Budget Session 2024: Dates Announced
The Budget Session 2024 will take place from July 22 to August 12, as announced by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday. The Union Budget will be presented in the Lok Sabha on July 23.
First Budget of PM Modi’s Third Term
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the first budget of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term. This comes after she presented an interim budget earlier this year, prior to the Lok Sabha elections.
High Expectations from Union Budget 2024
There is significant anticipation surrounding this budget, following President Droupadi Murmu’s promise of historic steps in her address to Parliament. President Murmu assured the nation that the upcoming budget will include major economic and social decisions, as well as historic steps.
Nirmala Sitharaman: A Record-Breaking Finance Minister
As Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has presented a total of six budgets, including the Interim Budget on February 1. She is the second finance minister to achieve this milestone, matching former PM Morarji Desai’s record. Sitharaman, the first full-time woman finance minister of India, has delivered five complete budgets since July 2019, surpassing the records of previous finance ministers such as Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha.
During her tenure, Sitharaman has introduced changes to the budget process, including replacing the traditional budget briefcase with a ‘bahi-khata’ adorned with the National Emblem, and more recently, using a tablet wrapped in the bahi-khata for the budget presentation.
