'Used to give many jobs': Nitish Kumar demands separate rail budget

• The practice of a separate budget for Railways started in 1924 and continued till 2017, after which it was merged with the Union Budget

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who also served as Union Railway Minister under Atal Bihar Vajpayee, on Friday demanded a separate Rail Budget. Nitish Kumar said that it is very important to present a separate budget for the Railways before the general budget.

The Chief Minister said that the people of the country used to get many jobs due to the separate budget for the Railways.

The Chief Minister of Bihar said in a press conference during his Samadhan Yatra, "When I was the Railway Minister, we used to give many jobs to the people. When the Railway Budget was presented in the Parliament, there was discussion in all the newspapers."

The practice of a separate budget for the Railways started in 1924 and continued till 2017, after which it was merged with the Union Budget. The then Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha and then the Parliament constituted a special committee to plan for the merger of the two budgets.

The Chief Minister of Bihar also reiterated his government's demand to give special status to Bihar. He said, "I have always been listening to people's problems since I was an MLA. I keep visiting places, sit with people and address their issues. We have always been demanding special status for Bihar "

Nitish Kumar welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss petitions challenging the caste survey conducted by his government. “When I first came to know that a petition has been filed against the survey, I was taken aback. I read in a paper that the petitioner belonged to Biharsharif (the district headquarters of Nalanda). I thought he should call What is wrong with the survey," Kumar said.

"All political parties in the state were of the opinion that the survey should be conducted. Besides, it aims to benefit all sections of the society. It is also a caste survey (जातिया गणना) and not a census (जन गणाना)." The Chief Minister added.