Facts: Indian Railways

Important facts about the Indian Railways:

• The first train on the Indian soil ran between Bombay and Thane on the 16 April 1853
• 42 Railway companies operated in the country before independence
• The total distance covered by the 14,300 trains on the Indian Railways everyday, equals to three and half times the distance to moon
• Indian Railways has about 63,028 route kms of track
• Indian Railways employs about 1.55 million people
• Indian Railways carries 13 million passengers and 1.3 million tonnes of freight everyday
• IR runs about 14,300 trains daily
• IR has about 7,000 railway stations
• The longest platform in the world is at Kharagpur and is 2,733 ft in length
• Nehru Setu on Sone River is the longest Railway Bridge
• Electric locomotives are manuactured at Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Chittaranjan
• Coaches are manufactured at ICF/Chennai, RCF/Kapurthala and BEMP/Bengaluru
• The national Rail Museum at New Delhi was set-up in 1977
• People Employed in Indian Railway are about 1.6 million
• Stations across State Lines are Navapur (Maharashtra and Gujarat) and Bhawani mandi (Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan)
• Classes of travel on Indian Railway: 1st AC, 2nd AC, 3rd AC, AC Chair Car, IInd sleeper and IInd ordinary
• Railway Station with all Three Gauges is Silguri Railway Station

First/Oldest/Longest in Indian Railways

• First Passenger Train Ran on - 16th April 1853 (between Bombay to Thane)
• First Railway Bridge - Dapoorie Viaduct on the Mumbai-Thane route
• First Railway Tunnel - Parsik Tunnel
• First Ghats Covered by the Rail lines - Thal and Bhore Ghats
• First Underground Railway - Calcutta METRO
• First Computerized Reservation System Started in - New Delhi, 1986
• First Electric Train Ran on - 3 Feb 1925 (between Bombay VT and Kurla)
• Toilets on Trains were introduced in - 1897 (1st Class) and 1907 (lower Classes)
• Shortest Station Name - IB, Odisha
• Longest Station Name - Sri Venkatanarasimharajuvariapeta, Tamilnadu
• Busiest Railway Station - Lucknow (64 trains everyday)
• Longest Run, Time - Vivek Express (3715 km in Approx 71 hrs)
• Shortest Run, Distance - Route between Nagpur to Ajni (3 km)
• Longest Run for Daily Train - Kerala Express (3054 km in 42.5 hrs)
• Longest Non-Stop Run, Distance - Trivandrum Rajdhani (528 km in 6.5 hrs)
• Oldest Preserved Locomotive - Fairy Queen (1855), still in working order
• Indian Railways's Fastest Train - Bhopal-Shatabdi (Runs at a speed up to 140 km/ph)
• Train with Maximum Number of Halts - Howrah-Amritsar Express (115 halts)

Goods and Services Tax

One of the biggest taxation reforms in India, the Goods and Service Tax (GST) is all set to integrate State economies and boost overall growth. GST will create a single, unified Indian Market to make the economy stronger. Finance Minister Pranab Mukharjee while presenting the Budget on 6 July 2009, said that GST would come into effect from April 2010. The implementation of GSTN is set on August 2010. GST might not be implemented before 1 April 2013.

Goods and Service Tax - is comprehensive tax levy on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services at national level. Through a tax credit mechanism, this tax is collected on value-added goods and services at each stage of sale or purchase in the supply chain. The system allows the set-off of GST paid on the procurement of goods and services against the GST which is payable on the supply of goods or services. However, the end consumer bears this tax as he is the last person in the supply chain. Experts say that GST is likely to improve tax collections and boost India's economic development by breaking tax barriers between States and integrating India through a uniform tax rate.

Under GST, the taxation burden will be divided equitably between manufacturing and services, through a lower tax rate by increasing the tax and minimizing exemptions. It is expected to help build a transparent and corruption-free tax administration. GST will be is levied only at the destination point, and not at various points (from manufacturing to retail outlets) Currently, a manufacture needs to pay a tax when a finished product moves out from factory, and it is again taxed at the retail outlet when sold.

Benefits to State and Center - It is estimated that India will gain 15 billion US dollars a years by implementing the Goods and Service Tax as it would promote exports, raise employment and boost growth. It will divide the tax burden equitably between manufacturing and services.

Benefits to Individuals and Companies: IN the GST system, both Central and States taxes will be collected at the point of sale. Both components will be charged on the manufacturing cost. This will benefit individuals as prices are likely to come down. Lower prices will lead to more consumption, thereby helping companies.

Revolt of 1857

Causes for the failure of Revolt:
By July 1858, the revolt was completely suppressed. Following factors may be the reason for the failure of revolt:

• Lack of co-ordination and central leadership. The revolt was supposed to have started on 31 May 1857 as decided by Nana Saheb and his colleagues but the Merrut incidence led to early breaking of the revolt.
• Lack of forward looking program.
• Indian leaders lacked resources and experience as comapred to British.
• Lack of support and martial races of the North.
• British power have remained intact in the eastern, western and southern parts of India from where the forces were sent to suppress the revolt.
• Tacit support of certain sections of Indian public.
• Limited territorial and base.
• Many native Indian states, influenced by the example of powerful Hyderabad, did not join the revolt.
• Sikh soldiers of the Punjab are remained loyal to the British throughout.
• The aging Bahadur Shah was neither a brave general not an astute leader of people.

Impacts of the Revolt:

The impact of the 1857 Revolt may be summarized as:

• In august 1850 the British government passed an act for Better Governemnt of India, 1858 which put and end to the rule of yje Company. The control of the British government in India was transfered to the British Crown.
• A minister of British government, called the Secretary of State, was made responsible for the Government of India.
• The British Governor general of India was now also given the title of Viceroy,, who was also the representative of the Monarch.
• Marked the end of British imperialism and Princely states were assured against annexation. Doctrine of Lapes was withdrawn.
• Marked the end of peshwaship and the Mughal rule.
• After the revolt, the British pursued the policy of divide and rule.
• Far-reaching changes were made in the administration and increase of white soldiers in the army.
• Total expense of the supprression of the Revolt was borne by the Indians.