1950's Union Budget Leaked: A Historical Perspective

16 Jan 2024 , 02:54 AM

On February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to announce the Union Budget 2024–25.

High-ranking officials and the finance minister work together in secret to create the budget. Those who are involved in creating the budget are placed under lockdown and are not allowed to use their phones until the budget is represented. 

Various estimates are sought from ministries, states, union territories, the armed forces, and other departments. After receiving approval from the prime minister, the budget is printed. Notably, a security lapse occurred in 1950 during Finance Minister John Matthai’s tenure when some details of the budget were disclosed while it was still being printed at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

In response to the leak, the printing location was shifted to a government press on Minto Road. Since 1980, the permanent location for budget printing has been the Secretariat Building in Delhi’s North Block basement.

The first budget with a surplus was in 1950, recording revenues at Rs 347.5 crore and expenses at Rs 337.88 crore. Following the leak, Finance Minister Matthai faced allegations of favoring wealthy individuals, leading to his forced retirement.

Budgetary controls in India date back to April 7, 1860, when Scottish economist James Wilson proposed the budget to the British Crown. Independent India’s first budget was presented by R K Shanmukhan Chetty on November 26, 1947.

At two hours and forty-two minutes on February 1, 2020, Nirmala set a record for the longest budget speech.

In the history of the nation, former prime minister Morarji Desai is the record holder for most budgets presented. As Finance Minister from 1962 to 1969, he submitted ten budgets.

The budget was presented in English only until 1955, at which point Congress decided to print it in both Hindi and English.

In India, the 2021–22 Union Budget was the first to be paperless because of COVID-19.

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