How is the Budget discussed in Lok Sabha?
The Budget is discussed in two stages in Lok Sabha. First, there is the general discussion on the budget as a whole. This lasts for about four to five days. Only the broad outlines of the Budget and the principles and policies underlying it are discussed at this stage. Who presents the Budget? The General Budget is presented in Lok Sabha by the minister of finance. He makes a speech introducing the Budget and it is only in the concluding part of his speech that the proposals for fresh taxation or for variations in the existing taxes are disclosed by him. The ‘Annual Financial Statement’ is laid on the Table of Rajya Sabha at the conclusion of the speech of the finance minister in Lok Sabha. Who presented India’s first Budget? R K Shanmukhan Chetty, who served as the finance minister in Jawaharlal Nehru’s Cabinet between 1947 and 1949, presented the first Budget of independent India on November 26, 1947. It was a review of the economy and no new taxes were proposed as the Budget day for
