business national
coalition governments. This has been bleeding the Railways and
as a result it has not been able to take up several commercial
viable projects to the detriment of the economy.
The rail Budget was separated from the main Budget,
following recommendation of a panel headed by British railway
economist William Acworth in 1920-21. The rail Budget has had
a separate existence from the general Budget since 1924 when
the British spun it off for a better focus on India’s most important
infrastructure network.
The Railways then accounted for 70 percent of the total budget.
For