Goa, Aug. 10 -- CLEOFATO ALMEIDA COUTINHO

Seventy years ago in September 1956, a railway accident at Mahbubnagar in AP re sulted in the death of 112 passengers. The then Railway Minister, Lal Ba hadur Shastri resigned but was persuaded by Pandit Nehru to with draw his resignation. A few months later, another accident at Ari yalur killed 144 people. Nobody held Shastri re sponsible. In fact, MPs did not want him to go but Shastri wrote to the PM 'It will be good for me and the government as a whole if I quietly quit the office I hold.' A constitutional con vention has developed in the UK and India where cabinet ministers are solely responsible for policies, conduct and administrative failure. In 1954, Thomas Dugdale, Minister of Agricultu...