All eyes are now on the low profile Mukul Roy, Trinamool Congress general secretary and Minister of State for Shipping.
All eyes are now on the low profile Mukul Roy, Trinamool Congress general secretary and Minister of State for Shipping.
The Railway Budget was on Thursday passed by the Lok Sabha with Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing a slew of measures to tone up the functioning of the Railways in terms of amenities and safety and deciding to set up an expert committee to prepare a blueprint for future.
P Chidamabaram's February 28 Budget will not have any big-ticket ideas, reports Sheela Bhatt
The Railway Budget also proposes to increase the facility for press correspondents whereby now they will be entitled to avail 50 per cent concession with family twice a year.
Rediff.com brings to you Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget Speech Live from Parliament at 11.00 a.m. on February 26.
At present, there are 362 major ongoing railway projects across the country.
'A government whose policies are focused around making the life of ordinary citizens, specially the most deprived sections, richer; a government that prioritises education, health and transport, that doesn't treat its citizens as subjects who must come to it for everything, is rare in our country.' 'When such a government is thrown out, one is left stunned,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
Presenting the Railway Budget 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha on Friday, she announced the launching of special recruitment drive to wipe out backlog in filling up the vacancies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Presenting the Interim Railway Budget for 2014-15, Mallikarjun Kharge announced that new trains will be introduced.
The search for a 'perfect decision' derailed a 2006 plan to build diesel and electric locomotive factories under the PPP model.
The government has assured Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion)budgetary support to the Indian Railways.
Going by the number of changes Mr Jaitley's next Budget is likely to see, he will go down in the history of Budget-making as the finance minister who ushered in the largest number of changes in a single Budget, says A K Bhattacharya.
Presenting the Interim Railway Budget 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha on Friday, he informed that the number of consequential accidents came down to 194 in 2007-08, as against 325 in 2003-04.
India is now much ahead of other large railway networks in the world in terms of electrification -- with the US at just 1 per cent, China at 72 per cent and Europe at 60 per cent.
All the Indian Railways' zones have been instructed to ensure availability of Janata Khana. A comprehensive policy, including strict monitoring mechanisms, would be developed soon for achieving these objectives.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday described the railway budget as 'disappointing' and said the ministry's attempt to attract private firms to fund the rail projects is like 'chasing a dream'.
The new board will have a leaner structure on functional lines headed by the chairman and four members - covering infrastructure, operations and business development, rolling stock, and finance.
Expectations of muted expenditure on railway infrastructure and the assumption that there would be no further fare hikes may have contributed to the fall, according to analysts.
The NSE Nifty closed at 4861, lower by eight points. The mid-cap and small-cap indices ended marginally lower.
"In the proud history of independent India, it is for the first time that the returns on the capital investment in the Railways will reach 21 per cent," the railway minister announced as he presented his 5th Rail Budget.
In the Railway Budget presented on February 24, the Railways had revised downwards the revenue excess estimate by nearly 65 per cent to Rs 951 crore from the earlier projection of Rs 2,642 crore.
'If the markets correct further, PSU stocks could continue to decline.'
For example, railways, roads and highways, and shipping could form a section within the Budget as an omnibus transport sector
The Railways have decided to introduce a new series of 17 'Sampark Kranti Express' trains as part of National Democratic Alliance government's connectivity revolution that would provide quicker connectivity from states to New Delhi.
'At least one specially designed fully accessible railway car should be added to every train'.
Presenting the Railway Budget on Friday in the Parliament, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee proposed an outlay of Rs 40,745 crore for 2009-2010, which is 2,840 crore more than the allocation proposed in the interim budget.
In today's perspective, such deprivation and insult has anyone seen"? the former Railway minister said in a Facebook post.
The minister also announced that in order to continue the pace of infrastructure creation, her ministry proposes to process 53 new rail connectivity proposals in 2009-10 besides the above-mentioned lines.
If the Indian Railways, therefore, wishes to implement its expenditure plans as outlined in the Interim Railway Budget, it has to look for alternative sources of funding. One option under study is to adopt the PPP route to implement new projects. Mamata Banerjee's first Railway Budget in the United Progressive Alliance government, therefore, may outline major PPP initiatives for several new projects, say railway officials.
'We hope there shall be more focus on existing projects and their completion rather than new projects.' 'Any new project announcements should be largely for decongesting the existing lines rather than new lines.'
As per convention, Railways releases the new time table -- Trains at a glance -- every year on July one across the country. Sources said this year the Railway Time Table Committee, comprising senior officials from various zones, will sit after the Railway Budget is tabled in Parliament.
There were no proposals for additional resource mobilisation in her budget. But she has been helped by an all-time high annual Plan allocation of Rs 41,426 crore (Rs 414.26 billion) for 2010-11, up Rs 1,142 crore (Rs 11.42 billion) from 2009-10.
The Minister of Railways Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday announced her ministry will follow a twin strategy of adopting the highest level of technology and pressing into force well-trained manpower, as emphasised in Vision 2020 for safety and security.
The railway minister's indifference to her portfolio, the hesitation to install anti-collision devices that cost Rs 250,000 per km and the debate over the efficiency of home-grown technology are leading to more accidents.
PMO officials said while they had got a request from Trinamool Congress MPs for a meeting with the PM, no letter recommending Trivedi's replacement had been received till late Wednesday night.
25 per cent of the stalls will be reserved for the under-privileged sections of the society.
Fifty-seven new trains were proposed by the railways minister Mamata Banerjee as she presented he Railway Budget for 2009-10 in Parliament on Friday.
The forthcoming Railway Budget is, perhaps, going to be the toughest one for Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The sources also said that the Budget session of Parliament is likely to start from March 12.
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