Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to release the "never seen before' union budget on Monday at 11am. The budget of the new decade is scheduled to come amidst a pandemic hit economy, turbulent nationwide protests.
This will be the third budget that the finance minister Sitharaman will be releasing under the Narendra Modi-led BJP government. Due to the economic crisis and the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic and its impact this year's budget is amongst the crucial in the history of independent India.
As the finance minister has claimed this budget will be like never before and so in line with the idea the finance minister also did away with certain traditions that had been followed up till now.
Here is the list of new changes that were seen prior to the release of the much-awaited budget.
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Till 2019, the finance ministers used to have leather briefcases to carry the budget documents. The budget briefcase which was the legacy of British was a copy of 'Gladstone box' used in the British budget. Sitharaman in 2019 became the first finance minister to use the traditional bahi khatta with the national emblem. The minister further changed the customary practice when she switched the swadeshi product with a digital Tablet as this year India will release its first paperless budget.
{{/usCountry}}Till 2019, the finance ministers used to have leather briefcases to carry the budget documents. The budget briefcase which was the legacy of British was a copy of 'Gladstone box' used in the British budget. Sitharaman in 2019 became the first finance minister to use the traditional bahi khatta with the national emblem. The minister further changed the customary practice when she switched the swadeshi product with a digital Tablet as this year India will release its first paperless budget.
{{/usCountry}}Nirmala Sitharaman is the first woman to present the union budget three times. Indira Gandhi was the first woman who had presented the union budget in 1970. Sitharaman is the second woman to present the minister after Gandhi.
Union Budget Mobile App was launched during the Halwa ceremony. It is the first time the budget is being presented digitally. Uptil 2020 voluminous budget papers were used to present the budget. In line with the digital budget, the finance minister had switched to the tablet.