Budget 2025: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget for the financial year 2025-26 on 1 February 2025. But do you know that earlier the budget was not presented on 1 February. Before 2017, it was presented on 28 February. There were old traditions regarding the budget dating back to the British era, which were changed only a few years ago. Earlier the budget was presented at 5 pm. But the time of presenting the budget was changed about 25 years ago. Let us know about the reason for this change and the traditions related to it.
Budget started being presented on 1st February instead of 28th February
Before 2017, the budget was presented on the last day of February, which was a tradition dating back to the British rule. But, due to this time limit, there were difficulties in implementing the provisions of the budget from April 1. Then the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley decided to present the budget in early February to solve this problem. This gave time to states and departments to implement the budget. Apart from this, this change was also a sign of ending the tradition of the British period.
Budget time changed from 5 pm to 11 am
Now the budget is presented at 11 am, but it was not like this earlier. Till 1999, the budget was presented at 5 pm. This was also part of the tradition of the British period. At that time, the budget in Britain was presented at 11 am, which was 5 pm Indian time. Therefore in India the budget is presented at 5 pm. Even after India’s independence, the same time was followed but it was changed in the year 1999.
Changed time to present the budget
In 1999, Yashwant Sinha, the then Finance Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, suggested changing it. He said that presenting the budget in the morning will give time to MPs and experts to better analyze and discuss the provisions. Since then, the budget started being presented every year at 11 am. The change in the date and time of budget presentation was a step towards giving a modern approach to the traditions of India. Changing the budget date in 2017 and merging the Railway Budget with the Union Budget simplified the process.
Railway budget included in general budget
Another big tradition ended in 2017. Earlier the Railway Budget was presented separately from the Union Budget. This tradition was 92 years old, which happened every year two days before the general budget. Arun Jaitley included the Railway Budget in the Union Budget, which made the process of presenting the budget easier than before.
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