Union Budget 2023-24: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget in Parliament on Wednesday. As we all this is the last budget of the Modi government before the 2024 general elections. The forms of budget presentation are changing with the time. Take a look over the budget that how much it has transformed since the independence till today

When was the budget presented for the first time? Where was the budget printed? What was the time of presentation of the budget? When was the Railway Budget merged with the Union Budget? If you are keen to know about all these things then this article is for you

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The first budget was presented on 7 April 1860

At the colonial era, administration for India was transferred from the East-India Company to the British Crown on 7 April 1858. Two years later i.e. on April 7, 1860, the budget was presented for the first time. The first finance minister to present the budget was James Wilson.

After this Liaquat Ali Khan, a member of the interim government, presented the budget for 1947-48. Shanmukham Chetty, India’s first Finance Minister after the country’s independence, presented the first budget of independent India on 26 November 1947.

When the budget leaked, the place of printing was changed

Till 1950, the budget was printed in Rashtrapati Bhavan. This year, after the budget was leaked, the place of printing was changed. Then the process of printing the budget started in Minto Road, New Delhi.

Budget printing started in North Block from 1980

In the year 1980, the central government decided to set up a printing press in the North Block and since then the budget is printed here. Halwa ceremony is organized before the budget printing. The process of printing the budget starts only after this ceremony.

Union budget was presented in English till 1955

Till 1955, the Union Budget was presented in English only. After this, the Central Government decided to print the budget papers in both Hindi and English.

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Merger of Rail Budget with Union Budget in 2017

First of all, in 1924, the British started the practice of Railway Budget apart from the Union Budget. From then till 2016, the Railway Budget and the Union Budget were presented separately. In 2017, Arun Jaitley, who was the Finance Minister in the Modi government, discussed merging the Railway Budget with the Union Budget. After this a committee was formed to look into the merger of the budgets. In 2017 itself, Arun Jaitley presented the first combined Union Budget.

Budget time and date changes

Let us tell you that till the year 1999, the time and day of presentation of the Union Budget was fixed. 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.

First paperless budget in 2021

According to British traditions, the Finance Minister used to reach the Parliament to present the budget by keeping the budget document in a brown or red bag. This trend continued till Nirmala Sitharaman took charge in 2019. After the outbreak of Corona in 2020, there was another important change in the budget in 2021 and it became paperless.

Let us tell you that the budget session will start from January 31, which will run till April 8. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2023-24 on 1 February. After the presentation of the budget, it will be passed by both the houses. Explain that the Finance Minister will present the fifth consecutive budget during her tenure.

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