Lalu plans lecture tour to US varsities, Silicon Valley

NEW DELHI: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad is not just moving wheels, he is set to move men of substance, as well.

The minister is set to go on a lecture tour of universities in the US, after having impressed students of the world's top business schools with his talks on how he brought about an astounding turnaround in the Indian Railways.

The schedule of the tour to Harvard, Stanford, Silicon Valley and MIT has not been finalised though it is likely to take off only after the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in April-May.

However, the railway minister has packed his bags and announced his intent to fly.

"Hum ko bulaya hai, hum jayenge, zaroor jayenge (I have been invited, I will go, positively go)," Prasad told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

A team of 45 MBA students from University of Texas are coming to India Friday to study the railway minister's achievements. Another 20 from University of Virginia are currently here on the same study, said Sudhir Kumar, an officer on special duty in the railway ministry.

"Lalu Prasad has proved that good commerce need not be achieved by sacrificing social obligation. On an average, about 33,000 employees retire or leave the railways every year. Till he joined only 3,000 odd posts were being filled and for the rest there was a moratorium," said Kumar.

"This year alone 32,000 were employed and next year it may exceed to 33,000."

After the IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore conducted studies to find out whether the claimed turnaround of railways was true, it is the turn of the Paris-based HEC business school to come here and conduct a case study.