New Delhi: When he gets up to present the Railway Budget proposals for fiscal 2016-17, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu will be the 43rd Railway Minister of India to do so since September 2, 1946. Prabhu will be presenting the Railway Budget for the second time as a member of the NDA Cabinet.
Former Congress party leader Jagjivan Ram has the record for presenting the most number of Railway Budgets (six times between 1956 and 1962).
Three railway ministers – Lal Bahadur Shastri, C.K. Jaffer Sharief and Lalu Prasad Yadav – have presented the Railway Budget five times each, while three others – N.Gopalaswami Ayyangar, S.K. Patil and Nitish Kumar – have presented the Railway Budget on four occasions each.
Following is the list of Railway Ministers who have presented the Railway Budget since 1946:
1. Asaf Ali 2 September 1946 14 August 1947
2. John Mathai 15 August 1947 22 September 1948
3. N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar 22 September 1948 13 May 1952
4. Lal Bahadur Shastri 13 May 1952 7 December 1956
5. Jagjivan Ram 7 December 1956 10 April 1962
6. Swaran Singh 10 April 1962 21 September 1963
7. H. C. Dasappa 21 September 1963 8 June 1964
8. S. K. Patil 9 June 1964 12 March 1967
9. C. M. Poonacha 13 March 1967 14 February 1969
10. Ram Subhag Singh 14 February 1969 4 November 1969
11. Panampilli Govinda Menon 4 November 1969 18 February 1970
12. Gulzarilal Nanda 18 February 1970 17 March 1971
13. K. Hanumanthaiya 18 March 1971 22 July 1972
14. T. A. Pai 23 July 1972 4 February 1973
15. Lalit Narayan Mishra 5 February 1973 2 January 1975
16. Kamalapati Tripathi 11 February 1975 23 March 1977
17. Madhu Dandavate 26 March 1977 28 July 1979
18. T. A. Pai 30 July 1979 13 January 1980
19. Kamalapati Tripathi 14 January 1980 12 November 1980
20. Kedar Pandey 12 November 1980 14 January 1982
21. Prakash Chandra Sethi 15 January 1982 2 September 1982
22. A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury 2 September 1982 31 December 1984
23. Bansi Lal 31 December 1984 4 June 1986
24. Mohsina Kidwai 24 June 1986 21 October 1986
25. Madhavrao Scindia 22 October 1986 1 December 1989
26. George Fernandes 5 December 1989 10 November 1990
27. Janeshwar Mishra 21 November 1990 21 June 1991
28. C. K. Jaffer Sharief 21 June 1991 16 October 1995
29. Ram Vilas Paswan 1 June 1996 19 March 1998
30. Nitish Kumar 19 March 1998 5 August 1999
31. Ram Naik 6 August 1999 12 October 1999
32. Mamata Banerjee 13 October 1999 15 March 2001
33. Nitish Kumar 20 March 2001 22 May 2004
34. Lalu Prasad Yadav 23 May 2004 25 May 2009
35. Mamata Banerjee 26 May 2009 19 May 2011
36. Dinesh Trivedi 12 July 2011 14 March 2012
37. Mukul Roy 20 March 2012 21 September 2012
38. C. P. Joshi 22 September 2012 28 October 2012
39. Pawan Kumar Bansal 28 October 2012 10 May 2013
40. C. P. Joshi 11 May 2013 16 June 2013
41. Mallikarjun Kharge 17 June 2013 25 May 2014
42. D. V. Sadananda Gowda 26 May 2014 9 Nov 2014
43. Suresh Prabhu 10 Nov 2014 (ANI)