Lalu goes to Harvard

Fromhttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1715301.cms

Lalu Prasad Yadav's work with the Indian Railways may soon be a part of the curriculum at Harvard.

His detractors may call him a 'clown and a joker', but there's no denying that Lalu Prasad Yadav has a flair for business. The way he turned around the Indian Railways -- written off by the Rakesh Mohan Committee and termed a white elephant by the government -- is the stuff business curriculums are made of. And it is not just IIMs who want to fete Laluji for posting a fund balance of Rs 11,280 crore in March 2006, even the premier international business schools are joining in.

Harvard Business School and HEC Management School, France, have shown interest in turning Lalu's experiment with the railways into case studies for aspiring biz graduates. For HEC, the crux lies in how a railway system, under the jurisdiction of a coalition government, can be put on the road to success.

Explains Karine Lejoly of HEC, "We are looking at making the Indian Railways a part of our course. While nothing has been finalised as of now, I will be visiting India in October-November to talk to the concerned officials."
....
Prof G Raghuraman from IIM-A, who first introduced Lalu in their curriculum, says, "We are not just working on the facelift that Lalu has given to the railways but also his personality, the team he works with and the initiatives he has taken. It was not as if Lalu applied some new principles, he was just the guy who said, 'Let's get down to it'."

Earlier story: Lalu goes to IIM-A:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1513349.cms
and some his ‘reforms’:
http://www.blonnet.com/2006/02/25/stories/2006022504010100.htm
Acknowledgement: kaburlu.com
For an overview of Lalu's turbulent period in Bihar see:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/casi/publications/india_in_transition.htm
Social Justice and Stalled Development:
Caste Empowerment and the Breakdown of Governance in Bihar, Spring 2006.
Update(September 1, 2006)
More links and news in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laloo_Prasad_Yadav
Foe a recent discussion and comments see http://acorn.nationalinterest.in/?p=2082#comments