Sitharaman takes Tablet in red pouch to present paperless budget
New Delhi (PTI): Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday will present her eighth consecutive Budget, which she will deliver from a digital tablet enclosed in a traditional 'bahi-khata' style pouch.
Sitharaman, India's first full-time woman Finance Minister, broke away from the colonial tradition of carrying a Budget briefcase in July 2019, opting instead for a traditional 'bahi-khata', to carry the Union Budget papers.
She continued this custom the following year, and in the pandemic-affected 2021, she replaced the traditional papers with a digital tablet to carry her speech and other Budget documents.
This tradition continues on Saturday.
Draped in an off-white handloom silk saree with fish-themed embroidery and golden border, Sitharaman posed for the traditional 'briefcase' photo outside her North Block office, accompanied by her team of officials, before heading to meet the President.
With the tablet securely placed inside a red cover featuring a golden national emblem, her next stop will be Parliament, after her meeting with President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Her Budget for the fiscal year starting April 2025 (FY2025-26) marks the 14th consecutive Budget under the Narendra Modi government since 2014, including two interim Budgets presented ahead of the general elections in 2019 and 2024.
She was appointed as the finance minister when Modi swept to power again in the 2019 election and presented her maiden Budget on July 5, 2019. She used a red cloth folder enclosed with a string and emblazoned with the national emblem to carry the Budget documents.
Earlier, finance ministers in different governments, including her predecessors in the Modi government - Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal- used the standard Budget briefcase.
Before Sitharaman, a long-standing colonial tradition in connection with the Budget presentation was broken during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government when the then finance minister Yashwant Sinha presented the Budget at 11 am rather than at the traditional time of 5 pm.
Since then, all the governments have been presenting the Budget at 11 am.
The tradition of carrying the Budget briefcase was a British legacy. The word 'Budget' originates from the French word 'bougette', which means leather briefcase.
The "budget case" tradition started in the 18th century when the Chancellor of the Exchequer or Britain's budget chief was asked to 'open the budget' while presenting his annual statement.
In 1860, the then British budget chief William E Gladstone carried his papers in a red suitcase with the Queen's monogram in gold. Budget briefcase came into being because Gladstone's speeches were extraordinarily long, and he needed a briefcase to carry his speech papers.
However, in India, different finance ministers carried different briefcases with colours of red, black, tan or brown.
India's first finance minister RK Shanmukham Chetty carried a leather portfolio to present the first Budget in 1947. TT Krishnamachari, in the 1950s, carried something that looked like a file bag. Jawaharlal Nehru carried a black briefcase.
As the finance minister, Manmohan Singh, who delivered the iconic 1991 economic liberalisation proposals, carried a black bag. Pranab Mukherjee, as prime minister Manmohan Singh's finance minister, used a red briefcase similar to the Gladstone case of Britain.
Piyush Goyal, who presented the interim Budget in February 2019, was the last finance minister to have carried a briefcase. He carried a red one to Parliament.
On Budget day, the finance minister of India poses with the Budget bag outside Parliament. In Britain, the Chancellor of the Exchequer poses with his suitcase in front of 11 Downing Street before the Budget speech.
Soon after presenting her maiden Budget in 2019, Sitharaman had said that the bahi-khata was a break from the colonial legacy.
"Why did I not use a leather bag to carry budget documents? I thought it is high time we move on from the British hangover, to do something on our own. And well, easier for me to carry too," she had said.
One of her predecessors, P Chidambaram of the Congress, had, however, scoffed at her choice in that year. "A Congress finance minister in future will bring an iPad," the former finance minister had said when asked to comment on the bahi-khata.
And Sitharaman did just that in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and twice this year.
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Sujit Nair raises concerns over speculation of DMK-AIADMK understanding to block TVK
Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
