New Delhi:
Ahead of presenting the Union Budget for 2024-25 to the Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman walked out of the finance ministry with a tablet in a red “bahi-khata” sleeve and the national emblem.
From the traditional briefcase to a “bahi-khata” and now a tablet, the budget document has gone paperless over the years.
Wearing a white silk saree with violet border, Ms Sitharaman and her team posed for the traditional picture outside her office, before heading to the Rashtrapati Bhawan to meet the President.
In 2019, Ms Sitharaman broke the long-standing tradition of a Budget briefcase with a ‘bahi khata,‘ a red-colored Indian accounting ledger, in a step towards shedding the colonial legacy associated with the budget presentation.
The word ‘Budget’ comes from the French word ‘bougette’, which means leather briefcase. The tradition to carry a “budget case” tradition started in the 18th century when the Chancellor of the Exchequer or Britain’s budget chief was asked to ‘open the budget’ while presenting his annual statement.
In 2021, the Finance Minister presented the budget in a paperless format, using a ‘Made in India’ tablet.
This will be the Finance Minister’s seventh consecutive budget and the Modi government’s 13th straight Budget since 2014. The budget is likely to focus on changes in the income tax structure and improving the ease of doing business in India.
Speaking to the media, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary earlier said that the first Union Budget of the third Modi government will be based on the PM’s mantra of “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”.
The budget session of Parliament began on July 22 and, according to schedule, will end on August 12.
On Monday, the economic survey presented in the Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that in the medium term Indian economy can grow at a rate of 7%