The Indian Union Budget comprises of interesting facts and customs that goes beyond numbers and rules.
Union Budget 2023: The Union Budget is not just fact, figures or taxation rules, there is a whole traditional side to it as well. One of the pivotal days for the Indian economy, the budget entails a set of rules as it is presented. From making halwa, documents it is carried in, to speech, printing place and more, February 1 has its own intriguing history.
Today, The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the last budget of the Modi government’s second term on February 1 (Wednesday). The presentation is scheduled to commence at 11 am at the Parliament.
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The Halwa Ceremony
Marking the official beginning of the Budget, the FM stirs halwa (Indian sweet dish) that is thence served to all the colleagues and officials from other ministries in the North Block building.After the ceremony, the budget documents are usually printed, but the process changed in 2021 when the budget became paperless due to the Covid-19 pandemic budget .
The ceremony is significant because after it is over, all finance ministry officials involved in preparing the budget are supposed to move to the basement of the North Block till the budget is presented. This is done to ensure no leakages in the budget for the next financial year, prepared in consultation with the Niti Aayog and other concerned ministries.
From Briefcase to Bahi Khata To Digital Tablet
The word ‘budget’ originates from the French word ‘bougette’, which means a leather briefcase.The tradition of carrying a briefcase during a budget presentation was inherited from British colonial rule. India’s budget briefcase was created to replicate the ‘Gladstone box’, which is used by the Chancellor of Exchequer (equivalent to India’s finance minister) to present the budget. It was named after the British budget chief of 1860, William E Gladstone, who sued a red suitcase to carry his papers and the box had the golden monogram of the Queen embossed on it.
While in Britain, the briefcase is passed down from one minister to the other, in India, different finance ministers have carried their own briefcases.
FM Sitharaman changes Traditions
However, in 2019, Sitharaman ditched the archaic briefcase to carry her Budget papers in a ‘bahi khata’ style. Commenting on the switch from briefcases, Sitharaman had said, “I changed it because the suitcase immediately gave me a negative connotation. I knew this government was never about the briefcase business.”
Over the years, Sitharaman has ditched the traditional briefcase and made several shifts through ‘bahi khata’ to Made-in-India tablet. The tab was wrapped in the traditional red cloth with a golden emblem of the Indian government on it.
Union Budget Trivia
- India’s First Budget: James Wilson from East India Company presented the India’s first budget om April 7, 1860 to the British Crown. But, Independent India’s maiden budget was presented on November 26, 1947.
- Longest Budget speech: Finanace Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, gave the longest Budget speech for 2 hours 42 minuteswhile presenting Unon Budget 2020-2021. Despite being the longest, the speech had 2 pages remaining whi the FM did not speak as she felt unwell. On February 1, 2020 she broke her own record as she spoke for 2 hours 17 minutes during her maiden budget in 2019.
- First Paperless Budget: COVID19 pandemic promoted the budget to go paperless for the first time in 2021
- Language of the budget: The Union budget was presented in English until 1955. Later, it was decided that it will be presented in Hindi and English both
- Speech with most words: At 18,650 words, Manmohan Singh delivered the longest Budget speech in terms of words in 1991 under the Narasimha Rao government.
- Date an Time of Budget: According to the practice of the British era, the Union Budget was presented at five o’clock in the evening on the last day of February. In 1999, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha changed the timing of presenting the budget to 11 am. At the same time, in 2017, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley changed the date of presentation of the budget to February 1.
