Arun Jaitley is the first Finance Minister to jointly present the General Budget and the Railway Budget, which he did on February 1, 2017. Earlier, both these budgets have been presented separately. The railway budget was last presented separately on 25 February 2016. With this, the 92-year tradition of presenting the railway budget and the general budget separately on this day was over. Since the merger of the Railway Budget into the General Budget, several major announcements have been made by the government for the Indian Railways. Let us tell you what these announcements are.
Budget announcements for the year 2017 In 2017, the first joint budget was presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. In this budget, Jaitley allocated Rs 1.3 lakh crore for Indian Railways, which was the largest allocation in the history of Indian Railways. This was a historic moment for the Indian Railways. In the budget of 2017, Jaitley paid special attention to passenger safety, development works, cleanliness and finance and accounting reforms. Apart from this, in an unprecedented initiative, Jaitley also proposed listing of railway subsidiaries like IRCTC, IRCON and IRFC in the market.
Budget announcements for the year 2018 Like in the year 2017, in 2018, the Railways was given a good allocation in the budget. The Finance Minister has increased the expenditure for railways to a record Rs 1.48 lakh crore this year. This budget has given more attention to capital expenditure. This allocation was focused on increasing the railway's capacity. Which included renewal and doubling of tracks, change of gage and modernization of 600 railway stations.
Budget announcements for the year 2019 In this year's budget, the allocation for railways increased further and reached the maximum of Rs 1.6 lakh crore. This allocation was focused on making rail travel comfortable and enjoyable for all people, hence more attention was paid to passenger facilities. Special attention was also paid to the safety of passengers. India today has become the first country in the world, the same that has completely de-legalized the railways. India is also producing the first high-speed bullet train, which will run between Ahmedabad to Mumbai.
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