In an effort both to fund the investment programme of the Indian Railways as well as to create the mirage that the current leadership has managed to do it without recourse to raising fares or imposing visible economies, the railway budget has been transformed over the years into a tool for presenting unreal figures. In the process, presenting the success of the railways as a reflection of the policies of a political party in power or even of the personality of the railway minister has become a routine in which everybody plays a willing part. The party in power, the railway minister, and the officials of the ministry then find little option, in lean years, but to continue the windowdressing, the half truths and sham accounting.
