When did this practice started?
Practice of separate railway budget started with the recommendation of Acworth committee in 1924
Why in news now?
NITI Aayog has recommended to the PM to stop the convention of having a separate rail budget.
What’s wrong with this approach?
- The report says that the separate rail budget has not been of use to the railway sector and has only become a mechanism to announce the popular measures
- Seldom has the budget touched upon the matters related to making the fairs more viable or the need to augment the capacity
- Separate railway budget brings along media and public visibility and hence, the ministry tries to make the budget populist
- A lot of resources are being wasted in creating a separate budget and the relation between the finance ministry and railways has become complicated due to this separation