New Delhi: Ahead of the Union Budget 2024 presentation in Parliament, President Droupadi Murmu fed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ‘curd and sugar’, which is regarded as a symbol of wishes for good luck.
Sitharaman and her team called on the President, ahead of presenting the Union Budget 2024 in Parliament, in accordance to the tradition. The Finance Minister and her team briefed the President about the provisions of the Budget.
Sitharaman breaks Morarji Desai’s record
She will present the Budget for the seventh consecutive time, surpassing the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Desai was finance minister in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi and he later became the Prime Minister of India in 1977. He had presented the budget for six times.
Change in time: From 5 pm to 11 am slot
Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget 2024 at 11am. Earlier, the presentation time of the budget was 5pm. However, then finance minister Yashwant Sinha opted for an 11am slot in 1999. It became a tradition since then.
When Prime Ministers presented the budget
According to Lok Sabha secretariat data, there have been instances when the Prime Minister had presented the general budget.
“India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru presented the budget for the financial year 1958-59 while acting as Prime Minister and temporarily handling the finance portfolio,” said a document from Lok Sabha, according to a report on Hindustan Times. Indira Gandhi had tabled the Budget for FY1969-70 after the resignation of Finance Minister Morarji Desai.
