No separate railway budget from 2017: Government of India
Q. No separate railway budget will be available from which year?- Published on 16 Aug 16a. 2017
b. 2018
c. 2019
d. 2020
ANSWER: 2017
There will be no separate railway budget from the next financial year, putting an end to a practice that began in 1924, with the finance ministry acquiescing to the proposal to merge the transporter’s annual exercise with the general budget.
- Finance ministry has constituted a 5 member committee of officers to work out the modalities for the exercise which will end the annual budget speech being followed by the rail budget.
- Move to discard the British era practice of a separate rail budget by the Modi government was after a 2 member committee comprising Niti Aayog member Bibek Debroy and Kishore Desai recommended the exercise to be scrapped.
- Finance minister Arun Jaitley has been asked to merge the rail budget with the general budget in the long term interest of the national transporter as well as the economy of the nation.
- Once the rail budget is merged with the general budget, Indian Railways will be like any other government department receiving budgetary support under the supervision of the finance minister.
- Once the overall funds are allocated, railways will then segregate them for various reasons with sources suggesting that the model will be akin to the one of the postal department.
