Interesting Facts about Union Budget
The Union Budget of India creates ahuge buzz in the news both before and after its announcement. Apart from the financial aspects, it speaks of; there are other interesting facts that one should know about the most awaited topic of the year.
The first budget announcement:
The first-ever budget of the Union government was presented by Shanmukham Chettyin November 1947. Thus, the year 1947 is not just the year when India attained independence; it was also the year when the first budget of independent India was announced. The first budget of the Republic of India was announced in January in the year 1950.
Time of announcement:
In the British era, the budget was announced around 5 in the evening. The budget announcement began with the Halwa ceremony and the budget announcement,and the processes would go to night. The Budget of India would be announced after the announcement of the Budget in the Britain Parliament.
After the British era, the time was changed to 11 am in the morning.
Date of announcement:
The date regarding the announcement would be presented by the President of India. The budget was announced in the last week of February until 2016; the date was shifted to the first week of February. This preponement in the date would help in the materialization of the budget that would come into force on the 1st of April.
Preparation of budget:
The budget papers would be prepared by a crew about a week before the announcement of the budget,and that crew would be isolated from the other members of the Finance Ministry.
Railway Budget and the Union Budget:
The Railway Budget was separately drafted until the year 2016. In the year 2017, the Railway Budget was merged with the Union Budget.
The various people and the Budget:
Few ministers associate themselves with the history of the budget
- Moraji Desai is the Prime Minister who has presented the maximum budget number of times.
- Pranab Mukherjee holds the record of presenting the longest Budget Speech.
- Indira Gandhi is still the only woman finance minister of India,and she had presented the budget during her regime as Prime Minister of India.
- Yeshwanth Sinha is the minister who holds the record for having made announcements of thebudget during the forex crisis, Gujarat earthquake, Kargil War, Pokhran Blasts.
- The budget of the FY 1973-74 was called the "Black "
- The budget of the FY 1997-98 was called the "Dream "
These are few of the many interesting incidents that the Union Budget announcements have encountered.
