Back‘Will’ the most popular word with railway ministers over the years
The word count for Suresh Prabhu's speech came in at 18,040. The word he used the most was 'will'it popped up a total of 220 times
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Railway minister Suresh Prabhu’s budget speech lasted just over an hour. It was short compared to finance minister Arun Jaitley’s 2014-15 Union budget speech, which at over two hours holds the record for the longest ever, but Prabhu still took more time than his predecessors in the past 16 years.
The word count for his speech, according to online tools, came in at 18,040. The word he used the most was ‘will’. It popped up a total of 220 times in the course of his speech.
Over the past 16 years, seven different ministers have presented the railway budget with Lalu Prasad and Mamata Banerjee leading the numerical stakes. Prasad presented the budget five times (from 2004-05 till 2008-09) and Banerjee four times.
Her first was in 2001 and the next three were between 2009 and 2011. She also has the unique distinction of having presented the budget for two different governments (National Democratic Alliance and United Progressive Alliance).
In terms of wordage, Prasad’s longest budget speech was in 2008, at 14,450 words. The word most used by him, as by Prabhu, was ‘will’. He used it 152 times.
In fact, ‘will’ has been a popular word in most railway budgets over the years, featuring prominently in both Prasad and Banerjee’s speeches. It was also the most used word in Prabhu’s speech last year.
Another long speech was the one by Dinesh Trivedi in 2012, which ran into more than 16,000 words. The word he used most? Via.
Length of rail budget speeches over the past 16 years:
2001-02: Presented by Mamata Banerjee. Length: 10,200+ words Most used word: Railways
2002-03: Presented by Nitish Kumar. Length: 8,000+ words. Most used word: Rs
2003-04: Presented by Nitish Kumar. Length: 8,800+ words. Most used word: Rs
2004-05 Presented by Lalu Prasad. Length: 11,000+ words. Most used word: Will
2005-06: Presented by Lalu Prasad. Length: 12,400+ words. Most used word: Will
2006-07: Presented by Lalu Prasad. Length: 12,000+ words. Most used word: Will
2007-08: Presented by Lalu Prasad. Length: 12,000+ words. Most used word : Will
2008-09: Presented by Lalu Prasad. Length: 14,400+ words. Most used word: Will
2009-10: Presented by Mamata Banerjee. Length: 9,500+ words. Most used word: Will
2010-11: Presented by Mamata Banerjee. Length: 12,000+ words. Most used word: Will
2011-12: Presented by Mamata Banerjee. Length: 11,450+ words. Most used word: Express
2012-13: Presented by Dinesh Trivedi. Length: 16,000+ words. Most used word: Via
2013-14 Presented by Pawan K. Bansal. Length: 10,700+ words. Most used word: Express
2014-15: Presented by Sadananda Gowda. Length: 8,000+ words. Most used words: Will
2015-16: Presented by Suresh Prabhu. Length: 10,400+ words. Most used word: Will
2016-17: Presented by Suresh Prabhu. Length: 18,000+ words. Most used word: Will
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