Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the general budget tomorrow i.e. on 23 July. This budget will also contain the account of expenditure and income of Indian Railways. But do you know that till a few years ago, the budget of railways was presented separately, but then it was included in the same budget and a joint budget was presented.
Budget
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget on 23 July. This budget is a joint budget, in which the budget of all including railways is presented together. However, before 2017, the budget of railways was presented separately. But Arun Jaitley ended the tradition of 92 years by presenting the first joint budget of independent India in 2017.
First budget of the new government
It is worth noting that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Narendra Modi is going to present the first general budget of Government 3.0. Let us tell you that the budget contains the account of the expenditure and income of the government. It also tells how much money will be allocated to which ministry. In the budget of 2023-24, the maximum amount was given to the Ministry of Railways.
Two budgets in Parliament
Let us tell you that earlier two budgets were presented in the Indian Parliament, the first was the Railway Budget and the General Budget. But on 21 September 2016, the Government of India approved the merger of the Railway Budget with the General Budget. After this, in 2017, the first joint budget of independent India was presented in Parliament. At that time Arun Jaitley was the Finance Minister of India. On 1 February 2017, he ended the tradition that was going on for 92 years.
Why was the railway budget separate?
Now the question is why was the railway budget separate earlier. Let us tell you that the tradition of presenting budget in India is 160 years old. In the 19th century, railways were a major option for traveling and transporting goods. At that time, it was very important for the economy and society, although it is very important even today. Let us tell you that by 1924, the share of railways in the entire country’s budget had become 70 percent.
According to the information, the committee formed under the leadership of William Ekkarth had suggested in its recommendations to separate the railway budget from the general budget. This committee was formed in the year 1920. The Ekkarth Committee had argued that the railways alone are conducting the largest economic activity of India. In such a situation, special attention should be paid to it and its budget should be separate.
Independent India
Even after India’s independence in 1947, the share of railways in revenue was quite high. Keeping this in mind, in 1949, Gopalaswami Iyengar Committee recommended that the tradition of a separate railway budget should continue. The Constituent Assembly approved a proposal in this regard. In independent India, Railway Minister John Mathai presented the country’s first railway budget.
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