Analysis of Sansad TV Discussion ”Railway: One Station One Product”

Relevance

”GS 3: Growth & Development, Planning, Government Budgeting, Inclusive Growth, Government Policies & Interventions”

Introduction

• The concept of ‘One station one product’ has been announced in Budget 2022.
• One station-one product as a concept aims to promote a local product from each stop of the Indian Railways by making the railway station of that area a promotional and sales hub for the product.

Huge Potential of Indian Railway

• Indian Railways is among the world’s largest rail network, and its route length network is spread over 67,956 kms, with 13,169 passenger trains and 8,479 freight trains, plying 23 million travellers and 3 million tonnes (MT) of freight daily from 7,349 stations.
• India’s railway network is recognised as one of the largest railway systems in the world under single management.
• Since August 2020, the Indian Railways has also run 450 Kisan Rail services and was able to transport over 1.45 lakh tonnes of agricultural produce & perishables.

What does the import duty hike signify?

• The hike is being done for industries that manufacture items that do not deploy any major technology.
• Umbrellas, for instance, are manufactured in small units spread across 10-12 districts with Kerala being the major manufacturing state.
• The government seems to be offering protection to such industries.
• It also falls in line with the Budget announcement of popularising one station-one product to popularise local businesses and supply chains.

What is ODOP?

• One District One Product (ODOP) is an initiative which is seen as a transformational step forward towards realizing the true potential of a district, fuel economic growth and generate employment and rural entrepreneurship, taking us to the goal of AtmaNirbhar Bharat.
• One District One Product (ODOP) initiative is operationally merged with the ‘Districts as Export Hub’ initiative
• The objective is to identify one product per district based on the strength of a district and develop a cluster ensuring quality, scalability with market linkages.

In-Line with ODOP & Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan

• With the similar idea of ODOP, the focus of ‘One station one product’, will continue to be placed on enabling ecosystem and providing stable marketing platform to improve income, local employment, skills and livelihood.
• The  ‘One station one product’ now acquires further significance and relevance in the context of the pioneering “Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” campaign with the aim to strengthen the domestic industries and make India self-reliant.

The railway is one of the pillars of PM GATI SHAKTI

According to Budget 2022-23, PM GATISHAKTI national master plan consists 7 engines of growth–roads, railways, airports, ports, mass transport, waterways and logistics infrastructure for economic transformation, seamless multimodal connectivity and logistics synergy.

Key Benefits

• It will promote supply chain of local product using the railways and making each railway station a promotional hub and showcase destination for a local product.
• This will help develop more efficient logistics for farmers and agri-enterprises and present unique regional products to a wide audience, i.e. railway travellers, passing through the stations.
• One station, one product takes forward the ‘one district, one product’ programme of the government which has successfully started promoting unique products from every district of India.

Conclusion

With the emphasis on ‘One Station, One Product’ Railways will develop new products and efficient logistics services for small farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises, besides taking the lead in the integration of Postal and Railways networks to provide seamless solutions for the movement of parcels.