For decades we saw the Finance Minister arrive at the Parliament with a leather briefcase which contained where the rupee will come from and where it will go. This British legacy was broken in 2019, after India’s first full-time female Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived with a ‘bahikhata’ wrapped in red cloth tied with a gold string. The Indian national emblem shone brightly on it.
The word Budget has been derived from the French term bougette which means a briefcase. The British tradition of ‘opening the budget’ and presenting the financial plans of the government had originated in the 1860s. Eventually, it trickled over to post-colonial India.
This time, however, the budget has gone digital.
While leaving from Ministry of Finance this morning, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman posed with a tablet, perhaps an iPad, wrapped in a red cover with the Emblem shining brightly on it.
Because of Chinese coronavirus, the contagious flu which spreads quickly with virus staying on surface for long time, the budget this year will be available in digital copies. The soft copies will be published online for all to read.