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Minister of Railways (India)

The Minister of Railways (Hindi:Rail Mantrī) is the head of the Ministry of Railways and a member of the union council of ministers of India. The position of the Minister of Railways is usually held by a minister of cabinet rank and is often assisted by one or two junior Ministers of State.[1]

John Mathai was the first Minister of Railways.[2] Lal Bahadur Shastri who served as the Minister of Railways and Transport from 1952 until 1956 became the second Prime Minister of India in 1964.[3] Four prime ministers, namely Rajiv Gandhi, P. V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee (twice) and Manmohan Singh (twice) have briefly held the portfolio of the Minister of Railways during their premiership.[4] Mohsina Kidwai was the first female to hold the charge of the ministry (as Minister of Surface Transport) while Mamata Banerjee is the first female to have served as the Minister of Railways.[4] Madhavrao Scindia and Ram Naik are the only people to have served as Ministers of State for Railways with an Independent charge. Lalit Narayan Mishra is the only cabinet minister to die in office after being assassinated in a bomb blast in 1975,[5] while Suresh Angadi is the only minister of state to die in office.[6]

The current Minister of Railways is Ashwini Vaishnaw of the Bharatiya Janata Party who has been in office since 7 July 2021 while V. Somanna and Ravneet Singh are the ministers of state for railways.[7]

History

The ministry of railways was part of the Ministry of Transport after the independence in 1947 and John Mathai served as its first minister from 1947 till 1948.[8][2] On 22 September 1948, N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar was appointed as the minister of the newly renamed Ministry of Railways and Transport.[9] On 17 April 1957, Jagjivan Ram became the first to head the standalone Minister of Railways.[4]

The Ministry of Railways was merged with the Ministry of Shipping and Transport and the Department of Civil Aviation on 25 September 1985 to form the Ministry of Transport and Bansi Lal, who served as the Railways Minister prior to the merger became the first holder of the new office.[10] However, on 22 October 1986, the Ministry of Railways was again separated into an independent ministry and has been the same since then.[4][11]

Railway Budget

The first railway budget was presented in 1924.[12] Since then, Railway budget was presented as a standalone budget every year before the union budget by the Railway Minister till 2016.[13] The last Railway Budget was presented on 25 February 2016 and on 21 September 2016, Government of India approved merger of the rail and general budgets from 2017.[14] The railway budget was estimated to be ₹264,600 crore (US$32 billion) for the financial year 2023–24.[15]

Cabinet Ministers

Ministers of State

Deputy Ministers

References

  1. ^ Organization Chart (PDF) (Report). Indian Railways. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Budget 2024: How India's Railway Budget has changed over the years". Business Standard. 20 December 2023. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri". Government of India. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f List of Ministers of Railways (PDF) (Report). Indian Railways. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Family wants Union Minister's assassination to be reinvestigated". The Sunday Guardian. 31 December 2023. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  6. ^ "India Mos Railways Suresh Angadi dies of Covid-19". Guwahati Plus. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  7. ^ "Portfolios of the Union Council of Ministers" (PDF). Government of India. 10 June 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 June 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  8. ^ Council of Ministers, 1947 (PDF) (Report). Government of India. 15 August 1947. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  9. ^ "N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar". Government of India. 15 August 1947. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  10. ^ "Council of Ministers, 1985" (PDF). Government of India. 25 September 1985. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  11. ^ a b "List of Railway Ministers of India". Jagran Josh. 26 November 2021. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  12. ^ Understanding Indian Railway Heritage (PDF) (Report). Indian Railways. p. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 December 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  13. ^ "After 92 years, Rail Budget is history". Business Standard. 22 September 2016. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  14. ^ "Railway budget to be merged with General budget from 2017". The Hindu. 14 August 2016. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  15. ^ Railway Receipts and Expenditure (PDF) (Report). Indian Railways. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  16. ^ a b IRFCA link of railways ministers. IRFCA (Report). Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  17. ^ "Full List of Railway Ministers of India". Notes Press. 25 August 2023. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.

External links