Union Budget 2022-23 to be presented on 1st February, 2022 in Paperless form.

Why in News

• The Union Budget 2022-23 is to be presented by the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on 1st February, 2022 in Paperless form.
• To mark the final stage of the Union Budget making process, sweets were provided to the core staff due to undergo “lock-in” at their workplaces, instead of a customary Halwa ceremony every year.
• The Union Budget of 2021-22 was delivered in paperless form for the first time.
• A “Union Budget Mobile App” was also launched for hassle-free access of Budget documents.

Some interesting facts associated with the Union Budget

1947: First Union Budget

• The first Union Budget of independent India was presented by RK Shanmukham Chetty on November 26, 1947, just three months after the end of British rule.

First United-India Budget

• In 1949-50, John Mathai succeeded Shanmukham Chetty as the finance minister and presented the first united-India budget, including the financial statements for former princely states.

Maximum Union Budgets By A Minister

• Former finance minister Morarji Desai presented the Budget a record 10 times, between 1959 and 1969.

First Woman to Present Union Budget

• Indira Gandhi was the first woman finance minister to present the Union Budget in 1970. The then prime minister also held the finance portfolio.

Printing of Budget in Hindi

• Until 1955, the Union Budget was printed in English. The Congress then decided to print the Budget documents both in Hindi and English.

Printing of Budget

• The printing of the budget documents was initially done at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. But after some of the documents were leaked in 1950, the government shifted the printing to a press at Minto Road, New Delhi. In 1980, the printing was moved to a government press in North Block.

Merging of Railway Budget

• The Railway Budget used to be presented separately, a day before the presentation of the Union Budget. In 2017, the Narendra Modi government merged it with the Union Budget.

Longest Budget Speech

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s 2020 Budget speech lasted two hours and 40 minutes, which is considered a record.

Change in Time of Budget Presentation

• Following British tradition, the Union Budget in India used to be presented at 5 pm. The slot was changed to 11 am in 1999 during the tenure of then finance minister Jaswant Singh.

‘Bahi Khata’ Replaces Briefcase

• In 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman carried a ‘bahi khata’ (ledger) with the National Emblem printed on it to Parliament, in a departure from the standard practice of carrying a briefcase. Incidentally, the word Budget comes from French bougette, which means leather briefcase.

Paperless Budget

• In 2020, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman read out her budget speech from a tablet. This was a first for a Union Budget, though Andhra Pradesh and Assam had started the practice in 2018. Many considered it a move by the minister to adapt to changing times and adjust to new technologies.

Change in Date

• Continuing with the colonial-era practice, the Union Budget used to be presented on the last working day of February. It was iIn 2017 when the tradition was changed. Then finance minister Arun Jaitley announced February 1 as the date for presentation of Union Budget thenceforth.