The mess is indeed an “inherited” one, but the NDA government appears nearly as clueless about what to do with Air India as the UPA had been when in an act of sheer desperation ~ or calculated malevolence ~ it opted to merge the international and domestic carriers.

So monumental is the debt burden that an attempt at “strategic disinvestment” attracted no offers, but rather than quickly learn from mistakes and come up with more attractive terms, the government has opted to throw more good money after bad to keep the carrier airborne.

That the desperation persists is evident from a new, upgraded “Maharaja” business class that is being offered on some international flights, even as the civil aviation minister says that “disinvestment” remains very much the key objective. The whiskers of Bobby Kooka’s iconic mascot droop at the sustained confusion over the future of a once-leading international carrier that now nobody wants to touch.

Confusion which also finds evidence in the civil aviation minister’s contention that, “Air India has a very important role to play in the aviation sector of India. Therefore, to keep it healthy, efficient and (a) forward looking airline is an important priority for the government.”

Sushma Swaraj might concur: the airline has frequently been drafted to undertake national duties, bringing home stranded Indians when troubled conditions prevail in West Asia. Funny, at those times none of the evacuees have enough money to pay the air fare home.

It is a moot point if the token bid at upgrading the services on offer will make even a scratch on the carrier’s pathetic balance sheet, for it is not only international traffic that has few takers, even domestically the airline does not feature at the top of passengers’ priority lists.

Merely pumping in more money will ensure it is swallowed up by some 27,000 employees ~ who hardly qualify to be called a work force: like all those on the government payroll they do precious little to earn their keep. The quicker they are dumped or trimmed the better, the taxpayer cannot be expected to pick up the tab.

True that the ills are chronic and protracted, but at a point in time when ministers are waxing lyrical over the successes of the last four years a shameful silence obtains on the performance of the national carrier. When there is now a lot of talk about “lateral” induction, the government must muster the courage to try and induct top professionals into Air India’s management (attracting them will not be easy) and liberate them from what has long constrained the public sector.

Why not take the plunge and junk the airline ~ if history can be re-written to denigrate Mughal monarchs and their wondrous creations, why dither over the Maharaja who has forfeited his regal glory? Unless the government’s failed exercise to disinvest is a precursor to giving the airline away?