The government has decided to throw more than a billion dollars to save Air India/Indian Airlines for collapse. Apparently the company has been asked to reduce costs severely. It would be a joke if not for the millions of people who have lost everything to floods in the south. Surely this money would have been much better spent had it been distributed as cash to the victims. These companies have been losing money for decades because of huge overmanning, endemic corruption, misuse by politicians and criminal unions so the two companies were combined into one but without any layoffs. While numbers of flights are being reduced and services cut the staff numbers stay the same along with all the undeserving perks that they get. To save this corrupt behemoth ( in terms of the number of useless staff ) other measures are already in place. Private airlines are not allowed to serve alcoholic drinks and taxes on airtickets are calculated on the full price even though the airline may be charging only Rs. 100 for a ticket. This takes flying out of the reach of most people and inflicts heavy losses on private airlines so that many are on the verge of going out of business. Criminal politicians and uncivil servants are slowly choking the life out of India, never mind the Sensex.