Budget trivia: Key facts to know about Union Budget 2021

Nirmala Sitharaman has said that her third budget would be "unprecedented" as the country looks to rebuild after a pandemic-hit year.

The country is anxiously waiting for finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to present the Union budget on February 1 in the Lok Sabha. Sitharaman has said that her third budget would be "unprecedented" as the country looks to rebuild after a pandemic-hit year.

The pandemic shortened the budget session last year, and the winter session was not held at all.

Here is a budget trivia:

1. Finance minister RK Shanmukham Chetty presented the first budget of independent India, under the government of the country's first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru.

2. According to government data, the first budget of independent India reviewed the economy and no proposals were made in this budget.

3. Indira Gandhi is the first woman who presented budget in independent India in 1970. She took over the ministry of finance after Morarji Desai's resignation. Sitharaman in 2019 became the second woman in the history of independent India to present the budget.

4. Until1999, the union budget was announced at 5:00 pm on the last working day of February, a practice inherited from the British era. Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha changed the budget presentation ritual by announcing the 1999 Union Budget at 11 am.

5. Till 2016, the Union Budget was presented on the last working day of February. Former finance minister Arun Jaitley changed that ritual in 2017 when the Union budget was presented on February 1.