Ministry of Railways (India)

This article is about the Ministry or Railways. For general information on the Indian Railways organisation, see Indian Railways.

Republic of India Ministry of Railways
Emblem of India
Department overview
Jurisdiction	Republic of India
Headquarters	Rail Bhavan, New Delhi
Minister responsible	Dinesh Trivedi, Union Cabinet Minister for Railways
Website
www.indianrailways.gov.in

The Ministry of Railways in India is in charge of the Indian Railways, an organisation that operates as a monopoly in rail transport in India. Dinesh Trivedi is the current minister responsible for railways.

Notable people who have served as Minister of Railways

Rail Bhavan in New Delhi, the seat of the Ministry

Main article: Minister of Railways (India)

• John Matthai
• N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar
• Lal Bahadur Shastri
• Jagjivan Ram
• Madhu Dandavate
• Panampilly Govinda Menon
• Madhavrao Scindia
• C K Jaffar Sharief
• George Fernandes
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was Prime Minister also held additional charge of Ministry of Railways.
• Suresh Kalmadi
• Ram Vilas Paswan
• Nitish Kumar
• Lalu Prasad Yadav
• Mamata Banerjee
• Manmohan Singh, was Prime Minister also held additional charge of Ministry of Railways.
• Dinesh Trivedi

The above are only a few among all those who have served as the Minister of Railways.

Organizational Structure

There is one Union minister of Railways, and two Ministers of State for Railways. K. H. Muniyappa and Bharatsinh Madhavsinh Solanki are the current Ministers of State for Railways. The Railway Board, which is the apex body of the Indian Railways reports to the Minister of Railways. The Railway Board comprises one Chairman, five "members of the Railway Board."^[1], and a Financial Commissioner (who is the representative of the Ministry of Finance in the Railway Board). It also includes a Director-General (Railway Health Services) and a Director-General (Railway Protection Force). A number of directorates report to the Railway Board.

The ministry of Railways is housed inside Rail Bhavan in New Delhi.

The Railway Budget

In 1921, the East India Railway Committee (chaired by Sir William Acworth, hence also known as the Acworth Committee) pointed out the need for unified management of the entire railway system. On the recommendations of this committee and ratification of the resolution for separation in 1924, the government took over the actual management of all the railways, and also separated the railway finances from the general governmental finances, leading to the practice of presenting the Railway Budget separately from the General Budget of India every year. The Railway Board was expanded to have a Financial Commissioner, a member in charge of ways, works, stores and projects, and a member in charge of administration, staff, and traffic. Accordingly, from 1 April 1929, the responsibility for the compilation of accounts for the Railways was taken over by the Financial Commissioner, Railways from the Auditor General. In 1924, the railway budget formed about 70% of the country's budget. So separating it out allowed better focus on each budget's priorities. The Railway Budget now is less than 15% of India's national budget. The presentation of the Railway budget is of interest to the people, because the introduction of new train services, fare changes and tariffs are announced at this time. Each year, the 2011-12 Railway budget is made available for viewing.

See also

• Indian Railways
• Rail transport in India
• Indian Railway Organisational Structure

References

1. ^ [1] Corporate Overivew of Indian Railways Ministry

External links

• The official website of the Ministry of Railways
• IRFCA link