GS Mains Model Question & Answer: The General and Railway budgets have been amalgamated with the functional autonomy of the rail budget will continue to be maintained. Comment.
Q. The General and Railway budgets have been amalgamated with the functional autonomy of the rail budget will continue to be maintained. Comment. (12.5 Marks)
(General Studies Mains Paper III- Economy: Infrastructure)
Model Answer :
With the ambition of putting an end to the populism that had come to be associated with it in the last few decades, the Union Cabinet has decided to bring the curtains down on the 92-year-old tradition of presenting a separate Rail Budget. It has been decided to merge the Rail Budget and the General Budget.
The decision, taken on the recommendation of a NITI Aayog committee headed by its member Bibek Debroy, reflects the decrease over time in the relative size of the Rail Budget compared to some of the other components in the General Budget, such as defence and roads & highways, reducing it to a mere “ritual”.