The Modi government is all set to announce the full Union Budget on July 5. With just two weeks left, people from across the country are eagerly anticipating the Budget. With the expectations of the taxpayers have gone-up, the newly designated Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has a task ahead of her. On July 5, Sitharaman will take the centre stage and announce the Union Budget.
Nirmala Sitharaman was designated as the Union Finance Minister after Arun Jaitley had requested PM Narendra Modi to not assign any portfolio in the second term of NDA government citing his health issues. In February this year, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal was designated as the interim Finance Minister and he also presented the interim Budget 2019-20. But later after the Lok Sabha elections Nirmala Sitharaman given the finance ministry portfolio. After former PM and FM Indira Gandhi, Nirmala Sitharaman will be the second woman finance minister who will be presenting the budget.
While most people are aware of the entire process of the Union Budget, there is a certain mystery around the briefcase carried by the finance minister before entering into the parliament. Why does the FM carry a briefcase? What's inside it?
Well, the word Budget originated from the French word 'Bougette' which means a leather bag. This is why every Finance Minister poses with a leather bag before his or her speech in the parliament. The tradition is as old as 18th century. Britain's budget chief was first requested to 'open the budget' while presenting his annual speech. After that, in 1860, the British budget chief William E. Gladstone became popular for his long speeches and using a red coloured suitcase with Queen's monogram carved in gold to carry his budget papers.
In India, FM's budget bag has been noticed in different colours and shapes every year. It is inspired by Britain's quintessential red Gladstone box which has been used in every British budget after 1860. However, in the year 2010, England stopped using that red bag further. Though a budget briefcase is a small bag, it carries a huge weight of a country's future or economic progress. A century-old tradition is successfully followed by the Indian government.
