In a historic move, the Finance Ministry has decided not to print the upcoming budget’s documents and go paperless, in a significant break from the tradition. The ministry took the decision to not to print the budget papers after taking the coronavirus pandemic situation into consideration. The decison of not printing budget papers will be first time in the history of independent India.
It may be noted that the budget is scheduled to be presented by the Finance Minister Nirmal Sitaraman on February 1.
Reports suggested the Government has received permission for the same from both the Houses of Parliament.
The decision has been taken as the printing process would require several people to stay at the press for around a fortnight amid the coronavirus fears.
“The Budget papers- the Union Budget and Economic Survey will not get printed, soft copies will be provided” an official said.
All members of Parliament will received the soft copes of the Union Budget, the official added.
It is pertinent to mention here that the budget documents are generally printed at the Finance Ministry’s in-house printing press in the North Block.
This budget for the financial year 2021-22 would see several conventions being broken as the sources said that the traditional ‘Halwa’ ceremony may also not take place this year or a subdued function may be held with limited gathering. This ceremony, which normally starts around January 20, is attended by all the people involved in budget-making, and marks the beginning of printing.
Once printing starts, printing staffers stay inside the press till the presentation of budget. Only a few high-ranked officials are allowed access and that too on the basis of a special identity card. The entire facility, loading-unloading and transportation are manned by the special security forces.
This is not the first time that there would be a change in tradition in the presentation of the budget under the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Last year, she did away with a colonial-era tradition of carrying Budget papers in a briefcase, and introduced the Budget ‘Bahi Khata’ or a ledger, enclosed in a red cloth folder and tied with a string.
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Frah Saeed is a law graduate specializing in the core field of indirect taxes and is the Co-founder of taxwallah.com. She has authored many publications on GST and is into full-time consultancy on GST to big corporates. She as a part of taxwallah.com heads a team comprising of Chartered Accountants and Advocates and plays a key role in our mission to disseminate GST knowledge to all.
