When the Union Budget was leaked in 1950

A portion of the 1950 Union Budget was leaked when the printing of the budget used to still take place at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present the Union Budget 2024-25 on February 1.

Budget making is a secret process and is done by the Finance Minister along with high-ranking officials. People involved in budget-making are put in a lockdown and are refrained from using their mobile phones until its representation.

Ministries, states, union territories, defence forces and other departments are asked to prepare estimates. The budget goes for printing once it is approved by the Prime Minister.

The security measures of this top-secret affair were breached once in 1950 when John Matthai was the Finance Minister.

A portion of the 1950 Union Budget was leaked when printing of the budget used to still take place at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Following the leak, the venue of printing was changed to a government press on Minto Road.

Since 1980, the North Block basement at Delhi's Secretariat Building has become the permanent place for printing the budget.

The 1950 budget was the first to have a surplus with receipts having stood at Rs 347.5 crore and expenditure at Rs 337.88 crore.

The then finance minister Matthai had to resign post the budget leak, as he was accused of being serving interests of higher powers and affluent people.

Here's some facts about the Union Budget:

Budget was first introduced in India on April 7, 1860, when Scottish economist James Wilson from East India Company presented it to the British Crown.

Independent India's first budget was presented on November 26, 1947, by the then Finance Minister R K Shanmukhan Chetty.

Nirmala holds the record for delivering the longest budget speech, speaking for 2 hours and 42 minutes on February 1, 2020.

Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai holds the record of presenting the greatest number of budgets in the country. He presented 10 budgets during 1962-69 serving as the Finance Minister.

Until 1955, the budget was presented in English but, Congress later decided to print the budget in English and Hindi languages.

First in India, Union Budget for the year 2021-22 was paperless due to Covid-19.