Paperless Budget 2023: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is presenting the country’s general budget (Union Budget 2023-24) in the Parliament. Like last year, the Modi government’s budget being presented for the financial year 2023-2024 is a paperless budget. This is the third time when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is reading the budget speech in Parliament without paper.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reached the Parliament House on Wednesday carrying a tablet in a traditional red bag similar to a book-account, like the last two years, to present the budget for the financial year 2023-24. Sitharaman along with her entourage of officers posed for photographs outside the Finance Ministry in a traditional style. However, it was not the usual briefcase in his hand but the tablet in the red bag.
Union Budget 2023 Live Streaming: Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech begins, watch Union Budget live here
The national emblem of golden color Ashoka Pillar was also inscribed on this red cloth containing the budget in digital format. After meeting President Draupadi Murmu, the Finance Minister directly reached the Parliament House.
Earlier, the Finance Minister used to carry the budget in a red briefcase to the Parliament House. But after becoming the Finance Minister in the year 2019, Sitharaman started presenting the budget wrapped in red cloth in the form of a ledger instead of a briefcase as per the Indian tradition.
In the midst of the Kovid epidemic, on the day of presenting the budget in 2021, Sitharaman presented a digital budget, making another change in it. For this, she was seen with a tablet wrapped in red cloth. After this, in the year 2022 and this year too, Sitharaman continued the process of presenting the digital budget. His budget for the financial year 2023-24 is the 11th consecutive general budget of the Modi government. It also includes an interim budget presented before the 2019 general elections.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is the fifth minister in independent India to present five consecutive budgets. Apart from him, leaders who have given five consecutive budget and budget speeches are Arun Jaitley, P. Chidambaram, Yashwant Sinha, Manmohan Singh and Morarji Desai. After the Modi government came to power in 2014, the date of presentation of the budget was changed from February 28 to February 1. It is now presented in Parliament every year on February 1 at 11 am.
In 2021, the government presented a paperless budget for the first time. At that time, the Union Budget Mobile App was launched by the government to provide access to budget documents to the members of Parliament and the general public. When the Finance Minister completes her budget speech on February 1, 2023, the budget documents will be available on this mobile app. This mobile app is in Hindi and English language. It is available on both Android and iOS platforms. This app can also be downloaded by visiting the web portal of the General Budget www.indiabudget.gov.in. (with language input)
