Should Railway projects be measured only on a scale of “economic viability” or is there a need to look at their “social viability” too? Raising this question right at beginning of her Rail Budget speech today, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee set the tone for the agenda she plans to pursue at the helm of Indian Railways, which, in turn, could signal a major shift in the way Railways goes about identifying and sanctioning projects.

The announcements about this year’s target of seven new lines spread over 250 km, 17 gauge conversion projects spanning 1,300 km and 13 doubling projects spread over 700 km came towards to end of her Budget speech.

“These projects that are instrumental in upgradation of the deprived and under-privileged (and those who have remained victims of backwardness and poverty), may not meet the so-called economic viability criterion but create real economic assets which will be far more beneficial for future development,” Banerjee said as she unveiled the “human face” she’s been talking off ever since she took over the ministry.

From not raising passenger fares or freight to putting doctors on select trains, from launching a Rs 25-monthly season ticket “Izzat Scheme” allowing people earning below Rs 1,500 a month to travel upto 100 km to “Only Ladies” EMU trains for suburban office rush hour and Yuva Trains for youth and low-income groups, Banerjee today attempted to please a wide range of people.

Arguing that people should have a right to development in a democracy the same way they have a right to vote, she said: “Several lakhs of people are awaiting development. The time has now come for them to receive their share in fruits of development. I think the time has come when our economists and social philosophers will have to consider, that the upliftment of the poor and down-trodden, is the primary task of any welfare government and society and the old mindset of economic viability should be substituted by social viability.”

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