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Did you know that the word ‘budget’ has its origins from the French term 'bougette,' which translates to ‘a small bag’? That’s the reason why our respected finance ministers are seen holding a 'budget bag' for photo-op, before presenting the budget in the Parliament!
On 5th July, our newly appointed Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, will present the Union Budget for the financial year 2019-20. While this budget will be the first one after the recent re-election of the Modi government, it will also be the first time for Sitharaman, who will have the unique distinction of becoming the only other female finance minister, after Indira Gandhi to do so.
Here are a few other exciting yet lesser known facts on Union budgets presented in India.
1. The History of Budget Goes back to the 19thCentury
While India got freedom from the British regime in the year 1947, it wasn’t the first time when the country saw its first-ever finance budget. The first Indian Budget was presented on February 18, 1869, by Mr. James Wilson, after the East India Company introduced the idea of the Indian Budget on April 7, 1860
James Wilson was a Scottish economist and politician who was entrusted with introducing a new tax structure and paper currency in the country. Post-independence, India's first-ever Finance Budget was presented on 26 November 1947 by then finance minister, RK Shanukham Chetty, while the first budget of the Republic of India was introduced on February 28, 1950, by John Mathai.
2. FromShakespeare to Pickles – The Budget Presentations Have Many Literary Gems
It is not uncommon for finance budget speeches to include humorous quips, anecdotes, and references. Moreover, our finance ministers bestow quite a few literary gems while taking us through different financial policy changes. For example, in his budget speech in 2012, the then FM-Pranab Mukherjee quoted legendary 16th-century playwright William Shakespeare’s famous lines from ‘Hamlet’ - "I must be cruel to be kind" to justify the budget sanctions that were there to ensure long-term benefits.
Though, Mr. Mukherji wasn’t the first FM to introduce a touch of dramatics into his budget speech. Madhu Dandavate was one of the first finance ministers to make use of somewhat labored puns to present his specific excise proposals. In his budget speech of 1990, he famously quipped, “I propose to remove excise duty on pickles altogether in the hope that this will lend some flavor and spice to my budget.” Talk about literary flair here!
3. The GST Made an Appearance in the Budget Much Before 2017
While the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced in India by the then-finance minister Arun Jaitley on 1st July 2017, it wasn’t the first time that the country heard of the term. The idea of adopting GST was first proposed in 2000 by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government. Later, on February 28, 2006, GST made an entry into the Budget speech of P Chidambaram, then finance minister under the UPA II regime. The idea behind the introduction of GST was to have a single unified tax regime in the country.
4. The Union Budget was Only Printed in the English Language, Even After Independence
It was still the year 1955 that the budget was printed in the English language only. Starting from 1955-56; however, the Indian government decided to print the budget in two languages – English and Hindi. The move was taken to make Hindi more mainstream, as the primary spoken language across the country.
Moreover, while the budget papers were initially printed in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the printing process was shifted to Minto Road in New Delhi and later in 1980, to the government press at North Block of the Secretariat Building. This happened because a section of the Union Budget accidentally got leaked in 1950, while it was being printed from within the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
As the new printing facility was now closer to the Finance ministry in New Delhi, it allowed the government to keep stricter control on the budget documents and related information.
5. Not All Finance Ministers Have Presented a Union Budget in the Parliament
It is true – while Morarji Desai has the unique distinction of presenting the budget a record ten times, there have been instances when a finance minister hasn’t presented the budget even once. Mr. HN Bahuguna and Mr. KC Neogy are the only two Finance Ministers till date, who did not present any Union Budget, despite holding reigns of the finance ministry.
This happened because both these gentlemen held office for such short durations, in between two budget tenures that they had no opportunity to present one. Notably, while Neogy was the second Finance Minister of Independent India, appointed in 1950, he held the office for just 35 days. Mr. Bahuguna, on the other hand, held office for five and a half months, between 1979-80.
6. Two Different Individuals Presented the Interim and Final Budget for 1991-92
After India gained independence, it so happened between the year 1991-92 that two different individuals presented the interim and final budget, respectively. Incidentally, both these finance ministers were from two different political parties. Yashwant Sinha presented the 1991-92 interim budget.
After the general elections of 1991; however, Congress party came into power. As a result, D. Manmohan Singh presented the final budget of the year. Incidentally, the budget was the first ever to open the economy and encourage foreign investments, by reducing import duty to 50 percent from 300+ percent and introducing the concept of service tax.
7. The Longest Budget Speech Had 18,650 Words While the Shortest Only had 800
While budget speeches have always been known to be a long and monotonous affair, the one given in 1991 by the then-finance minister Dr. Manmohan Singh took things to a whole new level. Quoting celebrated writer Victor Hugo, Dr. Singh’s budget speech comprised a whopping 18,650 words. In terms of time taken to deliver the budget speech; however, the maximum time of two hours and 13 minutes was clocked by Jaswant Singh in his 2003 budget presentation.
Notably, the shortest ever budget speech contained only 800 words, given by HM Patel in the year 1977, while he presented the Interim Budget. In terms of time, the credit for the shortest budget speech ever goes to Pranab Mukherji for his 1982 Budget presentation.
8. Morarji Desai Presented the Union Budget on His Birthday Twice, on 29thFebruary
While Morarji Desai was an immaculate politician, his stints as the Finance Minister of India have been no mean feat either. Mr. Desai holds the unique distinction of presenting 10 Union Budgets in his career – the highest number of budgets introduced by a single minister. From 1959 to 1964 and then from 1967 to 1969, he presented as many as eight annual and two interim budgets.
That’s not all. Morarji Desai has another distinction to his name. In the year 1964 and then again in 1968, he presented the budget on his birthday, i.e., 29th February, which makes him the only finance minister to do so.
ARN:- 10072019/KC3
