Sorry, Dr Panagariya, You Let Me Down!

Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Arvind Panagariya flanked by AIMTC office-bearers

Ramesh Kumar from New Delhi

Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya did disappoint me in the maiden week of Circa 2017. That too, wholesale. Why? When a delegation led by the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) President S K Mittal knocked on the doors of the erstwhile Planning Commission to bare their concerns and seeking solace in the current post-demonetization scenario, he threw a bombshell.

He told the delegation that "he was not equipped with the data of the number of commercial vehicles plying on the Indian roads."  Needless to say that some of the delegates were "shell-shocked" by this assertion: Niti Aayog, the Think Tank of Government of India has no data? Na mumkin (impossible)! Out of politeness to the globally celebrated economist now enjoying the rank of Cabinet Minister and penciling the blueprint for 15-year long term growth path, they kept their cool under their winter clothing on that January morning.

Why them? Even I was flummoxed. Five years ago, when  the late Chittranjan Dass, the walking encyclopaedia on the Indian transport sphere, over garam chai and biskoot, told me that the Government of India did not have any statistics on trucks plying on Indian highways, I laughed and pooh-poohed his contention. "No jokes. It's true," he asserted.  I refused to believe him because I had more trust in the government when it comes to the question of data collection. Let's not forget the volume of forms we fill up in duplicate/triplicate/quadruplicate or whatever from birth to death: at every step of our existence on Planet Earth!

My repartee to him was that unlike S P Singh, another greater admirer of Dass saab, who believes in number crunching, he (Dass) detests statistical analysis but prefers opinions, based on his understanding and awareness of the pulse of transporting fraternity. Notwithstanding the fact that he (Dass) was the head of All India Confederation of Goods Vehicle Owner's Association (ACOGOA), after a long stint at AIMTC helm of affairs, the mandarins in Transport Bhawan always sought his inputs given his intellectual acumen and repository of knowledge acquired over more than half a century in this domain.

How come, Niti Aayog does not possess data? Intriguing. AIMTC invariably quotes 9.4 million, all put together. Where did  it get this number? Research students and business journalists quote Googled inputs. Remember Google is not a research centre. Even the so-called Big Boys of Consulting seldom miss a chance to reveal their number crunching and eye-candy pie charts etc. occasionally when they join hands with business lobbies such as Ficci, CII and Assocham as knowledge partners. Partners, yes. Knowledge, half-cooked! Google, as a typical aggregator, flashes these unverified or second hand data as if it is their New Found Gospel.

Forget all these hullabaloo. During a recent breakfast pow-wow with the venerated Prof G Raghuram of Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IM-Ahmedabad) and a Transportation academic doyen, in Delhi while he was on a Road Trip from Ahmedeabad to Agra and back, his estimate of the size of commercial vehicles in India is 2.5 million. Where and how did he arrive at this number, I have no idea. LIke the Big Boys, am sure, he would have based his disclosure on some perch.

The asli question is: how and why Niti Aayog has no data?  Without such hard & harsh numbers, how can Panagariya plan Indian economy's ambitious growth plans? The erstwhile Planning Commission had set up various Expert Committees over several decades to get a hang of transport segment and got voluminous reports done. They must be occupying some physical space or cyber space inside Niti Aayog portals. Again, the Rakesh Mohan Committee set up under Dr Manmohan Singh Premiership had presented massive report early 2014 before the new government took charge. So, there are data available inside Niti Aayog.

So, the vital question: why did Dr Panagariya say what he did say. Dr Panagariya cannot be walked into without a prior appointment. Hence he was aware of the impending visit of the AIMTC delegation and he was fully aware of their agenda. Remember, Niti Aayog has an army of advisors or consultants under various verticals and transportation is not shooed away. Am sure, these doyens would have mulled and culled numbers. Yet, Dr Panagariya said what he did. Surprising.

Look at this issue from another angle. Honestly, collation of such data should pose no challenge. Every single vehicle sold in this country has to be routed through RTOs state-wise. One simply cannot ply on Indian roads without such registration process. It's just a chore of collation of such data from all states over the years. Why this is not done, am curious.

Not to ignore is the production data various OEMs will be filing with respective state industry departments for computation of state excise and custom duties. In case, there are some import of vehicles, various ports would have cleared them through their gates after collecting taxes under various heads. Simply put, the question of smuggling vehicles into India and operating them on Indian roads is next to impossible.

Yes, there is a possibility that most of these data have not gone digital. Someone has to feed them into computers as part of Digital India exercise. Yes, time consuming. That way, everything is. What about the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) own database? Maybe they can corroborate the government data or vice versa.

Unlike in the matured economies, points out Raghavan of Anantara Solutions, there is no "end of life" concept for vehicles in India. "Over there, vehicles past their validity period, surrender their number plates/registration and therefore, they have robust record of such junked items as well," adds the supply chain/logistics consultant. Bang on.

We, Indians, are great recyclists. Nothing goes waste. Go into interiors of India - any state, for that matter - one can easily spot "oldies" in operation. The typical fleet owner logic is: so long as my vehicle has Fitness Certificate (FC), why this fuss? The trustworthiness of such government-FC is as good as the Driving Licences issued anywhere in India. Try showing Indian DL anywhere outside India and see the reaction. It's not even the worth the lamination work over the sarkari kagaz!

A few months ago, Selvan Dasaraj of TransportMitra, while travelling in western Madhya Pradesh was told that the real reason for transport fraternity not getting adequate attention from policy makers is two fold: one, they have not lobbied professionally like Ficci, CII, Assocham all these years to be taken seriously.

Second, whenever they meet the mandarins in the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRT&H), their laundry list is as long as "Draupadi's saree" - endless. The contention is that they lack focus and thus forced to compromise with whatever little "doled out". Interestingly, transport  is believed to have been clubbed under "Others" category during macro level discussions within the highest echelons of government. Thus, it gets step-motherly treatment.

It's never too late. Junk the past. Catapult into future with confidence and professional approach so that Dr Panagariya takes the  transport fraternity seriously when it meet him next time. With or without a shawl!

As far as Dr Panagariya is concerned here is an appeal: Sir, all said and done, transportation (particularly trucking) is the backbone of any economy. Policy wonks like your goodself drafting growth path for the Republic of India certainly understand the implications ignoring the pleas of this segment. There is a lot of talk of supply chain linkage to growth both inside and outside Niti Aayog. So, this vertical needs better attention. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

It's time for a Massive Reboot at every level.

The writer is author of 10,000 KM on Indian Highways, Naked Banana! & An Affair With Indian Highways. He is Founder of KRK Foundation, a Registered Trust focused on improving the living and working conditions of long haul truck drivers and their families living in remote villages of India. Currently he edits DRIVERS DUNIYA, an English Quarterly magazine, India's FIRST periodical focused on Drivers only. 
He is reachable at ramesh@konsultramesh.com