The country’s General Budget 2024 will be presented in Parliament today. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will give the budget speech in Parliament for the seventh consecutive time at 11 am. This is the first budget of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government (Modi 3.0) formed for the third consecutive time in the country. However, what will come out of the government’s box will be known only after the budget is presented, but before that, here we are telling you some interesting things related to the country’s budget, which you might not know.
Where did the word budget come from?
There is a constant discussion about the Budget, this is because the government makes announcements in it for common people as well as special people. But do you know where this word ‘Budget’ came from, then let us tell you that this special word has originated from the Latin word ‘Bulga’ of French language, which means leather bag. The French word bouguet originated from bulga. After this the English word ‘Bogate’ came into existence and from this word ‘Bogate’ the word ‘Budget’ originated. Therefore, earlier the budget was brought in a leather bag only and was placed on the table of Parliament.
The first budget was presented by the British
After the origin of the word budget, if we talk about the general budget presented in the country, then before that know that this budget is actually the account of the income and expenditure of the country for the year presented by the government to the public. Jokha happens. It was first started in Britain (UK) and the first budget in India was presented during the British period. The budget was presented for the first time in the country on 7 April 1860, which was read by James Wilson, the Finance Minister in the British Government.
First budget of independent India?
When India was ruled by the British, the first budget was also presented in the country. It was introduced in 1860 during the British rule. Now let’s talk about the first budget of independent India, it was presented in the year 1947. After the British left the country, the first Finance Minister of independent India, RK Shanmukham Chetty, presented the budget on 26 November 1947. Shanmukham Chetty, born in 1892, was a lawyer, politician, and also a well-known economist.
When Prime Ministers read the budget instead of Finance Ministers
After independence, the general budget of the country was always presented by the Finance Minister in the government. But meanwhile, there were three such occasions when instead of the Finance Minister, the Prime Ministers of the country read the Budget speech in the Parliament and presented it. The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru was the first person to hold the top post of presenting the Budget of India. He took over the finance department on 13 February 1958 and presented the budget. Apart from this, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi also presented the budget when they were Prime Ministers.
A finance minister who cannot present the budget
In the budget history of India, on one hand, Prime Ministers presented the general budget in place of the Finance Minister, while on the other hand, there was a Finance Minister who could not present any budget during his tenure. Yes, we are talking about KC Niyogi, who was the only Finance Minister of India who did not present a single budget even while holding this post. Actually, he was the Finance Minister in 1948 for only 35 days. The first budget after the establishment of the Indian Republic was presented by John Mathai on 28 February 1950.