Indian PM Accepts Railway Minister’s Resignation

Indian Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi's resignation has been accepted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in parliament on March 19, 2012.

Dinesh Trivedi resigned on March 18 after his announcement of an increase in passenger fares in last week's railway budget prompted a furious response from his Trinamool Congress party.

Trivedi's decision to resign, and the fare rollback that is likely to come, follows a pattern in recent months of India's leaders announcing economic reform but being too weak to enforce it.

Trivedi announced the first increase in passenger fares in eight years in the latest Railway Budget, a move aimed at shoring up a network whose dysfunction has become a major drag on the economy.