Rail Budget - End of 92 Years of Legacy
The 92 years old colonial practice of presenting separate Rail Budget will come to an end next year. From next fiscal, there will be no separate Rail Budget. Railway Minister will now announce his projects after the annual budget is presented. The Railway Budget was separated from the General Budget in 1921, on the recommendations of Acworth Committee. The first separate rail budget was presented in 1924. The main objective of the separation of Rail Budget was to introduce flexibility in railway finance. To facilitate a business approach to the railway policy, to secure stability of the general revenues by providing an assured annual contribution from railway revenues and to enable the railways to keep their profits for their own development were among the other reasons. The move to separate rail budget comes after the two member committee comprising of NITI Ayog member Bibek Debroy and Kishor Desai recommended the exercise be scrapped. As per the Government sources, t...