Despite these successes, Railway Minister Prabhu has had his share of criticism.
In the current fiscal, as per the revised estimate, these two companies raised Rs 14,942 crore (Rs 149.42 billion) from markets.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a five-year-long reform-based result-linked power distribution scheme worth Rs 3.03 lakh crore, for strengthening system of utilities to improve efficiency. Briefing after the CCEA meet here, Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh said, "We have done a lot for power distribution reforms. It needs to be strengthened. Today, the Cabinet has approved the new scheme worth Rs 3.03 lakh crore, including Rs 97,000 crore central outlay." He said the funds would be given to power distribution companies (discoms) to strengthen their system.
We have only rationalised the freight rates, says the minister.
In a letter to Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, he said the proportional share between the Centre and the state in centrally sponsored schemes should be changed for the least developed states like the one existing for special category states now.
The focus is on tapping all resources, even foreign agencies.
Suresh Prabhu on the priority being given to safety and the need for more funds for railways to move ahead.
Accounting for the first Advance Estimates for 2017-18, an additional planned borrowing of Rs 200 billion, the fiscal deficit could come in at 3.35 per cent of GDP.
The Centre is likely to cut budgetary support to the railways by around Rs 5,000-10,000 crore for 2018-19, out of the total budgeted GBS of Rs 53,060 crore. Due to this cut in GBS, the railways is likely to depend more on borrowings, asset monetisation, and internal generation to meet the capex target of Rs 1.465 trillion for the current year.
The new government may enhance the Plan expenditure for 2014-15 by around Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) in the Budget next month, which would be about 2 per cent higher than what was provided in the previous fiscal budget.
The Rail Budget will announce introduction of AC suburban trains in Mumbai.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced slew of reforms for the masses.
Centre meets target of 18,000 villages but household metering remains a challenge
The amount constitutes 45 per cent of the railways' total wage bill.
The aim is to reduce working expense by about 15 per cent.
Once the scheme is implemented 70-80 per cent of the freight would move along national highways as against the current 40 per cent, says Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.
Under the scheme, the government proposes to provide electricity to all households by December 2018, ahead of the earlier target of March, 2019.
Lalu handled the obstacle of 'departmentalism' with ease.
Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal spoke with the media about his privatisation plan, safety road map and innovation strategy.
The government on Wednesday approved Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) 'Fund of Funds for Startups' to support them with an aim to generate employment for 18 lakh persons.
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Reeling under a series of derailments, the Budget is likely to announce creation of a separate safety fund of about Rs 1 lakh crore over the next five years.
Policy lays out a 5-year road map seeking creation of 3.5 mn jobs and promoting 10,000 start-ups.
Of the 170 million rural households in the country, a government website claims to have connected 82 per cent of them. The metered households are 50 per cent of the total. As on February, 2018, of the 780,000 villages to be intensively electrified or provide connection to all in households, 493,000 have been covered. However, the amount and quality of the power supply cannot be ascertained from this data. No clause in any of the rural electrification programmes promises 24 hours' power supply.
The entire Budget-making exercise will be advanced by 3-4 weeks so as to complete the legislative part of financial business before April 1, the start of a financial year
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu faces a stiff dilemma on whether to raise fares and freight rates in his second Rail Budget.
There would be a marginal 3% increase in freight rates.
Finance ministry's drive is meant to meet fiscal deficit target and improve overall efficiency in government spending.
Economy to grow by 7.2-7.5 per cent in second half of current fiscal, says FM.
Likely to be merged with Union Budget from FY18
Railway Budget has not discriminated against any state.
'The core sectors have not done very well in the past one year.'
Indian Railways has plans to decongest network and become more self dependent.
Poor predictability, credibility and effectiveness of fiscal performance have been key reasons for successive governments failing to deliver on their promises.
The station with the most annual revenue is CST Mumbai, followed by Dadar.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently extended a Rs 8,000-crore (Rs 80 billion) central support for building roads in Jammu & Kashmir, Union Cabinet's approval for the big-ticket announcement came in barely 48 hours.
'I think governments -- whether this one or the ones earlier -- have not understood the strength of the Indian Railways... that it can easily add 2.5 per cent to GDP.'
NDA government has shunned populism.
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