Budget 2023: First picture of Nirmala Sitharaman before budget, Finance Minister ready to present paperless budget

February 1, 2023February 1, 2023

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Union Budget 2023: Today everyone’s eyes are on FM Nirmala Sitharaman. Common people have high expectations from the budget. Lok Sabha elections are to be held next year in 2024 and this will be the last full budget of the Narendra Modi 2.0 government.

**Nirmala Sitharaman’s first picture before the budget**

Union Budget 2023 Nirmala Sitharaman: Today is a big day for India. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is about to present the Union Budget 2022. Before presenting the budget, the picture of the Finance Minister has come to the fore. Sitharaman will present paperless budget this year also. An iPad covered with a red cloth can be seen in his hand.

It was Nirmala Sitharaman who chose ‘Bahi Khata’, breaking the age-old tradition of briefcase. The Finance Minister had brought the budget document covered in red-velvet cloth, which she had given the name of ledger. In 2021, Nirmala Sitharaman again changed her own tradition. This time he opted for ‘Made-in-India’ iPad instead of ‘Bookkeeping’.

Budget briefcase was 200 years old
The tradition of budget briefcase is not of today, but was more than 200 years old. There was an English culture of bringing the budget in a briefcase, which was started in the 1800s. It started when William Ewart Gladstone brought the budget in a red briefcase. The word budget is derived from the French word ‘boujet’, which means a leather bag or briefcase. The red Gladstone box was used from the British rule till 2010 to present the budget. Although it was later changed.

In 2012, during the Congress government, former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee used a different leather briefcase to present the budget. After this, different finance ministers used different colored briefcases to bring the budget to Parliament. In the year 2019, the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley brought the budget documents in his red-brown briefcase.

From Budget 2023, from industrialists to common people have high expectations from the Narendra Modi government because the Lok Sabha elections are to be held in the year 2024. This will be the last full budget of the Narendra Modi 2.0 government. Like the last two years, this time’s budget will also be paperless.