NEW DELHI, Sept 25 - With the Cabinet�s approving the merger of Railway Budget with General Budget, the parliamentary panel on finance has decided to �examine� the move along with its �ramifications thereof�.
Ending a 92-year-old practice, the Cabinet had decided to scrap a separate budget for railways and merge it with General Budget, presentation of which would be advanced to spur spending and boost the economy.
The Committee on Finance has selected the �Budgetary Reforms including Merger of Railways Budget with General Budget � Ramifications thereof,� according to the Lok Sabha bulletin dated September 22.
As part of a major overhaul of the budget process, the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also decided to do away with classifications of expenditure into Plan and Non-Plan, making the exercise simpler.
To facilitate early presentation of the budget, the Union Finance Ministry had proposed that the Budget Session of Parliament be convened sometime before January 25, a month ahead of the current practice. � PTI
