Vaividhaym Adithyante Vaidakdhyam

Tatkal Reservation

Tatkal Reservation

According to Railway Rules, “If the passenger whose identity card number is indicated on the ticket is not traveling, all other passengers booked on that ticket, if found traveling in train, will be treated as traveling without ticket and charged accordingly.” This rule is highly irrational, unethical and illogical. There may be several instances a person whose identity number is indicated on the ticket is forced to cancel his programme due to circumstances beyond his control like sickness, accident, death, (self or close relatives/friends) exigency of work missing the train or any other unavoidable reason. In that case Railways can verify the legitimacy of all the other passengers by verifying their I Card. After all, the passenger is not gaining anything by not travelling. There is not an iota of justification for such draconian rule. In the circumstances, imposing extra charge and penalty from other passengers of the group tantamount to rubbing salt on the wounds of the hapless passengers. Extra earning by Railways by such rules will be peanuts, but will be a harassment and ill treatment to the helpless passengers. The extra expenditure to be coughed up by the passengers will be colossal, in addition to the humiliation at the hands of Railway officials for no fault of theirs. It is hoped that Railways will amend the rules to make it more humane, by directing rest of the passengers to carry individual identity cards. This will not be a case of misuse of the facility and will not sabotage the measures taken by Railways to streamline the system of Tatkal reservation.

Football Telecast

            Doordarshan has once again disappointed millions of football fans all over the country by not telecasting the scissors football tournament recently held in Kerala. It is the highest prize money football tournament in India and hence it attracts the best football talent in the country. Some of the foreign teams also participated in this tournament and an Indian club team was pitted against a foreign team in the final. For an average Indian a victory against another country or a foreign team is a matter of pride.

            Football is the most popular game in the world and it has large followers in all nooks and corners of this country also. The mere fact that the stadium was overflowing with about 40000 spectators on the final day and many more had to return disappointed without getting a ticket is a standing testimony of the popularity of the game.

            If the telecast timing would have clashed with national telecast, Doordarshan could have advised the organisers to adjust the timings of the final accordingly. Alternatively, the remaining part of the game could have been shown after the news. Anyway, there does not seem to be an iota of justification for completely blacking out this prestigious tournament.

            Way back in 1982 Doordarshan won plaudits from millions of sports lovers all over the globe for its spectacular telecast of the 9^th Asian Games. Many people could not even believe that Doordarshan could reach such dizzy heights barely three months after the introduction of colour telecast. But with the increase in the number of channels we have been deprived of viewing several national and international tournaments played in Indian soil. The fact that many lesser known tournaments and other tournaments where Indians have no stake at all are telecast live only adds insult to injury. Earlier also Doordarshan failed to telecast the Federation Cup Football Tournament held at Kozhikode and National Football Championship held at Kochi. Doordarshan’s policy of telecasting sports programmes is difficult to understand. Or is it because all these tournaments were held at places far away from the corridors of power?