A 100-Page Handwritten State Budget In AI-Era! Chhattisgarh Finance Minister Explains Why

Raipur: In this digital era, when court rulings, press releases, government notices and articles are drafted using AI-powered chatbots, Chhattisgarh Finance Minister O P Choudhary presented a handwritten budget in the state assembly earlier this week.

Written in Hindi, it’s all of 100 pages!

It’s the first time a Finance minister has presented a handwritten annual budget in the assembly, reported PTI.

Choudhary’s effort reflected his hands-on approach and commitment to the process of budget preparation.

The minister didn’t even sleep two hours in the days leading to the March 4 state Budget presentation for the fiscal year 2025-26.

As he explained, Choudhary said that a handwritten document helped him express himself better.

“I was writing my own (Budget) speech and I realised that a handwritten document expresses my feelings, my emotions, my vision, my commitment, and my attachment more. And so, I thought, I should write in my own handwriting,” he told PTI.

And how long did it take him to write the entire document?

Well, the Budget had been in the works for 5-6 months, but the actual writing on the components of the Budget started about a week or 10 days before the presentation, Choudhary informed.

“I literally didn’t sleep for four nights (prior to Budget presentation). I hardly slept 1-1.5 hours in those four nights. And this is when I wrote the Budget,” he said.

“The handwritten budget symbolises authenticity and transparency in governance,” the minister expressed.

A 2005-batch IAS officer, OP Choudhary resigned as Raipur Collector in 2018 to join the BJP as he felt politics to be a bigger medium to serve the public.

He lost in the 2018 Chhattisgarh Assembly election, but emerged victorious from Raigarh constituency in the 2023 polls.

Having studied Hindi during his UPSC preparation, he has a command over the language which helped him write the budget in his own style.

“For 13 years of my bureaucratic life, I worked with full dedication, giving my 100 per cent. I was at the peak of my career… I was the collector of Raipur capital,” he said.

“A thought came to my mind that there is so much growth in India, there is so much opportunity in India. There are so many opportunities to do so much in India. So, I thought that if there is a bigger platform than civil services it is politics,” he elaborated.

“I had read statements in my childhood that the consequence of good people not joining politics is that bad people end up ruling over good people. So, I was inspired by this thought and took the decision to come into politics,” added Choudhary, who said he was influenced by the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.