THE RAILWAYS' FOOD SERVICE "GAME"-LOCAL PROBLEM, FOREIGN SOLUTION!

With new government in charge at Delhi and a brand new Railway Minister taking over the portfolio of railway "administration", citizens had a ray of hope that things would look up and better days are ahead for the hapless passenger community. When the quality of foods served in premium trains was under attack during the last few years, there has always been wishy washy response from the babus who rule the roost in this government sector organization with no perceptible improvement happening at the ground level. In this context one is shocked by the attempt last year by the Railway Board to bring in "foreign" auditors to prepare a "report" on the quality of foods served in the trains! It is rather ingenious on the part of the Railways to bring in "experts" from abroad who will have no clue regarding the needs of Indian consumers vis-a-vis food quality especially the eating quality. May be they would be able to point out the safety deficiencies based on standard tests and investigations but why foreign experts? Why cannot Indian agencies like CFTRI do the same job and Indian institutions not only would have done a diagnosis but also are capable of suggesting solutions appropriate to the domestic situation. It is interesting to listen to the rationale of the Railways in bringing foreign experts as stated by agency last year.   

"Fed up with complaints about food served on trains, Railways has decided to deploy international food auditing firms who do quality checks at five star hotels to do its quality assessment. On Thursday, it abandoned its one-week-old menu on Rajdhanis and Shatabdis following constant passenger complaints. As a pilot project at present, a Swedish company is carrying out third-party audit of the food and hygiene on the premium trains on the Mumbai-Howrah route. It will present its report to the Railway Ministry on November 5. "There are renowned multinational auditing firms who do quality audits for five star hotels. Once we get the report for this one, we will formalise this policy and call for tenders for all trains. And we will recover the cost from the vendor who serves food on trains," D P Pande, Member (Traffic), Railway Board, told The Indian Express. The firms will not only check quality and quantity of food served but will also assess the condition in which the food is made and served, the hygiene standards and the like, he said. In the past one week, two catering vendors have been fined Rs 1 lakh each based on complaints from passengers. "We will revise the upper limit of the fines to be charged from errant vendors so that the heavy fine becomes a deterrent," he said. After rolling out a new menu with reduced food items and at the same time jacking up their prices on Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains on October 17, Railways quickly reverted to the old menu on Thursday because passengers had been complaining of getting "too less for more money".

Not much was heard about the report of any foreign auditors but the new government's efforts to address the issue is are interesting. in a major announcement recently the concerned Minster announced a series of measures to "improve" food quality and one such attempt is to bring in on-line ordering and delivery of foods from star hotels on some trains if the passengers are computer savvy and after all most travelers in the upper class should have smart phones with 2G/3G facilities and credit card payment provisions. Also being brought in is a system where packed foods from reputed branded processors like ITC, MTR etc would be offered though cost could work out very high. These are good moves but it begs the question regarding the inability of in-house Railway Catering service to meet the aspirations of the traveling public, in spite of decades of experience in this field. It is still not clear why Railways have not made any attempt to use this opportunity where it has millions of captive consumers to build up a thriving public-private partnership in catering with the help of food technology institutions like CFTRI, DFRL, NIFTEM and Universities to back up the safety and quality credentials. Probably this will never happen unless there is a dynamic management cadre with vision, foresight, dedication and commitment. The new government should not fritter away this golden opportunity for a long term effective solution to the serious quality problems being faced by the Railways for the last few years!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

"CHAOS'-THY NAME IS GOVERNMENT!

It is only in India that governments, whether local, regional or federal,come in the way of developing entrepreneurial talents to its full blossom. Though the old "Permit and Licensing"  regime was supposed to have been progressively brought down after the bold economic liberalization policy of early nineteen nineties, nothing much seems to have changed at the ground level when it comes to small scale entrepreneurs in the food sector struggling to eke out an existence against the powerful MNCs and big fish already well established with many incentives by the government to increase investment in food industry at "any cost". The corrupt bureaucracy which holds the power strings to make or break an industry through manipulation of rules, obviously has less sympathy for the small players because of the limited capacity of the latter to pay "grease money" for getting what is legitimately due as per constitution. Here is a typical example of what is happening in the country under the very nose of the Prime Minister who rarely sees such things except for expressing his sympathies belatedly through "hollow" words!   

The Delhi high court on Monday put DDA and MCD on notice over the absence of a coherent policy for parking and licensing of food catering vans in the city. Justice Hima Kohli pulled up both the agencies for "complete chaos" and wondered why there is no single-window clearance system in place for van owners to obtain required permissions. Giving a day's time to MCD and DDA to come clear, HC noted, "There is complete chaos whenever two agencies are involved. Why isn't there a system in place for parking and licensing of the vans, why can't there be a single-window clearance so that people don't have to go to authorities for clearance," Kohli said, posting the matter for hearing on Tuesday. HC was hearing a plea by a group of van owners who moved the court challenging the "arbitrary and unjust" manner in which they were evicted out by the civic agencies from Dwarka. According to the authorities these vans parked in various sectors of Dwarka were responsible for traffic congestion and caused a parking mess and were therefore shifted. However, the petitioners through advocate Manjit Singh Ahluwalia argued that the civic agencies had no policy to follow with respect to mobile food vans that permitted them to resort to high-handedness.

Catering is a business dominated by micro enterprises which are omnipotent by their presence in every corner of the country and the street vending phenomenon is traditionally accepted by the consumers, especially those coming from the "aam admi" category with low income. Why should the government agencies harass them is a point that must be addressed at the national level. Licensing is an unavoidable feature of safety management system but it must be simple and affordable. How many violations the Delhi Government had detected vis-s-vis food safety during the last 3 years and how many culprits had been brought to book?  Wielding power comes with responsibility which is rarely "understood" and if the court finds these babus of dereliction of duty they must be punished severely for failing in their assigned role of facilitating the small scale food business activities. While the above case focuses on Delhi, same is true every where in the country. One can hope that suitable lesson will be learned from the strictures from Supreme Court

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

RAIL FOODS AT PETROL BUNKS? IRCTC'S NEW STRATEGY

It is a "startling" news of the New Year that the railway catering specialist IRCTC is mulling over extending its arm beyond the trains and the platforms of Indian Railways seeking greener pastures so that it can justify its existence. Railway Board, whether in its wisdom or recklessness, took over catering services in the trains from IRCTC purportedly on account of persistent complaints from the traveling public regarding indifferent quality of foods served by the latter in some of the prestigious trains. Whether this move has satisfied the passengers is a moot question as they have no option but to eat whatever is offered by whoever has the licenses to do it. But IRCTC with a large infrastructure and personnel with experience in catering is left with no choice but to seek to diversify its activities beyond the trains and the stations. The news of IRCTC planning to establish food outlets in petrol bunks, Malls and other public places is welcome in one way that it is utilizing its experience to justify its existence as a viable entity in the public sector. Here is the take on this new development. 

"After complaints related to poor quality food being served to passengers began pouring in, the Indian Railways (IR) took over from the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) the job of arranging food on its long-distance trains. Unfazed by the move, the IRCTC, a Miniratna company in its bid to recover the losses it suffered, will now be trying its hand at opening food stalls, multi-cuisine cafeterias and food courts at petrol pumps and outside shopping malls in the city. To do so, IRCTC had hired professionals from the catering and hotel industry to check out whether the idea of serving food beyond railway stations and platforms is feasible or not. At present, the IRCTC is on the lookout for spaces for inaugurating food courts and cafeterias at different locations all across the city. "We have already signed a memorandum of understanding with Hindustan Petroleum for setting up our cafeterias at their petrol pumps. These outlets will be operational after April," said an IRCTC official, requesting anonymity. Sources added that the IRCTC is looking forward to similar tie-ups with other petroleum giants, such as Bharat Petroleum and Indian Oil, and have initiated talks for the same. Apart from petrol pumps, IRCTC is also exploring the option of starting food stalls outside multiplexes, shopping complexes and malls, and is keen on hiring contractors who can provide it with regional delicacies. Currently, IRCTC runs a food stall at BARC and at Loni in Pune district". 

One disturbing question about this decision is whether the bad publicity IRCTC gained in railway catering will strain its credibility as a standard operator vying with established food chains. The biggest problem that was troubling IRCTC was the rigid bureaucratic management style and government connections that hampered its style of functioning. However with less constraints in public catering area and no pressure of time IRCTC has the potential to perform better, though government controlled businesses invariably languish for many obvious reasons. One can only wish the organization better luck for its venture out side Indian trains and railway stations!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com