The entry of elected members marked the beginning of the new era in the life of the Council. Congress veteran Shri Pherozeshah Mehta, the first elected Indian Member. Sir Pherozeshah Mehta was known as Lion of Bombay for hsi contribution to the city and at the same time, Ferocious Mehta because of his role as a Legislator. In order to stem the growth of the nationalist movement in India, Lord Lytton decided to censor the vernacular Press. Pherozeshah Mehta vehemently opposed the move. He believed that the press should be as free as possible, and that it was the fundamental duty of the government to educate the masses. England must raise India to her own level, or India will will drag her down to hers, he warned. Sir Pherozeshah Mehta's career was summarized by a leading British journalist who said that Mehta had stood alone against the bureaucracy, had displayed a courage equal to Gokhale's an eloquence hardly second to Surendranath Banerjee's and power of sarcasm hardly rivaled by Motila Ghose's. During 1890-1909, besides Sir Mehta, the Council had great stalwarts like Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Ashutosh Mukherjee, Rash Bihari Ghose, Salimulla who made full use of limited opportunities for ventilating the grievances of the people on political, economic and social issues. Gokhale whom some people had started calling The Leader of the Opposition was a great authority on economies. He exposed the Government's contention that budget surpluses showed the health of the economy and showed with facts and figures the extent of dismal and deepening poverty in India resulting from heavy expenditure on the Army. The same billing principles will be applied, and the cost will be fully recovered. As you look at the duties of the CISF, you must refer to Section 10 of the Act, which is the operative section. It obliges the CISF to provide, protect and safeguard the industrial undertakings and installations. This is the only purpose of the CISF. It is not intended to protect the CMD or the MD. It is not intended to intervene in any industrial dispute. In fact, the standard operating procedures make it very clear that the CISF will not intervene in land disputes, labout disputes or industrial disputes. I had occasion to visit this Institute with a view to harnessing their expertise in design so as to leverage it for bringing out design related improvisations in the facilities available to passengers and other rail-users. A deciated Railway Design Centre is proposed to be set up in the NID campus with an endowment Fund of 10 crore to be utilised for developing concepts in various areas such as station architecture, coach layouts, luggage storage in coaches, ticketing kisoks and online services, freight service system etc. Specialised House-Keeping Body, I am concerned and I am sure that so is the country that the standards of hygiene and cleanliness need to be improved substantially. I am not prepared to accept the situation as it isn ow and all out efforts would be made to improve the standards of cleanliness and hygiene on trains.
