Cabinet Approves Merger Of General Budget With Railway Budget

In a big move ending a 92-year old tradition, the Union Cabinet approved scrapping of separate Railway Budget and merging it with General Budget. This decision was taken in a high level meeting attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and PMO Jitendra Singh. Merging rail budget with General budget means that the railway minister will no longer present the budget, but the functional autonomy of the rail budget will continue to be maintained. Both the budgets will now be presented by the finance minister in the Parliament. The rationale behind scrapping this 92 year old tradition is to save precious time of the Parliament by not having to hold separate consideration and passing of two Appropriation Bills. In addition to this, the Cabinet also gave its consent to advancing presentation of annual budget by a month and removed classifications for expenditure to make the exercise simpler. Early presentation of budget would mean the entire exercise is over by March 31 & all expenditure and tax proposals come into effect right from the beginning of new fiscal year. Indian Express, The Indian Express Newspaper, The Indian Express, Indian express news, indian express editorial Today's Indian Express newspaper offers a comprehensive package of news, including Indian Express editorial analysis and Indian Express analysis today. This well-respected publication covers a wide range of topics in its India Express editorial and Indian Express news sections. Stay informed with the Indian Express newspaper today.