English Typing
Paragraph
That
it
took
69
years
after
Independence
for
India
to
merge
the
Railway
Budget
with
the
Union
Budget
is
an
indication
of
how
difficult
it
can
be
to
junk
colonial-era
traditions
that
may
have
outlived
their
utility.
In
1924,
when
the
first
Railway
Budget
was
presented,
the
Railways
entailed
more
funds
than
India's
expenditure
on
all
other
aspects
of
administration
combined.
So
it
made
sense
to
present
a
separate
Budget.
That
equation
changed
long
ago,
and
now
the
Railways'
outlay
is
just
6
per
cent
of
the
total
expenditure
proposed
in
the
Union
Budget
for
this
year.
In
fact,
revenues
from
the
domestic
aviation
business
are
more
than
the
Railways'
traffic
earnings.
Nearly
Rs.2.5
lakh
crore
has
been
planned
this
year
as
defence
expenditure,
but
it
found
little
mention
in
the
Finance
Minister's
Budget
speech.
Yet,
the
ritual
of
the
Rail
Budget
has
continued
even
as
the
economy
opened
up
over
the
past
25
years.
A
key
reason
that
it
lingered
so
long
is
India's
fractured
polity
and
the
tendency
of
coalition
partners
to
demand
Railways
as
a
juicy
portfolio
with
its
possibilities
for
populist
posturing
and
patronage.
With
the
luxury
of
a
majority
in
the
Lok
Sabha
and
a
Railway
Minister
like
Suresh
Prabhu
who
has
refused
to
use
the
Rail
Budget
as
a
launchpad
for
new
trains
and
railway
lines,
the
NDA
has
thrown
its
weight
behind
a
plan
that
takes
away
the
annual
temptation
to
make
the
Railways
a
vote-magnet.
India's
annual
economic
jamboree
will
now
be
over
in
two
days
the
tabling
of
the
Economic
Survey
followed
by
the
Union
Budget
instead
of
three.
Railway
Ministers
will
no
longer
need
to
conjure
up
fancy
and
often
regurgitated
promises
about
new,
improved
services
for
passengers
without
charging
them
the
operational
costs
of
reaching
their
destination.
The
pressure
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