursed to eternity. The region had very high child mortality rate and adult life expectancy was one of the lowest in India. Cloudbursts happened to wipe out entire villages, which were at nature’s mercy. The food for local people was supplied through airplane droppings. Kerosene oil, edible oil, and other articles of daily use were dropped from parachutes. When the weather was bad, the only option people had was to eat chickens roasted in firewood. Even doctors and engineers living in Hawai spent a significant amount of time taking care of their chickens. The only silver lining was some connectivity, courtesy the army’s wireless sets that were used to call helicopters during an emergency. Shortly after the birth of Kalikho, his parents passed away and his aunt took care of him. Soon, he was assigned the task of collecting firewood, as were the other boys of the area of his age. It was during the process of firewood collection that he got the first lessons of carpentry. As Hawai was one of the administrative units of Lohit district, it had a district craft center, which taught the locals basic skills of carpentry. The idea was to generate skilled labourers for the military and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camps. It was during one of those days that he was called by the local school headmaster Mr. Sinha for some repair work in the school. Kalikho's meticulous completion of the work deeply impressed Mr. Sinha who advised him to get admission in the local night school where the adults were given basic literacy skills. During those days, most teachers from regular school offered voluntary service to night schools. I still remember several teachers going to night school with torches and lanterns. They also carried sticks to ward off attacks from wild bear. People were advised to give the stick to the bear and run in the opposite direction. As Kalikho excelled in academics, Mr. Sinha advised him leave the night school and enroll into the regular school. But the problem was Pul was already more than fifteen years old, and offering admission in the first standard was not the norm. A direct offer of admission to the sixth or seventh standard would have been considered illegal as one could get a job of a policeman with an eighth standard completion certificate. Any exception made to Pul could have encouraged similar requests from others too. Fortunately for Pul, news reached that Deputy Commissioner Mr. Negi and the Education Minister Khapriso Krung would be visiting Hawai Middle School soon. Mr. Sinha prepared Kalikho to deliver a speech for the visitors. Upon Pul's eloquent delivery, the headmaster took the opportunity to urge Minister Krung that several talented students from the night schools needed to be taken directly into the regular school, without requiring a school leaving certificate, as was the rule. A couple of months later, Kalikho Pul was admitted directly into the sixth standard. Mr. Sinha called up the circle officer, requesting him to arrange a job of a night watchman for Pul, as his family was financially dependent on him. Kalikho was around sixteen at that time and it was not considered a case of child labour. Fortunately, Pul did not have to do the job but was paid a regular salary which was enough to support his family. Unknowing to us, the rebel in Kalikho Pul was quietly taking shape. At one time, the weather had been bad for months, and we all waited for airplanes to come. Finally, when it came and the ration was dropped, Kalikho fought with teachers over a larger share of ration for students. I remember, he threw the umbrella away while standing in silence. The headmaster picked it up, gave it to him and said, “keep your anger in control Kalikho. Use it for the good of society.” Events started moving dramatically fast for Pul. In 1995, he defeated Khapriso Krung, the education minister who received a welcome speech from him more than a decade back. Pul emerged winner in all subsequent elections and worked at the helm of the ministries of finance, tax and excise, and health and family welfare of Arunachal. Over the years, he transformed Hawai from a sleepy village with barely two to three shops into a distinct administrative and business hub at the edge of Sino-Indian border. He played a key role in creating the district of Anjaw with Hawai as its headquarter. Healthcare was his special focus. As the chief minister, he could be seen entering toilets and climbing pipes during inspection. Kalikho became the deputy finance minister in 1995 when he was elected to the state’s legislative assembly for the first time. However, his track did not remain smooth and he saw several ups and downs. He strongly advocated the needs of border districts before the state and the central governments. His popularity among the masses also created enemies for him. But he did not lose touch with the grassroot level. “On one occasion, during a visit to our house, he gleefully sat on a broken chair,” recalls Asha Sinha and Diwakar Choudhary, my former school teachers from Arunachal. In 2004, I initiated my research on explosive detection technology with the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University. Discussions with officials from Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Ministry of Defence did not yield any result, I called up Kalikho who immediately agreed to provide support in a week. Unfortunately, the government collapsed the very next day! One of the proudest moments of my life came when Kalikho became the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh. I was making up my mind to call him up to set up an entrepreneurial centre in Hawai to help commercialise local craft in the international market. Unfortunately, he lost his chair after the Supreme Court verdict. On 9th of July, my wife Shephalika informed me of some former chief minister committing suicide, my heart sank. I was sure, it would be him. He was known to hate failures. One time in school, he was on the verge of crying as he faced an imminent defeat in a badminton match. Nevertheless, it did not cross our mind that he would take such an extreme step. Kalikho always reached school quite early. His headmaster would softly rebuke him, “Kalikho, you have come early!”. The headmaster passed away on 25th July, 2009 and 7 years and 15 days later, perhaps, in some remote corner of the cosmos, Kalikho received the last soft rebuke from his teacher, “Kalikho, you have come early again!”

Kalikho Pul: The quiet rebel from Walla Basti to the chief  minister's office

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Zee News Rajasthan

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Dhiraj Sinha

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