No more separate Railway Budget, which has been a thing for a whopping 92 years.
New Delhi: Exciting times ahead! Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is gearing up to present the Union Budget 2022 on February 1. The goal? To boost the country’s growth, make things fair for everyone, and tackle the challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
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Why February 1? What’s The Deal?
Back in 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, led by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, shook things up. They decided to ditch the old tradition of presenting the budget on the last working day of February. Also, no more separate Railway Budget, which has been a thing for a whopping 92 years.
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Why 11 AM, Though?
In the old days, the budget used to be revealed at 5 pm on the last working day of February. Why the change? The media reports claim that the reason was the time difference between New Delhi and Westminster, United Kingdom. India is 4.5 hours ahead of British Summer Time.
Fast forward to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. Yashwant Sinha, the Finance Minister from 1998 to 2002, had this idea. He wanted to present the 1999 Union Budget at 11 am instead.
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Why The Time Change?
Sinha thought the switch would let everyone dive deeper into the numbers and announcements. The goal? To have a smarter, more informed discussion about the budget. The request got a thumbs up, and on February 27, 1999, for the first time in Independent India’s history, the budget was announced at 11 am.
