India has decided to do away with practice of presenting the separate general and railway budgets by unifying them and do away with differentiating plan and non-plan expenditure.
From 2017, the railway and the general budget will be amalgamated. There will be only one budget.
The decision to merge the rail and general budgets was mooted by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and endorsed by NITI Aayog’s member Bibek Debroy.
Distinct identity and functional autonomy of the Indian Railways will be maintained.
And secondly, distinction between plan and non-plan expenditure will be ended from next year.
Non-plan expenditure is what the government spends on the so-called non-productive areas, such as salaries, subsidies, loans and interest, while plan expenditure pertains to the money to be set aside for productive purposes, like the various projects of ministries.
Railway Budget Important Facts:
Following the recommendation of the 10 member-Acworth Committee in 1920-21, headed by British railway economist William Acworth.
The “Acworth Report” led to reorganisation of railways, the railway finances of India were separated from the general government finances in 1924.
A practise which continues in independent India to date.
First live telecast of railway budget took place on 24 March 1994.
Lalu Prasad Yadav, who remained Railways Minister from 2004 to May 2009, presented the railway budget 6 times in a row. In 2009, under his tenure a ₹108 billion (US$1.6 billion) budget was passed.
In the year 2000, Mamata Banerjee, who is the current Chief Minister of West Bengal became the first women Railway Minister of India.
In the year 2002 she also became the first female Minister of Railways (India) to present the Railway budget, she is also the only woman who presented the railway budget for two different central governments (NDA and UPA).
In 2014 railway budget, Railway Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda announced the first bullet train and 9 High-Speed Rail of India.
