Presenting the Railway Budget for 2007-08, the minister announced the setting up of a ‘Railway Chair’ at the prestigious B-school for research in railway infrastructure and management. Credited with the turnaround of Indian Railways, Lalu was invited to the IIM A campus in September last year; back then, he had promised setting up of a ‘railways’ chair at IIM A. And he’s walked the talk: the Chair is expected to start functioning in April 2007 itself.
IIM A faculty Prof G Raghuram was instrumental in inviting Lalu to talk about how he converted Indian Railways into a profit-making public enterprise. Prof Raghuram informed a prominent city newspaper that IIM-A has signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Railways about the setting up of the Chair. IIM A is expected to release an advertisement regarding appointments for the Chair soon. The Chair will prepare a Strategic Paper on Indian Railways and case studies related to the infrastructure and management in the Railway.
As per the MoU, Indian Railways will provide the Chair a sum of Rs 11 lakh, 12 lakh, 13 lakh, 14 lakh and 15 lakh respectively for five consecutive years for carrying out the research.
