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The countrys Union Budget (2026) is scheduled to be presented today February 1st and for the first time it will be presented on a Sunday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present it in Parliament at 11 am. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modis government came to power the format of Indias general budget has changed significantly. Changes have also been seen in the traditions associated with it. We are telling you about one such budget-related rule which the Modi government suddenly changed after 92 years. Yes this was a tradition related to the Railway Budget. The Rail Budget tradition changed in 2017.If we look at the history of the budget we can see that it has undergone significant changes during the Modi government. A prime example is Indias Rail Budget whose tradition was changed in 2017. Previously a separate Rail Budget was presented for the Indian Railways. Following the Modi governments arrival in power the NITI Aayog advised the government to end this decades-old tradition and after much deliberation it was abruptly abolished. ALSO READ: Union Budget 2026 Income Tax Slabs Live Updates: Will income tax be further reduced this year? Earlier the Rail Budget was presented separately. But before the Modi government merged the Rail Budget with the General Budget there was a tradition of presenting it separately and this continued during the British rule from 1924 to 2016 that is this tradition which was continuing since before independence was put to a break. The Railway Budget used to be presented just a day before the General Budget. The Narendra Modi government ended this 92-year tradition and began presenting the Union Budget and the Rail Budget together a practice that continues to this day.Who presented the combined budget for the first time? Following this tradition which was changed under the Modi government when the 2017 general budget was presented the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Railway Budget along with the general budget for the first time. Since then Nirmala Sitharaman has been presenting it as Finance Minister since 2019. It should be noted that Budget 2026 will be her ninth consecutive budget during Modis tenure. This years budget is being presented amid global uncertainties related to tariffs and trade wars. ALSO READ: Union Budget 2026 Quiz: Who presented Independent India’s first budget and when? Read interesting facts here