There is no reason why Indian workers cannot be as good or better than the best in the worldand turn out great ships or great locomotives. But first the Indian worker has to get rid of that burden he is carrying on his back: ignorant politicians. Workers do not need netas who say, ``It doesn't matter if you do not know the difference between a lathe and a blow-torch; you deserve this job because your mother-tongue is Marathi; you will get this job if you come to my coaching camp; if you don't get a job I will shut down the Central Railway's Parel Workshop''. Workers need politicians who will see that good skills-training centres are established and recruitment for jobs goes strictly according to the rules.

Rawle's methods worked in the past for a few people but most of all for the Shiv Sena. Often the enterprise or project suffered. Those methods will not work now. The world has changed. In an increasingly competitive environment the public or private sector cannot afford to buy peace by employing politicians' ``boys'' and lowering efficiency. Has Rawle forgotten what happened to theWharton/Harvard School of Business when Bal Thackeray demanded quotas for ``locals''? Mumbai lost, Hyderabad won. Apprentices for railway workshops should be recruited strictly on merit. The railways should not let themselves be bullied by politicians and jeopardise efficiency and safety on the railways.