New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget for the financial year 2022-23 in Parliament today. This will be his fourth budget. This budget is coming amid the havoc of the third wave of the coronavirus, due to this, the budget is expected to be special. You will be surprised to know that the history of budget in India is more than 160 years old. There are many interesting stories associated with the history of the budget.
The budget also has a connection with the revolution of 1857:-
Before the revolution of 1857, Hindustan was ruled by the East India Company, which is called the company ruler. After this, the British Crown took over the command of India. At that time, India was facing economic crises, due to which the British government devised new plans, the task of calculating India's economy and calculating the income and expenditure of India's economy was given to James Wilson, the economist who started the newspaper. Wilson presented India's first budget in 1860. This is where the income tax started in the country.
After getting independence, RK Shanmukham Chetty became the first Finance Minister of India. He presented the first budget of independent India on November 26, 1947. He was in this position for only 7 months. There was no new tax proposal in the first budget of independent India. John Mathai was then made finance minister. During his tenure, the 1949 budget mentioned the Planning Commission and the Five Year Plan for the first time. During the tenure of the third Finance Minister CD Deshmukh, when the Budget was presented in 1951, the first budget was printed in Hindi. Before that, India's budget was printed only in English.
They have the record for presenting the highest number of budgets:-
Morarji Desai is among the select leaders who have been from the CM to the PM. He has also been deputy prime minister for many years. During this time, he held the charge of the Finance Ministry for a long time. Desai had become finance minister in Jawaharlal Nehru's government and he had held the post even during Indira Gandhi's time. Desai holds the record of presenting the budget 10 times. These include 8 full budgets and 2 interim budgets.
When Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister of the country, she was in charge of the Finance Ministry for almost a year. Indira held charge of the Finance Ministry from July 16, 1969, to June 27, 1970. During this time, he presented the 1970 budget himself in Parliament. Thus, Indira Gandhi holds the record of the first woman to present the country's budget. Even after her, no other woman had this privilege for almost 5 decades. Now Nirmala Sitharaman is the second woman after Indira Gandhi to present the General Budget. However, Nirmala Sitharaman is the full-time finance minister
Budget 2022 Live Updates: See FM’s schedule here
